Bachelor Father

by Jean C. Gordon

  Tina gave her a questioning look.

  “Since Brett doesn’t have legal custody, he’s not supposed to take Jake out of the tri-county area without notifying me or Thayer House. If he has, Brett could be charged with kidnapping Jake. And it’s all my fault.” Molly buried her face in her hands. “Brett has to have Jake back before Monday. He has to.”

  “Couldn’t you talk with Charles and work something out to cover until Brett gets back?” Tina asked hopefully.

  Molly lifted her head and shook it slowly. “Charles has pulled me out of a lot of scrapes over the years, but I doubt he can this time. The director of adoptions and Korean Child Welfare has been following this case closely. I’d be asking Charles to put his job, his professional standing, on the line for me. I couldn’t do that.”

  “But you could risk yours for Brett,” Tina said, clearly surprised. “And here, all along, I thought you were using him. I advised him against your marriage arrangement, you know, as both his attorney and his friend.”

  “Don’t feel bad. At first, I was dead set against Brett adopting Jake. I couldn’t imagine how a footloose single guy could be good parent. Then, I realized how right they are together.” Molly’s voice broke. “How much love Brett has to give to Jake.” But not to me, she added silently, especially not now.

  Tina moved over to the couch and put her arm around Molly’s shoulder. “You love him.”

  Molly managed a fleeting smile. “Jake is quite the little charmer.”

  “No, you idiot,” Tina said, squeezing Molly’s shoulder. “You’re in love with Brett.”

  “Yes,” Molly almost shouted, crumbling under Tina’s sympathy. “I love him, and look what I’ve done to him, to Jake. Are you sure you don’t have any idea where he’s gone?” she asked desperately.”

  “No. Wait. He might have gone to his grandparents’ cabin in the Adirondacks. We used to go there summers when we were kids with Brett’s grandmother and grandfather and mother—me, and Kate, and Brett. He often goes up there when he wants to get away or needs to think.”

  “Do you have the phone number?” Molly asked eagerly.

  Tina shook her head. “It won’t help. Brett has the phone service turned off when he closes the camp for the winter.”

  “How about directions?”

  “I can get you to the lake,” Tina said. “I’m not so sure about the cabin. But Raquette Lake is a small place like New Chatham. Ask at the Post Office or the little store for directions to the Riley’s camp. Riley was Brett’s grandfather’s last name.”

  Molly clutched the directions Tina gave her and stood to leave.

  Tina followed her to the door. “Before you drive up, let me call around and see if I can find Brett.”

  “Thanks. I should have thought of that, but my thinking hasn’t been too straight lately.” Not since Brett and Jake careened into my life. She reached for the door.

  “Molly, good luck, with everything.” Tina said. “I mean it.”

  Impulsively, Molly turned and hugged Tina. The human contact felt good. “I’m afraid I’m going to need it. Call if you find out anything, no matter how late.”

  “I will.”

  The drive to Raquette Lake had been long and futile. She’d asked directions at the store and had had no trouble finding the camp. Finding Brett was another story. The cabin was locked tightly with no signs of anyone having been there in a while. Maybe Tina had been more successful, but Molly doubted it. When she spoke with her this morning before leaving, no one had seen or heard from Brett. Would he truly have run off with Jake? The boy did mean the world to him.

  As she approached the farmhouse, she looked expectantly for Brett’s Wrangler in the driveway, but it was empty, the garage door shut tightly. Wearily, she stepped from the car and headed for the house. She needed to think, to come up with some way of locating Brett, but her mind was numb. A sharp bark cleared her head for the moment. Humphrey bounded toward her. “Hey, fella.” She petted his furry head with both hands and accepted his sloppy kisses. “Where were you all night?”

  “With me.”

  Molly’s heart stopped at the sound of Brett’s voice. “You’re home.”

  “Yeah.”

  The corner of his mouth quirked in a slight grin that made her want to throw her arms around him and show him how glad she was to see him.

  “It was pretty dumb of me to run off like that.” He draped him arm around her shoulder, sending shivers through her.

  He squeezed her to him. “You’re cold. Let’s go in. You can have a cup of that awful herbal tea you’re always drinking, and we can talk.”

  What a switch from yesterday’s note telling her to leave. “You saw Tina?” Molly asked as they walked to the house.

  “Yep, she explained everything. She’s keeping Jake with Amy, so we can be alone.”

  Had his voice dropped on the word ‘alone,’ or was it her imagination? It had to be her imagination.

  Brett opened the door for her and she went into the kitchen to make her tea. “You stay there,” she said when he started to follow her from the front room. “I’ll be back in a minute.” She needed a moment to herself to still her pounding heart and prepare to say good-bye to the first real home and family she’d ever had.

  While the microwave hummed, heating her mug of water, Molly looked around the kitchen, memorizing each homey detail: the ruffled window curtains, so un-Brett-like, but so right, the discoloration in the flooring next to Humphrey’s water dish, Jake’s artwork on the refrigerator. The buzz of the microwave stopped her inventory. She removed the mug, dropped in a tea bag, and dipped it up and down. Her other hand rested on Brett’s flannel shirt draped over the back of the chair. She rubbed the well-worn softness with her thumb.

  Molly wanted to bury her face in the shirt and hide in its warmth, to capture the soft side of Brett that he kept hidden behind his hard, manly exterior. Instead, she picked up her mug and walked slowly to the other room to face him, still not prepared for the inevitable good-bye.

  Brett paced the distance from the couch to the kitchen door. What was she doing in there? Growing the tea leaves? Had his assumption that she’d given Jake to someone else and his stupidity in running off with Jake disgusted her so much she didn’t even want to talk? So, he’d overreacted. Didn’t she realize that he’d known all along she wouldn’t have referred Jake to that other couple? This was the woman he loved; the only woman he’d ever loved.

  Yeah, he’d finally admitted it to himself. Could he admit it to Molly without making a fool of himself again? He had nothing to back up his instincts that she felt the same. He reached up to push the kitchen door open. Before he could, it slowly opened.

  “I, uh, was coming to see if you needed any help,” he stammered.

  “My tea needed to steep.” She lifted her mug as proof of her delay.

  Good, she seemed as off balance as he felt. “Come on.” He took her elbow and guided her to the couch.

  Molly sat and balanced her mug on her knee. Brett sat beside her.

  “I guess your application to adopt Jake was approved.”

  “Yeah.” Brett couldn’t contain his excitement at hearing the words again. Without thinking, he grabbed her free hand and gave it a squeeze.

  She squeezed it back. “I’m so happy for you both.”

  A smile lighted her face. Gee, she was beautiful. Brett basked in her shimmering gaze for a moment before she looked down at her untouched tea. He was probably pushing his luck thinking he could have both her and Jake.

  “I’ll need a couple of days to get my things together,” she said. “But I’ll leave as soon as I can. The Reynolds have a lease on my condo until December 31, but I’m sure Charles and Linda would let me stay with them until the lease runs out.”

  “No you won’t.”

  Molly gave him a quizzical look. “Pardon.”

  “You can’t leave. You’re my wife.”

  “Yes, in name. But I thought we were agreed that I’d pe
tition for an annulment as soon as you received approval on your application.”

  He took the tea from her hand and placed it on the floor. Fighting the urge to simply kiss the uncertainty from her face, he grasped both of her hand in his. “You know, I’ve always thought of love as something that hits like a bang. But that’s not what happened when we met.”

  Brett watched in horror as a tear slipped from Molly’s eye. What had he done now? He couldn’t, wouldn’t blow this. He reached and wiped the tear with his fingertip.

  “You’ve somehow slipped quietly into my life and Jake’s.” He squeezed her hand more tightly. “You can’t leave.”

  Her green eyes shown at him, full of question. Didn’t she understand? Boy, he was messing this up. “I mean, would you consider staying?”

  “Why? To help Jake adjust to the idea of my leaving?” she asked tentatively, not daring to hope for more.

  “No,” he said with a vehemence that made Molly pull back. “Forever. I love you.” There, he’d said it. He watched her face for acceptance, rejection, and saw neither.

  “You love me?” she asked in disbelief.

  “I love you,” he repeated. “I know how you feel about Jake. I thought maybe if we stay together you could . . . you might . . . Oh, heck. Is there any chance if you stay that you could grow to love me?”

  “I thought we were just friends.”

  Just friends. Her words squeezed his heart like a vice. “I see.”

  “No, you don’t. Not at all.” she said softly. “All my life, I’ve been everyone’s pal, but not really close to anyone. Nobody but Charles has ever truly cared for me. So I’ve kept my distance from people. I tried to do that with you and Jake. I tried to keep our relationship strictly professional, but I failed. Dismally. I don’t know when I fell in love with you, but I did. I can’t think of anything in the world I’d like more than to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  She turned her face to him, her eyes affirming her words. He pulled her to him and kissed her. He’d never get enough of Molly, not in five lifetimes.

  She gently pushed him away, stood and took his hand. Her eyes sparkled with purpose. “How long did you say Tina was keeping Jake, Mr. Cahill?”

  “All night, Mrs. Cahill,” he responded, letting her lead him upstairs to his room.

  Epilogue

  The persistent sound of Brett’s soft soles slapping the polished marble floor as he paced the silent courthouse hall was about to drive Molly right up the dark wood-paneled walls. She grabbed his hand on the next pass by and pulled him to the chair beside her.

  “Relax.” She squeezed his hand and luxuriated in the tingle she got when he squeezed her hand back.

  “Yeah, I know.” Brett looked at his watch. “The judge is late.”

  Molly checked her watch and shook her head. “It’s not ten yet. Your watch must be fast. I’m sure the judge will be here any minute.”

  Brett looked at his watch again and stood, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

  He was going to start pacing again. She knew it. Molly had never seen him this antsy, even at the hospital when Jake had pneumonia and they were waiting for the pediatrician’s diagnosis.

  “The judge should be here any time,” he said, looking at the deserted stairwell as if his gaze could produce the judge. Brett started to take a step.

  Oh, no you don’t. Molly grabbed him by the back of his belt. He was going to sit still until the judge arrived if she had to sit on him to keep him in place. Her cheeks warmed at the memory of a certain evening in the front room recliner.

  Brett turned and gave her a crooked smile that showcased his dimple. He made a great display of looking up and down the empty hall. “Well, Mrs. Cahill, just what did you have in mind?”

  Her cheeks flamed. “What I have in mind is for you to relax, sit here with me, and wait patiently for the judge. Like Charles and I told you signing the final adoption papers is a formality. It’ll all be done before we know it.”

  He dropped into the hardwood chair beside her, where he stayed about 30 seconds before jumping up. “Maybe, I’d better check on Jake and Tina.”

  “Brett, they went downstairs to get Jake a drink at the water fountain. They could have stopped in the rest rooms, too. I doubt they’re lost.”

  He fidgeted between sitting and going to look for Jake and Tina.

  “Brett, sit. Here they come now.” Jake’s chatter echoed up the stairwell.

  The door to the judge’s chambers opened, and a young woman approached, her heels clicking sharply on the floor. “Mr. and Mrs. Cahill?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Brett answered.

  “Judge Barrett will see you now. Please follow me.” The woman led them all into the judge’s chambers.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Cahill, I’m Judge Robert Barrett.” A tall, distinguished-looking man whose black robes gave him an aloof appearance, the judge formally greeted Brett and Molly, shaking hands with each of them.

  “This is our attorney, Tina Putnam,” Brett said.

  Judge Barrett shook hands with Tina.

  “And you must be Jake.” The judge reached down to shake his hand.

  Taking the judge’s hand, Jake said, “We’re gonna have a baby, you know.”

  Molly fingered her cross and absently let her hand drift to the swell that the box jacket of her tailored suit couldn’t quite hide. At three-years-old, Jake had become quite the independent young man, not afraid to speak what was on his mind.

  “Is that right?”

  Molly held her breath in anticipation of what he might say next. She had visions of him describing their evening ritual of Brett’s rubbing her belly to “stir up the baby” so Jake could feel it move.

  “Yep. That’s why we gotta get this ‘doption done. So I can be the big brother. My frien’ Amy can’t be a brother ‘cause she’s a girl.

  The judge nodded solemnly. “Being a big brother is an important job. We’d better get started.” He tried to pull his hand from Jake’s grasp, but Jake wasn’t ready to let go.

  “I’m getting ‘dopted ‘cause I’m special,” Jake confided. “Amy’s not ‘dopted, an’ the baby’s not going to be ‘dopted. It’s in Mommy’s tummy.”

  Molly smiled at Judge Barrett. Much to her delight, Jake had recently given up Boo in favor of calling her Mommy. She still felt a warm sense of need every time she heard him.

  “I see.” The judge returned Molly’s smile before turning back to Jake. “Why don’t you sit here next to me while I take a look at your adoption papers?” He helped Jake into one of the library chairs that surrounded the table and motioned Molly, Brett, and Tina to take a seat.

  Tina opened her briefcase and handed the adoption agreement to the judge.

  “Everything should be in order,” she said.

  Judge Barrett spent a few minutes reviewing the documents, while Jake and Brett squirmed in their seats. Molly smiled to herself at how quickly Jake had picked up so many of Brett’s mannerisms.

  Jake broke the silence. “That’s an A,” he said, pointing a pudgy finger at the script on one of the sheets. “Me an’ Amy learned that at The Kid’s Place. That’s our school,” he added proudly.

  “Jake,” Brett whispered. “Let Judge Barrett finish reading.”

  “It’s all right Mr. Cahill. I’m finished. All I need is your signatures.” Molly and Brett signed the papers.

  “Congratulations,” Judge Barrett said. “I see you brought a camera.”

  Brett shifted nervously behind Molly. “If you don’t mind,” he started.

  Molly stepped in. “The word at Thayer House,” she said “is that you collect photos of all your adoptees.”

  “Is that right?” The twinkle in the judge’s eyes contrasted starkly with his cool demeanor. “The truth is adoptions are a nice break from my usual court schedule. I enjoy every one of them. All I ask is that you send me a photo.”

  “No problem,” Brett said.

  “Now, Jake.” Judge Barrett motioned
the child over. “Your daddy wants to take a couple pictures of you and me.” Jake looked at Brett, who nodded, then ran to the judge.

  Molly watched Brett focus the camera on Jake grinning in the judge’s arms. The baby kicked. She was truly home.

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