Off the Grid (8 page)

Caleb checked his watch. “I hope it’s not too late to stop by. I wanted to see how everyone was doing. How’s Kellie?”

“Hopefully sleeping.” There was probably more accusation in those two words then was wise because Caleb raised his eyebrows. Sophie rubbed her aching forehead. “She’s doing great. Everything is great.”

“Well, this has been nice but I’m out of here.” Marnie stuffed her carton of cigarettes back into a bag.

“Wait, where are you going?” Sophie moved to intercept her.

“Like I said, out.” Marnie headed for the door and grabbed up the old jacket Sophie had dug up for her. Stuffed her feet into likewise donated boots.

“I don’t think leaving is a good idea.” The last thing she wanted was her agitated, mentally ill sister wandering around in below-freezing temperatures alone.

“It is if I say it is.” Marnie grabbed for the doorknob and opened the door.

Sophie pushed past Caleb. “Hold on a—”

“No, you hold on.” Marnie pulled out a wool cap and jammed it on her head.

“Ladies,” Caleb interrupted.

Marnie flipped up her middle finger. “Stay out of this.”

Sophie was one second away from having had enough. “Lower your voice. You’re going to wake everyone up.”

“Like I said, outta here.” The door banged half shut behind her. It flapped open again on a gust of wind when the latch didn’t catch.

“Is everything okay?” Kellie crept into the kitchen, eyes wide and scared.

“Nothing to worry about. Marnie’s having a moment.” Sophie crossed over and gave her a quick hug while Caleb went to deal with the door.

“Oh. All right.” She gave Caleb a nervous look before gesturing behind her. “I should get back.”

Caleb pulled a beautifully wrapped present from another bag. “Why don’t you join us for a minute?” He held it out to her. “For you. It’s not much but I hope you like it.”

Kellie hesitated, the promise of a present too tempting to resist. After a glance back, she shuffled across the floor. She slipped into the chair held out by Caleb and kept her head down. “Thank you.”

After a wistful glance at the bottle of wine, Sophie took her cue from Caleb. “I’ll get some cups. We’ll have tea.”

Caleb set the present down in front of Kellie. She fingered the bow, the pretty wrapping. He nudged it closer. “Go ahead, open it.”

Kellie picked at the tape until the paper floated away from the boutique box. She lifted the lid off and pulled out a bright green baby’s quilt. She gathered it up in her hands and held it to her face, closed her eyes. “It’s so soft. And beautiful. He’ll love it.”

Sophie had no idea how he’d managed it and Kellie didn’t think to question him. In fact, her grin suggested he’d moved up even further in her ranking of best guy ever.

Sophie studied Caleb, trying her hardest to ignore the ridiculous flutter in her stomach, fearful it was going to get worse. “Wait until you hear the news. We have a name.”

Kellie blushed. “Quinn Monroe Andrews.”

He picked up Kellie’s hand and lifted her knuckles to his lips. “I’m honored to share a name with him.”

Sophie was right. Squishy, cheesy Disney moment. Her insides did another little flip. Just how skilled was he at the whole Prince Charming act? And it had to be an act. How often did he use it? She pulled mugs down from the cupboard. Caleb continued to beguile Kellie. Her head came up and she straightened in her chair. She told a cute little Quinn story from earlier in the day. A different person emerged without Marnie around. They all relaxed.

Sophie let the guilt slide away. Marnie would come back. For no other reason than Kellie was here. For some reason she was deeply attached to her. Sophie wanted to know why. The answers might contain the elusive key to her sister she’d searched for her whole life.

****

Caleb slid the plate of cookies closer to Kellie then picked one for himself. It was the perfect time to ask a few questions. They’d see what Kellie had to say without her shadow around. “You and Marnie are pretty close?”

“Close as sisters.” She smiled than realized what she’d said. She shot guilty look in Sophie’s direction. “Kind of like it anyway.”

“How long have you known each other?”

“Her and my dad used to hook up sometimes.” She picked at her fingernails. “Long time ago.”

“Is he in the picture now? Your father?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t where he is. He’s like that, you know? Here one minute, then something comes up.”

“It must be hard?” Caleb couldn’t imagine a life free of parental intrusion. His parents had quarreled over every detail of his young life. Loud, bitter arguments over where he went, who he went with, how he got there.

“I guess.” Kellie shrugged. Her head went down. She rubbed the palms of her hands over her sweatpants. “Anyways, I should get back to Quinn.” She held up the blanket. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Caleb smiled to ease the tension. She didn’t return it. “Why don’t you sit for a little longer? So we can talk. The sooner we get things settled for Quinn the better.”

“I think I should wait for Marnie.”

Caleb leaned forward. He kept his voice low, soft. “You can talk things over with her when she gets back. It’s not going to hurt to talk to Sophie and I. We’re here to help.”

Kellie hesitated. “I should really wait for Marnie.”

Sophie reached over and refilled her mug with tea. She pulled up a chair, ran a hand over Kellie’s back. “Marnie will be back. But the sooner we know what you want, the sooner we can work on making it happen.”

Caleb rested his forearms on the table and clasped his hands around his cup. “This is my job. This is what I do. I help people through these kinds of situations. And I can help you, but you have to tell me what you want.”

Still she wavered.

“As your lawyer I’m bound by solicitor-client privilege. What you disclose is protected information. This way I can do the best possible job for you. You can trust me.”

Tears filled her eyes and she whispered, “I want to keep my baby.”

“It comes to this. You had no legal relationship with the father. Unless there is a court order to the contrary, the mother is presumed to have sole guardianship of the child, and the parent presumed to have custody of the child is the parent with whom the child usually lives. That’s you.”

“What…what happens if I want him to pay me money? You know? Like child support?”

“Then contact will be made with Jason Drummond. He’ll involve his lawyers. The first thing his lawyer will do is request a paternity test. So I’m going to ask you one more time and then I’ll drop it. Is there any possibility at all Jason Drummond is not Quinn’s father?”

The tip of her ponytail swung back and forth. Her cheeks flushed a pretty shade of pink. Caleb’s gut squeezed and his hand tightened around his mug. The idea of a grown man, someone he called friend, taking advantage of her repulsed him on every level.

Caleb tried to relax, wanted to keep his body language loose, open. He pulled in a deep mental breath. “If he’s the biological father, he has a legal responsibility to pay support.”

“Do I have to see him?”

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.”

“And afterwards?” Her voice was small and scared. It broke his heart.

“Why don’t we take this one step at a time?” Jason Drummond wasn’t going to want to have anything to do with Quinn Andrews or his mother. Still Caleb had to ask. “Do you want Quinn to have a relationship with his father?”

She pushed up her sleeves and for the first time that night met his look head on. “He tossed me aside like I was garbage. He doesn’t care about me or Quinn. He’s worried about what the rest of the world will think if they find out about us. He’s going to do whatever it takes to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Caleb wanted to disagree, but he never lied to his clients. “I’m not going to let him hurt you.”

“You fight fair. He doesn’t.” She picked up the blanket, gave it a squeeze. Her smile was sweet and in her ponytail and sweats she looked innocent and fragile. Her true age was in her eyes, suggesting he was the naïve one. “He saw me as a plaything. As disposable. That’s what he paid for. I wish I didn’t have to see him again. Or take his money. That I could fix things on my own. But I can’t.”

“Kellie,—”

“I’ll take your help because I have to and because I want to do what’s best for my family.” She pushed back from the table. “Thanks for the present.”

Sophie frowned after a retreating Kellie. “What do you make of that?”

Caleb scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck and tried to ease the tension pooling between his shoulders. “I want to know who she means by family.”

“How do you think Jason Drummond’s going to react to having to pay child support?”

“I meant what I said.” He put a hand on her arm and heated up a little on the inside when she swung those beautiful green eyes his way. “He’s done hurting her. Or anyone else.”

“That’s one loaded guarantee.” The intensity of her search for his true meaning was a jab to his midsection.

She didn’t trust him. The notion derailed him for a second, but only a second. “It’s a promise.”

“And just how do you plan to deliver on it?”

“By using the law.”

She tilted her head, studied him, let out a little puff of breath. “Okay. How can I help?”

“Try and get Kellie to open up, see if she’ll give up some more details. Like who makes the arrangements. There’s got to be a pimp in the background somewhere. Find out what Marnie knows.”

Her gaze wavered for a moment. She looked away, pulled in her bottom lip, bit down. Then she was back focusing in on him again. Her jaw tightened and her eyes flashed. “You were here earlier. She doesn’t talk to me. She puts up with me from time to time when she needs something.”

“Not to sound insensitive but she definitely has a vested interest in this situation. She needs things to work out for Kellie’s sake. Ask her why?”

Her smile was bitter. “I’ll try.”

“It’s been a long day and I could use a drink.” He got up and opened the glass fronted cabinet. Two wineglasses in hand, he grabbed the bottle of wine. “Corkscrew?”

She sat back, a small smile tipped up the corners of her mouth. “What’s the matter, only coal in your stocking this morning?”

“On the contrary, my mother bought me a race horse.” The corkscrew was in the first drawer he opened.

A stifled cough. “That was nice of her.”

“Yeah, except it’s a little large for my condo. And there’ll be hell to pay when I return it. Anyways, she didn’t give it to me because I was into horseracing. Every year she tries to outdo my father’s annual gift of box season tickets to the Canucks.”

“Gee, all I got was a bottle of wine.”

“And the best part of my day was giving it to you.” The cork slid out of the bottle. He poured a small amount into each glass and handed one to her. “What do you think?”

She sniffed, raised an eyebrow. “Somewhat bold for my tastes.”

“Not mine.” He swirled the wine around in his glass without taking his eyes off her. Sipped. “Great body. The promise of a strong personality. Intense flavor.”

She tipped her glass, examined the contents. “Really? Your taste buds are very intuitive.”

He’d waited all day for the chance to see her again. To talk to her. “If a person wasn’t careful he’d be very tempted to overindulge.”

“And regret it in the morning.” Sophie lifted her glass to her lips.

“Never.” He set his glass down. Moved in closer. Lifted her glass out of her hand and set it down beside his on the kitchen table. It had proved very sturdy in his fantasies. Fantasies that had heated up the few brief hours of sleep he’d managed to catch after leaving Sophie. He coaxed her to her feet. “The idea is to pace yourself. Draw it out. Take the time to savor. Make it last all night.”

Sophie put a hand on his chest. “Caleb.”

“Sophie.” He set his mouth on hers and waited. When her lips parted, he closed his eyes in gratitude. Soft at first, his tongue danced with hers. The spicy taste of the wine went straight to his head.

Her fingertips dug into his shoulder blades. Her mouth opened wide under his giving him more room to play. She was flush against him, warm and yielding. His hands slid underneath her baggy sweater and found heated flesh. He forgot about house guests and sleeping babies and focused on uncovering more skin. On getting her sweater off along with whatever else was underneath it.

“Caleb.”

The urgent whisper of his name brought him back. His hands stilled over her bare back. Her hands moved up to rest on either side of his face. When he opened his eyes, hers were still closed, her breath coming out in little puffs of air. He rested his forehead on hers. “Come home with me.”

“I can’t.” He felt her sigh. “Kellie needs me here. She’s still new at this and feeling very insecure. I can’t leave, no matter how much I want to. And I’m not sure I’m ready for this. For us.”

He was ready enough for both of them. Caleb figured she was also worried about Marnie. Because she was worried she’d wait up for her. However long it took.

His hands still rested against her skin. He ached to explore. She was so close. Another tattoo peeked out from under her sweater. He wanted to trace its path, hear its story.

But tonight wasn’t the night. He let her go but took her hand. Her nails short, her fingers long, they curled around his. He brought her knuckles to his lips.

“You’re going to dream of me. Nothing sweet. Those dreams are going to make you toss and turn.” His other hand brushed her cheek. “There’s heat between us and making excuses not to feel it isn’t going to satisfy either of us. You can trust me. You know you can. Have the courage to admit it.”

He left her standing there openmouthed and confused. Good. He wanted her to come to him for the answers. And hopefully he left her wanting and aching. Just like him.

****

Sophie settled in and opened the album. The plastic pages crinkled under her fingers. She flipped past pictures, searched until she found the one she wanted. Liam had his arms wrapped around her waist. The sea was behind them. They shared wide smiles for the camera. A shiny new diamond ring flashed on her finger. She sucked at relationships. Big time. Take Liam. She had wanted to have him and to hold him and make babies with him. She’d wanted marriage right up until the day before their wedding when he’d called things off. It would be a mistake he’d said. All her passion was channeled into her career. Marnie would always be a problem. She wasn’t emotionally available to him.