Summer Kisses (31 page)

It took everything she had not to roll her eyes and groan.

“Things are going to be different this time, Jill. Just give me a chance.”

She held Ryan up for Thomas to see. “This is my life now, Thomas. Look at him. Look at him closely. He’s my life, my love, my everything.”

Thomas sighed. “It’s not healthy for a child to be smothered in love, you know.”

“I know, but I can’t help it.” She smiled again. “Look at him. He’s irresistible, don’t you think?”

Thomas took another long look and scratched the back of his neck.

“Do you want to hold him again? He’s covered now.”

“I’ll pass. Thanks.”

Her smile widened because she’d known exactly what he’d say. “I could never live with a man who didn’t love Ryan as much as I do.”

“I’m certain that over time I would come to feel whatever it is you feel for the baby.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t, but that’s not the reason I’m going to have to turn down your offer. I don’t love you.” She held Ryan close to her chest. “Wow, this is incredible.”

“What is?”

“My being able to sit here, look you in the eye, and tell you with one-hundred-percent certainty that I don’t love you. It’s freeing, Thomas, and oh, so liberating!”

Thomas pushed himself to his feet and fiddled with his tie. “I guess I should be going.”

She came to her feet and for a moment they just stood there looking at one another. But then she had an idea. She tilted her chin upward, closed her eyes and puckered up.

“What are you doing, Jill?”

“Kiss me.” Holding Ryan with one hand, she used her free hand to tap a finger on her lips. “Quickly, Thomas, before it’s too late.”

He leaned down and kissed her. He lingered overly long, and she gently pushed him away. “Nothing. I feel absolutely nothing!”

Shaking his head, Thomas headed for the door.

“I’m sorry,” she said, following close at his heels. “But I do appreciate you coming all this way.”

“I’m sure you do.” He opened the door and then turned back to her. “I’ll be in court tomorrow. Your mother and father will be there, too. Your father has sent two of his best lawyers with me. By the time we’re finished, you’ll have full custody of your son.”

So, her father
had
sent Thomas. “How do you intend to do that?”

“A piece of cake, really,” he said. “It’ll be an open and shut case. Trust me.”

“Well, I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. No need to get nasty.”

“Do you want full custody of your son, or not?”

She chewed on her bottom lip. “Well, yes, but—”

“Just leave it me, Jill. Don’t worry your little head about any of it.”

Ignoring the “little head” statement, she clearly remembered why he used to get on her nerves. “I’m just asking you and your friends not to get carried away,” she told him. “I know how malicious Dad’s lawyers can get, like a frenzy of sharks. There’s no need.”

“I’ll be so nice you might change your mind about coming home with me.”

“Goodbye, Thomas. I’ll see you in the courtroom.”

All hope Derrick had for an easy resolution concerning his son disappeared the moment Jill walked through the double doors with not only her parents at her side, but three attorneys. All three men wore matching double-breasted dark-blue suits with white button-down shirts and solid color silk ties. The lawyers hovered over Jill as if their lives depended on making her happy.

Jill’s parents did not make eye contact as they passed by the long rectangular table surrounded by high-backed chairs. They were told to take a seat in the first row of chairs offered to the general public had this been a real trial.

The meeting today was taking place in an actual courtroom. The table at which Derrick and Jill would assemble had been set up between the bench where the judge would usually sit and the seats where Jill’s parents were sitting now.

The mediator for today was a woman. She sat at the end of the long conference table wearing a wrinkled suit. The woman looked like she could use a good night’s rest. She gestured for the foursome to take a seat across the table from Derrick.

Derrick came to his feet, leaned over the table and shook each attorney’s hand. When he got to Jill, he held her gaze along with her hand and smiled. She looked nervous. Too many days had passed since he’d talked to her last. It had taken every ounce of will power he had not to knock on her door and try to get her to talk to him. His sisters had made him promise to stay away; give her some time they said, telling him he would only come across as desperate if he continued to knock on her door after she’d told him to stay away.

But today was the last day he was going to stay away.

No matter what happened in this courtroom today, win or lose, he wasn’t going to stop knocking on her door until she let him inside. And when she did finally break down and open the door he was going to tell her the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He was in love with her and madly so.

It wouldn’t be easy convincing her, but he wouldn’t give up.

No way.

He’d made a mess of things, but he planned to set things straight between them.

Jill pulled her hand from his. “Are you all right?”

He nodded. “You didn’t tell me you were going to bring an army.”

“You didn’t ask.”

“So this is how it’s going to be?”

“This is how it has to be. Ryan is my son. I want what’s best for him.”

“We want the same thing. Our situation doesn’t need to be complicated.”

The attorney next to her touched her arm as if to tell her not to say another word. Jill ignored him. “I agree with you. None of this need be complicated. That’s why I plan to have this sticky situation resolved by the end of the day.”

“That’s what this is to you? A sticky situation?”

She lifted her chin a notch. “What would you call it, Mr. Baylor?”

Back to Mr. Baylor
. Where was the woman who had invited him into her home and given him the gift of holding his son, the woman he’d talked with and laughed with, made love to? “I would call it what it is,” Derrick said. “A man and a woman who were pulled together under unusual circumstances. Two people who love their son and want the best for him. Two people who a month ago didn’t know the other existed but who were joined together by one innocent baby boy who needs them both.”

“Many children are raised by one parent.”

He held her gaze, intent on breaking through the invisible barrier she’d recently built just for him. “It doesn’t need to be that way for Ryan. He has two parents who love him.”

The door opened, breaking into their exchange. He looked toward the door and watched a young man enter with a message for the mediator.

Where was Maggie
? She’d said she would come. From the looks of things, he needed her more than he first thought.

“It seems my time here needs to be kept to a minimum,” the mediator informed everyone in the room. “We need to get started. Would you like to petition to postpone the meeting until you can hire an attorney to sit with you during the proceedings, Mr. Baylor?”

He glanced at his watch and sat back down. “No.” He touched the file on the table in front of him. “I’ll wing it.”

The door swung open again and this time it was Maggie. He breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said to everyone in the room. She set her briefcase on the floor next to Derrick.

He stood and held out a chair for her. “Thanks for coming. I appreciate it more than you know.”

“A team of wild horses couldn’t keep me away. You know that. Your face is healing nicely.”

“Thanks. Maggie,” Derrick said, “I’m sure you remember Jill Garrison from the barbeque at Mom’s.”

“Of course.” The two women shook hands.

The man next to Jill stood and reached over the table to shake Maggie’s hand too. “Thomas Fletcher,” he said before turning and introducing the other lawyers.

Derrick looked from Thomas to Jill and wondered if this was the same Thomas she’d mentioned after kissing him in the backseat of his car—the same Thomas who had left her at the altar. Judging by the way she avoided his gaze, it was definitely the same Thomas.

“If it’s okay with you,” Maggie said to the mediator, “I would like to invite Derrick Baylor’s family to sit in on the proceedings.” She gestured toward the three lawyers and Jill. “Of course, only if Ms. Garrison agrees.”

Thomas spoke for her. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to have family members sit in on the proceedings.”

Jill shook her head, overriding her lawyer’s wishes. “My parents are here. Of course, they can come in.”

The mediator looked at Jill. “Unless you’d like to ask the people you brought along to step outside with his family. It’s highly unusual to have family members attend these proceedings.”

“I don’t have any problem with Mr. Baylor’s family sitting in on the proceedings,” Jill told her.

Maggie went and opened the door, and then gestured for Derrick’s family to enter. His parents were followed by Zoey, Rachel, Cliff, Lucas, Brad, Jake, and then Aaron, who gave Derrick a supportive nod. They all sat on the side opposite of Jill’s parents.

“Let’s get started,” the mediator said. After explaining the mediation process and the ground rules, she pushed her glasses higher on her nose, looked from one side of the table to the other. “Under the circumstances,” she said, referring to family members and lawyers, “I would like to keep the atmosphere non-threatening. I’ve read Mr. Baylor’s account of what has happened and to get things rolling I’d like to start by asking Mr. Baylor to tell us exactly what he’d like to have happen with regard to Ryan Michael Garrison.”

Everyone looked at Derrick and waited.

The quiet in the room was downright stifling. He looked at Jill. “As the papers confirm, the DNA testing confirms my parentage. What I want is a chance to get to know my son. I have a loving family that includes two parents, seven brothers, and two sisters. We’re all especially close. Family is important to me. After Ryan was born, Jill Garrison gave me the chance to hold my son, a chance to take care of him and see what a miracle our son truly is. Jill didn’t want me in her life, but she allowed me into her home despite any apprehension she had in the beginning. I’m grateful for that and I’m hoping she can find it in her heart to allow me to see Ryan on a regular basis.”

“And what do you consider a ‘regular basis’?”

“Best scenario,” Derrick said, “would be a certain period of time each day.” Every day, twenty-four-seven is what he wanted to say, but Jill looked so distant and cold he figured he would keep things formal and take it one step at a time until he could talk to her alone and tell her how he really felt about her and Ryan and this ridiculous court proceeding. “After training camp begins, I’m hoping Jill will consider letting me see my son whenever possible, especially before the season begins.”

All three of her attorneys scribbled in their notebooks.

The mediator clasped her hands together. “What do you expect to happen when you travel to other cities to play football?”

“I’m usually home between games. I would hope we could work something out that would fit both of our schedules. You never know,” he added with a wink at Jill because he couldn’t resist, “you might like football.” He looked back at the mediator. “She could travel with me and I could watch Ryan at night while Jill took phone calls and wrote articles, all of the business she takes care of on a daily basis to keep her magazine running smoothly.”

“Absurd,” Thomas said aloud.

The mediator rifled through her papers. “You live an hour away from Ms. Garrison’s residence. Would you expect Ms. Garrison to drive Ryan to see you?”

“Absolutely not. I’m renting an apartment at the Four Seasons Apartments where Ms. Garrison resides. We’re neighbors and I plan to keep it that way for as long as is necessary.”

“He’s your neighbor?” Thomas asked.

Jill hushed him.

“Is there anything else you would like to add?” the mediator asked Derrick.

Derrick looked at Maggie, who slid her notebook in front of him and used her pencil to point at the line she wanted him to read. “Yes,” Derrick said. “I would like to ask for at least one day a month to take Ryan for the day to see my parents and siblings in Arcadia.”

Jill grabbed Thomas’s arm and whispered in his ear. Although Derrick preferred Jill in sweats and a T-shirt, she looked amazing in the dark sleeveless dress she had on. With her hair slicked back and wearing dark lipstick, she had a sophisticated look to her.

“Is that all?” the mediator asked.

Maggie pointed at the last line on her notebook.

Derrick read it, and then looked at Maggie to make sure this was really necessary. The expression on Maggie’s face told him to continue. What choice did he have? Maggie had come today despite all the trouble he’d caused for her. He now felt obligated to follow her advice. “There is one more thing,” Derrick said loud enough for everyone to hear. He kept his eyes on the paper as he read. “When I am forced to be away, I would like a weekly update of what is going on in Ryan’s life, including pictures. I’ll be happy to purchase a state-of-the-art digital camera for Jill’s use.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Thomas said.

Derrick looked at Jill.

“Let him finish,” Jill said, her hand resting on Thomas’s arm.

Derrick didn’t like seeing her touch the guy. “That’s it,” Derrick said. “I’m done.”

Thomas smiled, and then squeezed Jill’s arm. “Wonderful,” he said. “Since Ms. Garrison is visibly upset, I will speak for her if that’s all right with our esteemed mediator.”

The mediator took the bait, blushing and batting her eyelashes at the man Derrick already decided he didn’t like.

“Against my advice,” Thomas said, “Ms. Garrison came here today hoping we could settle this uncomfortable situation by providing Mr. Baylor with a signed agreement assuring him he would be provided with a yearly update of Ryan Michael’s progress…pictures included.”

Thomas flashed an irritating smile his way, making Derrick wish he could wipe the smirk clean off the man’s face. Instead, Derrick gritted his teeth while Thomas Fletcher rambled on.