Two Wrongs Make a Right (20 page)

The sound of a car got his attention, but before he could make it to the front porch, Ben opened the door and rushed in with both kids and Sim right behind.

“Hey, the girls wanted to fish in your pond, if that’s okay,” Ben said.

“Sure. You know where the poles and bait are, so make yourselves at home.” Dak grabbed his two nieces as they tried to run past and scrubbed their heads. “I’ll give five dollars to the one who catches the biggest fish.”

“Then let me go!” Rachel screamed.

“No need to hurry, loser, because I’ll be the winner,” Hannah said.

“Hannah! Don’t call your sister a loser,” Sim said.

Dak released them and the girls headed to the back, first taking time to stop and pet Homer, sprawled in his favorite spot soaking up the sunshine.

Hannah looked at her mother and grinned, then pressed her fingers against her forehead, formed an “L” and pointed toward Rachel.

“Hey, no silent name calling either, sassy box, or you won’t get to fish.” Sim narrowed her eyes, grimaced for effect, and Dak chuckled at the warning.

She turned her frown toward him. “You’re not helping.”

“Sorry. You’re so—
menacing
.”

“Shut up. It won’t be long until they don’t fear me anymore, so I have to get my bluff in while I can. But on the bright side, when that happens, I’ll send them to live with you. Give you a chance to use your untapped daddy skills.”

“You’re funny.” The reference to his parent status caused him to ponder the challenge facing him. He considered asking his sister about the possibility of a lawsuit if he got passed over due to being single, but thought better of it. He’d call Shelly later to put his plan in motion.

Sim smiled and took a manila envelope from her purse. “You remember me telling you there was a woman I wanted you to date?”

“Which one? There are so many I can’t keep track.”

“Now you’re being funny. The one I said was perfect. Dark hair. Brown eyes. Your age. Anyway, you agreed if I got a picture of her, you’d consider asking her out. Ben shot a wedding a few days ago, and she was there, so I had him take some photos with her in them.” Sim slid the prints from the sleeve. “Here’s one of her standing, so you can get a good look at her body. Nice, huh?”

He took the 5x7 and stared at it with interest. “She is hot.”

“Here’s one at the reception, it has a better view of her face.”

He stacked the snapshot on top of the other one, glared at it for a moment, then his mouth dropped open. “Sonovabitch! That’s her!”

“Of course it’s her. I told you…”

“No. Not her. This one.” He pointed at a table behind the woman. “That’s Molly Harper. From the bar a few months back. Whose wedding is this? Where was it?”

“
Your
Memorial Day Molly? Are you sure?”

“Hell yes. Let me see the rest of the pictures.” He grabbed the stack and shuffled through them, stopping to study each one.

“We can pull all the photos up on Ben’s website. I brought these just because they had Diana in them.”

Dak got his laptop and logged in then passed it to Sim. “Find the file.”

“Okay.” She talked as she worked. “It was the Middleton-Hill wedding, performed at TerrAdorna. If you ever get married you should have your ceremony there. The place is gorgeous. The view is unbelievable.” She paused and shoved the laptop toward him, then leaned over his shoulder. “Here. You can scroll through all of them.”

One by one, he searched each print until he found a close up. “Holy shit.”

Sim leaned in. “Is that her? The one in the purple dress?”

“Yeah, and see that woman sitting across from her?”

Sim nodded. “I remember them. I actually talked to Molly in the ladies room. Who is the other one?”

Dak folded his arms across his chest. “Megan Faulkner, head of Human Resources at my company. I can’t believe it. I’ve been looking for Molly and all this time she’s friends with one of my coworkers. Now I have a way to find her.”

“That’s weird. If they’re friends, surely Molly told Megan about you. I mean, you told Molly where you worked, right?”

Worry lines formed in Dak’s forehead. “Yeah. That is odd.”

“Unless—she didn’t tell her because it would put her friend in an awkward situation. Especially if Molly didn’t plan to see you again.”

He considered the possibility, then shook his head. “No. This is weird. If you’re friends with someone and only in town for a few days, why not spend time with them? Especially women. Don’t y’all have some kind of secret girl code?”

“More of a best friend code where we share everything.”

“Yeah, so why weren’t they together at the bar? Megan gave us tickets. Why would she send her friend there alone? That’s a logical question, right? ”

Sim frowned, took the stool next to her brother, and counted off on her fingers. “May to June, July, August, September, and October. You said she’d broken up with her boyfriend?”

“Yeah, why?”

“She’s pregnant, and during our conversation in the bathroom, I asked how far along she was. Dak, that baby could be yours.”

“Not possible. I used protection.”

“Hate to break the news to you, but the only thing one-hundred percent safe is abstinence. Have you forgotten your junior high sex education class?”

From the moment of his sister’s announcement, everything blurred. He barely remembered awarding the five dollar prize or saying goodbye to his guests. The words
she’s pregnant
pounded in his head like a ball peen hammer beating metal, which made sense because his lungs felt flat, and as hard as he struggled, he couldn’t get enough air to inflate them.

There was no guarantee the baby was his. It could be the former boyfriend’s. Dak didn’t have the timeline of when the breakup occurred. She may have been pregnant when they hooked up. Either way, it now made sense why she’d not contacted him. Or did it? Well, if the kid wasn’t his, it’d be logical to never hear from her again, so the previous guy probably was the father. He’d assume that for now, but in the morning, he’d find out what was going on.

~~*~~

The next day, he got to work early and watched the clock until he saw Megan get off the elevator. He’d been up most of the night and was in a pissy mood. He didn’t give her time to get coffee, he marched into her office with picture in hand.

She glanced over her shoulder at him from the coat rack where she hung her jacket. “Good morning, how’d your interview go?”

He didn’t sit. Just fisted one hand, and with the other threw the photo onto her desk. “I’m not here about that. Tell me about her.” He jabbed a finger on Molly’s image.

Megan paled and collapsed into her chair. “Oh God. I told her this would happen.” She covered her face with her hands and mumbled something he couldn’t understand.

“What’d you say?”

Sliding her hands away, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. For a moment she didn’t speak, and Dak’s patience wore thin. “I want an answer. And I want it now!”

She opened her eyes and stared at him. “I told her you’d find out. But she said there was no way. It wasn’t even supposed to be you. She picked Justin, but then the idiot bartender gave the drink to you.”

He sank into the chair. “I don’t understand. She chose Justin for what?”

Megan stared, but said nothing.

“Megan? For what?”

She clutched her throat and struggled for a breath. “A baby. But Quinn isn’t a bad person.”

“Quinn? Her name isn’t Molly?”

“No.”

“So she meant to get pregnant?”

“No—I mean yes—no.”

Dak slammed his fist on the desk. “What’s going on?”

She flinched. “She poked holes in some condoms. But when you got the drink, she changed her mind about using them. But then you didn’t have one. Good God, Dak. What kind of red-blooded single man doesn’t carry damn protection with him? Especially if he’s going to a bar?”

“One who doesn’t make a habit of hooking up with strange women.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Damn. You gave us the tickets. I can’t believe this. You set up the whole thing.”

Leaning forward, she thrust her hands out. “I was setting up Justin. You were a mistake.”

“Great. But she knew there was a chance she’d get pregnant and didn’t tell me?”

“Not until after…you know. She wasn’t sure you’d gotten one of the bad ones, until she checked them. Then she wanted to tell you, but she’d already lied so much, she didn’t know what to do.”

“Does she live in El Paso?”

Megan wagged her head.

“Work for a medical supply company?”

Again, a no.

“Holy shit. Did she tell the truth about anything?”

“She liked you. She’s been sad that she couldn’t see you again.”

“Yeah, I bet she has. So she lives here?”

“Yes.”

“The boyfriend breakup?”

“True.”

“She sure the kid is mine?”

“Yes. Brad had been out of the picture for months. What are you going to do?”

“Haven’t decided yet. Give me her full name and address.”

“No. Not until you tell me what you’re going to do her.”

He slammed his fist down on the desk again. This time harder. Then he rose and leaned over until he was inches from her face. “Give me her goddamn name and address!”

Megan shook all over, then reached for a pen and paper. With trembling fingers, she jotted on it, then passed the note to him.

He folded the slip, put it in his pocket, and pointed his finger at her. “You listen and listen good. If you tell Molly or Quinn or whoever the hell she is about this meeting. Warn her in any way, you’ll suffer the consequences. Do you understand?”

“Yes. For how long? I can’t keep this a secret forever.”

“That’s rich. Seems you’re damn good at it. You stay quiet until I say otherwise.” He turned, stomped from the room, and went to Helen’s desk. “I may be out of the office all week. Move my appointments.”

“Yes sir. Is anything wrong?”

“Something’s wrong all right, but I’m going to fix it.”

Dak wasn’t sure what pissed him off more. That another woman duped him, or that he’d been the consolation prize.

He downed his second whiskey, and considered his next move. He’d driven by her place earlier, but decided he needed to cool off before he confronted her. He needed to think about how to handle the situation. No matter how mad he was, he admitted the timing couldn’t be better. Yesterday, he found out he needed a family to save his career, and today one materialized. It had to be a sign or karma or some shit like that.

Molly—Quinn.
Damn, I’ll have to get used to the new name
. Quinn may have wanted Justin, but Dak was the father of the baby, so she’d have to settle.

The front doorbell chimed. He checked his watch. His sister was right on time. A first for her.

Seconds later, Sim rushed in out of breath. “Since you called me away from work, I’m assuming this concerns Molly.”

He ran fingers through his hair and set the empty glass on the counter. “It’s my baby.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Are you sure?”

“If I’m willing to take Megan’s word, and right now, I’m not sure I trust anything that comes from a woman’s mouth, but yeah, and it wasn’t an accident.”

“Well, I won’t debate who lies more, men or women.”

“I didn’t lie a single time to her, but she lied about everything. Where she lives, works, hell, even her name.”

Sim stiffened. “Wait a minute. Did you say it wasn’t an accident? As in, she
wanted
to get pregnant?”

For the next fifteen minutes, Dak explained everything including how a wife and child could benefit him. How he’d driven by Quinn’s apartment earlier and fought the urge to confront her. When he finished the saga, he refilled his glass and toasted the air. “Here’s the deal. I’ll insist we get married. Not just for my job situation, but because it’s the right thing to do. I don’t want my child to think I didn’t want him or her.”

“So you want the baby?”

“Hell, yes! Why would you even ask?”

“Sorry. What if she says no?”

“She won’t have a choice. She’ll either marry me, or I’ll sue her. I can do that, can’t I?”

“I don’t know of a precedence, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Exactly what would you be suing for—custody? Because to win, you’d have to prove her unfit as a mother. She was a one-night stand and a judge or jury will rule you should have been just as responsible for protection. In other words, you should have provided your own condom.”

He emptied his glass and stepped to the work island for more. “Then what are my options?”

She leaned against the bar and eyed the bottle of whiskey. “Here’s an idea. Why don’t you ask her nicely? Offer to pay all the medical costs for her and the baby. If you want the marriage to last for X amount of time, say until after your promotion is in place, then you can discuss child and spousal support following a divorce.”

“Spousal support? I should give her money after what’s she’s done? You’re crazy.”

“Let me ask you something. What if she’d not had a condom? Would you have had sex?”

Dak pulled his brows together and gave it some thought. His sister brought up a point he’d not considered. “No need for that hypothetical because it didn’t go down that way.”

“No, no, little brother. You’re not getting off that easy. You take her to court, that’s something her attorney will ask. Answer the question.”

His shoulders rose with an intake of air. “I don’t know.”

She cocked her head.

He released the breath. “Maybe.”

She raised her brows.

He thinned his lips and faced her. “Probably.”

She put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes.

“Shit. I was so caught up in the moment…ninety percent…possibly.”

“Kind of hard to condemn her when the outcome could have been the same without her lies. Don’t you think?”

“No. I do not.”

“Oh, I guess you could demand she slit her wrists. That make you happy?” Sim half-laughed, then got serious again. “Regardless of her actions, she’s carrying your child. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

“A child I didn’t ask for, with a woman I don’t know.”