Chapter 26 The First Step
THE FIRST STEP
“Ilike this thing with you cooking,” she said two hours later.
She never thought she’d confess what she and Victor went through to anyone. Maybe it was the fact he’d sent her a text this week, checking in on her. Saying he missed her and thought of her often.
She deleted it without replying like she always did. It seemed odd to her, the timing of it when she was dating Chance. Or could be it was a nice reminder of what the right things to have in a man were.
She never thought she’d be in a relationship with a guy who made her realize it was okay to be herself, and to her, that might be one of the best discoveries.
Did she skirt around Chance asking her if things ended? No. They were over in her eyes. A miscellaneous text meant nothing.
“I told you I knew how.”
He had a pork roast smothered in barbecue sauce in the crockpot that had been cooking before she arrived. He was making potato salad now.
“Are you sure I can’t help you?”
“I’ve got it,” he said. “You cook for me all the time.”
“I do,” she said. “Do you think things are one-sided? Me always coming to you?”
He turned fast enough that he knocked some of the egg he was chopping on the floor. “I go to your place all the time.”
“When I ask,” she said. “Did it ever occur to you I take the first step?”
“No,” he said. “I know it. Or I did. I thought it was getting better.”
“Oohhhh,” she said. “So you like it when a woman does all the work.”
“Don’t confuse me with your ex.”
“Not possible,” she said. “And I wasn’t saying it for that reason. It was more of a joke about how cocky you are. But I get it. You’re not looking for long-term anything.”
“I don’t know what I’m looking for, but it’s not short term.” This time her mouth opened. “Damn, did I get the upper hand this time?”
“You did,” she said. “And I won’t even be one of those women to ask you to explain more.”
“Thanks for that,” he said. “Because I don’t know what answer I could give you.”
She got up and moved closer to him in the kitchen from where she’d been sitting at his table to chat. She put her arms around his waist from behind.
“Think nothing of it,” she said. “I’m not. It’s good enough for me.”
She never wanted to settle in her life, but this time she was going to take it on the chin like a mature adult who had to tell herself there was no planning this out.
Thirty minutes later, there was a knock at the door when she was setting the table to eat. She’d be leaving shortly after dinner and hated anyone interrupting the little time they had together.
“I’m not sure who that can be,” he said, walking into the living room and opening the door. “Can I help you?”
“Chance Drummond?”
“That’s me,” he said.
It was a woman’s voice so she popped her head out. An older lady. One holding a wiggling toddler.
“Here’s your kid. He’s yours now. I’m done with this shit.”
“Whoa,” he said, his hands up. “Not so fast. I don’t know who the hell you are.”
“I’m Baylee Bradley’s mother. This is her kid. She leaves him with me all the time to take off doing God only knows what. This time she got her ass in jail and won’t be getting out soon. I’m done.”
“You can’t just drop a kid off and leave,” he said. “I don’t have any kids.”
Jocelyn came into the room. The little boy was squirming and getting worked up. “I know it’s your kid. Baylee told me about you around the time she got pregnant. A fireman she met out one night. You’ve got an old black sports car.”
“Hi. What’s your name?” Jocelyn asked. “Please, come in, and we can talk about this. Surely you don’t want to just drop your grandson off with a stranger and leave.”
This couldn’t be happening. Chance always seemed calm in any situation, but his feet were cemented in place and his mind not functioning with his mouth.
“Nettie Bradley,” the woman said, moving in. “Listen, I’m sorry to be doing this, but I can’t take it anymore. I’m sixty-five years old and have had enough. I can’t raise a two-year-old. Baylee doesn’t do much with him and never has.”
“Please stop talking like that in front of him,” she said gently, taking the child. Even if he couldn’t understand, she didn’t want the words said. “What’s his name?”
“Maverick,” Nettie said. “Call him whatever you want. He looks like you. Baylee is blonde hair, blue-eyed.”
The toddler was on the ground now and looking around. A little lost, a little afraid. She didn’t blame him.
But she looked at Chance and the boy, and there were a lot of similarities.
It hadn’t escaped her notice that Chance paled just now when he heard the name.
“You think he’s yours, don’t you?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t take a stranger’s word for it. Why the hell wouldn’t Baylee come back and tell me? She knew where I lived. You found me.”
“I found you because now that her butt is behind bars, I told her I’m putting the baby in foster care. She said who the father was. I’m giving you a shot to take him or that’s where he’s ending up.”
“No,” he said. “I’ll get a DNA test immediately.”
“Can you keep Maverick for a few more days?” Jocelyn asked. “Chance can get a DNA test expedited. But I’m sure you don’t want to leave him here if Chance isn’t the father, right? Wouldn’t it be better to know? Then maybe everyone can sit down and get things squared away properly.”
“Do you know how expensive it is to have a kid?” Nettie asked.
“Diapers. Clothing. Food. Shit that Baylee doesn’t help with and I can’t keep a job.
I’m not surprised she ended up in jail, but I just can’t do this again.
I’m sick. I’ve got MS and it’s getting worse.
The stress of this isn’t helping me any. ”
Chance took a deep breath. “I’ll give you money. One week. Less than that. I don’t know where to go or what to do for the test, but I’m sure I can get it done quickly. If he’s mine, I’ll come get him and everything of his immediately. I promise. Hang on.” He just left the room.
“Are you hungry, little man?” she asked. Maverick ran back to his grandmother, but she wouldn’t pick him up.
There was part of her that wanted to say keep the kid here. That he’d be better off, but maybe it wouldn’t be wise until they had all the facts.
Maverick opened his mouth and let out a wail and lifted his arms. “I can’t pick you up,” Nettie said. “You need to wait.”
Jocelyn lifted the kid into her arms. “Hey,” she said. “I’ve got you.” She was rocking him some as she walked out of the living room.
Chance returned. “Here is five hundred dollars,” he said. “It’s the only cash I’ve got here. I can get more. But get him what he needs or for your trouble. Give me your number. Tomorrow I’ll get right on this. I’ll need a DNA sample anyway.”
“You’re not going to skip town?”
“No,” Jocelyn said. “He’s a respected member of the fire department. He’s not going anywhere.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow. I promise,” he said.
Jocelyn walked into the kitchen and found a banana on the counter. “Do you like bananas?”
Maverick pointed. “Nana.” She grabbed it to open for him and he reached for it just like that. As much as she wanted to cut it up, maybe that was how he ate it and changing things might cause a meltdown.
When she returned to the living room where she’d heard Chance and Nettie still talking, he was running his hands through his hair.
“I have nothing here for him. Not even to stay the night.”
“He sleeps with me,” Nettie said. “He doesn’t like being alone.”
Poor baby probably felt everyone was abandoning him.
Oh shit.
Was Chance having flashbacks? That thought just hit her.
No way he’d let this child leave if he thought Maverick would end up in foster care.
“Are you going to take Maverick back home or turn him over to someone else?”
Nettie sighed. “I’ll take him home. I thought maybe you’d keep him. I didn’t expect you to give me money. I thought you’d shut the door in my face.”
“I just want the facts. If he’s mine, we’ll get the paperwork started.”
“I’m sure Chance can get temporary custody,” Jocelyn said. “We can get an attorney tonight.”
He looked at her. “How?”
She waved him off. “I’m Jocelyn McCarthy. If Chance isn’t available for any reason because he’s working, please call me. Can I give you my number?”
She held her hand out for Nettie’s phone. The older woman gave it to her and Jocelyn entered her name.
“Neither of you is leaving me with him?”
“No,” Chance said. “I just want to do this right, but if you’re not taking him home, I’ll find a way to keep him here.”
Maverick was eating and crying. The tension in the room was affecting them all.
“I’ll keep him,” Nettie said.
“Why don’t I carry him down for you?” she asked. Chance had done little more than look at the child and her heart broke over that. She couldn’t understand why he was so detached, but maybe it was just the shock.
“Thanks,” Nettie said.
When they were in the elevator, Maverick finished his banana, snot was running out of his nose and she wiped it with the sleeve of her shirt.
“Were you really just going to drop him off with nothing? No birth certificate, clothes, anything? Not even a favorite toy?”
Nettie sighed. “I know you think I’m shit, but I wouldn’t have done that. I would have gone back to get more stuff. Or have you do it. I couldn’t pack it up anyway. I can barely get him here myself.”
She noticed Nettie walking slowly and shifting as if she was in pain.
“Are you going to be okay with him for a few days?”
“I’ll manage like I always do,” Nettie said. “Now that he’s walking it’s easier. I’m in a trailer, so no stairs.”
“One of us will call you tomorrow. Even if it’s checking in on you and Maverick. I promise. Can I ask what Baylee is in jail for?”
“Sale of drugs. She’s been hanging out with the wrong people for the past year.
I’m positive she was a drug runner for this group.
She was pulled over in another state with a large quantity on her.
She’s always been a troubled child. Shouldn’t have had this one either. ” Nettie was looking at Maverick.
She was ill hearing that said to the baby that she was positive was Chance’s.
“But she did. And she didn’t tell Chance. Do you know why?”
“Because she’s careless and always has been. She thinks only of herself and having Maverick got her government money.”
She had no words and wouldn’t even come up with them.
When they got to the old, rusted minivan in the parking lot, she was hesitant to hand the baby over. But keeping him might not be the right thing either.
They had to do this by the book. It’d only help them in the end. And if Maverick wasn’t Chance’s, then there wasn’t anything they could do about it either.
She buckled the toddler in, his cries and tears didn’t stop. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Yeah. He’s tired and doesn’t get out much. He wanted to run around and we’re leaving again.”
There was nothing more she could do other than take Nettie’s word on it.
“I’ll call tomorrow. I promise.”
“Not your boyfriend? Or is he your husband?”
“Boyfriend.” It was close enough.
Nettie turned the van over, it stalled twice before it coughed and held on, then she pulled away.
Jocelyn all but ran upstairs to Chance’s apartment and saw him on his computer.
“I found a lab that will do a DNA test tomorrow. I can expedite the results in less than two days if I pay more.”
“That’s great,” she said, pulling him up to stand. Her arms went around him. “Take a deep breath. This is a shock. You need an attorney just as fast as you do a DNA test.”
He returned her hug, squeezing her tighter than she was holding on. “I’ll do that in the morning.”
“Or we can do it now,” she said. “Walker Olson. If he can’t take it, someone in his firm can.”
“Then your parents might find out,” he said.
“Don’t piss me off, Chance. There is no hiding this and you shouldn’t. You work on Tuesday.”
“I’ll get someone to switch with me,” he said. “Shouldn’t be a problem. I do it a lot for others.”
“Good. I’m here with you. Do you want to call your grandmother?”
“Absolutely not,” he said. “Not until I know for sure.”
“Is that why you wouldn’t look at him? I saw you pale when you heard his name. Why?”
“Because Baylee called me Maverick. She had a thing about Top Gun and said I was cocky, had a need for speed, and broke the rules.”
“I think that was true in your youth, not so sure about rule breaking now.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “Just like nothing I do in my life will ever get me out of the cycle I grew up in.”
“Stop it right now,” she said. “You’re not going to feel sorry for yourself. There is a little boy who needs someone in his life.”
“It’s going to be me if he’s mine,” he said fiercely. “And I understand if you need or want to cut.”
She pushed back from his embrace and looked at his face. He was still pale, so she forced a smile for his sake and not to cause a fight. “I love kids and you need me. I’m not going anywhere.”