My Babies and Me

“Then I raise him or her.”

“You can’t just bring a child into the world because some stupid plan tells you to, Susan.”

“Who says I can’t?” Not exactly an answer to be proud of, but he was making her defensive.

“You aren’t mother material, for God’s sake! Can’t you see that?”

She opened her mouth but couldn’t speak. Not one word came out. She just sat there, mouth gaping, staring at him.

Until her eyes filled with tears. “How can you say that?”

“I’m sorry, sis.” He glanced away, took a sip of whiskey. “I love you, you know that.”

She’d thought she did.

“Look at your life, Susan, all mapped out, running right on schedule. The last thing children do is follow your schedule. They shouldn’t have to. They should be free to follow their own way, their own hearts. And they need parents who can give them the time, the freedom of choice to do so.”

“Like you’d know?” she asked, still hurt by his sudden abandonment.

He acknowledged his own lack of family with a nod. “I do know,” he said, surprising her with his fierceness. “Which is exactly why I’m so goddamn alone.” He finished off his whiskey with one swallow.

“Seth?”

There was a lot more going on here than she knew. A lot more that she needed to know.

“Not now,” was all he said, flagging down the waitress for another whiskey.

Susan pushed her plate away, untouched. She’d had breakfast at nine. It was way too early to be thinking about eating again.

“There’s another factor that’s missing here. Unless something else has happened since I left town.”

Susan shook her head. Life had been predictable, the same, for months now.

“A baby needs a father.” Seth’s voice was strong again. He made a show of glancing around them. “I don’t see one hanging around.”

Susan took a deep breath. “I’m going to ask Michael.”

Eyes suddenly alight, Seth grinned and grabbed her hand. “You two are getting back together?”

She couldn’t hold his gaze, couldn’t watch it dim. Sliding her hand from his, Susan shook her head. “Of course not. Nothing’s changed there.”

“Careers still come first, you mean?” he asked.

Susan nodded, awash in the sadness she felt emanating from her younger brother.

“My point exactly.” He finished off the second whiskey. “A kid deserves to come first.”

CHAPTER TWO

“SO THIS BABY THING is the reason you didn’t feel like working today?” Seth asked as he walked her to her car fifteen minutes later. He seemed huge and intimidating in his expensive overcoat.

And he was making her mad again with his refusal to take her seriously about the baby. If she couldn’t convince Seth, how in hell was she ever going to convince Michael? But because she didn’t want to face the fact that she might not be able to convince either one of them, Susan let his comment go.

To a point.

“No,” she finally answered him, studying the shadowy trail her breath left on the air.

They’d reached her Infiniti, and Seth opened the door she’d unlocked with her antitheft device as they’d approached. “I’ve actually got a small problem at work that was making me wish I was somewhere else this morning.”

“A small problem?” Seth leaned into the car, one arm on the hood, one on the open door. “That means there’s something major coming down. What is it?” He paused, frowning again. “Your job isn’t in jeopardy, is it?”

Susan laughed then, but without much humor. “Hardly.” They both knew she could write her own ticket as far as Halliday Headgear for Sports was concerned. She’d saved them enough money over the years to buy them out twice.

“Then what is it?”

“Just a case I’m working on. No big deal.” Susan started the car, turning the heat up full blast.

“Is Halliday in trouble?”

“Nope.”

“You going to tell me, or you want me to just keep asking questions until my ass freezes?”

“It’s nothing, really.” Susan grinned up at him. “Just a little suit I could have won even before I attended law school.”

“And?”

It was annoying how well Seth knew her. She’d have to remember to stay away from him when she was having birthday blues in the future. “I just feel for this boy, okay? His face mask snapped, a production problem with one of the hinges. The kid suffered a subdural hematoma which is pushing against his brain, causing paralysis on one side of his body. His father’s out of work and the family doesn’t have insurance. They don’t have money for surgery, let alone the months of physical therapy he’s going to need.”

“If his face mask malfunctioned, isn’t Halliday responsible?”

“We would be if he’d been wearing it to play softball—the mask’s intended use.”

“Why was he wearing it?”

Susan looked up at her brother. “He was playing soccer.”

“Halliday’s getting off on a technicality?”

“A big one.”

“And the kid?”

Susan shrugged. “I don’t know. Even if the surgery’s performed, he’s not going to be able to walk again without rehabilitation.” She took a deep breath. “I could win this one for him if I were on his side. I know of a loophole that would override ours.” “Damn!” Seth whistled. “You sure as hell don’t need to be wasting energy worrying about babies, Susan. Sounds like you’ve got some soul-searching to do a lot closer to home.”

“Yeah.” She’d be doing some soul-searching, all right, but having a baby was about as close to home as she could get.

A MESSAGE FROM Michael was waiting for her back at the office. Susan was inordinately disappointed to have missed his call. Especially in light of the dissatisfying hour and a half she’d just spent with her punk of a brother. Who the hell did he think he was telling her she wasn’t mother material? How would he know?