Had Michelle not known better, she would have thought Thad was William’s father in every sense. Which made the stakes for this hearing all the higher.
As Michelle expected, Judge Barnes didn’t waste any time getting down to the business of the hearing, once he was seated behind the bench. His penetrating stare was as no-nonsense as his close-cropped gray beard and thick, closely shorn hair. Gruffly he made himself known to all parties present, then he slid his black-rimmed bifocals down the bridge of his nose, and spoke to the attorney for the Johnsons. “As discussed, due to Mr. Johnson’s hospitalization, I am waiving your clients’ appearance today, but next time, I’ll expect to have at least Mrs. Johnson present in this courtroom.”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Karin Hendricks said.
The judge turned to Thad. His assessing gaze rested on the baby cradled in Thad’s arms, then he looked at the papers in front of him one last time.
The suspense was almost unbearable.
Finally Judge Barnes frowned and said, “Let’s make sure I understand this correctly, Dr. Garner. This baby was left on your doorstep after the adoptive parents changed their minds about adopting him. They gave baby William back to the surrogate mother, and she didn’t want responsibility for him, either. The surrogate mother tried to give William back to one Russell Garner, the sperm donor, who also happens to be your brother. She couldn’t find your brother, so she left William on your doorstep with a note asking you to take care of the matter, and you’ve been caring for the little boy for the past three days.”
Thad nodded. “That’s correct, Your Honor.”
“You and the attorney present, Michelle Anderson, have spoken to your brother, Russell, and he does not wish to reverse his prior termination of any and all parental rights to the child.”
“That’s also correct.”
Judge Barnes slid his bifocals even farther down his nose. “And now you think you want to adopt him?” Skepticism rang in his voice.
“I don’t think—I know,” Thad said firmly.
Good, rock-solid answer, Michelle thought.
Judge Barnes rocked back in his chair, took off his glasses entirely and set them on the desk in front of him. “Forgive me, son, for being blunt here, but you have no clue what you’re getting into. I’m a father myself—and I do! Parenting is hard work, a lifelong commitment, not something you take on as a whim or out of guilt or some misguided sense of family. This would make a lot more sense to me if you were already married and had kids of your own, or at the very least had another family member at home who could help you out. But you don’t.”
Fearing the judge was about to remand William to foster care, Michelle cut in, “With all due respect, Your Honor, single people can foster and adopt.”
Judge Barnes picked up his glasses and slid them back on. “Sure they can. When they’ve thought long and hard about it, and gone through all the proper interviews and home studies.” He pointed to the papers in front of him. “None of that has been done here. And while I applaud Dr. Garner for stepping up and trying to do right by this child, in these very unusual circumstances, I also think reacting emotionally is not the solution. Therefore, I’m ordering social services to begin an investigation immediately, starting today. If the social worker assigned believes the home environment is suitable for a newborn, William can stay with Dr. Garner until such time as an adoption petition is considered by this court.”
“Thank you, Your Honor,” Thad said in obvious relief.
“Don’t thank me.” Judge Barnes glowered. “Just make sure you consider this carefully and do right by that child.”
* * *
“YOU DON’T HAVE to worry about the social-worker evaluation,” Thad told Michelle as she led the way out the rear entrance of the limestone courthouse to the parking lot. “I work with social workers all the time at the hospital. The people in the department know I’m a good guy.”
Talk about naive, Michelle thought. Briefcase still in hand, she struggled to keep up with his longer strides. Not easy, considering the narrow hem of her skirt.
She curled a hand around his biceps, wordlessly slowing him down. “This isn’t about whether or not you are a good guy, Thad,” she told him grimly. “It’s about what is best for William. Child Protective Services could easily decide that he would be better off in a home with a mother and a father. He’s a newborn. There’s no shortage of people waiting for a baby—people who have been waiting for years! People with little hope of actually receiving a child anytime soon, given how long the lists of available, approved, adoptive parents are.”
“Those families aren’t related to William by blood!”
For Thad and William’s sake, Michelle wished that was all that counted. Unfortunately it wasn’t.
She slowed her pace even more and broke the news to Thad as gently as she could. “Technically, from a legal standpoint, neither are you. Your brother, Russell, terminated his rights at the time he donated the sperm. So legally, he has no say in what happens to this baby. To get those rights reinstated would involve a long, complicated process.” A reinstatement that Judge Barnes was, at least at the moment, unlikely to grant.
Thad stopped next to his SUV, the still-sleeping William in his arms. “You said a private adoption is possible, if the Johnsons agreed I could have William.”
Michelle stepped closer to Thad to allow another couple to pass. “That’s right. It is possible. And there was a chance,” she continued, “had baby William not been dropped off on your doorstep after he was given back to the surrogate, that this petition of yours might have gone through without a hitch. But William was left on a doorstep. And it’s possible that social services will decide foster care is the way to go for the moment.”
Michelle’s phone rang. She listened intently to the caller on the end. “Yes,” she said firmly, not all that surprised at the speed with which everything was happening now. “He can be there. Fifteen minutes is fine with us.”
* * *
FIFTEEN MINUTES FOR WHAT? Thad wondered, studying the concerned look on Michelle’s pretty face.
She ended the connection and slid her BlackBerry back into the outside pocket of her briefcase. “Tamara Kelly, the social worker assigned to do the home study and make the evaluation, is on her way to your place.”
Thad tried to recall if he had even done the dishes. He didn’t think so. In fact, he was certain he’d left his cereal bowl, a couple of baby bottles, as well as assorted cups and glasses in the kitchen sink.
Upstairs, his dirty clothes were scattered across the floor. He hadn’t had a chance to fold any of his clean laundry or do anything with the stacks of hand-me-down baby gifts in the living room.
Damn it. If only he’d had some advance notice. Even a half-hour warning would have been a huge help in getting ready for the inspection. But then, he supposed that was the point. They didn’t want him to have a chance to do anything that hadn’t already been done.
He looked at Michelle. “Tell me you can be there for this.”
Michelle glanced at her watch, frowned.
He could see her taking an emotional step back already. She bit her lip. “It’s not usually the case to have an attorney present for this.”
Thad realized that. He also knew, if Tamara Kelly based her decision on how much laundry had been left undone, or the condition of his bedroom and bath right this minute, there could be a problem.
Normally he did household chores on a semi-regular basis. The past few days, since he’d been taking care of William, he’d let everything—but caring for the baby—go. Whether his bed had been made or his dirty clothes picked up off the floor hadn’t mattered. Now, suddenly, they did.
Thad looked Michelle in the eye. “As Judge Barnes pointed out, this isn’t a usual case.” Thad did not want any more unexpected developments.
Michelle looked at William, then back at Thad. “All right,” she said. “Let me call my office and reschedule a few things, and I’ll meet you at
your house.”
By the time Thad got home, a small sedan was already parked in front of it. A tall, efficient-looking woman with frizzy, fading red-gray hair emerged from the car. She smiled at William, who was snoozing away in his car seat, then turned back to Thad and introduced herself as head of the Summit County Child Protective Services Department.
He shook hands with her. “It’s an unusual situation,” he said.
Tamara Kelly nodded, her eyes kind but impartial. “I understand you’re trying to do the right thing,” she said gently.
The fortysomething social worker just did not look or sound as if she felt that adopting William was it.
Thad was used to proving himself in his profession—E.R. doctors were constantly put to the test.
Not in his personal life.
Of course, there had never been this much at stake in his private life. Not since he and Sela ended their relationship three years ago.
Another car pulled up. Michelle’s. She stepped out, looking calm and professional. She introduced herself to Tamara.
Thad unbuckled William from his car seat and led the way inside.
Tamara Kelly carried a clipboard and pen with her. She looked in every room of the house. Occasionally she asked a few questions. Mostly she just wrote things down. She wrote a lot of things down.
Thad was a confident guy. And with good reason. He had earned everything he had ever gotten. But the silence, the inscrutable expression on Tamara Kelly’s face, the fact that she rarely made eye contact with him were making him nervous.
Michelle, for all her outward cool, seemed edgy, too, as they walked past Thad’s unmade bed and the borrowed bassinet that now served as William’s sleeping berth.
Thad had liked having William close by during the night.
He could see, though, that to the outside observer, he looked completely clueless when it came to setting up for a baby. As if he didn’t care enough to do things right.
Finally Tamara made her way back downstairs to the foyer.
Abruptly she seemed more than ready to leave.
Thad looked at Michelle.
Michelle looked at the social worker and said, “We’d like a copy of the report as soon as possible.”
“Certainly.” Tamara Kelly flashed another officious smile. “I probably won’t have it typed up until tomorrow morning.”
“Could we have a brief verbal assessment now?” Michelle persisted.
Tamara hesitated.
Thad cut in. “I know the place is a mess. Like most new parents I’ve been all about the baby for the past few days, but if there’s something I need to fix, I’d really like to know about it as soon as possible.”
Clipboard pressed to her chest, Tamara took another moment to consider. Finally she said, “Let’s sit down, shall we?”
Bypassing the mess in the formal living room, they retreated, instead, to the formal dining room. The table had an inch of dust on it. Ditto the china cabinet. Thad made a mental note to clean those, too.
“Okay, first the things you have going in your favor,” Tamara told Thad, her glance touching briefly on the newborn baby sleeping contentedly in his arms. “Baby William has obviously bonded to you. You have a home in a nice, safe neighborhood. A good job and a fine professional reputation, both at the hospital and with our department. There is nothing physically or fiscally wrong to prevent you from becoming a fine parent.”
“Great!” Thad said with relief, figuring he’d heard enough to know he’d passed the test.
“And the cons?” Michelle asked, every bit the I-don’t-believe-it-until-I-see-it-in-writing attorney.
Tamara frowned. “Your home is not baby-proofed, Dr. Garner. Baby clothes and gear are heaped all over the living room. There’s no nursery, no crib set up, no food in the fridge, no spouse or other family member to help with child care.”
“I have a babysitter lined up for when I go to work,” Thad reminded her.
“And I made note of that.” Tamara pointed to her clipboard. “But you’ve also never been married. Never reared a child. You have a reputation, socially, within the community as a man with a notoriously short attention span when it comes to relationships. The bottom line is you lose interest in a woman after a few dates. How do we know you won’t lose interest in a child just as quickly?”
* * *
THAD HAD NEVER FIGURED, in his attempt to give every potential woman and relationship a chance to turn into something lasting, that he was making a mistake.
Now he knew better.
And so, apparently, did Michelle Anderson.
He waited until Tamara had left before he turned back to Michelle. “I feel like I’m being unfairly judged here.” It irritated him. He was a private person. He didn’t “kiss and tell,” and he didn’t feel—even in this instance—that he should have to explain why he and any woman he had previously dated hadn’t been right for each other. It was enough that he and the women knew.
With the exception of Violet Hunter—who still seemed to have a crush on him—all the women he’d dated seemed to agree that they were just not suited for each other.
Michelle shrugged, not at all surprised. “People talk about this stuff—especially in rural communities, where not a lot else goes on.”
“But she’s a professional.”
“Who is doing her job. You don’t have a good track record with women here. If, for instance, you had ever been in a serious relationship…”
Figuring if he had to discuss his romantic past with anyone, it might as well be to one of the two lawyers representing him, he looked Michelle in the eye. “I dated a woman for five years, and Sela and I lived together for two after that.”
Michelle blinked, stunned. After a moment she pulled herself together and continued in the same tone she probably would have used had she been a prosecuting attorney. “But didn’t marry,” she said quietly.
A fact, Thad knew, that wouldn’t sit well with a stickler like Judge Barnes, either.
Thad went to put the sleeping William in the only available bed nearby—his infant carrier. He knelt to strap him in and tucked a blanket in around him, then walked with Michelle back to the dining room. “Only because Sela wasn’t ready.”
She stood, hands hooked over the back of the chair where she’d been sitting. “What happened?”
Suspecting Michelle was asking as much for her own curiosity as for the benefit of his case, Thad gestured for her to take a seat again.
When they were settled, he said, “Sela and I met in med school and started dating then. We stayed together until we finished our residencies, both in emergency medicine. Then we were starting to interview for jobs. I would have gone to Houston or Dallas or anywhere else she wanted to be. The big cities were more reasonable because they had a higher likelihood of us both finding positions at hospitals near each other.” He paused, remembering the shock and the hurt. “Sela thought it wasn’t a good idea, that our relationship had gone as far as it was going to go.”
Michelle leaned back in her chair. “And you didn’t agree?”
Thad had always wanted to be closer, to have the kind of relationship where they could finish each other’s sentences. It hadn’t happened. But that didn’t mean he and Sela hadn’t been happy, spending time together whenever they could. “I expected us to get married and have kids,” he said finally.
Still listening, she leaned closer. “And?”
“Sela felt that while we had been a great support system for each other, we didn’t have the kind of emotional intimacy necessary to build a future on, have a family. She thought it was better if we called it quits while we were still friends.”
Compassion lit Michelle’s eyes. “Are you still friends?”
Thad shook his head. “I couldn’t go backward in the relationship and that’s what it would have been, at least to me. So we ended it and moved on. For a while afterward, I shut down and didn’t see anyone. Then I realized that wasn’t good, either, so when I
took the job in Summit, I decided to put as much effort into finding someone to settle down and have children with as I have everything else.” He cleared his throat. “So I’ve tried to stay open to the possibilities. Not just dismiss women without getting to know them first. The trouble is,” he explained patiently, “if you go into the getting-to-know-each-other-phase strictly as friends, you can’t get close to each other the same way you would if you were romancing them, but if you’re romancing them and it doesn’t work out, it can be hard to go back to the possibility of being just friends.”
Michelle heaved a commiserating sigh. “Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
“Exactly.” As their eyes met and locked, Thad felt a shimmer of tension between them. Man-woman tension. “The thing is,” he continued, “I’m not going to give up dating, because I still want to get married and have kids. I want to find that special someone.”
And in fact, Thad thought, his spirits lifting, he was beginning to think he already had.
* * *
MICHELLE STUDIED THAD, aware once again that the situation had taken an unexpectedly intimate turn. And while, as a woman, as a neighbor, as a friend, she was glad to know that Thad wasn’t the player she had thought, as the law partner of his family attorney, it put her in an awkward spot.
“I usually don’t talk about my ex,” he said.
Forcing herself to get back to business, she reached for the yellow notepad and wrote a memo for Glenn. “It’s something the social worker should know.” Something she had needed to know, too.
Thad grimaced. “Unfortunately Tamara Kelly seems to have formed an opinion of me, and it’s the same one you had.”
Michelle ignored the intensity of his gaze and kept on writing. “It’s hard not to think that with the number of women constantly traipsing to your front door,” she remarked casually.
“If you’ve noticed that, you’ve also noticed I usually manage to avoid inviting them in.”
Playing devil’s advocate, Michelle pointed out, “But you often sit on the front porch with them for a while.”
“To be polite,” Thad qualified, his frustration apparent. “I don’t know how to discourage them without hurting their feelings.”
The Texas Rancher's Vow: The Texas Rancher's VowFound: One Baby Page 25
