The Texas Rancher's Vow: The Texas Rancher's VowFound: One Baby

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  She extricated herself and turned to face the window over the sink. “You could tell the court it was a mistake, that it won’t happen again.”

  He looked at the lovely line of her back. “Then I’d be lying.”

  She whirled. “You plan to let this happen again…with William in the house?”

  Thad lounged against the opposite counter, hands braced on either side of him. “That’s right. But let’s stick to the facts, shall we? William wasn’t in the house last night.”

  Michelle gestured helplessly. “He easily could have been.”

  Thad shrugged. Last night had shown him how much he wanted Michelle in his life. Irked at the roadblocks she kept throwing up, Thad stated, “Even if he had been there with us last night, he’s way too young to be aware.”

  “That won’t always be the case.” Once again, Michelle took on the role of devil’s advocate. “And Judge Barnes is old school. He thinks a couple should be married. At the very least deeply committed to each other.”

  Thad scowled. “Who says I’m not committed?”

  * * *

  MICHELLE HAD KNOWN Thad was going to be difficult. What she hadn’t expected was the tumult of her own emotions. She tried again. “I understand Tamara Kelly’s poorly timed home visit has backed you into a corner. But we can still turn this around.”

  “How?” Thad challenged. “By getting married?”

  “That’s not funny.”

  He shrugged his broad shoulders affably. “Who’s joking? Seriously, if I need to be married in order to adopt, then I’ll take that leap. But only,” he clarified in a low, husky voice that sent shivers down her spine, “with you.”

  The notion of the two of them walking down the aisle wasn’t nearly as disturbing as it should have been. Michelle drove her hands through her hair. “You’re missing the point!” she cried.

  Thad crossed to her. “That is the point.” He wrapped his arms around her, draping her in warmth. “Last night meant the world to me, Michelle. And if you were honest, you would admit it meant everything to you, too.”

  Before she could do more than take a breath, his lips were on hers, arguing his point, staking his claim, making sure she knew that the chemistry between them was as potent as ever. And as much as Michelle wanted to deny the passion and, more important, deny Thad access to her heart, she couldn’t. When he held her like this, when he brought her so close and kissed her so sweetly, so ardently, all her inhibitions melted away. All she wanted was this moment in time, with this man. If William hadn’t chosen that exact moment to wake up, fussing, she was pretty sure they would have ended up in bed again.

  But their tiny chaperone did sound the alarm. And it was perfect timing, Michelle thought, as she showed the two of them the door and then went out herself for an extra-long morning run. She had a lot of thinking to do before she made any more impulsive mistakes. And the rest of the weekend in which to do it.

  Like it or not, for the next two days, Thad and William were going to be on their own.

  * * *

  “MICHELLE?” GLENN YORK appeared in her doorway on Monday morning. “I need to talk to you in my office for a minute, if you wouldn’t mind.”

  Surprised by the grim note in her partner’s tone, as well as the request, Michelle rose and walked into Glenn’s office.

  As soon as she saw who was already there, she knew the reason Glenn had been so cryptic in his request.

  Figuring the staff did not need to hear any of what was about to be said, she shut the door behind her. Gave Thad—and the baby in his arms—a brief, assessing glance, then turned back to Glenn.

  “What’s going on?” she said, knowing it had to be something dire, otherwise Glenn would not have called her in when she had requested not to be involved.

  He gestured for her to have a seat in the chair next to Thad. “I had a phone call from the social worker on Thad’s case a while ago.”

  Thad cut in glumly, “Among other things, Tamara Kelly doesn’t like the fact I had to leave William overnight with the sitter while I was at work.”

  “She fears it could be a harbinger of the future,” Glenn said. “Given that he’s a single parent and has such a demanding job.”

  Heat moved from Michelle’s neck into her face. “Anything else?”

  “She wanted to warn us that Judge Barnes is probably going to want to speak to you about your, uh, relationship with Thad.” Glenn cleared his throat, looking like he wished he were anywhere but there. “I’ve already requested the conversation be in chambers, but it’s going to be on the record, as will the social worker’s written report.”

  Great, Michelle thought. Well, what had she expected? She’d known, going in, that spending the night with Thad was a mistake.

  “As the attorney of record,” Glenn continued reluctantly, “I need to know what you’re going to say.”

  The problem was, Michelle thought, she didn’t know what she was going to say.

  Both men continued to look at her.

  Finally, she shrugged. “That it was a…”

  “If you say ‘mistake,’” Thad interrupted, “I’m done for.”

  Her law partner put up a cautioning hand. “Not necessarily.”

  “It’ll look like it didn’t mean anything, and it did,” Thad insisted, not backing down.

  Michelle grimaced. She felt like she was sinking. Taking a deep breath, she tried again. “The thing is, it’s private. I don’t…discuss that aspect of my life.” She met Glenn’s eyes. “With anyone.”

  “As a friend, I understand,” Glenn returned. “As Thad’s lawyer and a fellow member of the Texas Bar Association, I’m telling you that you don’t have that luxury. When Judge Barnes asks you that question—he wants to see the four of us and Tamara Kelly in his chambers at four-thirty this afternoon to discuss the suitability of William remaining in Thad’s custody until a decision regarding the adoption petition can be made—you’re going to have to be prepared to answer it a lot better than you did just now.”

  * * *

  THAD KNEW THAT Michelle did not want William to go into foster care, even for a brief while, any more than he did. He also knew that she’d been steadfastly avoiding him since they’d parted company Saturday morning and wouldn’t misrepresent anything she felt to the court.

  Unfortunately, before they could discuss the situation further, the clients for her ten-thirty appointment arrived, and she excused herself to meet with the elderly couple.

  Glenn looked at Thad. “It’ll be fine,” the lawyer said.

  Thad hoped so.

  Judge Barnes’s severe expression when they entered his chambers six hours later was not as reassuring.

  “Well, seems we’ve had some developments since this time last week,” the conservative jurist said, leaning back in his chair. “For one thing, Dr. Garner isn’t the only one who wants to adopt this child.”

  Thad cuddled William close to his chest.

  “I came over Saturday morning to tell you that,” Tamara Kelly admitted, “before things took an unexpected turn.”

  “We’ll get to that in a minute,” Judge Barnes said gruffly. “Meantime, you should know, Dr. Garner, eleven other families have approached social services and, by extension, this court, and volunteered to adopt William.”

  Thad couldn’t say he was all that surprised.

  Word had gotten out. Everyone in the county knew how and why William had been left on Thad’s front porch. Hearts had opened up all over the place, which always happened when an abandoned baby made the news. But none of those wanting to help were family.

  “They have no blood claim,” Thad said. He remembered what Michelle had told him—that from a legal standpoint, in his case, blood didn’t matter—but felt he had to play all his cards.

  Judge Barnes shrugged. “In your case, Dr. Garner, it’s not applicable.”

  “I beg your pardon, Your Honor, but in this case it is,” Thad shot back. “William is my nephew. Initially, yes, it was
a shock, finding him the way I did. Even more of a jolt, discovering how he’d come about and been abandoned, first by my brother—who’ll never have any idea what he’s missing in not raising this child—and then Brice and Beatrix Johnson, who went to such lengths to make his birth happen.” His voice cracked. “But I never had any doubt what the right thing to do was, and that was give William a home and the family he deserves.”

  “Which is exactly what we’re talking about,” Tamara Kelly inserted gently.

  All eyes turned to her. The social worker continued, even more kindly, “No one is saying your heart isn’t in the right place, Thad. We all know you want what is best for William.”

  “And that might be,” Judge Barnes intoned, “a mother and father who know what they are getting into and are equipped to care for the child in a more traditional sense.”

  Glenn broke in. “Judge, the babysitter is a former pediatric and neonatal nurse, who is now retired and has brought up children of her own. William could not be in better hands during the time Dr. Garner works at the hospital.”

  “That’s true,” Tamara Kelly said.

  So what was the problem? Thad wondered.

  Judge Barnes looked at the notes in front of him, then over at Michelle. And Thad knew it was crunch time once again.

  * * *

  MICHELLE HAD THOUGHT she was ready for the inquisition by the notoriously finicky judge. Suddenly everything she had been prepared to say, about her private life being her own and not germane to this case at all, went out the window. She looked over at Thad, at the infant ensconced in his arms, and knew what she had to do—for all their sakes. “I care about William, too, Judge Barnes,” she said quietly.

  The judge waited for her to go on, one craggy brow raised in silent query.

  She knew what he wanted to know, what everyone there wanted to know. “It’s true that Thad and I have

  really gotten acquainted only recently, but there is something between us that is, well, unique.”

  “Unique,” Judge Barnes repeated.

  “We’re not teenagers.” Michelle tried again. “Sometimes, yes, things happen quickly and unexpectedly. You fall in love with someone, a child, or a…a potential mate, and it goes against all logic, and yet…” She glanced at Thad, looking so strong and virile and loving as he held the baby to his chest. “You know if you don’t open yourself up to the possibilities being presented and allow yourself to feel these emotions and become involved, that you will always regret it.”

  “So you’re as serious about Dr. Garner as he is about you?” Judge Barnes asked finally.

  Michelle locked eyes with Thad.

  There was no pressure in his gaze. Instead, she picked up on myriad other sentiments. Interest. Affection. Want. Need. The struggle to understand. She swallowed and looked to the truth deep in her heart. “He and I have found something unique.” Something she had been looking for her entire life and could not walk away from now. “I plan to see it through and be there for Thad and William…whenever they need me.”

  Thad’s eyes darkened with an emotion that far surpassed gratitude.

  She felt connected to him. On the brink of falling for him, head over heels. And he looked as if he felt the same.

  Minutes later the session behind closed doors ended.

  William was still in Thad’s custody.

  “Good job in there,” Glenn said as he walked Michelle and Thad to their cars.

  “We’re—Thad—isn’t out of the woods yet,” Michelle said awkwardly.

  Thad shifted William to Michelle’s arms while he unlocked and opened the door of his SUV and let some of the sun-warmed air out. She held William close, breathing in his sweet baby scent. Beside her, Thad’s expression was solemn.

  “Michelle’s right,” Thad told Glenn with a sigh. “I need to work harder to prove I’m the right parent for him.”

  Glenn did not disagree.

  “What more can you do?” Michelle asked.

  Thad shrugged. “I can even the playing field with the other families who want to adopt William.”

  Michelle’s heart began to race. “How are you going to do that?”

  “By finding a good mother for him,” Thad stated seriously. “A smart, loving woman who would agree to co-adopt William and bring him up with me.”

  * * *

  “WERE YOU SERIOUS?” Michelle asked moments later. Glenn had just headed off to his car, leaving Thad and her, still with William in her arms, standing there.

  “As a heart attack,” Thad said.

  Michelle looked into the strong, indomitable lines of Thad’s face. “What makes you think Judge Barnes would go for two unmarried people adopting a baby together?”

  “He might not. Then again,” Thad said, “if the judge’s only arguments are that William should grow up with a mother—which is something I happen to agree on, having lost my own mother as a kid—and that I’m having sex outside marriage, then maybe I should just get married and knock off two objections with a single ‘I do.’”

  Michelle thought it had been wrenching to learn that Jared had confused gratitude with love and asked her to marry him for that reason. But that misstep was nothing compared to knowing that Thad was contemplating marriage for purely practical considerations. Yet she could tell by the expression on Thad’s face that his heart was in the right place.

  As was hers. There were bigger, more important things at stake here than their own egos. In particular, a child’s well-being. “You’d really do that for William?”

  “And more. I love him, Michelle. Like my own child. And I know what I said, about him being of my blood, but to be honest, it’s not so much that or even the connection I feel with him—the same connection I feel with you—it’s the fact that he needs me. He needs you. Look into his eyes. Feel the way he snuggles against you, like you’re the only mother he’s ever wanted, and tell me you don’t feel the same way.”

  “I admit that…” Oh, what the hell, Michelle thought, swiping a tear from her cheek. “I’ve loved this child from the very beginning.” Working to get a handle on her out-of-control emotions, Michelle swallowed around the tightening of her throat. “But you and I are not in love with each other, Thad.”

  Thad regarded her steadily. “We could be,” he said softly, “given a little more time.”

  The deeply romantic part of Michelle felt that way, too. Especially given how she’d felt when they’d made love, how happy she was to see him whenever their paths crossed, and most important of all, how often he was in her thoughts these days. And yet…the lawyer in her who’d had years dealing with family-law catastrophes had a much more pragmatic view.

  She looked at Thad, as William curled his fist around her little finger and held on tight. “What if what we feel now is as good as it gets? What if we never do fall head over heels for each other?”

  Thad shrugged. “What if we don’t?” His voice dropped to a soft murmur. “We’re sexually compatible. We live in the same town. We both have jobs we enjoy. We both want to be married and have kids and it hasn’t happened. Maybe we’ve been waiting for perfection, and perfection is never going to come along. I, for one, am not getting any younger.”

  Neither was she.

  “William needs us now,” he said fervently.

  Thad was beginning to make far too much sense. “How do you know another family wouldn’t be better?” she asked.

  He grimaced. “William’s already been rejected and passed off twice. He’s settled in with me and he’s started to settle in with you, too. Do you really want to see him taken away from us and carted off to a fourth home, in less than—” Thad did the calculation quickly

  “—two weeks?”

  Did she?

  * * *

  MICHELLE THOUGHT ABOUT what Thad had said the rest of the evening and all through the night.

  By dawn Tuesday morning, she knew what she had to do. Seeing the lights on over at his house, she showered, dressed and walked across the
street. Thad answered the door as if he’d been expecting her. “I take it you have an answer,” he said.

  Michelle nodded. “And the answer is yes.” She held up a palm before Thad could interrupt. “But there are some stipulations.”

  He ushered her inside. “Okay.”

  Michelle paced his foyer restlessly. “We have to do a trial run.”

  His eyes narrowed. “In what sense?”

  “I want to try out being a mom, the same way you’ve been trying out being a dad. I want to spend as much time as possible with you and William.”

  “Judge Barnes is not likely to go for that if we’re not married,” Thad said.

  “And maybe he will,” Michelle replied quietly. She was as determined to protect this baby from future heartache and disappointment as she was resolved to shield herself. “If we can demonstrate that together you and I can provide a mother and father’s love, a sense of family and all the love William will ever need or want—without getting married first.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Michelle’s right,” Glenn told Thad as the three of them met in Glenn’s office a few hours later. William was snuggled in Michelle’s arms. “What the two of you are proposing is not without precedent. In fact, it happens all the time. A biological parent abandons the child and/or signs away all rights to avoid being stuck paying child support. And someone else—usually a new girlfriend or boyfriend to the remaining parent—will step in to adopt the child, even if the two of them aren’t living together and have no desire to do so.”

  “And the state allows it?” Thad asked.

  “Most judges rule it’s in the best interests of the child to have two people legally responsible for the welfare of the child, as long as custody issues are agreed upon and worked out in advance.”

  Thad’s brows lifted. “Custody,” he repeated in concern.

  Glenn nodded. “You and Michelle are going to have to decide if you want to split the care of William fifty-fifty, with each of you having equal say and equal time with him. Or if you want Thad to have sole custody, and Michelle visitation rights. Then there are monetary issues, as well. To what degree will each of you be fiscally responsible for William’s needs? And most important of all, Michelle is going to have adequate home studies done, so that social services can determine her fitness as a parent.”