Baby Vs. The Bar. M.J. Rodgers

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СКАЧАТЬ and it’s not even ten o’clock.”

      She downed some of the steamy coffee, forgetting to sip in her pique. It burned her throat. She paid little attention. The thoughts firing through her mind were suddenly a lot hotter.

      Phil grinned. “You should get harassed by the press more often. Puts a nice color in your cheeks.”

      Remy ignored the tease this time. “Three of them were waiting for me when I drove up this morning. Fortunately, Braden got here at the same time and misdirected them over to another building so Nicholas and I could sneak inside and lock the door. Although, we were still waylaid on the steps by some fool dressed in a knight’s armor who went down on bended knee and proposed to me.”

      “No kidding? Ha!” Phil yowled, her head thrown back. “What a hoot! Who was he?”

      “One of my students a semester ago. But he’s not the worst of it. You wouldn’t believe the guys who have been making a play for me. Last night after the TV news flashed my picture and mentioned the reason for my appearance at the Bio-Sperm trial, I got a call from a plumber who once fixed my sink, the owner of the dry cleaners I frequent, and even the guy who sold me my car—all asking for a date.”

      “What did you tell them?”

      “Let’s just say the last time I repeated that type of language I was twelve and you washed my mouth out with soap.”

      Phil smiled.

      “And, as if these news hounds and money-hungry lotharios weren’t enough,” Remy continued, “my first call this morning was from an attorney who said he’d be happy to represent me in my fight to get the Demerchant money, and he’d do it for only a third of the estate.”

      Phil shook her head. “They sure start crawling out of the woodwork when a lot of money is mentioned.”

      Remy took another sip of her coffee. “It’s Binick’s fault. He’s the one who made up that lie about Nicholas being Louie Demerchant’s great-grandson.”

      “Are you sure it is a lie, Remy?”

      “Of course it’s a lie. Think about it. Binick knows he’s responsible for destroying David Demerchant’s sperm. If Louie Demerchant wins that ten-million-dollar suit against him, Binick’s going bankrupt. He told me that himself when he and the process server arrived on my front doorstep with the subpoena.”

      “He actually told you the ten-million-dollar award would bankrupt him?”

      “Yes, like he thought that would influence me. And when I made it clear it didn’t, he acted like I should be pleased to learn I had received David Demerchant’s sperm. Probably thought I’d jump at the opportunity to claim the dead man’s money.”

      “Which reminds me,” Phil said. “Why aren’t you?”

      “Phil, Nicholas is not a Demerchant, so taking any of that money would be dishonest. And even if he were, I wouldn’t want it. Too much money is just as corruptible as too much power, since one inevitably leads to the other.”

      “For a billion dollars, I wouldn’t mind being corrupted a bit.”

      Remy put her cup down and studied her sister’s face, surprised to see its strong features set in a serious look. “Where is this mercenary streak coming from?”

      Phil laughed. “It’s always been there, Remy. Face it, you turned out to be the only incorruptible kid in the family.”

      “I don’t believe that.”

      Phil smiled. “Yes, that’s what I like most about you. You’re putty in my hands. Don’t worry, I’ll stand...uh...sit by you through the worst of this, even if you refuse every cent.”

      Remy rested her hand on her sister’s shoulder. One of Phil’s strong hands covered hers.

      “Hey, this hand is going to mush. Have you been keeping up with your weights?” Phil asked before removing her hand and wheeling herself away.

      Remy knew Phil’s intentional change of subject came because of her difficulty in displaying her gentler feelings.

      “I’ll get back to the hand weights today, Phil. Promise.”

      The telephone rang, again. Remy reached for it automatically, but this time Phil stayed her hand and answered it. “Dr. Phillida Moore... No, she’s not here. She left this morning for a long vacation in the Virgin Islands.... Yes, naturally she took her baby with her.... Yes... You’re welcome.”

      Phil hung up the phone. “Maybe you’d best let Braden screen your calls for the next few days.”

      “Don’t you need him to help you with Thumper’s physical?”

      “We already did that yesterday while you were at the courthouse. You got back to the lab so late you missed everything.”

      “How’d it go?”

      “Braden relates well to the chimp, has from the first day. And now that the boys are no longer shy around him, I think he’ll work out just fine.”

      Remy followed Phil’s eyes to the scene taking place on the other side of the glass partition. Their new lab assistant, Braden Fromm, a dark-haired, Atlas-shaped graduate student, was taking notes as Remy’s son, and another toddler and a chimpanzee all practiced saying hello to one another in sign language.

      “We always seem to end up with good-looking body-builders for lab assistants, don’t we, Phil?”

      Her sister’s eyes twinkled. “Yeah. Don’t we.”

      Remy chuckled. She knew Phil always selected attractive men because she liked looking at them.

      Remy’s eyes, however, were drawn to her son. A small smile circled her heart, as well as her lips. She was certain there had never been a more beautiful child.

      Nicholas’s hair was a silky cognac cap, his large eyes bright blue lagoons fringed in a ring of coral lashes. His lean, sturdy little body—wrapped in an over-the-shoulder, tiger-striped outfit—gestured with overabundant enthusiasm at Thumper, the chimp.

      “Nicholas is so smart for just seventeen months,” Remy said. “Sean’s twenty-one months, and yet Nicholas has a much larger vocabulary. And did you notice that Nicholas also understands he must never talk in the sign-language sessions with Sean and the chimp?”

      “I noticed,” Phil said without a lot of enthusiasm.

      Remy immediately picked up on the change in her sister’s tone. “I’m being one of those adoring, boring mothers again, aren’t I?”

      “No. I’m just as proud of our little Nicholas. He catches on to things quickly, and his curiosity for finding out how things work is amazing. Unfortunately.”

      Remy turned to her sister in surprise. “Unfortunately?”

      Phil laughed. “You haven’t noticed? Not only has Nicholas memorized the keypunch code on the security doors, but the other day I saw him teaching Thumper how to unlock them, too.”

      Remy СКАЧАТЬ