by Zoe Matthews
He wasn’t borrowing trouble. He also wasn’t going to take on someone else’s problem.
He’d spent most of the flight reliving the last few days he’d had with Glenna. He had been so in love with her, and he’d thought she felt the same about him. He’d been sure that they were meant for each other.
He’d met her at a barn dance being held at a neighboring ranch and from that moment, they’d been virtually inseparable. It had been love at first sight for him, and after a few weeks of dating, he’d asked her to marry him.
Glenna hadn’t come right out and laughed at his proposal, but she’d made sure he knew that she was a city girl, and there was no way she was going to live on some ranch “in the middle of nowhere” – not if she had a choice in the matter!
Glenna was a city girl. She loved the ballet, the live theatre, museums, lots of diversity in food establishments, and being able to hop onto a plane and go anywhere she wanted to.
Somehow, Sheridan had missed those signals and he’d popped the question after only knowing her for six weeks. Six weeks where he’d completely changed his world, wanting to include her in it. He’d thought they were getting to know one another and that she had fallen in love with him, just as he had fallen in love with her. It turned out the joke was on him.
Glenna had turned down his proposal, not bothering to even hesitate over the decision, and he’d been crushed.
She’d left town a week later and he’d never seen or heard from her again. She’d never once mentioned the chance that she could be pregnant. In fact, after his proposal, she’d quit talking to him at all. She’d refused his phone calls, and while he’d thought she was holed up in Pinedale, she’d been making plans to leave town, without even so much as a phone call goodbye or a note saying where she’d gone.
He’d not even known where in Texas she was from, which made him upset at himself when he thought about it. Why had he hadn’t bothered to ask that question during the weeks he and Glenna had been dating?
As he stepped out of the airport terminal and waited for a shuttle to take him across to the car rental, it finally hit him that he was here to meet a child that could very well be his biological son.
Son. The word was so foreign to him, but at the same time, if William was his child, he would do everything within his power to provide for the child.
The shuttle arrived, and thirty minutes later he was pulling out of the rental car parking lot, having typed in the address the attorney had sent him for the location of his son’s current residence.
According to the information the attorney had provided him, Megan was Glenna’s older sister, never married, and worked from home. Glenna had moved in with her upon returning to Texas, and this sister had been a part of his son’s life since before he was born.
He briefly wondered why Glenna hadn’t left her sister custody of their son, but then he recalled how Mr. Palmer had explained Texas law, and since Sheridan’s name was listed on the child’s birth certificate, the only way Megan could become his son’s legal guardian was if Sheridan voluntarily tendered his parental rights. Rights he wasn’t sure he wanted, but he also wasn’t ready to give them away without checking into the situation more thoroughly.
He followed the droning voice of the vehicle’s GPS system, and a little over an hour after touching down in Austin, he was pulling up in front of a small house with green wooden shingle siding, a gray shingled roof, and a small porch off the front door.
The yard was meticulously groomed, the lawn cut, the flower beds weed free and showing signs of having been freshly updated with new bark. A large star decorated the front porch, and the muted buttercream trim gave the house a charm even Sheridan could appreciate.
He walked up the sidewalk, done in six inch concrete pavers and pea gravel, liking the contrast in colors and textures that had been used in the yard.
He climbed the steps to the porch and then rang the doorbell. He could hear a commotion coming from inside the house, and waited patiently for someone on the other side to open the door. A small crash inside had him wondering if he’d come to the right place, but then the door opened and a replica of Glenna opened the door.
He let his eyes take in her appearance, noting her dark hair, a similar color to Glenna’s. He instantly noticed that Megan wore her hair long while Glenna had kept hers short and cropped. This woman’s facial features were so similar to Glenna’s he had no doubt that these two sisters had been mistaken for one another all of their adult lives, maybe even twins.
“Can I help you?” came a husky voice, lowered to keep the volume down and Sheridan wondered if she was always this quiet, or if there was a reason for it.
“I’m Sheridan Collingsworth. I’m looking for Megan Garner.”
Chapter 4
The woman looked at him and then stepped out onto the porch, forcing him to back up or risk being stepped on. “I’m Megan Garner. Mr. Palmer didn’t tell me you were coming.”
“Not my problem. I’d like to see the boy in question.”
Megan raised her eyebrows. “The boy in question? His name is William and he’s currently taking his afternoon nap. Something I do not wish to have disturbed.”
Sheridan quickly reviewed his options and then chose one. “I would like to look in on him and then maybe you and I could have a discussion.”
She eyed him warily and then he watched her shoulders sag in defeat. “Just be quiet, okay? He has been fussier than usual today, and with his mom missing, he’s having a tough time.”
She led the way back into the house, and Sheridan tried to take it all in. There were pictures on the walls in the hallway, a comfortable looking living room with a small wood burning stove in the corner, surrounded by a large metal fence. The kitchen was neat and clean, as was the laundry room when they passed it.
Megan quietly pushed a partially closed door open and then gestured for Sheridan to look his fill.
Sheridan stepped forward, standing in the doorway of a tiny bedroom where only a crib and a dresser that also served as a changing table resided. There was a small rocking chair in the corner and various toys and stuffed animals lying on the floor.
Sheridan stepped closer, looking down at the sleeping toddler. He saw the downy head full of curls, eyes closed in slumber, and wondered what color they were. He tipped his head and wished the light was better in the room so he could fully see the child’s features. Would this boy look like him?
A noise behind him caused him to turn and see Megan gesturing for him to come back out of the room. He took one more look at the sleepy toddler and then turned and joined her back in the hallway.
She turned without a word and headed towards the front of the house again, expecting him to follow, since she didn’t turn around or say anything to him.
When they were both in the living room, she turned and wrapped her arms around her middle. “So?”
Sheridan watched her for a moment and then asked, “May we sit down for this discussion?”
She nodded once and perched on the edge of a large, overstuffed chair. Sheridan seated himself on the edge of the small matching loveseat and then watched her. “I’m sorry about your sister.”
Megan drew in a shaky breath and then nodded. “Thanks. It’s been a long couple of weeks.”
“I bet. I guess Mr. Palmer told you he had contacted me?”
“Yes, he did a few days ago. I don’t mind telling you I wish my sister had done the right thing two years ago.”
“And what would that have been?” Sheridan asked, wondering if the young woman sitting across from him had urged her sister to tell him he was about to be a father. Or had she been referring to wanting her sister to get rid of the little boy sleeping in the next room? Just the thought that Glenna could have easily terminated her pregnancy and he would have never been the wiser turned his stomach.
Megan seemed to be reading his thoughts and shook her head. “I didn’t want her to get rid of the baby. I wanted her to at least let you
know what was happening.”
“But she didn’t.”
“No. She didn’t.” Megan sighed and then dropped her eyes to her knees. When she looked up, there were tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry she didn’t.”
“Glenna lived here with you?”
“Since she came back from Colorado. She knew she was pregnant when she got here.”
Sheridan let that piece of information sink in and wanted to growl in frustration. Was that why she’d disappeared so quickly? Glenna, what were you thinking? He pushed those feelings away, knowing that they were water under the bridge and he would probably never have an answer to those questions. Time to deal with the future and the here and now.
“I have to ask, but did Glenna tell you I was the father?” Sheridan asked.
Megan watched him and then got up and disappeared down the hallway. Sheridan looked after her, and a few seconds later, she came back, handing him a brush that he immediately recognized. It had been his brush during the time he and Glenna had been together.
“Is that yours?” she asked.
Sheridan turned the brush over in his hands and nodded. “Yes. It’s mine.”
Megan nodded as if she’d known the answer already. “That’s where she got the hair sample she sent in with the paternity test.”
Sheridan looked at her and nodded, “Fair enough.” He looked back towards the hallway, the enormity of what had just happened finally hitting him square in the chest. He was a father!
Chapter 5
Megan watched him carefully, her gaze softening slightly when she saw his suspicion fade away. “William is a wonderful little boy.”
Sheridan nodded his head. “Can I ask you a few more questions?”
“Sure,” she shrugged. “He’ll probably sleep another thirty minutes anyway.”
“Good to know. So, Glenna worked?”
“She worked for an entertainment company, arranging events, conferences, and parties. She worked long hours, so it made sense for her and William to continue to live with me. She also sometimes traveled out of town.”
“Who cared for him when she was working?” Sheridan asked.
“I did.”
Sheridan looked at her and was once again struck, by how much she looked like her younger sister. Or was it that Glenna had looked like her older sister?
“So, how many years were between you and Glenna?”
“Four. She was just entering high school when our mom died. I had just started college on a full-ride scholarship, and mom’s life insurance paid off this house and left us with enough money to survive while I finished school.”
“What about your dad?”
Megan shrugged. “What about him? He left before Glenna was born and never came back. I barely remember him, and the memories I do have aren’t good.”
“I’m sorry. So…you finished raising Glenna?”
“We kind of raised each other, I guess. She got lucky and found a job as a hostess for her company, right out of high school. She’d thought about going into modeling at one point, but her job gave her the ability to be seen and make good money at the same time. She loved it.”
Sheridan watched the soft smile form on Megan’s lips as she remembered her sister. “You two must have been really close?”
“We were. It was just us for a lot of years…” A plaintive cry from the hallway had her jumping up and hurrying down the hallway.
Sheridan followed her, listening to her croon to his son, calming him as she picked him up from the crib and snuggled him against her shoulder for a moment. His son laid his head on her shoulder, his little hands gripping her shirt, and his big blue eyes opened and looked right at Sheridan. Sapphire blue eyes.
The little boy continued to watch Sheridan, even when he stepped into the room and approached him. The eyes of his son pierced his heart. It was like looking into the eyes of his own baby pictures. Sheridan had always known that his eyes were unique in their coloring, and the child watching him now had the exact same color of eyes. His son!
Megan heard him behind her and turned, finding him standing a mere three feet away. “Hey, William.” She turned the little boy around in her arms, laying the side of her head against his crown when he turned, laid his head on her shoulder, and put his thumb in his mouth. “Someone came to see you.”
“Hey there, buddy. Did you have a good nap?” Sheridan asked the boy, suddenly desperately wanting to hold him.
William looked at him for a long moment and then he took his thumb out of his mouth and reached for Sheridan with both arms. Sheridan blinked and then reached out, taking his son into his arms for the first time, losing his heart to the little boy with the wide blue eyes.
He inhaled the light powdery smell of his hair and then…he frowned. “I think maybe you’re in need of a dry diaper, bud.”
Megan nodded her head. “He usually does when he wakes up. Here, I’ll take him.”
Sheridan handed the little boy back, pleased when the tike fussed at leaving his arms. “I’m right here, buddy. Let’s get you a dry diaper and then we’ll go get acquainted.”
Megan changed William’s diaper and then tickled his tummy before snapping his onesie closed and picking him back up.
William immediately reached for Sheridan, and Sheridan didn’t miss the hurt look in her eyes when she handed the little boy over. Megan was having a hard time that William took to him so easily.
“Why don’t you take him back out to the living room? There’s a basket of toys in the corner. Red basket,” Megan suggested, her voice shaking a bit.
Sheridan looked at her and then headed back to the front of the house with his son. He pulled out the basket of toys, and then settled on the floor, but his son wasn’t interested in his toys.
Instead, he seemed enthralled with the large man who was holding him. Sheridan sat still as his son tugged on his hair, and pulled on his ears. When he rubbed his hand against the stubble covering Sheridan’s chin, he giggled and then clapped his hands.
Megan chose that moment to come back into the room. She stopped and watched them with a strange look in her eyes. “Sorry, aside from his pediatrician, he’s not been around a lot of adult men.”
“How come?” Sheridan asked, not taking his eyes off his son as he tickled his belly and listened to him giggle again.
“Glenna didn’t date much.”
Sheridan thought about asking her about herself, but one look at her closed off face stopped his words in his throat.
“Hey, William, you want a snack?” Megan asked.
“Snack!” William hollered, climbing off Sheridan’s lap and running to his aunt. She picked him up and headed into the kitchen. “What do you want?”
“Milk!”
“And what else? Do you want some graham crackers?” Megan asked, sitting him in his booster seat before reaching for a sippy cup in the cupboard.
She filled the cup up with milk, put the lid back on, and then tipped it upside down and shook it before handing it to her nephew. Sheridan watched her take several graham crackers from a plastic bag, break them into small pieces, and then set them on the highchair tray.
She glanced up at him and raised a brow. “Did you have a question?”
“Uhm…why did you shake his cup?” Sheridan asked, not having ever seen his sisters or Kathy do the same.
“To make sure it wasn’t leaking. One of the rubber inserts is bad, but I haven’t quite figured out which one yet. Huh, buddy? We don’t want any leaky cups, do we?”
William banged the cup on the tray top and grinned. “No leaks!”
“Yes, no leaks.”
Sheridan watched her move around the small kitchen, liking the way she interacted with his son. It was obvious to him that she had spent a lot of time with him. When he finished his snack and picked his hand up to throw his cup to the floor, she turned, snagged it from his fingertips, and kissed his graham cracker slimed fingers. “Not today, little man. I just cleaned the kitchen floors, thank y
ou very much.”
She wiped his hands and his face off and then plucked him from the highchair and set him on his feet. “Why don’t you go find your firetruck?”
William smiled and headed for the red basket, tossing toys this way and that as he chanted, “Truck. Truck.”
She smiled at Sheridan. “He really likes the color red, and hence, his firetruck is his favorite toy.”
Sheridan turned to watch his son and realized just what a disadvantage he was in. He had a two-year-old son, but he knew virtually nothing about him. And this woman he knew nothing about, knew his son. Everything about his son.
Chapter 6
Megan was still standing in the kitchen watching him. “Do you want something to drink?”
Sheridan turned back to look at her and then suggested, “Why don’t I take you both to dinner?”
Megan lifted her brows and shook her head. “You don’t want to do that.”
“Sure I do. We all have to eat…”
Megan shook her head. “William doesn’t do very well with restaurants. The food takes too long to get there, and most of the time he doesn’t like what they bring him.”
Sheridan saw the light in her eyes and faced her. “What happens then?”
Megan looked at him. “Well…have you ever seen a movie where the school cafeteria erupted into a food fight?”
Sheridan laughed. “He throws his food?”
“He tries. Most of the time I can catch him before it actually becomes a projectile, but there have been a few times where our waitress ended up with chicken nuggets in her hair.”
Sheridan turned to his son and chuckled. “I know a couple of little girls that are going to just love teaching you some manners.”
“So, you have other children?” Megan asked, the laughter that had been there a moment ago gone.
