“I can’t believe he’d be that dumb,” Matrice said. “If he’d just told you the truth before, none of this would have happened.”
“I already covered that, believe me,” Maggie told her and smiled when Jonas kicked his little legs as if he were desperately trying to get up and run.
“I know, but, oh, hold on—” She half covered the mouthpiece so that her voice was muffled as she said, “Danny, don’t pour oatmeal on the cat, honey. That’s a bad choice. Sorry,” she told Maggie when she was back. “We’re getting a late start on breakfast and Danny apparently wants to share.”
Maggie smiled, thinking of her almost two-year-old nephew. The little boy attacked each day as if determined to get as much out of it as he could. Maggie could hardly wait to watch Jonas at that age. She looked down at her son, trying to grab hold of his own toes, and smiled. There was so much to look forward to. So much she could lose if Justice meant what he said and actually tried to take her son.
Fear galloped along her spine and Maggie took a deep breath, trying to rein it in.
“Mags? You there?” Matrice’s voice brought Maggie back to earth and grounded her in the present.
Her older sister was matter-of-fact and down-to-earth, and she had enough common sense to talk Maggie off the proverbial ledge when she had to. Today, that talent was essential.
“I’m here, Matrice. Worried and a little nauseous, but I’m here.”
“You don’t have to worry.”
“Easy for you to say.”
Matrice laughed. “Honey, I’d be worried, too, if I actually believed that Justice would take you to court over your son.”
“What makes you think he won’t?”
“Because I’m brilliant and insightful. That’s why you called me, remember?”
True. But still, Matrice hadn’t seen Justice’s face. His stern, determined expression.
“It’s not going to go to court, I promise you, so relax a little, okay?”
“You don’t know that,” Maggie assured her, reaching out to smooth her hand across her son’s inky black hair and skim her fingertips along his cheek. Instantly, Jonas made a grab for her finger and held on, as if he’d caught a prize. He couldn’t possibly realize that he also had a grip on his mother’s heart. “Justice is single-minded if nothing else, remember? And now that he’s focused on Jonas and being a part of his life, there’s nothing that will stop him. He’ll do whatever he has to, to ensure he wins.”
“But he can’t win if he alienates you, and he knows it.”
“Maybe. But he’s so focused on Jonas.”
Matrice chuckled. “That’s not a bad thing, honey. You wanted him in Jonas’s life, remember? That was one of the reasons you took the job when Jeff offered it. You wanted Justice to get to know his son. To want to be in his life.”
“Yeah…” Okay, yes, that had been the plan. “But I didn’t mean for him to take my son from me.”
“He’s not going to.”
“You can’t be sure of that.”
“Yes, I can.”
“How?” Maggie asked, really wanting to be convinced.
Her sister sighed into the phone. “Justice loves you, Mags. He always has. He wouldn’t hurt you like that, and if you think about it, you’ll see that’s true.”
“Yes, but…”
“And please, he’s going to take the baby from you? Can you see him raising a baby on his own? It would be pitiful. Why, my own Tom hardly knows which end of the diaper goes under Danny’s behind!”
“True,” Maggie said, smiling now as her nerves began to unwind a little. She remembered the still-awkward way Justice held his son and knew that he’d be lost if he had to take care of the baby on his own. Then something occurred to her. “But he has Mrs. Carey and she’s crazy about Jonas!”
“She’s crazy about you, too,” Matrice insisted. “No way would that woman help Justice take your son from you.”
“Maybe not,” she said with a sigh, lifting her gaze from the grinning baby to the stormy skies beyond the window. “But, Matrice, I can’t help thinking this is going to get uglier before it gets any better.”
“My money’s on you, kid,” her sister said.
A few hours later Justice studied the ranch report spread out on his desk, but he couldn’t keep his mind from wandering. He’d put a call into King Labs and was unable to get an answer from them yet. What the hell was taking so long? Why couldn’t they just finish the damn test and end the waiting?
He leaned back in his chair then, willing to admit at least to himself that his mind wasn’t on the ranch. Instead, it was tangled up with thoughts of Maggie and the boy who might be his son. And if he wasn’t? he asked himself. What then? Then, he thought, Maggie would leave, taking Jonas with her, and life at the ranch would once again be quiet as the grave.
Was he really willing to go back to living like that?
Justice scrubbed both hands over his face. No, he wasn’t. He hated the idea of once more being alone in this house but for Mrs. Carey. He didn’t like the idea of not seeing toys everywhere. Of not hearing the baby cry or Maggie’s laughter ringing through the halls.
But did he have a choice? Had there been too many lies to patch up a marriage that had once been so shining and right? Great sex wasn’t enough. Not when there had been so many harsh words between a couple. Not when distrust roared up at every corner. And, as he’d told himself before, great sex only complicated things. Remembering the look on her face when he’d finally confessed the truth to her, Justice had to acknowledge that maybe what they’d once shared was too shattered to put back together. And if their marriage was really over, what was left?
A small boy who would need both of them.
He accepted that if Jonas wasn’t his, then Maggie was lying to him. But hadn’t he lied to her, too? Hadn’t he done just what she’d accused him of doing—chosen his pride over their marriage? Was her lie so much more terrible than his? Would it be so bad to accept another man’s child as his own?
People adopted every day. Why couldn’t he?
Warming to his thoughts, Justice stood up and walked to the wide windows overlooking the ranch yard. The storm was still raging, matching the way he was feeling exactly. He laid one hand on the cold glass and felt the tiny slaps of the rain as the drops bounced against his palm.