Instant Daddy. Carol Voss

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СКАЧАТЬ 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 Clarissa 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.

      Jessie thought about the look on Dr. Sheridan’s face when he’d reached out to touch Jake. About the intensity in his tone when he’d insisted Clarissa had no right to give Jake away. She swiped at tears clouding her vision. “I don’t know. But he can’t have Jake. You have to help me. I’ll do whatever I need to do.”

      “Are you convinced the guy is Jake’s dad?”

      She’d give anything to be able to say no. Promise anything if God would just make the man go away like none of this was happening. But she knew things didn’t work that way. “Yes. I believe he is Jake’s father.”

      “Then try to find a compromise to keep him from taking you to court.”

      “Compromise?” She shook her head. “I’ll never compromise where Jake is concerned.”

      “Wouldn’t a compromise be better than losing him?”

      She drew a sharp breath.

      “It could happen, Jess.”

      “Doesn’t it matter that Jake’s mother didn’t want the father to know? That she wanted me to raise him?”

      “It’s a factor in your favor. So are the adoption papers. But…I know Jake means the world to you. I don’t advise you to risk it.” Will handed the file folder to her. “Is the guy married?”

      “I don’t think so. He doesn’t wear a ring anyway.”

      “Does he know anything about raising kids?”

      “I don’t know that, either.” She put the folder back in the safe, fumbled to lock it, then dropped her keys in her purse.

      Will rubbed the back of his neck. “The thought of being a single dad would scare me to death. Watching all you do with Jake, I can see I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to take care of a kid.”

      Her mind seized on Will’s words. If Dr. Sheridan was single…did he know what being a single father would involve? If he knew, would he be afraid of taking it on like Will was?

      “Jess.” Lisa held the curtain divider aside. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but a tall, good-looking guy in a suit insists on seeing you. And he’s not a patient man.”

      Chapter Three

      Feeling more in charge of things, Peter brushed rain off his shoulders, the succulent aroma of roasting meat and mouth-watering sweets in Jessie’s Main Street Diner reminding him he hadn’t eaten lunch. He ignored the din of diners eating at the busy counter and gave a curt nod to the tall, unfriendly looking guy emerging through the colorful curtain, cup of coffee in hand. A relative? A boyfriend? Was Jessie circling the wagons already?

      Well, gentle and vulnerable or not, let her try to stop him from seeing his son and he’d straighten her out in a hurry. He’d called his attorney, who had assured him that he did, indeed, have responsibilities and rights if he was the boy’s father, and his rights could even trump hers in a court of law if Peter decided to take it that far.

      Strange. He was too absorbed in his research to think he’d ever get married, let alone have a kid. Finding out he had one was shocking, amazing and overwhelming. But he had to admit, the idea was beginning to grow on him.

      Deep inside, he was convinced the boy was his. But that hadn’t stopped him from picking up DNA kits at the local drugstore. A few quick cheek swabs would prevent future questions…his or anybody else’s.

      Clutching the drugstore bag, he ducked into the back room. His glance took in stoves, refrigerators and a huge sink. A long counter held baking paraphernalia, and shelves stacked with boxes lined one wall.

      Jessie stood in the middle of the room, her blue eyes snapping with challenge, her slender body tense and skittish as a filly about to bolt.

      He had the unmistakable urge to gentle her. A pretty outrageous thought from a guy who’d never had time for a serious relationship.

      “Pedo.”

      Peter grinned, amazed the little fella remembered his name. His gaze swept to the boy standing at a low table in a fenced-off corner filled with toys. The toddler was dwarfed by a mural on the wall above him of a blue train with an impish smile. “How’s it going, Jacob?”

      The little guy pointed to himself. “Jake.”

      “Jake? Then Jake it is.”

      “Tomut.” The boy held up a small toy for Peter to admire.

      Peter took a step closer.

      Jessie shot between them, eyes flashing. “What do you want?” She stared at the bag in his hand.

      He raked his hand through his thick, short hair and decided to lay it on the line. “I need a cheek swab from each of you for DNA testing.”

      “DNA testing?”

      “You and Clarissa were identical twins, so you have the same DNA. A sample from you will strengthen the DNA СКАЧАТЬ