Heart of the Raven(12)

"Thank you for being here," he said. "I'm not sure how well I would've done on my own."

"You would be fine. You're quite relaxed with him."

Because you're here, he thought, knowing it was the truth. How did  single parents do it? Well, he was about to find out, and he probably  had more financial resources than most single parents. But paying for  help didn't relieve the anxiety of raising a child alone.

He let go of Cassie. "Do you have work you should be doing?" he asked.

"A little. Most has to wait until businesses are open tomorrow. I'll work the next time Danny naps, which should be soon."

"You should nap. We both should."

"You're probably right. Are you ready for some lunch first?"

"You don't have to wait on me."

"I know." She smiled. "We'll barbecue tonight. Let man build fire." She grunted.

He smiled back as she walked away, her braid swinging back and forth,  brushing the small of her back. He wanted to rest his hand there, in  that gently curved hollow.

Too much fantasizing, he thought, not following her. Time for a cold  shower of sorts. He and Danny would watch the Forty-niners play on  television. It was never too soon for a boy's first football game.





Eight




After a short nap Cassie walked down the hallway and stood in the  doorway of Heath's office. His back was to her, his attention focused on  his computer monitor. The blinds were still shut. What will it take?  she wondered. Why won't he open them? This was the one room she wouldn't  push him about. Plus he probably wouldn't let her, anyway.

She didn't expect him to take leaps and bounds out of the emotional  trench he'd been stuck in for years, but opening blinds seemed like a  baby step.

She wondered whether she should say hello or go off and do some work  herself. What she really wanted was to bring her computer into his  office and work where she could see him, talk to him. Touch him.  Especially that. It was getting harder and harder not to.

"You can come in," he said, turning around, surprising her. "Did you sleep?"

"I did. How about you?" She hoped her need didn't show in her eyes as she took a seat at his worktable.

"I got enough to keep going." He typed a few keystrokes, then gave her his full attention. "What's next, Cassie?"

"Um, pork tenderloin. Fresh asparagus that we can grill, too. Red  potatoes, which I'll oven roast with some rosemary and olive oil."

"I meant with Danny, but that sounds good."

She smiled. "Sorry. I'm hungry." She grabbed a pen from the tabletop and  tapped it against her palm. "I've got the name of a reputable agency  about getting a nanny. I'll contact them tomorrow. You need an attorney  to spell out the legal details, but I'm sure you'll need DNA testing to  prove paternity. There are some firms where you can mail samples in and  get results in a week, but you'll want the chain of custody of the  samples for your proof. It takes a little longer. Do you have a family  attorney?"

"Yes. How do I get a copy of the birth certificate?"

"It'll be sent to the Office of Vital Records from wherever it was Eva gave birth."

"Will I be able to access it?"

"She can't have put you down as the father, but don't worry about it.  I've got a great relationship with that office. I'll work it out."

Heath frowned. "Why couldn't she put me down as the father?"

"State law says the father's name can be reported on the birth  certificate only if the parents are legally married or if the father  agrees to give up his right to challenge paternity."                       
       
           



       

"But I'm not challenging that right."

"Did you sign a Declaration of Paternity form?"

"I didn't know such a thing existed."

Eva should have known, though, Cassie thought. "As I said, we'll get it  worked out. It would be helpful to at least talk with Eva."

She decided to start dinner, because what she really wanted was to  bombard him with questions. To understand him. To get a sense that he  would return to the land of the living. She tossed the pen on the table  as she stood. "You'll call the lawyer in the morning? Unless he's also  such a good friend he would come here on a Sunday."

He smiled. "He is, but I'll call him tomorrow morning instead. You seem to resent my contacts, Cassie."

"I envy them. Anyway, he'll probably draw up a new document for Eva to sign, if you hear from her again." She walked away.

"I expect I'll hear from her."

At the doorway Cassie faced him. He sounded so sure. "Why?"

"Just a gut instinct. Maybe the way she looked at Danny before she ran off."

"How was that?"

"Torn. Sad."

Cassie's suspicions sprang up again. She doubted things were going to  work out the way Heath wanted. Either the baby wasn't his, after all, or  Eva would take him back. Cassie needed to decide how to lay the  groundwork for those possibilities with Heath.

She leaned against the jamb. "What was she like during the pregnancy?"

"How do you mean?"

"Was she content? Excited? Afraid? Had she wanted to end the pregnancy? Did she seem to be looking forward to being a mother?"

"The pregnancy wasn't planned and we weren't married. It didn't exactly make for an ideal situation."

"I understand that."

He stood, too, and came close to Cassie. "She didn't tell me she was  pregnant until after she could have terminated it, and we didn't talk  about if she'd even considered it. If she had asked for my input I  would've asked her to keep the baby and give him to me."

"And her attitude?"

"I would say she wasn't excited but not afraid, either. I don't know how  to describe it. She was different after she was pregnant, but I  expected her to be different. The way she took off at the end stunned  me. It was way out of character."

"She seemed to want so little of you, other than money."

He stood a little straighter. His expression hardened. "That's not entirely true. She wanted to share the pregnancy with me."

"Maybe because you needed to share it, and she was reacting to your need."

"Maybe."

"Then she disappeared."

"Yeah. And now there's pushy Cassie Miranda."

"I'm looking out for Danny."

"I figured that out for myself. You don't have the world's best poker face when it comes to my son."

But was Danny his son? Cassie wondered. "Kids deserve-"

He put a finger to her lips for a moment. "Yes, they do. I'm trying,  Cassie. I know you haven't told me … half? A tenth? Of what you went  through in foster care, but I know a lot of it wasn't good. I hope  you'll share it with me sometime."

She'd blocked much of it and never wanted to relive it. But plenty of  kids had been in worse situations than she. "I wasn't sexually abused,"  she said, giving him that much. But trust? That was a different issue.  As hard as she tried, putting her faith in anyone other than herself was  next to impossible, at least complete faith.

"I'm glad to hear that."

"I-" she jerked a thumb over her shoulder "-need to start dinner."

Still she didn't move. Neither did he. They looked into each other's eyes, searching for … what?

"What happened to you in those homes?" Heath asked, his hand brushing hers.

"Give me a half hour to get things going, then you can start the grill," she said. She spun away from him.

"We're quite a pair, aren't we, Cassie?"

"Yeah." She got the word out but that was all. She hurried down the  stairs, her boot heels pounding. Danny let out a wail. She detoured into  his room, swept him into her arms and held him close, resting her cheek  against his head.

She was already in too deep with this child-and this man. She shouldn't stay.

But she couldn't go.

Would she ever be able to?



"You're right. This document would never hold up in court," Heath's  lawyer said the next afternoon before taking a bite of pasta salad.  Kerwin Rudyard had given up his lunch hour to drive to Heath's house.  Cassie had gone into the city to work but hadn't gotten back in time to  meet Kerwin.                       
       
           



       

"Then I need you to draw up a document that will," Heath said.

"I can draw it up, but you need to know this will be an uphill battle. She's going to have rights, if she changes her mind."

"I assumed as much. I want to protect Danny as much as I can. Could she take him away entirely?"

"Let's not concern ourselves with that just yet, Heath. One step at a  time. First step, a lab technician will come take samples for DNA  testing. We want to be sure of the chain of custody, so you don't have  to repeat any steps in future and slow down the process."