A Family, At Last. Susan Crosby

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СКАЧАТЬ the fresh grief in Karyn’s eyes. He couldn’t imagine losing any of his five siblings. The pain would be overwhelming.

      Of course, none of it mattered at all if Kyle turned out not to be the man Vaughn was seeking—or even the right Kyle Lambert. But seeing Karyn’s curly light brown hair was its own kind of validation.

      Unable to sit still, Vaughn wandered the room. A table was stacked neatly with wrapped Christmas presents, a color-coded tag on each one, but otherwise her apartment wasn’t decorated for the holiday. On the wall were numerous paintings, mostly landscapes and floral themes. When he looked closer, he noticed Karyn Lambert’s signature in the corner.

      There were no photographs of any kind, not of people or places or events, which he found odd. Most women displayed pictures.

      After a while a door clicked open. Karyn came into the living room, her eyes still damp. She was an attractive woman, not Hollywood-slim but nicely curved, more girl next door. Her height was a mystery because she was wearing very high heels. He’d noted her sexy walk all day as he’d followed her.

      “I’m sorry,” she said.

      “I knew he was a marine, but I didn’t know he’d passed away. I should’ve waited for my private investigator to dig deeper when I was given Kyle’s name. He was out of the state on a job, and I was in a hurry to get results. I—I’m sincerely sorry for how I handled this.”

      “Dig deeper for what, Mr. Ryder?” she asked.

      “Vaughn, please. Ms. Lambert, I believe your brother may have fathered a child with Ginger Donohue six years ago.”

      She dropped onto the sofa, her eyes wide. “Kyle has a child? A piece of him is still here?”

      “It’s a possibility. Since we can’t do paternity testing with your brother, we can do relationship testing with you.”

      “I’m an aunt? Please tell me about— What’s the child’s name?”

      “Cassidy.” He pulled out his cell phone and brought up a photo.

      “Oh.” Karyn ran her fingers over the screen, tears pooling in her eyes again. “She’s so beautiful.”

      “Yes.”

      “She kinda looks like Kyle.”

      And you, he thought. “Does the name Ginger Donohue ring a bell, Ms. Lambert?”

      She shook her head. “I don’t understand. Cassidy is six? Why would this woman wait so long to come forward?”

      “Are you sure your brother didn’t know?” Vaughn asked.

      “I’m positive. He would’ve been there for his daughter, no doubt about it.”

      “I don’t know why Ginger didn’t tell Kyle, since obviously he was alive for the first three years of Cassidy’s life.”

      “So, something changed. Is it money? I was the beneficiary of Kyle’s death benefits, and I haven’t spent much of it. It should go to his daughter—”

      Vaughn stopped her with a gesture. “Ginger walked out of Cassidy’s life two years ago.”

      Karyn leaned back abruptly, staring at him but her gaze not really connecting, then a slow dawning of excitement came over her.

      “When do I get to pick her up?” She looked around her space. “I’ll need a bigger place. Near a park. I’ll have to check out schools.” She smiled and looked directly at Vaughn. “Where is she now? When do I get her?”

      He ignored her bubble of happiness. He had to. “If the testing confirms she’s Kyle’s daughter, you’ll meet her, of course, and be part of her life. But, Ms. Lambert, she won’t be living with you. I’ve been her father since the day she was born. I’m not giving her up.”

      Chapter Two

      “You’ve been her...father?” Karyn shook her head, confused. “I don’t— Did you know she wasn’t yours?”

      He nodded. “Ginger was pregnant when we met, but we didn’t get married until Cassidy was a month old. The birth certificate lists the father as unknown.” Vaughn walked to her front window and looked out. “I asked for years to adopt Cass, but Ginger put me off. Then she left. That’s why I started the search for the biological father. I want to legally make her mine.”

      Karyn’s mind spun as shock piled atop shock. She hardly knew what to think, except that this woman, Ginger, must be the epitome of femininity to attract both Kyle, a regular guy, and this Vaughn, who was a cut above. Apparently neither man had seen her for her true self.

      “We ran into a lot of dead ends because so many years had elapsed,” Vaughn said, his back still turned to Karyn. “An old roommate of Ginger’s provided the name Kyle Lambert as a possibility. After that it was a matter of connecting the dots, but I’m still not sure it’s your brother. We had a name. There are others of the same name and age around the country. Do you know if he lived in San Francisco seven years ago?”

      “No, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t visit.”

      Vaughn came back and sat down, resting his arms on his thighs and focusing on Karyn again. “I’m sorry for the pain this is causing you, reliving your brother’s death.”

      “It’s never far from my mind, but now there’s joy, too, if Cassidy is his child.” She touched his arm. “I can see this is hard for you, too.”

      “Harder for Cassidy. She was old enough to feel the abandonment but without any context to understand it. She used to ask about her mother, but it’s rare now. I have no good explanation to give her anyway. We just carry on. Fortunately, I have a big, generous family. She’s well loved.”

      Karyn believed him. But now that the shock was abating, a hunger to know Kyle’s child took precedence. “I haven’t had dinner yet,” she said. “Would you like to join me?” She needed to do something normal—heat up a can of soup or leftover pizza, which was all she had on hand. They could talk more while they ate.

      “I have a flight to catch. I’m already cutting it close.” He opened his briefcase then passed her a tube containing a swab. “You just scrape the inside of your cheeks,” he said, gesturing.

      She eyed the item. “What about chain of custody?”

      His brows went up. “Pardon?”

      “One of my clients is a regular on Crime and Punishment, so I watch it every week.”

      He smiled, which had been her goal. “You’re an expert then.”

      “Absolutely. I know the way this is supposed to be done. The specimen should be collected by a neutral third party, like at a lab.”

      “I can arrange for that, although this would be a civil case, not criminal, so the same rules don’t apply.” He sat back, more relaxed than he’d been earlier. “I’ll make a deal with you. If it comes back negative for Kyle as the father, we can redo it through every legal step.”

      She thought СКАЧАТЬ