Chapter 16
Genevieve didn’t know how to feel as they rode back to the hospital where Ian had been born a week before.
As a schoolteacher, she’d been involved in several custody cases.
She agreed that children should be raised by their parents, unless the parents were pieces of shit.
She didn’t think Lieutenant Chaney would fall into that category.
What worried her more than anything else was the fact that he was single.
She knew all too well the life of a SEAL and last-minute missions.
“Is there anything we can do?” Her frustration was palpable. “We have custody.”
“We were granted emergency custody so Ian wouldn’t have to go into the social services system.” Evan reached over and took her hand in his. “I hate to remind you, but we still haven’t had our inspection.”
“If this lieutenant is Ian’s father, does he have to go through any of that?” She already knew the answer and she didn’t like it.
“No. Fathers are allowed to have custody of their children, no questions or inspections required.” Evan gave her hand a squeeze.
“He has every right to his son. Kylie tried to tell him she was pregnant, but he’d changed phones.
He truly didn’t know. You should’ve seen the look of shock on his face when he saw Kylie’s picture. ”
“I’m putting you on notice right now. I’m not going to completely give up this baby.
I’m going to be part of his life, no matter what the baby’s daddy says.
” She’d already made up her mind and was willing to fight for visitation rights at the very least. She knew other grandparents who got their grandchildren every other weekend.
“We’ll do what we can,” he reassured her.
Lieutenant Chaney was already at the hospital lab when they arrived. “Sir. Ma’am, I’m Lieutenant Dylan Chaney.”
When he shook Genevieve’s hand, his steady gaze made her heart drop. Ian had his beautiful eyes.
A lab technician came through the locked door with two sterile swabs.
“Lieutenant, if you’ll just open wide.” He quickly shoved the wet cotton into the tube before turning to the infant in the carrier.
“Babies aren’t nearly as easy.” But a minute later, after unhappy howls from Ian, the job was done.
“There’s a rush on this one so you should get a call by the end of the day. ”
Before they could turn and leave, Lieutenant Chaney asked, “May I see the baby?”
Genevieve reached in the carrier and unbuckled him. When she handed her grandson over to Dylan, she had tears in her eyes. She could tell he didn’t know how to hold the baby, so she readjusted his arms to the correct position.
“I have so much to learn, don’t I?” Without taking his eyes off the baby he kept talking.
“I wasn’t able to sleep last night because I was trying to decide what was best for Ian.
I want to be part of my son’s life but I’m not sure how to do that as a single father and a SEAL.
How am I going to be able to adequately take care of the baby?
What’s going happen when my team gets called and we have an hour before we’re wheels up? ”
She took Evan’s hand. “We want to be part of Ian’s life.” She fought back tears. “The baby is all we have left of our daughter. We are here for Ian, and by extension, for you.”
“We understand that as the father you are entitled to complete custody.” Evan gripped her hand as he continued, “I’m asking not as your commanding officer, but as the grandfather of that baby. We want to be part of his life.”
“We told Kylie the same thing and that’s when she decided to keep the baby.”
Lieutenant Chaney looked up in horror. “She was going to put my son up for adoption without ever telling me?”
“She tried to get ahold of you and tell you several times after you deployed. I can show you the texts from her phone.” Evan sounded very defensive of Kylie. “We recently learned that you had changed your phone number days before deploying.”
When the baby started to fuss, the Lieutenant handed him back to Genevieve. “Let’s first confirm that he’s mine. I would truly appreciate any help you are able to give me.”
Later that evening, Lieutenant Chaney called the house. Since Evan was dealing with the diaper, Genevieve was making the bottle and answered the phone.
“Ms. Hubbard, this is Lieutenant Chaney. The hospital just notified me that there is a ninety-nine percent chance that Ian is my son.” He hesitated a second.
“I know he’s mine. I talked to an attorney over at the JAG office this morning.
They said the first thing I need to do is to get the birth certificate corrected with my name as the father. ”
“Okay,” was the only word she could get out around her tightening throat.
The young man let out a long breath. “Once I have the new birth certificate, I can put in for base housing since he’ll be a dependent. The bad news is, they are telling me I could be on the list for months. They said perhaps during summer rotation a house might become available for us.”
“That sounds about right.” Genevieve had been around the military long enough to know the standard rotations.
“I spent a little time online looking for two-bedroom apartments, but this is Coronado. I saw a few that might work over on the mainland. I’m going to go look at one tomorrow.”
Genevieve knew all about the real estate on Coronado. They had totally lucked into their house twenty years ago. She’d watched real estate prices climb astronomically.
“In the meantime, Ms. Hubbard, would you and the captain consider continuing to take care of Ian for me? I can pay you.” He quickly added the last.
“First, you’re now part of my family. My name is Genevieve. May I call you Dylan?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Second, Dylan, we’re more than happy to continue to care for our grandson until you find proper housing.”
“Thank you, ma’am, I mean, Genevieve.” She heard so much relief in the young man’s voice that she felt guilty.
She’d take care of Ian for the rest of his life if Dylan would allow it.
“Do you think it would be okay if I came over to see him? I don’t know anything about babies, but you saw that back at the hospital.
I’m a quick learner, though, if you’d be willing to teach me. ”
Genevieve now understood what her daughter saw in this amazing young man. “I’d be more than happy to teach you how to feed and change diapers. How about tomorrow afternoon? Would you be available to stay for supper?”
“A home-cooked meal would be wonderful, but I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
Manners, considerate of others. Dylan would have been a wonderful son-in-law.
“No problem. Our lives revolve around the baby these days anyway.”
There was a long pause before Dylan spoke. “Genevieve, will the captain be there?”
Damn. She’d been away from the military for so long she’d forgotten about ranks.
As a captain, Evan was next to God from a lieutenant’s point of view.
It was too late to discuss the invitation with him now.
Besides, he was going to have to learn to live with the fact that Lieutenant Chaney was a member of the family.
“Yes, he’ll be here, but he doesn’t bite.” She tried to joke. Actually, he did bite, and she loved it. “But don’t worry about him. Should we plan to see you around three?”
“Yes, ma’am. Three o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Genevieve, thank you so much.” When Dylan hung up, Genevieve felt strangely closer to the young man. She liked him.
Bottle in hand, she headed up to Ian’s bedroom.
“Who called?” Evan asked as he sat down in the rocker and started to feed the baby.
“Dylan. He got the confirmation that we already knew. He’s Ian’s father.”
Evan lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m good with it. He asked if we could continue to care for Ian until he was able to find proper housing. I’m great with that.” She watched him carefully as she announced, “He’s coming over tomorrow afternoon for baby care lessons. I invited him to stay for supper.”
“Good. He can deal with the bath, and all the diapers.” Evan reached out his free hand and grabbed hers. “Maybe, soon, we can get more than a few quiet hours together.”
She leaned over and kissed him. “I think I like this young man.”
“Me, too.”
Promptly at three the next afternoon, Genevieve was thrilled to open the door to a bouquet of colorful gerbera daisies.
“These are beautiful.” She took them into the kitchen and found a vase.
She looked around, trying to see it through his eyes. It was a nice place. About five years ago, she’d had the kitchen remodeled and new tile laid on the first floor. It really was a beautiful home, if she did say so herself.
“What a lovely home,” Dylan complimented. She could tell he was nervous.
“Ian’s room is upstairs. He’s sleeping right now but we could sneak in,” she suggested. “It’ll give you a chance to see what kind of furniture you’ll need to buy.”
Dylan looked at his watch. “What time will Ian wake up?”
Genevieve laughed out loud. “Whenever he’s ready.”
“I read that babies are supposed to be put on a schedule.” Dylan’s innocent face was comical.
Genevieve laughed again. “You’re going to read a lot of stuff about babies. Half of it is bull written by someone who never had a child. Unfortunately, babies don’t come with a manual. At this age, though, you’re on the baby’s schedule. All they do is eat, sleep, pee, and poop.”
She stared at him, trying to see if he had what it takes to be a father. Then she saw the determination.
“Babies are completely helpless. They depend on you for everything.” She gave him a half-smile.
“The good news is, they grow up slow. Every day, he’ll be more and more aware of his surroundings.
You handle things a little bit at a time.
” Her smile then split her face. “Then they become teenagers, and you want to fucking kill them.”