I Made You My First (35 page)

When I turned around, I almost jumped out of my skin.
Irish was standing a few steps from me and I could tell by his expression that something was terribly wrong. I wiped my hands on the dish towel and rested them on my bulging stomach, waiting for him to speak. It looked like he was struggling with his words.

“That was Mom. Paris was just served with a custody petition from Wyatt Zachary’s lawyer. He’s claiming he wasn’t told he had a child and therefore didn’t agree to any adoption.” My mouth dropped open. Irish stood there with a frozen blank stare.

“It gets better,” he muttered. “He wants sole custody because Paris is a habitual drug-user and shouldn’t be allowed around children.”

I watched as he squeezed the bridge of his nose. Eyes closed, he slowly began shaking his head back and forth. I suddenly felt the need to grab onto the counter to steady myself. This couldn’t be happening. That young kid at our door this morning was petitioning for custody? Something didn’t seem right to me. I watched as Irish finally dropped his hand and quickly moved toward Jewel’s room. I followed but stopped in the doorway as I watched Irish stand beside our daughter’s crib and stare down at her with fatherly love. I headed back to the living room searching for that piece of paper Wyatt had given us this morning with his hotel name and phone number. Irish was still in Jewel’s room as I gathered my purse and car keys, quietly opening the front door. I hurried to my car and as I turned the key in the ignition; I glanced up at the front door. I didn’t see Irish so I backed out onto the road. My hands began shaking and I could feel my heart pounding
in my chest.

One more glance at the front door but still no one. I headed
down the street to find a place to park and call this guy. When I pulled to the side of the road my hands were still shaking, I held the paper steady against the steering wheel. I recognized the name of the hotel, no more than a mile away, so I decided just to drive there and then decide on a plan of action. As I pulled into the hotel driveway my phone chirped. I knew the caller and wasn’t going to answer it, not yet. With no room number on the paper, I headed for the front office. An older man at the desk looked me up and down before giving me a sympathetic smile.

“Hello,” I said before deciding to use
my condition
to my advantage. I sweetly smiled like a southern belle and leaned on the counter meeting his eyes head on. “Could you please help me, sir?” He moved close to the counter smiling back curiously.

“How may I help you, young lady?”

I let my eyes move to the paper I was holding and then back to the clerk’s. “I’m looking for Wyatt Zachary’s room. He asked me to meet him here but I hadn’t noticed that he forgot to add his room number. Could you please help me with that?” I asked politely.

He gave me a slight smile before turning and moving toward a computer screen behind him. After punching the keyboard for a moment, he looked at me. “That’s #136, young lady,” meeting my eyes before continuing, “That’s around the back of the building and to your right.”

“Thanks so much.” I quickly headed back to my car. If I hadn’t felt like an overstuffed, bulging water balloon, I’d have attempted to walk it but the car seemed like a smarter choice for my ambush. Looking down at my phone I could see that I had three missed calls. I switched my phone to vibrate and started the ignition. When I pulled up to the parking space directly in front of #136, I shut off the engine. I could feel my heart rate speed up again as I sat there staring at the door. What was I going to say? I needed to make him understand that what he was doing was wrong. Jewel was not going to be taken away from us. I’d have to explain to him how much we loved our precious Jewel.

I watched my phone vibrate on the seat. I picked it up and placed it with the piece of paper in my shirt pocket. I took in a deep breath and stepped out of the car. Standing at the door I held my
fist up ready to knock but froze. I took another breath to settle my nerves and then I knocked hard three times. After a few moments I took a few steps from the door and glanced down the long cement hallway. It was quiet, maybe too quiet. As I turned to look in the opposite direction, the door opened. There stood Wyatt. The surprise in his eyes caught me off guard. Neither one of us moved. We just stared at each other for what seemed like an awkward forever. He finally broke our stare to look past me, probably checking to see if I was alone. Comfortable that no one else accompanied me, his eyes narrowed as they returned to my face.

“What’re you doing here?” he asked. “I thought you were going to call and bring Jewel?”

I watched his expression, searching for any answer to his pretense of this harmless visit from him. I gave him nothing.

“Well, Wyatt, I decided that I’d like to talk with you first, get to know you a little before bringing Jewel to meet you. Can I
come in?” and I dug deep within myself to sound as authoritative as I could. He was clearly just a boy. I didn’t feel threatened by him physically. Even six months pregnant with triplets, I knew I could take him. What I sensed from him at the moment was deceit, as if he were trying to pretend to be someone he really wasn’t, trying to take advantage of my family. I wanted to know the reason.

“Um, yeah, I guess so.” Shrugging his shoulders he took a step back, allowing me to enter. My eyes flashed around the room and fell on a wooden chair pushed into a desk standing in the middle of the room. I quickly moved toward it and pulled out the chair.
All I could think to do was pounce quickly before he could make up answers to my questions. I sat down and searched the room. Empty potato chip bags and soda cans filled every counter and tabletop.
He’d been here most of the day
, I thought. He nervously sat on the one unmade bed in the room.

“So Wyatt, how long have you known about our daughter?” I gave him a fake smile.

“I got the note from Paris about a month ago,” he quickly said.

“So have you always wanted kids of your own or are you planning to wait until you’re settled down and married?” I watched him cringe a little at the word
married
. I stared into his eyes, almost challenging him to look away from me. Feeling uncomfortable, he intertwined his fingers, letting his eyes drop to the floor in front of him.

“Wyatt, how old are you?” leaning forward trying to recapture eye contact.

“I’m eighteen,” he whispered.

I didn’t even have to do the math to realize he had to
have been late sixteen or early seventeen when he had sex with Paris. Now I was feeling uncomfortable. I suddenly felt a whole new set of problems about to face Irish and me. I had nothing to lose here, so I decided to find out his ulterior motive. I repositioned myself in the chair and blurted out, “Why are you suing Paris for custody of our daughter, Wyatt?”

His head flew up and his face changed from nervous and uncomfortable to scared and upset. I felt my face change from confident to confused.

I quickly leaned back in toward him. “Why are you doing this to my family, Wyatt? Why do you want to take Jewel away from the only parents she knows?” I sat back up and kept my eyes on him.

“I’m not,” he snapped. I stood up.

“Well someone is, Wyatt. Someone sent legal papers to my family saying you wanted to take our daughter away from us.”

I watched as his eyes dropped to th
e floor. “It wasn’t me, I swear,” he scoffed loudly.

“Could you please tell me who so I can talk to them. I’d have to ask them why, Wyatt.”

He looked at me now. “It’s my brother, Wayne. He hired a lawyer and drove me here. He was mad when he found out that I’d slept with Paris. They were dating until she caught him with another lady. When he read her note, he went off like a firecracker.”

I stood up almost face to face with him and could feel myself getting angrier each second, maybe not so much at him as at the slimy situation that was clearly unfolding. “He can’t sue
for parental custody, Wyatt, only you can.” I took a deep breath. “Where’s your brother now?” I asked as I took another quick look around the room. It didn’t look as if two people were staying here. Maybe I was wrong.

“He’s at the store but he’s staying in another room
two doors down. He wanted me to have my own room in case you agreed to bring Jewel here,” he admitted.

“Okay.” Grimacing, I walked over to the window and pushed the curtain back only to see

a blue car parked next to mine. “What kind of car does your brother drive, Wyatt?”

“A blue Toyota,” he quickly answered.

“Okay, you said your brother’s staying two doors down?” and he nervously nodded yes.

“Do I look like a nice lady to you, Wyatt? I mean, do you trust me enough to help you do the right thing here?” I peeked back out the window.

“Well yeah, I guess.” For some reason I believed him.

“Do you trust me enough to get you out of this whole baby mess that your brother’s gotten you into?” I didn’t wait for
his answer but grabbed his arm and walked him toward the front door.

“Where’re we going?” he asked as I slowly opened the front door.

“We’re going to clear up all the lies and let everyone live happily ever after. Sound good?” I pulled him to my car, opening the driver’s side rear door and guiding Wyatt inside. “Bend your head down, Wyatt” and I closed the door. Just as I opened my door and slid into my seat, I saw a man come out of his room and start walking to #136. I started the car and pulled out just as I saw him open Wyatt’s door. I stepped on the gas. When I was safely on the main road, I pulled the phone from my pocket and punched in Irish’s number.

He picked up on the first ring. “Jurnee” and that was all I let him say before I interrupted him.

“Baby, is Martha at the office now?”

“Jurnee, what’s going on?”

“Baby, please, is Martha there now?”

“Yes, she’s there but she leaves in another forty-five minutes, why?”

I cut him off again. “Okay. I’m going to the office now. I’ll call you when I get there, okay?” My heart was pumping fast.

“Jurnee, tell me what’s going on.”
he snapped sharply.

“Irish, do you trust me?”

“Of course I do, Jurnee.” his voice softer now.

“Then you have to let me tell you later. I love you,” I said closing my phone.
The adrenaline I felt was now bubbling over.

When we pulled up to the construction company’s parking lot and I stopped the car, Wyatt finally sat up in the seat. I couldn’t turn around in my seat, not with my growing belly, so I just exited the car. I opened his door an
d he looked up at me as if I were some crazy person. I reached out for his hand and he nervously and reluctantly gave it to me. I grabbed the inside of his elbow and tucked my arm in his. We walked side by side up to the entrance.

“Okay, Wyatt, I need you to reach down deep into your soul and do the right thing. I need you to be the man that Jewel would be proud to call her biological father. I need you to write it all down before your brother makes you ruin her life.” I kept him moving, opening the door and holding it for him to move inside.
I pointed back to Irish’s office and followed him inside. When he was seated I went back out, as all employee eyes stared at me and I waved at Martha, our notary, now hanging up her phone. She quickly followed me into the office. When she was seated I grabbed a pad of paper and laid it in front of Wyatt. He just looked at me with confused eyes. I sat down and from across the desk, I looked into his eyes.

“Wyatt, I need you to write down in your own words what I tell you to okay?” I saw Martha look at me with some concern.

“Wyatt, I’m going to ask you if something is true and if it is, you’re going to write that down for me, okay?” I looked at Martha. Her look was still confused but now she was objecting less. Wyatt picked up the pen.

“Okay, did you have consensual sex with Paris?” and he looked at me as I would’ve if my mother had asked me that question.
I took a deep breath in and blew the hair from my face as

I exhaled.

“Wyatt, this is really important, so let me word it differently. Did you want to have sex with Paris?” Now he looked totally embarrassed. Oh hell, this wasn’t going very well. I looked at Martha. Finally it looked as if she had a better understanding of what was going on here. I smiled thankfully at her.

“Wyatt did you agree to be romantic with Paris?” Martha asked. She was old enough to be this kid’s grandmother, so I cringed a little waiting to see his face after she’d asked her question.

              “Yes, ma’am,” he finally said.

“Grea
t, then write that down.” She gave him an approving look.

When he was clearly finished, I asked, “Do you want custody of Jewel
?” and I paused a moment.

“O
r would you rather see her stay with her mom and dad, her mom being me?”

“With you,” he said
firmly.

“Okay, please write that down.” He did.

“Now is your brother Wayne making you file this custody suit against your will?” and I stared right into his eyes. He looked back at me as if he wanted to say something.