“It probably isn’t fashionable to blurt one’s feelings,” he began.
“Fashionable?”
“It’s uncool.”
“What one feels doesn’t have to be cool if it’s honest,” she said.
“Why do I think you’re mocking me?”
She smiled against his cheek. “Continue, Counselor.”
“We’ve found something good here,” he said. “I don’t want it to end when we go back to Portland.”
She raised her head and looked at him, her hair a tangle over one cheek, her hazel eyes a tawny brown in the darkness. “It was good,” she agreed hesitantly.
He sat up quickly, taking her with him until they sat facing each other. “Not just the sex,” he added, realizing how she must have taken his words. “That was great, fantastic. But I mean the connection we have here.”
She smiled her understanding then. “I don’t want that to end, either.”
“We can work around our families,” he said. “And with them.”
“Okay.”
“And jobs, too,” he added. “We both have demanding careers. But it’s possible. Right?”
“Yes.”
Justin sounded so hopeful, so positive that Meredith allowed herself to believe it could be the way he said. He was a sincere and forthright person. If he said they would make it work, then they would. There was nothing she needed or wanted more at this point.
He extended a finger and ran it across her collarbone, gazed into her eyes. “You’re beautiful, Meredith.”
The nagging thought of the controversy her relationship with Justin would cause her family dimmed her joy. Her mother was incapable of accepting her right to her own life or her own choices. It had grown more and more apparent that Meredith would have to cut her ties in order to keep her sanity and her self-respect. The fact would slice her to ribbons inside if she didn’t let it go, if she didn’t acknowledge that her mother’s attitude wasn’t her fault or responsibility.
In all likelihood the woman would never approve. If Veronica found Anna—a sweet, precious, innocent baby—intolerable, a full-grown African-American male would be her undoing. As much as it hurt, Meredith had to get past expecting her mother’s favor.
She clung to the knowledge that Chaney would be happy for her and her father would be accepting.
Meredith would have to tell Justin about her mother’s prejudice. But there was time for that. For now the rest of the world was on hold—and best left that way.
Life would intrude soon enough.
Justin was awakened by the boys wrestling on the other side of his bed the following morning. He cracked open an eye and peered at the clock, then at the two of them. No wonder they were awake and raring to go; it was nearly nine. He hadn’t slept this late in eons.
Wearing Spider-Man pajamas, Lamond bounced on the mattress. “Take this, you evil warlord,” he said in a childishly deep imitation of a cartoon hero. He lunged toward Jonah, and the tussling duo landed on Justin’s belly.
“Oomph!” He shot up, snaring them both around the shoulders and dragging them back against his chest where he squeezed them.
Squeals and cries erupted and another fight ensued.
Two energetic boys were more than an adequate match for a man exhausted from a night of physical activity and little sleep, so he surrendered and let them bury him under a mound of pillows and blankets.
Eventually he pushed himself up and stumbled toward the bathroom in his boxers. “I’m going to shower. Try to defeat the enemy quietly until I get back.”
“What are we gonna do today, Dad?” Jonah called.
“We’ll figure that out after I’ve had a cup of coffee.”
After a refreshing shower and his first cup of coffee, his mind had cleared and he discussed options for the day with his sons. They had just decided on activities when his cell phone rang.
Justin picked up the phone from the night table, absently thinking he needed to charge it, and noted Terrence Logan’s office number on the caller ID. Business. “Justin Weber,” he answered automatically, thinking it was Terrence’s secretary.
“Hello, Justin,” Terrence said. “Is your vacation going well?”
An erotic vision of the previous night immediately registered in his sluggish brain. “Extremely well, thanks. How are things in Portland?”
“We’ve got some problems.”
Justin’s instincts were alerted. “What problems?”
“There’s a situation here.” He explained that a nurse’s suspicions had proven valid and that the FBI had been called in to investigate a black-market baby ring operating out of Portland General and Children’s Connection.
Stunned, Justin absorbed the information, his mind already working over ways to keep the media out of it. “Don’t talk to the investigators without me present,” he told his longtime friend. “They can reach me at this number if they need a contact person. And don’t let anyone say a word outside that room. I’ll handle the press releases.”
“There’s probably nothing that can’t wait until you’re back,” Terrence assured him. “I told the board you’d already postponed your vacation once and that I didn’t expect you to cut it short.”
“Thanks. I can probably start the ball rolling from here and follow up when I get back. Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle everything.”
Silence ensued for a tense moment. Justin’s sensors went on alert.
“That’s not all,” Terrence said finally, regret lacing his tone.
“What else?”
“It’s the situation with the Malone woman. The board is pressing for some concrete decisions.”
Justin recalled the reference to a clinic case he’d glanced at and passed over to his assistant to research. “We held off to give her privacy,” Justin said. “At the time I thwarted the press. Has something leaked since?”
“No. But the board is insisting that you meet with her and her attorney and work out a settlement if there’s going to be one.”
“I can do that as soon as I get back.”
“Maybe you can do it even sooner.”
“What do you mean? Something like that can’t be done over the phone.”
“No, it can’t.” Terrence paused again and Justin got an uncomfortable knot in his stomach. It wasn’t like Terrence Logan to be cryptic. “It was suggested that we offer her some time away to think and bond with her baby.”
Justin was listening. In the background the boys had turned on the television and battle sounds erupted. “I guess that couldn’t hurt.”
“Well, it’s done. The chairwoman offered her a suite for a couple of weeks.”
A nagging discomfort crept along Justin’s spine and his face felt numb. “When was this?”
“Last week. She’s there now.”
“There where?”
“At the inn.”
Twelve
The horrible realization caught him full force. “Malone.” He’d always heard the case referred to as “the Malone woman.” “What’s her first name?”
Papers rustled on the other end of the line. “Meredith.”
Justin’s scalp prickled. Dread engulfed his senses. How stupid could he have been? A white woman inseminated with the wrong sperm. A young woman with a half-black baby.
“Could you talk to her, Justin?”
Talk to her.
Talk to her?
Talk to her! Oh, he’d done more than talk to Meredith Malone.
“There’s a fear here that she’s going to sue the clinic and expose the error,” Terrence continued. “That, combined with this kidnapping thing, could ruin us.”
She’d sue for a hell of a lot more than a sperm mix-up if she thought Justin had come on to her with an ulterior motive. Talk about a conflict of interests! “I’m not in a good position here, buddy,” he said when he found his voice. He gripped the back of his neck in a gesture of frustration and felt the tension knotting his muscles. “Holy— This is not good.�
�
“What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” He clenched his fist and struck the side of his palm against the window casing.
“Justin?”
His memory rolled back over Meredith’s reactions to people looking at them in restaurants. She’d never had the African-American lover he’d imagined. She’d come by her mixed-race baby by accident. An accident made by a clinic for which he was legal counsel. How could he have never registered her first name?
Was he so busy and legal-minded that the people involved in his workload were merely case numbers and statistics? The Malone woman. A problem that needed taking care of.
The Malone woman. A soft, vulnerable, courageous person who had survived breast cancer, as well as a man dumping her. “She had breast cancer,” he said aloud.
Paper rustled again. “That’s not in this file. Her medical records are private anyway, so how did you know?”
“Her fiancé dumped her.”
“Oh.”
“She chose to have the child on her own.”
“You know a lot about her.”
“Apparently not enough.”
“Justin, what’s wrong? Have you seen her there? Can you talk to her?”
“Oh, I’m going to be doing a lot of talking,” he replied.
“I’m getting the impression that you’ve already met her and you don’t want to do this. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Justin opened his mouth and shut it quickly. Panic rose in his chest and his heart raced.
Terrence said something under his breath, but Justin made out the curse word he himself had been biting back because his kids were within earshot. Anger rose up. The board had known that the two of them would come in contact at the inn.
“You helped set this up?” he asked.
“I didn’t stop it,” Terrence admitted. “The board was gung ho on the plan, and I guess I figured no harm could come if the two of you ran into each other. I’m sorry, Justin, because now it seems underhanded.”
“I can’t talk about this right now,” Justin said finally. “I’m going to need some time to think.”
“Keep in mind that the board’s restless. They want this thing confronted and settled.”
“Of course I want what’s best for the clinic,” he said. “But this is my life being screwed with.”
“You’ll get back to me.”
“Yes.” Justin turned off his phone and stared out the window at the gray morning fog over the ocean. The coffee in his belly had turned to acid and burned like fire.
Terrence Logan had been his friend for years.
He’d just met Meredith Malone.
The Children’s Connection was his source of income and his number-one priority. It provided a hell of a living for his family.
She was in his blood. God help him.
There was no reason on earth that Mauli or Jonah or Lamond would understand not including Meredith in their plans for the day. There was no reason Meredith would understand either. So it was with dread and guilt that Justin picked up the phone and called her room.
“Good morning,” she replied, and her voice stirred up memories of heated kisses and entwined limbs.
“Morning,” he greeted her.
“Did you sleep well?” she asked with a smile in her voice.
“What little I slept.”
“I know of a good herbalist if you’re having trouble sleeping. She’ll suggest something helpful.”
Her teasing made him feel worse, but he didn’t want her to think he wasn’t every bit as interested today as he’d been the night before. “I think the only thing she could suggest would be that I stay in my own room.”
“How much fun would that be?”
He closed his eyes and pictured her. The image hurt. “How does the wax museum sound? The boys want to see it. And there’s still an operating lighthouse I want to check out. Then tonight I thought we could have a campfire on the beach.”
“Sounds great.”
“I don’t want to monopolize all your time if you have shopping you want to do or just need time alone.”
“I’d be pleased to join you, and I appreciate you including me.”
“Good. About forty-five minutes okay?”
“I’ll be in the lobby.”
Meredith hung up and glanced outdoors where the sky and the beach looked cool and gray. She dressed accordingly in slim jeans and got out her denim jacket. She fed Anna and dressed her in a one-piece outfit with feet and long sleeves. She packed her bag, brushed out her hair, leaving it loose, and carried Anna to the lobby.
The boys rushed up to greet her and Meredith lowered the baby so they could talk to her. Anna had a broad toothless smile for her new friends.
Justin stood to the side and she met his eyes. He gave her a smile and her insides jumped. She had it bad for this guy.
When neither she nor Justin moved, Mauli took the initiative to lead the small gathering out of doors.
The wax museum was a half-hour drive, and Mauli entertained the boys with a traveling game of I Spy. Meredith wished she had the freedom to scoot closer to Justin, lean against him or just touch him. She was an admittedly insecure creature and wanted to reassure herself that they were okay.
As though he understood or felt the same, he rested his hand between them on the seat and glanced at her.
When she reached over, he clasped her hand in his strong, warm grip, a touch that confirmed his feelings for her without words. A couple of times she caught him looking at her with an unexplainable look of concern, but then he’d say or do something to make her think she’d imagined it.
The farther they drove from the beach, the brighter the sky became. Before they got out of the SUV, Justin grabbed a camera and hung the strap around his neck.
The boys were delighted with the contemporary figures in wax. Mauli liked the presidents, and Justin took Meredith’s picture with Anna and Elvis. He bought a fistful of postcards and in the car Mauli helped the boys write notes to their grandparents.
“Want one?” he asked her. “There are stamps in my planner.”
She accepted the glossy picture of John Wayne and turned it over. She should send a card to her folks so that her dad would know she’d thought of him, but she wasn’t due home for another week and she didn’t want Veronica to know her whereabouts before then.
Instead she scribbled a note to Chaney. She would probably talk to her later today. What would she tell her friend about her situation? They were always open with each other. She didn’t have anything to hide, but Justin was so new and their relationship so delectably fresh that she wanted to keep him to herself just a little longer. Was that foolish?
The sky and the ocean were painfully bright now that the fog had lifted. They removed their jackets and donned their sunglasses. Justin stopped at a lighthouse and they took a tour, then found an old-time soda fountain for lunch. Meredith insisted on paying for their meals, and he begrudgingly accepted.
She sat in the vehicle and fed Anna while the rest of them walked along a pier and investigated a few shops. When they returned, Lamond gleefully handed her a small square box with a silver sticker indicating the shop’s name on top. “We got ya somethin’.”
She looked at it with surprise. “A gift for me?”
Jonah stood beside his brother in the opening of the car door. “Dad says it’s good for us to be generous and not always want stuff for ourselves.”
“Well, that’s true,” she said, lifting the lid with a smile. Inside on a bed of velvet was a bracelet of ocean-blue stone and sterling-silver beads with a dangling heart at the clasp. She’d seen similar hand-made jewelry in many of the shops and knew the pieces didn’t come cheap.
Mauli had come up to stand beside the boys, and Justin towered over them. “Let me help you put it on,” Mauli said.
While the nanny worked the clasp, Meredith met Justin’s eyes and for the briefest moment thought she recognized anxiety. But then he gave her a lopsi
ded and uncertain smile as though wondering how she was receiving the offering. Too much too soon? she wondered, then scoffed at herself, considering what they’d already shared.
She looked at the stunning bracelet on her wrist, then at the family waiting for her reaction. “It’s the very one I would have selected for myself,” she said earnestly. “It’s lovely and it means a lot to me that you chose it for me.”
“We picked it out together,” Lamond said proudly.
“Thank you.”
The boys grinned, Mauli glanced up at her employer and Justin simply nodded and ushered his boys into the vehicle.
Meredith handed Anna back to Mauli, who got her situated in her seat, and the afternoon was back under way.
“I need a couple of hours’ rest,” Justin admitted as they neared the inn. “Will you meet us on the beach around six?”
“Sure.”
“We’ll build a fire and have food, so bring your appetite.”
“Not a problem.”
Mauli led the boys across the lobby and out of sight. Justin, who had been carrying Anna, handed the infant to her mother. “I’ll see you shortly.”
She nodded and their gazes locked. She involuntarily dropped her gaze to his lips. He glanced over her shoulder. Then without further hesitation he bent and pressed a kiss on her mouth.
Thirteen
Meredith strolled to her room and let herself in, dropping her things on the nearby sofa and placing Anna in the crib to stretch out and entertain herself for a while. After her confinement in the car seat Anna seemed to like the freedom to kick and gurgled happily.
When her phone rang, Meredith answered it to hear her family-planning counselor’s voice. “The paperwork substantiates that your eggs were used, Meredith. Of course there is one positive proof if you want it.”
“DNA testing?”
“Exactly.”
“I do,” Meredith answered without hesitation.
“No problem. You and Anna can stop in at the clinic and we’ll have a kit ready.”
Child of Her Heart Page 9
