From Midwife To Mummy. Deanne Anders

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СКАЧАТЬ when the private detective he had hired had brought back pictures of a smiling toddler with coal-black ringlets and bright blue eyes, he’d known that the child was his.

      After the lawyer had read Michael’s will, and left some pictures of the child, Trent had come to the same conclusion as his brother. The child could only be a Montgomery. Another Montgomery child that had been abandoned.

      He’d looked at those pictures a lot during the last two weeks, as he had tried to decide what to do about the child. She looked happy, smiling at the pretty blond woman, who smiled back with a love that seemed to pour out of the picture.

      Why would he want to take this child away from this woman who appeared to love her? And what did he know about raising a little girl? Sitting there across from a woman who plainly wished a hole would open up and swallow him, he wondered for the hundredth time why he’d uprooted his life to come somewhere he didn’t want to be and where he certainly didn’t have a clue about what he was doing.

      But he would go through with it. Because his brother had asked him to take care of this child if something happened to him. And because the little girl was a Montgomery, and that made her his responsibility.

      He had failed to keep his brother safe from his father’s destructive influence, but he wouldn’t fail this child. On paper, Lana Sanders looked like the perfect mom, but Trent knew better than to believe everything he read. He would protect Michael’s child as he should have protected Michael.

      Once the court awarded him custody of his niece he would pack up and head back to Houston, where he belonged. Somehow he would have to find a way to make things work till then.

      * * *

      “Lana, I want to tell you first that I know this isn’t going to be easy for you. You’ve been taking care of Maggie for months now, and I know you love her very much. Second, you need to know that the court has to consider any interest the biological family has in Maggie.” Ms. Nelson the social worker stated. “I’ve seen the letter they have from Chloe, telling Mr. Montgomery’s brother about her pregnancy. And then, of course, there’s the resemblance that none of us can deny.”

      “And where was this biological family when she was six weeks old with no one to take care of her?” Lana spat out.

      She looked across the table at the man who had been sitting quietly as she had questioned the social worker. Those blue eyes that she had found so appealing earlier now seemed ice-cold as they followed her every movement. He might as well just be an onlooker into this catastrophe he had orchestrated. Her life had suddenly been turned upside down, and he acted as if this was just another meeting for him to attend. As if he had no interest at all in the outcome.

      But then he shouldn’t have any interest in her and Maggie’s life. He shouldn’t even be here.

      The pain of her nails biting into her hands had her uncurling her fingers. So far she had managed to rein in her temper. Now, running her hands through her hair, she pushed it back from her face and wished she had left it up in the clip. She could feel the heat of anger in her face and she knew the sight of her reddened face and scattered hair couldn’t be a pretty picture.

      She would have to get herself under control before she reached panic mode. That was not something she wanted either of these two people in the room to see. Taking a deep, steady breath, she willed her body to relax. Turning back toward the social worker, she pleaded her case once more.

      “What about when she was just born and she was going through withdrawal? Was there anybody from this so-called family interested in Maggie then?” Lana said, glad that she no longer heard a tremor in her voice.

      “I’m sorry,” Trent said. “I wasn’t aware of the child until a couple of weeks ago. If I had known I would have seen to it that my brother was here when she was born.”

      “And where is this brother of yours, huh? Why is it that you’re here without him?” Lana asked. “If he’s Maggie’s father why isn’t he here?”

      Lana watched the man she had earlier thought of as cold turn glacial.

      “My brother passed away three weeks ago.”

      The shock of the statement stunned her into silence. The man who was supposed to be Maggie’s biological father was dead? She stared at the man sitting across from her, who had shown no emotion while discussing his brother’s death. He was just full of bombshells, wasn’t he?

      “So why are you here? Why are you so interested in Maggie’s life when apparently your brother had no interest at all?” Lana asked.

      Turning toward the social worker, she noticed that the older woman had shown no reaction to this new information. Realizing that Ms. Nelson must already know about the death of the supposed biological father, she felt the relief of earlier fade.

      “There is no way you can expect me to give Maggie up to a man who isn’t even her father. It’s one thing to consider the father’s rights, but this man is a stranger to Maggie. You have to see that Maggie is better off in a home where she feels safe and loved. That’s why Chloe didn’t take her. Why she left her with me. She wanted to make sure Maggie would always be in a stable home. She didn’t want to ever have to worry that her baby was not being properly taken care of,” she said as tears spilled from her eyes.

      No way. No way would she let them take Maggie.

      “We’re not making any changes as far as Maggie is concerned until we investigate the situation, Lana,” the social worker said as she took Lana’s hand and squeezed. “The first thing we’ll do is have a DNA test done on both Maggie and Mr. Montgomery.”

      “I’ll give you the information you need to contact me,” Trent volunteered.

      “Thank you,” the social worker responded. “And your lawyer has given us the information you have in relation to your brother’s alleged paternity.”

      “And, having given you that information, I would like you to consider allowing me some visitation with the child,” Trent said.

      “‘The child’ has a name. It’s Maggie. And why should I let you anywhere near her?” Lana asked.

      “It’s your decision at this time, Lana, but we do have good reason to think that Mr. Montgomery’s brother was Maggie’s father,” said Ms. Nelson. “And if the DNA tests come back to show Mr. Montgomery as being her uncle, he will be able to ask for visitation while the court decides on custody.”

      Lana looked at the man across from her. Cool blue eyes watched her from beneath thick dark lashes. She’d seen that calculating look before, only then it had been on the face of a toddler trying to figure out how to get another cookie after she had eaten her limit.

      There was no denying the similarities this man shared with Maggie. And she feared that the DNA test would only confirm what her eyes were telling her now. Chloe had never said much about Maggie’s father, but she had said she’d written him a letter telling him she was pregnant when she hadn’t been able to get him to answer her calls. She had listed Maggie’s father as “unknown” on the birth certificate when she hadn’t heard anything from him, and she had refused to discuss him any further with Lana.

      Lana rubbed at the tight knot she felt forming at the back of her neck. How could this day have gone so wrong? She was suddenly bone-tired. She knew she had to accept the fact that this fight wouldn’t be won here СКАЧАТЬ