Found (3 page)

“So … enough on that.” Her tone softened. “How are you … really?”

“Well …” He found her eyes and held them. “I’m not a Kabbalist.”

Her eyes widened, and she looked deeply at him, to the lonely desert plains of his heart. “Really?”

“Tossed it all.” He felt his eyes begin to dance. “Some girl said it probably wasn’t for me. Told me I needed to find the truth.”

“Must’ve been a smart girl.”

“Mmm.” He took hold of her hands again, but he kept his distance. “Definitely.

In fact, she gave me a Bible.”

“A Bible? How interesting.” Her eyes twinkled. “What a great idea. You know . .

. since, well, it is the truth. I mean, if you’re looking for it you might as well go to the source.”

“That’s what I figured.” He felt his smile fade. “It’s changing me, Katy. I can feel it.”

Her expression softened, and what had been playful became serious. She closed the gap between them and slipped her arms around his neck. “Dayne, I prayed for this … for you.”

He wouldn’t have gone to her, wouldn’t have crossed the line he’d crossed the last time they were together. But now, lost in her embrace, he couldn’t imagine letting her go. Slowly, he worked his fingers along the back pf her neck into her hair. She smelled wonderful, like the flowers in Bloomington.

Too soon she pulled back and searched his eyes. “Did you find Jesus? When you read the Bible, I mean?”

His hands were around her waist but only loosely. He looked 10

beyond her. The question was a good one. He understood forgiveness and peace better. “Have I found Jesus?”

“Mmm-hmm.” She angled her head, her soul as transparent as a child’s. “When you look past the hurt and sadness of your yesterdays, is He there?”

A part of his heart sank a little. The answer wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

“Not yet.” He released his hold on her waist and took her hands once more. “But I’m looking.”

Disappointment never even flashed in her eyes. She gave him her brightest smile yet. “That’s it.”

“What?” It was all he could do to keep from kissing her.

“That’s what I’ve been praying for.” Her eyes glistened. “That you’ll look.”

The door opened. They dropped hands and stepped back to keep from being hit.

Joe Morris was the first to enter. He stopped and looked from Dayne to Katy.

“Hi. You must be Katy Hart.”

“I am.” She held out her handMo him. Her cheeks were red, but she rebounded quickly. “I understand the deposition won’t take long.”

“Not at all.”

The prosecutor stepped into the room. She greeted Katy and then Dayne. “We need your testimony on record so we can prepare for the case.”

Dayne felt the intimacy from a moment ago fade like fog in July. It was no longer a reconnecting, a time to remember why he couldn’t get Katy Hart out of his mind. They were in business mode now, and the atmosphere stayed that way for the next hour.^

When the lawyers were finished, the group stood and moved to the door. Dayne was about to ask Katy if she wanted to go somewhere, spend some time together before she left. But before he could say anything his cell phone rang.

He checked the caller ID. Kelly Parker. He stuffed his frustra 11

tion. She rarely called. At least he could politely put her off until later. The two of them hadn’t talked much since she’d moved out. He held his finger up to Katy and opened his phone. “Hey.”

“Dayne.” There was a cry in her voice, one that mixed sorrow and fear. She waited a moment. “I’ve got bad news. I just found out.”

His heart skipped a beat, and he moved to a corner of the room. In the background he heard his attorney start a conversation with Katy. He pressed the phone to his ear. “What is it?”

“There’s no easy way to say this.” Kelly sighed, and it rattled all the way to his soul. “Dayne, I’m pregnant.”

John Baxter was running out of options.

He’d done everything he could to find his firstborn son, everything a person could possibly think of. He’d searched the Internet for information, and he’d gone to adoption sites. He’d made phone calls and connected with people who aided parents in finding their birth children. Now he was down to his last hope.

The chances of finding his oldest son rested completely in the hands of a private investigator. John had hired him a week ago, and now-sitting on his desk-was a message from the man with one simple instruction: Call immediately.

He stared at the piece of paper and reached for the phone. Was this it? Had the man found the boy he and Elizabeth had prayed about for so many years? Would he have every bit of information he’d ever wanted in just a few minutes? The possibilities welled up in him and made it hard to breathe.

John closed his eyes and exhaled. God, meet me in this place. 1 want to find him so badly, and this is my last chance. Please let there be something to go on-a lead, a phone number, a name. Something.

He opened his eyes, and they fell on a small frame on his desk. It read: With God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26. A smile ll

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tugged at the corners of John’s lips, and he felt himself relax. Thanks, God.

You always know just what I need. Whatever the private investigator had to tell him, he wouldn’t give up. Not now, not ever.

His palms felt sweaty against the phone’s receiver. He took a full breath, picked it up, and tapped out the private investigator’s number.

The man’s secretary answered and connected him to the PI.

“Tim Brown here.” The man was a fast talker, high energy. “How can 1 help you?”

“Uh … this is John Baxter, returning your call.” He swallowed hard. “Did you find my son?”

“Yes, John, thanks for calling back.” The man’s tone became serious, slower than before. “Listen, something’s come up in my research. Something very, very important. We need to talk about it in person.”

In person? John wouldn’t be able to think straight until he heard the news. “Are you sure? Can’t you tell me now?”

“Not something like this.” Tim rustled some papers. “Can you be here in the morning? Eleven o’clock?” He sighed, and the sound carried his concern across the phone lines. “This is very sensitive. I think you should know right away.”

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The shock was still setting in.

Dayne clutched his cell phone, but the floor beneath his feet shifted the way it did when an earthquake rolled through the LA area. He was still standing in the corner of the small room, ready to make his way out behind the lawyers, behind Katy Hart. But suddenly a million miles seemed to separate them, as if everyone else had gone ahead to the cars waiting behind the courthouse, and he was being sucked backward, downward into a suffocating tunnel with no way out and daylight fading fast.

Katy turned around and tilted her head. Question marks danced in her eyes. “You okay?” she mouthed, her question for him alone.

Just beyond her, the attorneys were talking. But their words ran together. Kelly Parker was still on the other end, silent, waiting. His head hurt. He closed his eyes and whispered into the phone, “Hold on, okay?”

“Look, Dayne …” Kelly exhaled, irritated, impatient. “We need to talk.”

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“I said give me a minute,” he hissed, and anger crept into his tone. “I’m at court.” Dayne covered the phone and lowered it to his waist. His eyes found Katy’s and held. “I have to take this call.”

If she was disappointed, she didn’t let it show. She looked at her watch. “The attorneys want to pick up lunch and meet in a private room off the lobby of my hotel.” She shrugged, and the innocence of it made her look beyond adorable.

“Can you go?”

Dayne’s attorney pulled out of the other conversation and poked his head over Katy’s shoulder. “We need to take separate exits. There’s a car waiting for you at the back of the building, Dayne. An officer’ll show you the way.” Joe put his hand on Katy’s shoulder. “She’s got her own driver. I’ll go on my own, and we’ll meet at Katy’s hotel. Sound good?”

Dayne’s mind was reeling. Kelly was pregnant? How was this happening? He pinched the bridge of his nose, tried to focus. Lunch at the hotel? “Uh … sure. Can you tell my driver I’ll be five minutes?” He held up his phone. “I have to take this.”

“Got it.” Joe took a step back. “The driver knows which hotel.” He motioned for Katy to follow him. He was already flipping open his cell phone as he turned and headed down the hallway.

“See you there.” Katy gave Dayne a little wave and turned to leave. Something in her eyes looked more distant than before. Or maybe it was his imagination, his conscience.

His conscience.

He moved farther into the room, leaned against the wall, and lifted the phone to his ear. With his other hand he braced himself so his knees wouldn’t buckle.

“Kelly?”
,:

“Dayne, I don’t have long. They need me on the set in five minutes.”

“Sorry.” His mouth was dry, his heart racing. She was pregnant? He was going to be a father? He squeezed his eyes shut. “So what… what happens now?”

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“Well-” she laughed, but the sound came out more like a cry-“I guess that’s up to me.”

“Meaning… ?” He slid one foot up the wall behind him, bent forward, and dug his elbow into his knee.

“Meaning it’s my choice. I’m four months pregnant, but I could fix that in an afternoon.”

Abortion. Kelly was talking about getting rid of the baby, and in a rush of memories he could hear his adoptive parents talking to a group of adults. His mother was saying, “Of all the gifts God has given us, life is the most precious of all. Life at any stage, any season, very young or very old, healthy or sick.

Life is God’s to give, God’s to take.”

And his father was pulling him aside and giving him “the talk,” saying, “Abstinence is God’s way, but it’s also the only way because once a girl gets pregnant you’re a father. No matter what happens after that, you’re a father.”

“Dayne!” Kelly was jumpy, her words short and heavy with frustration. “Did you hear what I said?”

“No … Kelly, you can’t.” He felt sick, and the room swayed. Wasn’t that the easy answer, what so many in their situation would do? Get an abortion?

Eliminate the evidence? But it was all happening too fast. He rubbed his fingers into his brow. “I need time to think.”

“You’re not listening, Dayne.” Kelly sounded more composed. There was noise in the background, probably from the shoot. She was working on a new film, one that starred two other A-list actresses and some unknown new guy. She drew a steady breath. “I want to keep the baby. But I’m not raising a child by myself.”

What was she saying? He straightened and stared at the ceiling. “Kelly, you’re living with Hawk. How does he feel about this?”

“I’m back at my own house now.” Her voice fell. “He knows 16

about the baby. We talked last night.” She hesitated. “He thinks you and I should give it another try.”

“Okay.” Dayne paced to the other side of the small room. Was this his life they were talking about? Had Kelly and Hawk come to conclusions that would basically decide the course of his future? But if a baby was involved and if Kelly was willing to keep it, what choice did he have? His own actions had decided the course of his future. “Is … is that wrhat you want?”

“Dayne-” she groaned-“I don’t know what 1 want. You’re one of my closest friends and for a while there 1 thought…”

She didn’t have to finish her sentence-He had thought so too. That if he couldn’t have Katy Hart, he might as well have Kelly. She was an actress, someone who would understand his crazy life and all it came with. Because it was her life too. But after spending a few weeks in the fall in Bloomington, after seeing Katy and feeling the way his heart responded every time she was near, he had known.

He could never settle for Kelly Parker.

Not when the real thing was out theTre. Even if his world and Katy Hart’s were so different they never found a way to be together, he could never settle for less than what he’d felt with her.

Until now.

A rush of everything he knew to t>Ťtrue and real and right came at him from every side. The words of wisdom from his adoptive parents, the way his biological family clung so tightly to each other, even the conversations “with Katy, the ones they’d had on the trails around Lake Monroe that felt like a lifetime ago.

All the words and whispers came back, and suddenly Dayne knew. It didn’t matter how he felt about Kelly, not if they were going to have a baby. He had loved bier once, right? What he’d thought was love, anyway. For the salse of their child, he would love her again. He would learn toťlove Kelly the way she deserved to be loved.

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And Katy Hart would be nothing more than a wonderful dream that never had the chance to come true.

“Dayne, you’re not talking.” Kelly sounded weak, hopeless. “Look, if you’re not into this, I can get it taken care of. I’m not raising a kid by myself. Not with the tabs taking potshots at me along the way. If you want out, don’t worry about it. I can be done with this in-“

“Kelly!” He didn’t raise his voice, but his tone caught her attention. He raked his fingers through his hair and paced across the room to the other side. “I would never ask you to raise a child-our child-by yourself.” He was breathing faster now, his mind racing with the possibilities. “Should you… do you wanna move back in with me? So we can go through this together?”

“It isn’t that easy.” Defiance colored her words. “I’m not a charity case. If you take me back, it’ll be because you want me. Me and no one else but me.”

The room was spinning again. Outside in the hall he could hear new voices-new attorneys, no doubt, getting ready to use the room for whatever deposition or hearing came next. He tried to focus. “Okay … so you don’t want to do this alone. But you don’t want to move back in either?”

“What I’m saying is, let’s take it slow. Let’s start hanging out again and see where it goes.” Her tone softened. “There’s no one I’d rather have as the daddy for my child. I’ve seen you with kids-on the sets and on location. I think we have a chance here. Let’s at least give it a try.”

“Okay.” Dayne was still confused. With Kelly four months along, they couldn’t only give it a try, could they? They had to make a commitment-to each other and to their unborn child. He stopped and stared at the floor. “When can I see you?”