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“No, you didn’t really think, did you?”
“Can you blame me?”
“No,” he said sheepishly, “I can’t.”
“Now, the truth about Linda and Jack, please.”
“Well, I want to know why you didn’t just ask me about it?”
“Because you hardly spoke to me, Chad. And I wasn’t sure how you’d take it if you knew I’d been…lurking around your office trying to figure out…oh, you know. Of course I couldn’t ask you.”
“You could have asked Annie. You and she are close, and she knows the truth.”
“No, Chad, I couldn’t ask her. It was too hard to talk about. Plus, she had assured me you’d had women come around claiming you fathered their children before and that you’d had them checked out. I assumed she didn’t know about Jack.” She touched his forearm, offering an olive branch. “Would you please tell me?”
He took her hand from his arm and covered it with his own. “Linda Rhine is a woman I had a…well, I’m not proud of this, but you no doubt know how I was when I was younger.”
Catie scoffed. “When you were younger?”
“Yeah, okay. She was a one-night stand. Five or so years ago, during the stock show in Denver. That’s the time Dusty and Zach hooked up. She was a friend of this champion barrel racer, Sydney something or other, who hooked up with Dusty’s brother, Sam. After dinner, we ended up back at my hotel room.”
“And?”
“And nothing. We had sex. I used a condom. I have always used a condom. But as you and I proved, condoms aren’t always foolproof.”
Catie shook her head. “No, they’re not.”
“So anyway, about a year ago, right after Ma died, Linda shows up at my doorstep, holding little Jack’s hand. Tells me he’s mine. That she can prove it.
“I say go for it. The kid doesn’t look anything like me. You know that. I go into Denver for a blood test, and she shows up three days later with the papers.
“Well, it don’t take a genius to realize it’s forged. My PI, Larry—he’s the one who tracked you down, by the way—got the whole thing figured out in no time flat. Linda’s mother is a con artist and has been milking money out of unsuspecting people for years. She arranged for a shady doctor to perform the tests and fix the result. Once Larry uncovered that scam, I got a court order for another test, and of course this one came up negative.”
“But the document said you were the father.”
“You saw the first blood test. The forged one. The rest of the papers are in a different file, under Linda’s mother’s name, Dorothy Smith.”
“Oh.” Catie’s cheeks warmed. She’d jumped to a very wrong conclusion, though anyone else would have thought the same. She faced Chad. “If he’s not yours, why did Linda call you?”
“Yeah, that’s a fair question.” Chad took a bite of his croissant and a gulp of coffee. “Linda didn’t want to con me. It was her mother’s idea. But Linda was desperate, and she knew I had money. Little Jack, see, has a rare blood disorder called aplastic anemia. Linda needed money bad. She broke down crying when I called her on the phony test. Told me she’d never wanted to do it. Her mother had basically convinced her it was her only choice.”
“What about Jack?”
“I’m gettin’ to that. You see, little Jack was innocent in all this. He wasn’t mine, but I’d grown kind of fond of the little tyke. He’s right about the same age as Sean. It’d been a while since I’d done anything nice for anyone, and I thought about my ma. About how forgiving she always was, and very giving of her time and money to charitable causes. What would she have wanted me to do? So I decided to fund Jack’s treatment.”
Catie’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, Chad.”
“But if you’re against it, we’ll stop. This is our decision now, not mine alone.”
She squeezed his hand. “I’d never ask you to take something away from a child. Never. He needs you. How is he doing?”
“He’s well, thank goodness. It doesn’t cost so much now. It’s just checkups, to make sure he’s still okay. It cost quite a bit for the bone marrow donation and transplant last year. I send her a small amount each month for incidentals, and Linda calls me or IMs me when she needs something else.”
Catie smiled. She hadn’t known she could love this man more than she already did. “It’s a wonderful thing you’re doing for Linda and Jack.”
Jack chuckled. “I’m trying to imagine the surprise on Linda’s face when she found out I was married. No doubt she figured no one would ever rope me in.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t exactly want to be roped. It was an accident.” She signed and touched her belly. “An accident that’s now moot.”
