Beyond the Breaking Point (22 page)

“I have some release forms I want you to sign.” She rose, went to the desk, and came back with two forms. “This one authorizes your doctor to release the medical records including the test results from two years ago. The second is for your marriage counselor. It probably won’t get us anywhere because of patient-doctor confidentiality, but I can try.”

Cassidy signed the paperwork and handed it to Chris.

“Under the circumstances, will Max give a statement as to what he interrupted?”

“He offered to help if I needed it. Won’t his testimony be biased?”

“Maybe not. You two weren’t involved in any way before the incident, were you?”

“No! We spent a lot of time together as couples because of his friendship with my husband, but that’s all there was to it.”

“Then his statement should be admissible. It won’t prove adultery, but it might prove intent. As I stated, this is just an ‘in case’ measure.”

Cassidy sighed. “I know. I just hate all of this ugliness being made a matter of public record.”

Chris set her pen on the desk and directed a sympathetic gaze at Cassidy. “It’s one of the things that makes divorce so messy. I’ll file the paperwork today and start the process to have Phillip served.”

“I’m meeting with him tonight to tell him I filed for divorce and about the baby,” she said, nervously fingering the strap of her purse.

Chris took off her glasses. “Is your husband a violent man?”

“No, why?”

“Some men wouldn’t take well finding out they’re going to be a father and in the same breath, their wife is divorcing them. Be careful.”

“I will,” Cassidy assured her solemnly.

Looking forward to tonight
.

Cassidy read Phillip’s reply as she left Chris’s office and bit her lower lip. Maybe she should have picked a different place. She’d chosen Maggio’s for the privacy it offered, but now it occurred to her that her choice might have sent the wrong message to Phillip. She’d worried earlier that he might think she was ready for counseling, but now she wondered if he thought Maggio’s was code for she wanted sex. Either way, she’d have to dress very carefully tonight.

The reminder of her meeting tonight made her remember her promise to Max. She didn’t want to interrupt whatever he was doing so she sent him a text:
Meeting with P tonight
.

Less than ten minutes later, her phone rang. It was Max. She threw her things inside of her vehicle, climbed in, and answered, “Hello.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to be there?”

She cranked the ignition so she could turn on the A/C and just barely managed to keep from sighing at the question. “I’m not sure of anything. Between you, Erika, and now Chris, my lawyer, I’m more nervous about tonight than I should be. I took your advice, though. I’m meeting him at Maggio’s. It’s this little Italian restaurant Phillip introduced me to that I really like.”

“I’m familiar with it.”

“I picked it for the privacy the tables offered, but now I think I might be sending Phillip the wrong message. You don’t invite a man to a romantic restaurant to announce you’re divorcing him. I may call him and change locations,” she mused aloud.

“No, don’t do that. You’re right. If you need to have a private conversation with someone, Maggio’s is perfect.”

Cassidy still wasn’t sure, but Max was a man. She decided to trust his judgment. “Okay. Maggio’s it is.”

“What time are you meeting him?”

“Why?” she asked, suspiciously.

“Because I want you to call me when you leave him and if I haven’t heard from you by a certain hour, I’m going to come looking. I need to know when to start the clock ticking.”

While Cassidy still didn’t believe all this caution was necessary, she wasn’t stupid. “I told him to meet me at seven.”

“And you plan to tell him about the divorce, the baby, and that it might not be his?”

She hesitated. “If I don’t warn him and he finds out later, he’ll be hurt as well as angry. I want to do the right thing. Max?”

“Yes?”

“I saw my doctor this morning. I’m definitely pregnant and based on our calculations, I conceived in Orlando. It really is possible you might be the father, despite my hopes to the contrary. I hope that doesn’t offend you.”

“No, it doesn’t. In your shoes I’d probably feel the same way.” 

“It’s not that I think you’d make a bad father. It’s simply knowing for sure this was Phillip’s child would make my life simpler,” she tried to explain.

“I know, sweetheart.”

“Max, I saw the baby,” she blurted, suddenly wanting to share the news with someone. “I’ve seen hundreds of embryos since I began studying medicine, but it’s different when it’s your child, growing in your body.”

He cleared his throat. “Cassidy, I know you’re not convinced the way I am that the babe is mine, but on the off chance it is, I’d like to be with you at your doctor’s appointments. I’d like to see the baby develop, hear its heartbeat, see the ultrasounds, and be with you when you deliver.”

“I…wow…um.” She had to stop and think. Under the circumstances, his request was reasonable. If Phillip felt the same, it would make for an awkward situation, but could she really deny Max? “Okay.” She gave him the date of her next appointment.

“I’ll be there.”

“Max, before I let you go, I need to warn you. Chris may contact you for a statement. She wants to be prepared in case the divorce gets ugly, which I sincerely hope it doesn’t.”

“Smart thinking on her part. What’s her number? I’ll give her a call.”

Cassidy nibbled her lower lip. “Are you sure? I tried really hard to keep you out of this.”

“Sweetheart, I couldn’t be any more involved. I have a vested interest in the outcome of these divorce proceedings. Now give me the number.”

Cassidy pulled out Chris’s business card and read the contact information. As she did, she could hear someone calling to him in the background.

“Just a minute,” he said to someone. Max quickly read the number to her.

“That’s it,” she confirmed.

“Okay. Got to go. Call me tonight so I know you’re safe.”

She rolled her eyes. Phillip was a cheat and possibly a porn addict, but he wasn’t dangerous. Still she promised, “I will. Bye.”

As she slipped the phone into her pocket, Cassidy acknowledged Max had a right to be concerned about the safety of what might be his child. And, she admitted, plenty of women ended up in the emergency room or worse, the morgue, because they’d foolishly believed their partner would never hurt them, no matter how angry they got. Who but God knew what lurked in the heart of a man?

With that unsettling thought, Cassidy went grocery shopping. She needed pregnancy- friendly food.