“I’m not.”
“Or you’re so happy to be having a child you’re not thinking clearly.”
He sighed. “I’m thinking perfectly fine.”
“Let me call George anyway, have him do a bit of research into her past to make sure everything’s okay.”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s just a precaution. Plus, you never know what he’ll find. Maybe there’s something in her past that could help you.”
Jake ran his hand across his mouth. Calling a private investigator to make sure Avery was on the up-and-up was one thing. But digging up dirt, ruining someone’s life to extort them into compliance sounded so much like something his father would do after one of his fits of rage that he hesitated.
“Look, Jake, Mom’s already at odds. If this blows up in your face, she’s going to go over the edge. You know it. I know it. This isn’t just about you.”
Jake tossed his pencil to his desk. “All right. Call George. But I want to be the one to talk to him.”
“Great. I’ll set a meeting for this afternoon.”
“Not at the office.”
“Your place?”
He hesitated again. A horrible feeling washed through him. Was he pulling one of his dad’s tricks? Looking for something in Avery’s past? His intention was to make sure Avery could be trusted, but what if he found something that might make her seem unfit? Would he take her baby?
He stopped himself. There was no reason to get ahead of himself. A woman he barely knew, albeit that she’d been vetted by Waters, Waters and Montgomery when they’d hired her, was having his child. There was nothing wrong with checking up on her. Plus, he couldn’t dismiss what Seth was saying. Their mom was fragile. Their father might have been dead five months, but she wasn’t bouncing back from the loss. They didn’t need a scandal, or worse yet, a thief in their lives right now.
“Have him meet me at my house at about six.”
The feeling rolled through him again. The awful fear that he was becoming his dad. This time, he ignored it.
* * *
As Avery arrived at her office, she closed the door and hit the Contacts button on her phone to call her mom.
She hadn’t been able to sleep the night before. After hours of tossing and turning, she’d realized she’d been lulled into a false sense that she was in control of this situation with Jake because she had a Plan A, Plan B and even Plan C.
But Jake McCallan was much too careful, too smart. Sleeping with her ten times had been one thing. Having her as the mother of his child was quite another. If he hadn’t checked into her past before this, he would be checking now.
And once he did, Plan C would be as dead in the water as Plan A, and Plan B wouldn’t stand a chance.
Still, right now, her priority was to warn her mom.
When she answered, Avery said, “Hey, Mom.”
“Avery! What a nice surprise. What’s up? You never call on a weekday.”
She winced. She didn’t like reopening old wounds, but she wouldn’t let her mom be blindsided. “I have a feeling some people are going to be coming around asking questions about me.”
“You mean like the private investigators who checked into your life when you were hired by the big law firm?”
Avery said, “Yes,” but her heart stuttered. Pregnancy hormones must be making her slow and dull. Jake wouldn’t have to hire a private investigator to check out her past. All he had to do was ask her boss. Pete Waters had investigated her before he hired her. But where Waters, Waters and Montgomery considered it an advantage to employ a woman whose dad had been unjustly convicted—because it motivated her to work hard for their clients—all Jake would see was that her dad had been in jail.
And he could use that.
She ran her hand through her hair and walked to the filing cabinet. There were no windows in her office. Associates didn’t get offices with windows. That was her place. A very small person in a very big world. A world that was quickly spinning out of control.
She squeezed her eyes shut. There was absolutely no way to fight this. “This is a mess, Mom. It’s going to bring up all Dad’s troubles again for you guys.”
“Avery,” her mom said softly. “We live it every day. The whole town knows your dad was in jail but got out when Project Freedom proved he’d been framed. Let someone come and ask questions. We’re fine.”
“Okay.”
“But that doesn’t mean we don’t want you starting your law firm. Your dad went through hell for six years and we don’t want to see that happen to anybody else.”
“Neither do I.”
“And we’re proud of you.”
“Thanks.” She sucked in a breath, blew it out slowly. Her parents being okay with an investigator coming to town solved one problem. But there were thirty others nipping at her heels, things she wouldn’t burden her mom with.
“So...this guy who’s coming to ask us questions...does this have anything to do with the baby?”
She swallowed. She should have known her mom would figure this out. Who else from New York would care about her dad’s past?
“The baby’s father and I ran into each other. He saw I was pregnant and pretty much did the math.”
“And you think he’s going to look into your past hoping to find something he can use to get custody of the baby?”
“He might. Or he might just use it to keep me in New York.”
“Oh.”
Her mother’s hopeless tone caused all of Avery’s fears to rush to the surface. “He could ruin all my plans.”
“Or maybe the two of you could work this out?”
The more she thought about it, the more she doubted it. But to placate her mom she said, “Sure.”
“I mean it.” Her mother’s voice brightened. “All you need is a little trust. In fact, if you told him about your dad so he didn’t have to send a private investigator to Wilton, then he might see you’re an honest person and negotiate a little more fairly.”
Avery laughed. “That is the most optimistic thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Sweetie, he’s going to find out anyway. And if you don’t tell him, it might make him suspicious and maybe even angry that you held such important information back. But if you tell him, it could be your door of opportunity to start some trust between you.”
Her mother sounded so sure that for a second Avery waivered. “I don’t know.”
“Your dad and I aren’t running. You shouldn’t either. Face this head-on.”
If it was anybody else but Jake McCallan, she might be able to cobble together enough optimism to give it a shot. Knowing her mother would keep trying to persuade her if she didn’t at least say she’d consider it, Avery said, “I’ll think about it.”
After some gossip about the flower shop owner, Avery hung up the phone and squeezed her eyes shut. If Jake discovered her father’s past and confronted her, she could come out swinging, quote bits and pieces from the hearings that freed him and defend him.
But to tell Jake herself? To explain that her dad had been framed by a coworker