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“We could have papers drawn up immediately with me giving up all custodial rights to you—”
“I don’t—”
“Think about it, Mal. What if down the road something happens to you and I’m not in the picture? I don’t know about it and they give the kid to social services.” The idea set off a maelstrom of quandary inside him.
He didn’t do quandary. He found logic, made plans, acted.
“You’re planning to lose contact with me?”
That wasn’t what he’d said. She was doing that thing again where she read emotional impact into words that weren’t at all intended to deliver a punch.
“I was thinking more along the lines of you choosing not to be in touch, for whatever reason. Or the two of us drifting apart as a mutual thing.”
Another pause. How had things gotten so out of hand?
He returned to the couch and took another sip of his second shot. He’d probably be feeling a whole lot better if it was double that.
“Look, it just occurred to me that my name on the birth certificate would give you further peace of mind,” he told her. “Because you put such weight on the fact that I’d be willing to step in in case of emergency. I was just trying to make that a foregone conclusion for you. You’d never have to worry about me changing my mind or getting married and having a wife who talked me out of keeping my word to you. Which is also why I thought I should tell Anna.”
“You’re thinking about marrying her?” The question ended on a high note.
“No! Not anytime soon at any rate. We’ve only been on two dates. I just... I like her. And my point in being here in L.A. is to get on with my life. I made a promise to you that I would be a father to that child if anything happened to you. Which means that any woman who is sharing my life would have to be willing to take that on.”
Or she wouldn’t be sharing his life.
“If you’re on the birth certificate you’d be responsible for child support.”
He didn’t give a damn about the money.
“We could set up a college fund.”
“You can’t pay for my baby’s college.”
“I’d have to pay if something happened to you. Consider it the alimony you wouldn’t take during the divorce.”
He’d offered. Many times. Pushed, even. And lost unequivocally on that point.
“Give me time to think about it, okay? I’ve got another eight months before the birth certificate will be an issue.”
“But you’ll think about it?” He dumped the rest of his glass of whiskey down the sink at the bar and grabbed a bottle of tea from the refrigerator.
“Of course. You’ve asked me to, so I will.”
So Mallory. She’d accommodate a scorpion if it had a way of communicating its needs to her.
“And, Bray? Seriously, I’d hold off on saying anything to Anna. At least until you know that you want to marry her. This is my business, too, and I definitely don’t want every woman you date to know about it. I don’t want anyone to know, which was the whole point of insemination to begin with. I get your point. You’re right that your wife would have a right to know about your promise to me. But can we at least wait until you know for sure you want to get married before you say anything?”
She hadn’t asked him to donate his sperm. He’d pushed. The ball really was in her court.
“Fair enough.”
Mallory thanked him, wished him good-night and hung up.
So did that mean he was now free to sleep with Anna?
She’d made it clear she was free that evening. And open to deepening their relationship.
Setting the tea on the table by his business papers, Braden sat down and got to work.
