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“Hello?”
“Hi, Lizzie, it’s Chloe. I know it’s late, but do you have a minute to pop down to the office? Mrs. Smith is here, and Grandpa thinks you should be here, too.”
“I’ll have to bring Roman with me.” Lizzie cast a distracted glance toward her oblivious son. “And I really don’t want Mrs. Smith to meet him just yet.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take him out with me so you won’t be disturbed,” Chloe reassured her. “I’ve met him at kids’ Bible study during church, so I won’t be a stranger.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Lizzie ended the call and rushed to find her sandals. “We’ve got to go out again, Ro. I’m really sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He slid off his chair and grabbed Doofus. “We like going out.”
* * *
As Ro had already met Chloe, he was quite happy to go down to Yvonne’s with her to have cake. Lizzie watched them walk down the street and braced herself to meet Miranda again.
She went through to Henry’s office where Miranda was sitting in the same chair as last time. The only difference was her outfit was blue, and her expression even less pleasant, if that were possible.
“Hi, Henry.” Lizzie smiled at the lawyer. “Afternoon, Mrs. Smith.”
“Sit down, my dear.” He smiled back at her. “Mrs. Smith has received the DNA results and accepts that Ray is the father of your son.”
“Yay me,” Lizzie said and looked directly at Miranda. “Would you like to apologize now?”
“As I said before, Elizabeth. If you had only followed through when you were pregnant, and not left us all believing you’d found the real father, all of this silliness could’ve been avoided.”
Lizzie opened and shut her mouth twice, but still couldn’t find the right words. She glanced over at Henry and raised her eyebrows.
“What Mrs. Smith is trying to say, Lizzie, is that she is prepared to acknowledge her grandson. She wishes to make some kind of arrangement with you to allow her to get to know him.”
“Okay.” Lizzie nodded. “What exactly do you have in mind?”
“One weekend a month would be enough to start with,” Miranda said briskly. “I have an apartment in San Francisco. We can meet there, and he can stay overnight.”
“That’s so not happening,” Lizzie said. “He’s barely four, and he doesn’t know you at all. I suggest you come here once a month and spend the afternoon with both of us until he gets used to you being around.”
“That would be highly inconvenient for me.”
“And it would be highly inconvenient for me to give up my entire weekend transporting Ro to San Francisco. It’s way too expensive. I am also not prepared to leave him in your company overnight yet.”
“Ladies . . .” Henry attempted to intervene.
“I will send a chauffeur for him.” Miranda carried on talking.
“That’s not good enough,” Lizzie countered. “He’s too young to be stuck in a car with a complete stranger for three or four hours.”
“I’ll fly him out.”
“And expect him to be on a plane by himself?” Lizzie wasn’t backing down. “That’s not okay. If you want to see Roman, you’re going to have to agree to come here and build up a relationship with him in an environment that he is familiar with before you get to take him anywhere without me.”
Miranda turned to Henry. “I’m assuming you will be acting as Elizabeth’s lawyer in this matter?”
“If she needs a lawyer, absolutely.” Henry nodded.
“Hold on.” Lizzie frowned. “What are you saying?”
“I was hoping we could resolve this amicably.” Miranda rose to her feet. “But if you want to make this difficult, Elizabeth, I will consult my own lawyer, and make sure that my family are given access to their blood as they deserve.”
“Two weeks ago you refused to believe Roman existed, and now you think you can bully me into agreeing to your terms?” Lizzie asked. “Come on, Miranda, let’s be reasonable here. I want you to get to know your grandson. What the heck is wrong with you?”
