Anybody's Dad

How was he supposed to fight this? This ethereal image of motherhood.

She smiled, but he only caught half of it, her face turned away as her counsel introduced her to his. Tigh flashed her his easy grin, then offered her a chair, and she sat, clutching her tiny beaded handbag on her lap before she finally twisted a look at him.

Chase nodded.

Tessa nodded.

The air between them was charged with defiance before Tessa turned back to Dia, taking a calming breath. Oh, lord. Did he have to be so handsome? Where were the warts she spent half the night praying for? she wondered as his lawyer gestured to an empty chair and Chase rounded the back of the table, sliding in it. He adjusted his tie and let his gaze creep across the table and up to her face. She could feel it, like a fingertip under her chin, and she fought the urge to look at him. She kept her gaze locked on Dia.

Her lawyer racked papers and addressed Tigh. “Miss Lightfoot wants to know what rights you believe you’re entitled to.”

“I don’t believe I am, I know.”

Tessa looked at him sharply, briefly, and in a heartbeat, Chase was snagged in those vivid green eyes.

“Miss Lightfoot feels this is the clinic’s problem.”

Ignoring Tigh’s prior warning to let him negotiate, Chase went on. “It’s our problem. Because that’s our baby. And does Miss Lightfoot,” he growled, “even have a voice?”

Tessa cocked a look at him. “As a matter of fact I do, though not as loud as yours.”

Chased stared, then grinned suddenly, and Tessa was startled, her cheeks warming.

Dia and Tigh exchanged a glance.

“Surely your client will agree this is an unusual situation,” Tigh said. “We would like to know how this mistake was discovered.”

The lawyers exchanged copies of paperwork. “Lab techs were updating records, a periodic checking of log numbers against donors, making certain no donor is used more than once.” Chase felt his skin tighten. “The donor’s—” Dia cleared her throat, making Chase squirm “—Mr. Madison’s —sperm was incorrectly listed.”

“Then how do they know he’s the one,” Tigh asked, “if he was just a number in a registry?”

Dia glanced at Tessa and she nodded.

“When this matter arose, Miss Lightfoot underwent amniocentesis to be certain.”

That she would go through such pain and risk told Chase more than he wanted to know and he leaned across the table, his gaze flicking between Dia and Tigh, then to Tessa:

“And?” His breath locked in his lungs.

Tessa knew this should come from her and lifted her gaze from her lap, her eyes glossed with unshed tears. She put just enough resentment into her tone as she said, “It was your donation, Mr. Madison.”

The wind went out of Chase then. There had been the shadow, the sliver of a chance that this was just a mix-up in paperwork. But now that warm feeling came again, spreading to his fingers this time, seeping into his heart and burrowing deeper and stronger with each passing moment. A dad. He leaned back in the chair, so damned pleased. And he hoped it showed, hoped this woman realized that he wasn’t giving up any rights to his child, without one hell of a fight.

But Tessa knew, by his expression, his eyes, warming to a wonderful cobalt blue. She looked away suddenly. Oh, Cod, what have I done? Acknowledging him offered him rights. Parental rights. No. He’s just the donor, a test tube of defrosted fluid.

“The difficulty lies in how your sperm was even registered,” Dia was saying. “As I understand it, you and your wife—” Tessa looked instantly horrified and Chase interrupted sharply.

“Ex-wife. Dead ex-wife.” Bitter, a quick slap of fury before it was gone.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Madison,” both women said, but Chase had eyes only for Tessa, his gaze burning over her golden skin as he stared and stared, until she lifted her eyes to his. A small smile curved his lips, half there, half not, and it made her wonder what was hatching in his brain.

“You were going to use a surrogate,” Dia finished, and Tigh agreed for him. “Well, while Mr. Madison’s specimen should have been destroyed at the termination of his marriage, my client was listed as a surrogate.”

Tessa jerked her gaze to her sister. “That’s impossible.”

“Is it?” Chase interjected.

She turned on Chase. “Yes, I would never have a child only to give it away, not for anyone.” Her voice rose. “And Dr. Faraday knows this, knows exactly what I’ve been through!” Dia clasped her hand and Tessa fell into silence.

Chase’s heart suddenly skittered. Was there a problem with the pregnancy? Though he wanted to know, needed to know, he didn’t think she’d tell him if he asked.

“I will never give you my baby,” she asserted, her beautiful eyes sparking with barely checked fury.

“Our baby,” he countered across the table.

“No. Mine. The donor signed over rights when he donated sperm to the bank. That’s why I chose it.”

“Don’t like men, do you?”

Tessa looked appalled and Chase had his answer.

“Regardless,” their lawyers interrupted, sending their clients an I’m-supposed-to-do-the-talking look. Chase and Tessa settled back, stiff, their anger sizzling across the polished table.

“You both have rights. Suing the clinic will not change anything,” came from Dia.

“I don’t want to sue,” Chase said.

“Then we can set up visitation rights when the child is born.”

Chase’s gaze jerked to her attorney’s. “No way. I’m not visiting my own child. I want him.”

Panic, absolute and undeniable, sent Tessa leaning forward, her hand gripping the table ledge. “I don’t want you in my life, Mr. Madison, father or not!” She stood abruptly. “Possession is nine-tenths of the law, and until this child is born, you have no rights.”

“I have the same as any father.”

“Then go off and be anybody’s father. We don’t want you.”

Dia rose and settled Tessa back into the chair, glaring at Chase. “It isn’t wise to upset her,” she remarked.

“Oh Dia, be serious,” Tessa murmured under her breath. “I’m pregnant, not an invalid.”

“Use any weapon you can,” her sister whispered, and Tessa scowled.

“I think the court should decide this,” Tigh suggested.

“No!” came from both parents, nearly bringing them out of their chairs.

Dia and Tigh glanced at each other, then their clients. The lawyers leaned their heads together, speaking softly, and Chase gazed at Tessa. She was fuming mad and he liked it. Even though she was going to fight him in every way she could, he liked it. She was protecting her baby, their baby. But he was just as determined to get what he wanted. His gaze lowered to her fingers drawing slow circles over her tummy, and Chase suddenly wondered what those fingers would feel like on his skin.