Nicole blinked. “Why shouldn’t I believe her? She was my sister.”
“Then you also know she wasn’t perfect,” he pointed out.
“No one is perfect.”
“Some people are more capable of fabricating lies than others,” he said.
“If you’re insinuating that Tabitha would lie about something this important—”
“Are you saying she never lied about other important things?” he asked.
She opened her mouth to protest, but faltered a half beat. “Nothing this important.”
“You don’t know me,” he said. “You’ve made judgments about me based on one flighty woman’s opinion. Are you as flighty as she was?”
“No,” she impulsively responded, and wished she could take back the words. Sentence by sentence, he seemed to be defeating her stance. She had to protect Joel. “I won’t let you make a mockery of my sister—the mother of Joel. Tabitha had her flaws, but everyone does. She loved life and she ended up practically giving her life when she gave birth to Joel. You need to leave.”
She saw him tamp down a flicker of impatience that seemed to ooze from every pore. “I have rights, Nicole. I’m Joel’s father. What if I’m not the man Tabitha said I am? How are you going to explain that to him when he starts asking where his father is?”
She felt the deepest, smallest sliver of doubt and tried to brush it aside, but it was like a small rock in her shoe. “I have to protect him.”
“I’ll give you one night to explain who I am. Day after tomorrow, I’m coming back to meet my son.”
Panic rushed through her. “It’s too soon.”
“It’s reasonable,” he said, his tone final.
The next day, Nicole visited her cousin, Julia. She told her cousin about Rafe after Julia put her two-month-old daughter down for a post-feeding nap.
“Your best bet is to cooperate,” Julia said, as she sank on to the leather couch and patted Nicole on the arm.
Nicole bit her lip. “There must be something I can do.”
Julia, dressed in a sweatshirt and yoga pants, was practical in nearly every area of her life. It was why law was such a good fit. “There are lots of things you can do, sweetie, but they’ll cost a ton of money and set up a huge amount of resentment between Joel’s father and you. Are you sure you want to go down that road?”
Nicole sighed. “But what if he’s a horrible father? What if he’s—” She almost couldn’t bring herself to say the word aloud. “Abusive,” she whispered.
Julia sighed. “Then that’s a different story.” She lifted her mug of herbal tea and took a sip. “Do you have reason to believe he’s abusive? What did Tabitha tell you?”
“She said he was a bully and that he reminded her of our father.”
Julia gave a slow nod. She knew the dark, inner workings of Nicole’s family. “I can see why that would alarm you.”
“Alarm is a mild term.”
Her cousin paused for a thoughtful moment. “I know you and Tabitha were close, but even you knew that she was prone to exaggeration.”
“Yes, but about something this important?”
“I’m not taking this man’s side, but I could see Tabitha calling someone a bully if they didn’t let her have her way.”
“I suppose so,” Nicole said reluctantly.
“Look, I’m not suggesting you hand over Joel without finding out more about this man—”
“I would never give Joel up,” Nicole said, her voice cracking with emotion.
Julia put her arm around Nicole’s shoulders. “One thing you may want to consider is what does this man have to gain by claiming his rights to Joel? You’ve described him as a wealthy, successful playboy. He doesn’t need any money that Tabitha may have left for Joel. Plenty of men would run screaming in the opposite direction. Particularly the kind of man you describe.”
Nicole bit her lip again, remembering what Rafe had said about losing his father at a young age. A burst of sympathy squeezed past her defenses. What if the man wasn’t the ogre Tabitha had described?
“As hard as it seems, my best advice is for you to get to know this man as much as you can. He is Joel’s father. In this situation, he’s holding all the cards. If he wanted to, he could take Joel away from you tomorrow and at best, the only thing you could do would be to delay it.”
At 5:30 p.m., Rafe strode up the sidewalk to the well-kept two-story home belonging to Nicole Livingstone. He carried pizza and some cupcakes he’d picked up from a grocery store. Armed with information he’d gleaned from his attorney and his private investigator, he knocked on the front door.
In the last three days, Rafe had covered the gamut of emotions ranging from fury at Tabitha for concealing his son’s existence from him to an aching sense of loss. Now, his focus was pure and simple. He would be a father to his son, and nothing would get in his way.
The door opened, and Nicole looked at him, her gaze filled with wariness. She took a breath, an audible breath, as if she were preparing herself for battle, and glanced at the pizza. A hint of a wry smile played over her lush mouth. “Excellent guess,” she said. “Joel loves pizza.”
“Pepperoni okay?” he asked, curious what had made her soften.
“Depends on his mood. He’ll either pull them off and eat them or leave them on his plate.”
“I also brought a few cupcakes,” he said, referring to the contents in the plastic bag.
A doubtful expression crossed her face. “That much sugar at bedtime can be deadly.”
“Just one. If you think about it, I’ve missed four birthdays.”
Her gaze met his and clung for a surprising second. He saw a flash of empathy and the slightest drop of regret. He drank it in like water for a man dying of thirst. His private investigator had filled in a lot of gaps about Nicole. Her education—double master’s degrees in medical administration and sociology; her job—health services coordinator for disabled veterans; her financial rating—superb; her love life—limited; her devotion to Joel—infinite. Despite the fact that Nicole was clearly the more reserved twin, the woman had a heart. That would work in his favor.
“You can forget about him eating four cupcakes in one evening,” she said with defiance in her eyes.
“That’s good. I planned to eat at least one myself.”
Her lips twitched again then her face turned serious. “Come inside. Take it slow and don’t talk about the future.”
“Why not?”
“Because we haven’t figured that out yet. Just knowing he has a father is enough for Joel to handle right now.”
“Are you speaking for Joel or yourself?” Rafe challenged.
Irritation prickled through her. “You can’t believe that you know more about what’s best for Joel than I do.”
“I know I’m his father. That’s enough.”
She clenched her jaw. “I am asking you not to discuss future plans with him.”
“I intend to make it clear to Joel that he can count on me being in his present and future,” Rafe conceded. “That’s all I can promise you for tonight.”
She took a quick breath. “It’s enough that you exist and you’re here. Trust me, you’re overwhelming enough,”