Way to Her Heart (17 page)

Sherri’s eyes widened and she laughed as a door opened and a tall, broad-shouldered man came to greet her.

“Sorry about that,” he said in a pleasant voice. “My secretary is at lunch and Thelonius is better than an intercom, so we put up with him.”

Thelonius squawked again. “Damned right you do.”

Royce chuckled and escorted Sherri into his office. “He was payment for a case I did a few years ago. Unfortunately, he has a vocabulary of profanity like a drunken sailor on port day, so let’s go in here and get a little privacy.” He offered her a seat and extended his hand to shake. “I’m Royce Griffin, and I’m guessing you’re Dr. Stratton.”

She shook his hand, saying, “Call me Sherri, please.” If the matter hadn’t been so serious, she’d have taken a minute or sixty just to stare at him. Royce Griffin was seriously handsome in an exotic way. He had it all—height, broad shoulders, beautiful bronze skin, thick and slightly wavy black hair in a long ponytail and high cheekbones with an aquiline nose. His thick brows slashed over eyes that had a slight upward slant and his lips looked chiseled out of copper. He was obviously a mix of several races and the blend yielded a perfect specimen of man. He was nattily attired in a pair of dress slacks and a pale blue oxford-cloth shirt that strained a little over those big shoulders. His neat appearance was at odds with his office; it was the only presentable area of the office.

The walls were lined with books, as expected in an attorney’s office. The usual diplomas and honors were displayed on one wall. The rest was chaos as far as she could see. Files were stacked on every flat surface, even the floor. They were neat stacks, but they were everywhere. The remains of his lunch were on a computer desk near the window, and the wastepaper basket was overflowing. She was trying to take everything in when he offered an explanation.

“I’m sure this isn’t what you were expecting in a law office, but in my defense, I can find everything I need at a moment’s notice. I have a photographic memory and it serves me well, but it drives everyone else around me crazy, especially my secretary. So don’t pay all this any attention. I can assure you that you’ll get the best legal advice in the state from me. I’m not bragging—it’s a fact. And if you’re not satisfied, there’s no charge. Aretha asked me to give you my best and there’s no way I’d ever disappoint her. She’s a wonderful woman,” he said, “and someone I hold in very high esteem, so I’m all yours. Tell me about your situation.”

Sherri felt compelled to trust him, unorthodox as his approach might be. She gave it to him as concisely as possible without leaving anything out. She explained how she’d found herself pregnant after dating Sydney’s father for two years, how he decamped for California as soon as she revealed her condition and how she’d never heard from him again until the day she’d encountered him at her parents’ house.

“What I don’t understand is why he’s decided to come here and try to get me to marry him out of the blue. He’s never shown the least bit of concern over his child. To be honest I don’t think he knew whether he fathered a son or a daughter. Now he wants to not only make amends, but he also wants to marry me and he wants us to be a family,” she said with a frown.

“I have no reason whatsoever to trust him or his motives. I don’t want him anywhere around my daughter until I know what he’s up to. My primary concern is Sydney. I can take care of myself, but her welfare is my biggest concern. He’s being really subtle about it, but he did say something along the lines of ‘I’d hate to take you to court.’ And because he’s an attorney, there’s no telling what he could do in court. Do I have to allow him to meet her? Is there a way that I can keep him out of her life, or will doing so backfire on me when or if we end up going to court for some kind of custody arrangement?”

She finally stopped talking and apologized. “I’m sorry that I just ran off at the mouth like that, but it all came up out of nowhere and it’s not going to go away just because I want it to.” She took a deep breath and accepted the glass of icy-cold water he poured her from a carafe on his windowsill.

Royce’s voice was soft and comforting and his words were even more so. “Look, at this point I really don’t think you have anything to worry about as far as him being able to get custody, not even visitation. Has he ever tried to establish paternity?”

“No. He left Columbia as soon as I told him the test was positive, and as far as I know, he never looked back. He was my only sexual partner and he has to know that Sydney is his child, even though I didn’t put his name on her birth certificate.”

“Did you ever try to contact him regarding child support?”

“I was too angry and too proud. I never asked him for a dime, even though it would’ve made our lives easier, at least when I was doing my internship and residency. If he didn’t want us, we didn’t want him,” she said with a touch of defiance.

“Man, he was a big fool,” Royce said with admiration in his voice. “Do you have a man in your life right now?”

She blushed becomingly at the sudden turn in his questions. “Yes, I do.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” he said with a self-deprecating grin. “I’m human—what can I say? Back to business. First of all, unless he’s willing and able to come up with seven years of child support in one lump sum, you don’t have to worry about visitation at this point. The fact that he’s been so cavalier about the existence of his child for all this time doesn’t make him a candidate for father of the year. Very few judges would be willing to entertain the idea of allowing him into her life until he shows the willingness and ability to act as a responsible parent—something you’ve done all by yourself for all these years.”

Sherri was immediately comforted by his assessment of the situation.

“In fact, I’d keep them as far apart as possible until we determine what he has to gain by claiming her. There has to be something in it for him and we have to uncover his motive. Beautiful and brilliant as you are, the notion that he suddenly woke from a deep sleep to decide that you’re his soul mate is more than a little shaky. So let’s find out what his real motivation is, shall we?”

He cleared a space on his crowded desk and whipped out a legal pad and a pen. “Okay, let’s start with the basics. What’s his name?”

“Trevor Barnes,” she answered.

Royce’s eyes went from the legal pad to lock onto hers with a look of disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding. Trevor Barnes? Did he go to law school at University of South Carolina?”

“Yes, he did,” Sherri said with confusion on her face. “We met when he was in school.”

“Is he tall, brown-skinned with curly black hair, used to drive a silver Mercedes?”

“Yes, he did. I’d forgotten about that car, but he really loved it.”

“We were in the same year at USC. May I say that you had a very narrow escape, Sherri? If he’d stepped up and done the right thing by staying with you, your life would be hell right about now. Did he ever pass the bar exam?”

“Of course he did. He passed it before he left Columbia. That’s one of the reasons he bailed because he’d just gotten a job with this...” Her voice trailed off because Royce was shaking his head back and forth with his eyes shut.

“Trevor Barnes was in the bottom tenth of our class. He was nowhere near passing the bar exam when he was here, and he had no job offers whatsoever, unless some firm needed a janitor. As a matter of fact, word around the campfire is that he still hasn’t managed to pass the bar. I stay in touch with a lot of the people I went to school with, especially my frat brothers. It’s like a running joke among us that he still hasn’t made it. The last I heard, he has a job selling high-end used cars in Pomona or someplace like that.”

Sherri’s mouth dropped open and her eyes were like saucers, but Royce wasn’t finished.

“This is all making more sense now that I know that the man in question is my old classmate. I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but Trevor’s family is loaded. His grandfather is a self-made millionaire, maybe a billionaire. He made his money the old-fashioned way—he earned it. He was a pharmacist who developed a lot of medicines that he patented and ended up owning a huge pharmaceutical company. His son, Trevor’s father, didn’t have the gene for scientific research, but he has a brilliant legal mind, so he helped keep the company in the family’s hands. They’ve staved off every takeover attempt and kept it private, even though they’ve had all kinds of offers to go public,” Royce explained.

Fascinated by what she was hearing, Sherri asked how Royce knew all of the family history.

“Because Trevor couldn’t stop bragging about it—that’s how. He was my fraternity brother and we shared a house with some other guys for a while. Didn’t he talk to you about his brilliant future as the scion of Barnes Pharmaceuticals? Didn’t you notice how much money he had? He wasn’t the typical starving law student, not by a long shot.”

“Are you serious? I know I sound really stupid here, but I don’t remember Trevor flashing any money around me. The only thing he had of value was his car, and he said it was a gift for graduating at the top of his class when he got his bachelor’s. He never seemed to have any money, not that I really paid any attention. Med school is pretty all-consuming. It’s a miracle that I had any time to spend with him,” she said.

She was deep in thought for a moment, trying to remember details of their dating life. “He talked about his family from time to time, but I honestly don’t remember him talking about money per se,” she admitted. “I had the impression that they were well-to-do, I guess, but frankly, that’s not a big interest of mine. I was really naive, wasn’t I?”

Royce assured her that she wasn’t. “You were a hardworking, serious student. Trevor was used to the flashy chicks who were after a rich guy, so you were probably a whole new world for him. But be that as it may, I’ve got the feeling that his sudden epiphany about you being the love of his life has something to do with his family’s money. Let me make a few phone calls and I’ll see what I can find out. It won’t be too hard because, as I said, I’ve stayed in touch with our line brothers and I’ve got a kind of pipeline of chatter that I can tap.

“In the meantime, just keep to the status quo. If he contacts you again, and he will, let me know immediately. If he threatens you with any legal action, refer him to your attorney—that’s me. And by all means, keep him away from Sydney. He hasn’t earned the right to be around her and I agree that it’s only going to cause turmoil if he gets near her.”

They talked about a few other details, and as Sherri got ready to leave his office she was feeling much better. Of all the lawyers in Columbia, she’d been steered to the right one, thanks to Aretha Sharp. What were the odds of her going to see someone who actually knew Trevor from law school? There was a light at the end of the tunnel after all, and its name was Royce Griffin. She couldn’t wait to share her news with Lucas. As Royce escorted her to the door, Thelonius ruffled his feathers and said, “See you soon, pretty lady,” which made her burst out laughing. It was the perfect note on which to end her first conference. Everything was going to be fine. She knew it now.

Chapter 17

Sherri’s feeling of optimism lasted as long as it took her to drive home from Royce’s office to pick up Sydney’s dance bag. She’d been so preoccupied with her impending appointment that she’d forgotten it when they left for daycare, so she made a quick run to pick up the bag and drop it off at daycare so that Sydney could have it when it was time for her class that afternoon. She parked in the driveway, ran inside and grabbed the bag from the foyer, but when she turned to go back to the car, there was Trevor. He had on a blue suit and was carrying another bouquet of blue flowers. He also had a smug smile on his face. She tightened her grip on the handles of the small duffel bag.

“Make this the last time you violate my privacy or there will be a restraining order sworn out on you,” she said in a cold and even tone. “I’ve made it abundantly clear that I don’t wish to have anything to do with you, yet you persist in accosting me. It has to stop.”

The smug smile shifted to an icy smirk so quickly that most people would have missed the transition, but Sherri saw it at once. In a second he went from looking annoying to looking predatory.

“You’re using some rather inflammatory terms to describe a harmless social call, Sherri. Violate? Accost? I came to say hello and to bring you something to brighten your day, and you’re acting as though I’m a common criminal. Is that any way to treat your future husband?” He had the colossal nerve to try for a winsome grin, as if that would win her over.

“Trevor, I have no intention of marrying you, now or ever. You were not invited here and if you are unexpected, you are also uninvited, so you need to leave. And those things couldn’t possibly brighten my day. You’ve forgotten that I despise cut flowers, and I particularly hate blue ones, so this has been a total waste of your time. Go away and leave me alone or you will be a common criminal because violation of a restraining order is against the law. I can’t make myself any plainer than that.”

She moved to get into the Lincoln and he took a step forward. Her arm moved back automatically in case she had to take a swing at him, but he didn’t notice.

“I’m trying to resolve this amicably, Sherri. I have a right to see the conditions in which my child and future wife are living, don’t you think? I don’t want this to turn into a court case, but if it does, I need to be prepared,” he said smoothly, as though they were the best of friends.

Sherri had to exercise Herculean control to speak calmly and not knock him in the head with Sydney’s duffel bag, which really didn’t weigh enough to hurt him. Gritting her teeth, she said, “Trevor, this is getting more bizarre every time I see you. One minute you’re trying to get me to marry you and the next minute you’re making thinly veiled threats to take me to court about a child in whom you’ve never shown the least bit of interest. If it does turn into a court case, you won’t have a leg on which to stand. Don’t try to contact me again,” she warned. “Anything you have to say to me you can say to my attorney.”