The Baby Claim

by Catherine Mann

  “I remember when she died. The community was rocked by her death and your sister’s. We all saw your father’s grief.” Glenna’s lips formed a tight smile, and her heart was heavy with an acknowledgment of his suffering.

  “You were at the funeral?” Silence fell for a moment, and even in the muted light, Glenna noted the lump is his throat. He swallowed hard, shaking his head. “I don’t remember that day.”

  Her fingertips found his muscled arm. “We were there. My whole family.”

  “Thank you. I know your parents were considered a great romance, as well.” He opened his hand and she slid her palm into his. Warmth and serenity seemed to emanate from him.

  “I guess we both imagined our parents would stay single forever.”

  “The way you plan to stay single.”

  She avoided his searching gaze by looking toward the fire. “Work and family fill my life.”

  “Yet you are prepared to parent Fleur.” He angled forward, examining their hands. He brought her knuckles to his lips, planted a soft kiss on them. Butterflies tickled her spine. He pressed on after a pause. “You have to realize that no matter whose child Fleur turns out to be, she’s another symbol that our families need to unite.”

  “I want to raise her, regardless. You have to know that.” She squeezed his hand before dropping it, coiling back into herself.

  An exasperated sigh pushed out of his mouth with a hissing sound. “Then let me help you. You can be her mother no matter the outcome. We can parent her together.”

  He sounded so urgent. Yes, Glenna’s past had made it difficult to trust, making it nearly impossible to believe his motives were pure. “Are you actually using that innocent baby to get me to give up my job with the company so you have a clear shot at CFO for the combined corporation?”

  “No,” he said, almost too emphatically. “Of course not. I’m just tossing options out there for us to discuss.”

  Ah, right. Options.

  Which meant changes for her.

  She shot up, headed back to the counter and the abandoned tiramisu. She shoveled a bite into her mouth, a poor substitute for all the things she hungered for in life right now. “Why don’t you spell out these ‘options’ a little more clearly.”

  “You can consult, be the epitome of the working mom, have it all.”

  Ah, there it was. The catch. Disappointment filled her, over a hope she’d only just begun to embrace. “Why is this job so important to you?”

  “Why is it important to you?” He matched her fiery tone with his own.

  “It’s my family’s business. My legacy.” Her work identity and her role in the family were integral to her self-concept, providing a rock to build on after her husband’s cheating and then, later, his death. “There’s your answer. Why should it be any different for a man than a woman?”

  “How long have you been working for the company?”

  “Are you going to dare say that because I’m a woman and was trying to start a family I care less somehow? Because if you go down that path...” Pacing restlessly, Glenna became mercury rising, fury mounting as her voice rose an octave.

  He held up a hand, his eyes brokering for peace. “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Are you sure? Because I’m not. If you find out you’re Fleur’s father, will you cut down your hours to work part-time?” She read his face, then her brows rose in bittersweet victory. “I thought not.”

  He began to speak, but stopped, his gaze pushing past her, above her. Growing...softer as he focused on the skylight. Following his glance, she found herself settled by the bit of northern lights visible. Blues, purples and pinks streaking across the sky in a shimmering nimbus. For a moment, the fight left the room. Or at least went on pause.

  She nibbled her bottom lip. “I never get tired of seeing this.”

  “Me, either. My sister says this is why it’s so important we’re careful about the pipeline.” Alaska’s unearthly beauty never grew old for him.

  “She’s right. Our state, this place, is a treasure to protect. The Dakotas, too.” Glenna couldn’t keep the regret from her voice as she asked, “How can we have so much in common and be so far apart at the same time?”

  “We don’t have to be far apart.” He said it quietly, without fuss or his usual hustling pressure. Genuine. Earnest.

  Maybe he was right. Perhaps her own stubbornness wasn’t that different from his. Without compromise they would never run the company or parent well. With so much at stake, she needed to take a step toward trust.

  Her heart sped up ten beats faster than normal.

  Leap.

  It wasn’t her normal policy, but it felt right. Leaning back on the countertop, she felt the words in her heart before they came out of her mouth. “Okay,” she answered before she could second-guess herself. “Let’s be a real couple.”

  Broderick’s face twisted in surprise. He blinked. Once. Twice. As if blinking replied to her words. She saw his disbelief fade, traded for happiness. And yes, she saw victory in his expression, too.

  “Really? Wait, don’t answer that. I don’t want you changing your mind.”

  In a moment, he had closed the distance between them. Strong arms found her waist, lifted her up. They spun, her head back in a wicked laugh, hair fanning around her.

  Broderick brought her back down. Kissed her deeply, his hand cradling the back of her neck.

  Anticipation pulsated between them.

  A sharp ping burst into the air.

  Then another.

  Broderick’s ring tone.

  He set her down, grabbed the phone off the counter. Moments that felt like hours passed as Glenna watched him take the call.

  “Yes. Okay. I understand. We’ll be there.” An abrupt conversation. Everything about his features changed as he hung up.

  “There’s news. Good news and, um, I-don’t-know news.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” she asked in frustration.

  “Good news? The authorities have found Deborah and she’s continuing to assert she wants to sign over her legal rights to the family of Fleur’s father.”

  Relief and trepidation warred in Glenna’s stomach. “And the other news?”

  “The DNA test is back. Except the lab won’t reveal the results to anyone except Fleur’s family. They’re asking us both to come in, but they won’t say which of us they wish to speak to.”

  Just like that, Glenna knew this moment would change everything. They wouldn’t have the opportunity to start a relationship on even footing, where neither of them knew who had parental rights to Fleur.

  The scales were going to shift.

  * * *

  The next several hours blurred. She barely registered the too-bright light of the waiting room or how uncomfortable her green chair was.

  They’d packed up everything and made it back to Anchorage in record time, with little conversation beyond the practical words needed to move things forward. For the past half hour, they’d been outside the doctor’s office. Waiting.

  Her stomach somersaulted, revolting against her.

  Broderick paced with baby Fleur. Had it really only been a few days ago that holding her had seemed to scare him to bits? Now he looked as though they’d been together since birth. Fleur rested comfortably in his arms. While that should have reassured some part of Glenna, her heart hurt.

  They’d both told their respective families they didn’t need support here today. This was a matter they could handle alone. But Glenna’s sister-in-law, Shana, saw through that line and made sure to be in the doctor’s waiting room, anyway.

  Glancing down the hallway, Glenna watched the doctor talk on his phone. Torture. The information was so close to being revealed. So close to changing their lives.

  Putting her hands in her lap, Glenna took a deep breath, trying to foc
us on that simple action.

  Shana stroked Glenna’s back, reassuring as ever.

  In these moments, the world seemed so clear. Hindsight being twenty-twenty and all. Why didn’t she delay the results? Why didn’t she ask for that?

  She wasn’t ready to know the truth. Not really. A lump pushed into her throat.

  Except she knew why they had come straightaway. She and Broderick had both rushed here. Once those results were in, they’d needed to get back to Anchorage as quickly as possible, for Fleur’s sake. They couldn’t risk even the slightest delay that could cause a hiccup in custody. Even with Deborah Wilson’s signed statement surrendering rights to the baby, so much could go haywire. Fleur had to be the number one priority.

  Which meant Glenna should have accepted his offer to start something real between them sooner. Any relationship—if it was still going to happen—would come second to fighting for custody of Fleur.

  It had been a long, quiet flight home.

  Images of what could have been her future sucker punched Glenna.

  Shana’s low, honeyed voice cut into her thoughts. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

  Blinking, Glenna sat up straight. “Of course. I have to be.”

  It was a lie and the words tasted like ashes in her mouth.

  “For the baby or for the business?” Shana scrunched her nose, looking at Glenna sidelong.

  “Both, of course. They’re tied together because it’s all about the future of our family.”

  “I hear you.” Shana shook her head, cutting to the quick of the matter. “But that’s still not my question. Are you going to be okay if you have to let the baby go?” She never pulled punches with Glenna. Always said what was needed, even if her words were difficult to confront.

  “I have to be.”

  “Even if Broderick is the baby’s father?”

  Another question Glenna couldn’t answer. She wasn’t even sure if her answer mattered or not. But however this turned out...it would be difficult. Painful as hell, actually. Because, oh God, she wanted this baby to be hers. And even as she thought that, fast on the heels of that possibility was the reminder that becoming Fleur’s mother meant she would have to face what a sham her marriage had been. Face the fact that Gage had broken his promises after the tremendous effort it had taken to repair their marriage after his first infidelity.

  Or had it been his first?

  Glenna swallowed down bile.

  “Thank you for your concern. But I can’t worry about what I can’t control.” If the baby was Broderick’s, then would she always wonder if he’d asked her to play house with him just so she could be a surrogate caregiver? An easy two-for-one option that would take care of his child and streamline matters at work?

  As much as she wanted to pour out her fears to Shana, she couldn’t bring herself to say the words out loud for fear she would fall apart.

  “You keep talking about the practical concerns, but there’s so much more going on here than that. I can see it in your eyes.” Shana rested a hand on Glenna’s arm and squeezed lightly. “Honey, I can’t help but worry you’re going to get hurt.”

  Glenna felt transparent. So she pushed back, injecting ink into the situation.

  “My heart is closed up tight.” Her fist clenched involuntarily.

  “Ah, honey, take care of yourself.” Her sister-in-law slid an arm around Glenna’s shoulders and hugged her close for a moment. “You know I love you as much as any sister. No in-law part to it.”

  For a moment, all Glenna could do was nod before speaking. “I know, and I feel the same.”

  “Good, very good.” Shana hugged her tight and said with a catch in her voice, “Call me if you need me.”

  “In a heartbeat.” Glenna hugged back before easing away. She hesitated, something keeping her from ending the conversation, after all. “And you? How are things? Are you all right?”

  “Fine. Just tired... And no,” Shana said with a sad smile. “I’m not pregnant. Definitely not.”

  “I’m sorry.” She knew they’d been trying for so long and understood the heartache of infertility all too well. There were no words to make it easier. There was no “right” thing to say.

  “Thank you for not telling me ‘It will happen.’ I’m really tired of that.” A forced smile pressed her lips tight—

  A receptionist in a bright pink dress walked out, clipboard in hand. Pushing a piece of mahogany hair behind her ear, the woman cleared her throat.

  The name she was about to call would be Fleur’s parent.

  The moment seemed to last forever, tension building like a terrible storm. Glenna’s breath caught in her throat as she waited.

  “Glenna Mikkelson-Powers, the doctor will see you now.”

  Her stomach lurched with the reality that Fleur was her baby. Her dead husband’s child.

  Her hand trembled as she pressed it to her lips, as if somehow that could hold back the reality. “Gage,” she said in a tortured whisper. “Gage is Fleur’s father.”

  So many thoughts jumbled on top of each other—especially the realization that Gage had cheated again in spite of his vow. He’d betrayed her. Once more.

  Eyes flicking to Broderick, she took in his features and the pain there, as well. A wave seemed to knock into him, pushing against him with force. Heartache twisted his normally handsome features, made him clench his jaw.

  He’d been hoping Fleur was his.

  In that instant, Glenna realized how much he cared about the baby, enough to offer a relationship to a woman he didn’t love. Even though he was hurting, she realized that now his need to have Glenna as the baby’s mother was gone.

  Her chance to have something real with Broderick had ended.

  Because even if he still wanted to take that leap for himself or family unity, her dead husband was Fleur’s father.

  And Glenna’s already fragile ability to trust had just taken a fatal hit.

  Twelve

  Jeannie sagged back against the hospital vending machine, cradling a cup of coffee. Needing the caffeine, the warmth. And knowing it wouldn’t come close to heating the chill inside her while she waited for Glenna to finish her meeting with the doctors. Broderick had left, his face stormy.

  How would this family ever heal now? She hadn’t even told them about her breakup with Jack. So much had been going on with the baby. Plus, she and Jack needed to talk practically about the merger plans that had already started...

  Such a tangle.

  Her heart ached for all of them. Her daughter’s husband had cheated. God, that was such a betrayal, and there was no recourse to fix things since he was dead. This situation would have been so much easier if Broderick had been the father.

  But he wasn’t. And they had to deal with that.

  The child was a part of their family.

  Her family.

  But Jack’s?

  Broderick said he still loved the child, but she and Jack had split and life was such a mess. She’d thought her heart couldn’t hurt this much again.

  She was wrong.

  Heavy footfalls pulled her from her thoughts, familiar steps, steady and sure. Jack’s. Her eyes closed as she drew in the scent of him and waited for him to speak.

  “Jeannie, we need to talk.”

  Biting her bottom lip, she glanced down the hall toward the doctor’s office. “Glenna—”

  Jack held out her coat. “Her siblings are waiting. I told them to call you the minute she’s done. Let’s walk, outside. Please. I may be a businessman, but my thoughts work better out in the open. In my Alaska.”

  As much as she wanted to challenge him for taking over, she also saw the heartbreak in his eyes. She dropped her coffee into the trash and slid her arms into her parka. “How did you know I was feeling restless and in need of a walk?”


  “It was a guess,” he said, as he led her toward the small courtyard, with a path and benches cleared of snow. “We share so much in common with how we embrace this home of ours. Am I wrong?”

  “Of course you’re not,” she answered as the doors closed behind them. A brisk wind churned flurries and she shivered.

  “You don’t have to make that sound like a bad thing.” He looped an arm around her and pulled her to his side, warming her through and through. “I happen to think it’s very good. I like who you are—a boardroom goddess and an earthy woman all at once.”

  “Things haven’t changed for the better with the news today. If anything, they’ve gotten more complicated.” She’d missed talking to him, working problems through. She valued his feedback, as she knew he valued hers.

  Had she been wrong to break things off between them? Even now, it seemed impossible to pull away from the warmth of his touch. The comfort of his embrace. How had she walked away from him the first time?

  “I suspect that will be the case more times than we can count. Yes, things are complicated for us. But there’s only one way around those problems.”

  She glanced up at him, his wind-ruddied face so handsome her teeth hurt. “What way would that be?”

  He stopped and clasped her shoulders. “Together.”

  Her heart swelled to hear those words and she knew she had to pull back before she caved.

  “Jack—”

  “Jeannie, hold on. Listen, please. I’m not dismissing your concerns. God knows, the thought of having one of my kids walk away forever scares the hell out of me.” His exhalation was full of emotion, swirling between them in a white cloud. “I know they’re as stubborn as their old man. But I also know they’re the amazing people they are, in great part, because Mary and I didn’t compromise our principles. I suspect the same was true with how you brought up your brood.”

  She nodded, unable to deny it. And also unable to deny how much sense he was making. Could she trust him to put her fears to rest?

  “Then you know, my dear, if you love me even half as much as I love you, we have to stay the course.” He brushed a snowflake from her nose, then stroked her cheek, his gloves scratchy, but his touch gentle. “I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I believe you feel the same. You love me so much you were willing to give me up because in some convoluted way you thought that would make me happier.”