Instant Daddy (2 page)

H
eart pounding, Peter caught up with Jessie just as she swung around to face him, her hand flying to the little boy’s head as if to protect him. Peter’s blood pressure shot up a few more points. She, obviously, thought he was a threat.

He
was
acting a little crazy. The idea that this child could be his son
was
crazy. Clarissa would have told him she was pregnant after their night together, wouldn’t she?

But if Jessie had nothing to hide, why did she run away? Did she think he wouldn’t pursue her? That he wouldn’t have to know? “Jessie, is this Clarissa’s child?”

She took a step back.

Peter studied the baby’s hair so much like Peter’s mother’s. The nose and chin cleft like his father’s. “He looks like me. He even has the Sheridan birthmark.”

Jessie stared at him as if he’d sprouted an extra eye in the middle of his forehead. “He’s
my
son.”

Peter stared her down. Shiny, luminous eyes…wide…with fear? Her breaths were fast and shallow. Her soft lips clenched tight as if guarding a secret.

He wanted to reassure her, tell her everything would be okay. Dragging a breath, he struggled to regain his focus.

The timing. Ever since he’d spotted the child’s birthmark, his mind had been spinning to figure out the timing. If he was right, Clarissa would have been two months pregnant when she’d transferred to the New York lab. “He’s about eighteen months old, isn’t he?”

Jessie’s eyes flinched.

Enough of a reaction to confirm he was right on the money.

Thunder rumbled low. He could smell the ozone in the air.

“I’m in a huge hurry.” Jessie glanced away as if she couldn’t wait to make a break for it. “I have to take care of something at my diner.”

He shook his head. “Don’t you think I have a right to know for sure that I have a son?”

She shuttered her gaze. “I…I don’t have time to talk right now.”

Attempting to tone down his frustration, he studied the lines puckering the creamy skin between her eyes. “I need to know if he’s Clarissa’s son. How much time can a simple yes or no take?”

Finally, she looked at him as if she’d made up her mind. “My diner’s on Main Street. If you need to talk to me, stop in in a half hour or so.” She turned, intent on leaving.

He couldn’t let her go…not yet. Somehow, he had to make her trust him enough to give him an answer. “Jessie…if he is Clarissa’s…”

Pausing, Jessie gave him a nervous glance.

Good. He had her attention. But if the baby was Clarissa’s…what? He clenched his jaw. “I would have taken
responsibility for him…if she’d told me she was pregnant.”

Swinging around to face him, Jessie shot him a questioning scowl.

“She didn’t tell me,” he repeated.

The boy murmured.

Peter watched the child’s tiny nose crinkle as if chasing a laugh in his dreams. Unexplainable warmth welled inside until he thought he’d choke on it. He reached to touch a chubby finger.

Jessie jerked out of his reach as if his touch would contaminate the kid.

Peter met her eyes. Sad eyes brimming with indescribable pain and fear. He felt like a heel for making her feel so threatened. But her actions gave him his answer. “The boy
is
Clarissa’s. And mine.”

She shifted her stance, biting her lip rather than confirming or rejecting his words.

Her silence was all the confirmation he needed.

“Mama?” The little guy raised his head and stretched, his back arching, his little butt jutting out.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Jessie said softly. “You had a nice nap, didn’t you?” Wary eyes on Peter, she kissed the baby’s forehead.

The child gave her a smile that would make the sun seem dim in comparison. Then the boy turned his deep brown, Sheridan eyes on Peter.

A grin traveled through him like a beacon of light, and he wondered if the buttons on his shirt would pop with the pride swelling his chest. Odd, considering how little he’d had to do with the child’s existence. “What’s his name?”

“His name?” Jessie swallowed. “His name is Jacob Maxwell Chandler.”

Peter couldn’t miss the challenge in her tone. “An honorable name,” he admitted. Too bad he’d had no part in choosing it. “Hi, Jacob.”

The boy studied him almost as if sizing up their similarities.

Maybe Peter should introduce himself. Should he tell him he was his father? Maybe not. It was too soon for that. For the boy…for the woman holding him…and for himself. “My name is Peter.”

“Pedo?”

“Close enough.”

Another low rumble of thunder. Closer now.

“You need to understand how things are, Dr. Sheridan.” Jessie’s soft voice crackled with tension.

Peter raised his gaze from the child to meet her engaging eyes.

“I am Jake’s mother.” She straightened her shoulders. “Clarissa gave him to me before he was born. I was the first one to hold him, to give him a bath, to feed him. I’m the only mother he’s known, and I couldn’t love him more if I’d given him life.”

Peter’s jaw clenched. “She had no right to give him away.”

Jessie’s gaze darted to the ground as if she didn’t want to see the truth, even with Peter standing right in front of her. Turning to face him, she lifted her chin. “He’s
my
son. I adopted him. And I’ll do whatever I have to do because there’s no way I’ll let you take him away from me. None.” Chin high, she turned and limped away.

Throat tight, he watched her go, a mixture of feelings completely confusing him. She was so gentle and vulnerable…with a core of sheer determination. Hurting her was the last thing he wanted.

But it looked like he had a son he didn’t know existed until now. Even if his life
was
his research. What in the world was he going to do with a kid?

He turned and strode for the parking lot, dodging a petite redhead who was jogging down the sidewalk in a dress and high heels. He’d better call his attorney and find out just what his rights and responsibilities were. Because before he met Jessie at the diner, he needed to gain some control of this situation.

Walking as fast as she could, Jessie glared straight ahead.
What is going on, God? You can’t possibly expect me to give up Jake. Haven’t I already lost enough?

“Hey Jess, wait up.”

“Maggie,” Jake squealed.

Trying to rein in her panic without much success, Jessie turned.

“Hi, Jake.” Her high-heeled best friend jogged to Jessie’s side, barely out of breath. “You look even more upset than Dr. Sheridan does. What were you talking to that hunky man about?”

“That hunky man says he’s Jake’s father.” Jessie had trouble recognizing the strained voice as her own.

“What?” Maggie turned to scowl at Dr. Sheridan’s retreating physique. “Why would he say something like that?”

“You didn’t notice how much they look alike?”

“Well, I suppose…but that doesn’t mean…”

“He has the birthmark. He said it runs in his family. And he knows exactly how old Jake is.”

Maggie looked confused. “He and Clarissa?”

“Apparently.” Jessie swallowed hard. “She didn’t tell him she was pregnant.”

“What?” Maggie’s big brown eyes rolled. “What was she thinking?”

“He says she had no right to give him to—” Her voice broke.

“Now calm down, Jess.” Maggie threw her hands in the air like she always did when she was upset. “Let’s just think a minute. First, he hasn’t taken a paternity test, so we don’t know he’s the daddy. And second, if he is, you have the adoption papers, right?”

Jessie nodded, afraid to trust her voice.

Maggie’s hands darted dramatically. “We both know Clarissa was a stickler for making sure everything was very legal and in order. So even if he does turn out to be Jake’s dad, what can he do about it?”

Jessie wanted to believe Maggie’s words, but…

“Nada,” Maggie said as if the whole matter was settled. “Wait here while I get my car.”

Jessie’s head spun. She needed time to calm down and get her defenses back in place. “Walking is my physical therapy, remember?”

“But it’s going to rain.” Maggie pointed at the sky. “Besides, Jake is too heavy.”

“Maggie….” Jessie had warned her friend to quit treating her like she needed help or she’d have to look for a new best friend. Maggie had agreed to watch it, but she still needed reminding.

“Fine.” Maggie narrowed her eyes. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m perfect,” Jessie snapped. She didn’t even want to think about how protective Maggie and her parents would be if they knew the accident had left her with injuries less obvious than her limp…injuries nothing could ever heal.

Rain was starting, Jake felt like he weighed a hundred pounds and Jessie’s hip was killing her by the time she struggled up the diner steps. She hoped Will was still inside.

Jake’s adoption had to hold up in court. Like Maggie said, Clarissa had always been thorough, and she would have made certain the father-not-knowing-about-the-baby loophole was closed. Wouldn’t she?

She pulled open the door, the bell above it jingling to announce them. The interior’s cool, dry air confirmed her new AC was doing its job. Her cousin Lisa, who was behind the counter, and several customers sitting on Jessie’s new, red vinyl stools greeted them. Jake returned their greetings by opening and closing both little fists in his rendition of a wave.

With a sigh of relief, Jessie spotted Will, the upper-classman who’d gone to college on a basketball scholarship and returned to Noah’s Crossing with a law degree not long after her accident. She’d still been in physical therapy when he’d asked her out on a pity date, probably engineered by Aunt Lou. At least Aunt Lou tried to organize everybody’s lives, not just Jessie’s.

But her refusal to date Will didn’t mean they weren’t still friends. It didn’t keep him from stopping in the diner for pie almost every afternoon, either. “Hey, Will. Can I have a word with you in the back room?”

The corners of Will’s sharp blue eyes wrinkled. “Right now?”

Jessie noticed the fork in his hand and the half-eaten pie à la mode on the plate in front of him. “Bring your pie with you. You want a cup of coffee on the house?”

“Can’t pass that up, now, can I?” His puzzled look intact, Will stood to tower over the counter.

Actually, Will wasn’t any taller than Dr. Sheridan, was he? Jessie pushed the image of the handsome, authoritative doctor from her mind and strode for the curtain that separated the customer area from the prep-and-storage room. She needed to focus.

Lisa poured Will’s cup of coffee. “You look upset.”

Jessie met her eyes. “I’m fine,” she said automatically.

“Well, you don’t look fine.” Lisa handed the steaming coffee to Will.

“Thanks,” he said.

Jessie ducked through the curtain and headed for the play corner she’d fenced off near one of the long windows. “Look, Jake. There’s Thomas the engine, right where you left him.”

“Tomut!” Jake threw himself with glee, totally oblivious to the concept of gravity.

But Jessie was ready for his lunge and stopped him from falling. She hoped he outgrew his habit before he got much heavier and harder to contain. “Slow down, okay?”

Jake touched her cheek in the sweet apology that always melted her heart. Then he turned, wriggling for release.

She bent over the mesh fence to set him down, pain stabbing her hip and making her catch her breath. “There you go.”

“There you goes,” he mimicked, scurrying to his low train table.

Will chuckled. “He’s talking more every day.” Setting his empty plate near the sink, he leaned against the counter. “How’d you hurt your leg?”

Jessie frowned. “My leg is fine.”

Will took a sip of coffee and wisely decided to change
the subject. “You outdid yourself with that raspberry-rhubarb pie. I think it’s my new favorite.” He gave her a little grin.

She attempted a smile, then gave it up as she hurried to the fireproof safe where she kept her important papers. Grasping her ring of keys from her purse, she knelt and unlocked the box. She clasped the folder marked “Jake,” struggled to her feet and handed it to Will.

He looked at the identifying tab, then at Jessie. “Jake?”

“Clarissa hired a lawyer she knew in New York to handle the legal work for the private adoption. I’m sure everything is as it should be, but will you look at it to make sure?”

“Any reason for your sudden interest?”

She squinted. “It seems I met Jake’s father today. He made the scholarship presentation at graduation. He says Clarissa didn’t tell him about Jake.” Her words sounded clipped, almost matter-of-fact, but the breathless panic ringing in her ears told the real story.

Will set his cup beside his pie plate, bent his head and thumbed through the contents of the folder.

Hanging on to a calm she didn’t feel, Jessie tried to read Will’s face as he studied Jake’s birth certificate and papers documenting the adoption. “We dotted every i and crossed every t, didn’t we?”

Will looked up. “The documents that are here look perfect.”

She wanted to heave a sigh of relief, but his serious tone warned her there was more.

“In Wisconsin, a single mother doesn’t need to identify the father on the baby’s birth certificate, but if Cla
rissa didn’t tell him she was pregnant, and his DNA proves he’s the father, he has a legitimate claim.”

Jessie stared in horror. “How much of a claim?”

“He’d need a court order, but if he has the means to care for Jake, a judge could very well award him at least partial custody.”

“No,” she heard herself moan, pain wrenching deep inside.

“I’m really sorry, Jess. Why didn’t Clarissa tell him?”

“She said he was completely uninterested in being a father. I had no idea she hadn’t told him. She wouldn’t even tell me who the father was.” A thought nudged Jessie’s mind. Had her sister wanted to give Jessie her dream of being a mother so much that she’d convinced herself the father wouldn’t care? If Dr. Sheridan hadn’t come to Noah’s Crossing to present the scholarship, Jake’s father’s would still be a mystery.

“Look—even if he proves to be Jake’s father, are you sure he wants custody?” Will asked.