In Love with John Doe (15 page)

“That’s not even a possibility.” Jack pulled her to him and she rested her head against his chest. “Trust me. You don’t have a thing to worry about.”

She glanced at the clock. Jack had set up a conference call with Drew and his attorney for two o’clock. It was one-fifty now and she had to be in a staff meeting from two to three. Then she had to head over to Addie’s school for the annual spring music concert. Jack had already said he’d bum a ride into town and meet her there. Hopefully there would be a few minutes before the concert for them to talk.

Of course, she told herself, there was really nothing to discuss. The only way Drew was getting anywhere near her daughter was over her dead body.

After that they’d gotten down to business. It quickly became clear that what Drew really wanted—and was prepared to fight for—was something the courts would give him anyway. Jack told the attorney he’d get back to him after speaking with his client. He hoped Lexi would be agreeable to the proposal but couldn’t be certain of her response. When it came to Addie she was a tigress.

He glanced at the clock, then jammed the phone into his pocket and headed to the Wildwoods lobby to catch the shuttle. Addie’s school was having a music concert this afternoon and he’d promised her he’d be there.

The van dropped Jack off in front of the school. He slipped through the double doors into the auditorium just as the first notes of the “Star Spangled Banner”—as interpreted by the first-year band students—filled the air. He quickly located Lexi, with an empty seat beside her, on the end of a row about halfway down.

Basking in the warmth of her welcoming smile, he slipped into the open seat next to her.

“I wasn’t sure you were going to make it,” Lexi whispered.

“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” he whispered back, taking her hand. “I talked to the attorney.”

Her eyes lit up. “What did he say?”

“Joint custody isn’t even on the table.” Jack wanted to tell her more but the curtains opened and the choral group—with Addie as the featured lower elementary vocal soloist—took the stage. For the next forty-five minutes, conversation was impossible.

After the concert concluded, the adults were herded into the school’s common area for cookies and punch. Parents and students alike came up to compliment Addie on her performance.

Addie preened under all the compliments. But it warmed his heart when she insisted on holding his hand while drinking her punch.

“You’re coming out to eat with us tonight, aren’t you, Jack? I hope. I hope,” Addie said when the principal announced that the students could leave with their parents.

“I wouldn’t miss it, munchkin.” Jack put the pads of his fingertips on top of her head and when she twirled, he laughed and wondered how any man could have given this up to study in England.

She poured them each a glass of wine. Instead of sitting beside him on the sofa, she took a seat in the chair facing him. She leaned forward. “What did you find out? Tell me everything. Don’t leave anything out.”

Was it only her imagination or did Jack hesitate? “According to the attorney, Drew has felt badly about abdicating his parental responsibilities for some time.”

“I bet,” Lexi said with more than a little sarcasm.

“When he got your letter it stirred up those feelings,” Jack continued in a matter-of-fact tone. “Apparently he married several years ago. When he voiced those regrets to his wife recently, she encouraged him to contact you.”

“Does he have kids?” Lexi asked.

“No.” Jack thought back to what the attorney had said. “They want children but have been unable to have any of their own.”

“Well, I’m not giving him mine.” The words came out so loud that even with the door closed, Jack was amazed Addie didn’t wake up.

Still, he glanced in the direction of the bedrooms, waiting for the child to peer around the corner, and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t. Lexi took another sip of wine and visibly fought for control of her emotions.

“He wants my daughter,” she said in a more reasonable tone. “Is that pretty much the gist of it?”

“He doesn’t want custody,” Jack clarified. “And with his history of noninvolvement he wouldn’t stand a chance anyway.”

Lexi blew out a breath. “Thank God for that.”

“But he is her father,” Jack had to point out. “And, as her father, he does have certain rights.”

“Rights?” Lexi snorted. “He gave up those when he told me to have an abortion. When he walked away from his daughter.”

“Unfortunately the courts won’t see it that way,” Jack said in as gentle of a tone as he could muster. “They’ll see a respected businessman who made a mistake and now wants to make it right. They’ll see a little girl who deserves to know her father.”

“You’re siding with them.” Lexi’s voice rose and her eyes flashed amber fire. “You think I should give him my child.”

This time her anger was directed at
him.
But the pain in her eyes told Jack how hard the mere thought of visitation was for her. While he could sit back and view the situation impartially, Lexi had lived through the tumultuous times of being abandoned and alone, not knowing if she’d be able to provide for her baby’s needs.

“Come sit beside me,” he said softly, patting the seat beside him.

For a second he thought she might do it, but she crossed her arms and remained seated. “I’m fine right here.”

He could feel a chasm growing wider between them. That scared him. For some reason she seemed to have gotten it in her head that he was siding with Drew. That couldn’t be further from the truth. She and Addie’s welfare were his priority.

Although this wasn’t the most romantic time to confess his feelings, he had to make sure she knew how he felt. And the only way to do that was to say aloud the words he wasn’t sure he had the right to say. “I love you, Lexi. I only want the best for you and Addie. This is
your
call. Not mine. I’ll support—”

Before he could finish she was out of her chair and into his arms. “Oh, Jack, I love you, too.”

For several heartbeats he just held her close, feeling her soft curves pressed against him, smelling the sweet scent of her shampoo. A wave of emotion washed over him and he realized there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. Nothing he wouldn’t give up. Drew might be a smart guy but he’d lost what truly mattered when he’d let this woman walk out of his life, when he’d turned his back on his own child.

“I’m scared, Jack,” she whispered against his chest, so soft he barely heard the words. “I don’t want him to come into her life only to hurt her.”

Lexi was a reasonable woman. He had to make her see that this wasn’t a fight she could win. But that wasn’t the only reason she should agree. Addie needed to know her dad cared. Jack closed his eyes and said a little prayer. If he’d ever needed heavenly guidance, it was now. “Not knowing her father has already left a festering hole in Addie’s heart. She told me her dad didn’t like her. I could see it made her sad.”

Lexi sighed but didn’t lift her head from his chest. “I remember.”

“I love Addie as if she was my very own, but she knows she has a dad out there. A father she’s curious about, one she’d like to know.”

“I’ll kill him if he hurts her.”

“Not if I get to him first,” Jack said.

She chuckled. Or maybe it was a sob.

“We’re only talking visitation,” he said. “It could be supervised. You could be there with them, until you feel comfortable having them spend time alone.”

Lexi lifted her head. “Drew would come all the way to Jackson Hole just to see her?”

“Yes,” he said. “That’s exactly how it would be.”

“But then he’d want her to come to Ohio to see him.”

“Probably. Eventually,” Jack said, refusing to sugar-coat the facts. “But I made it very clear that if you agreed to let him come here, you’re not committing to sending her there.”

Tears filled her eyes. “I don’t want her hurt.”

“You and I, we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

A look of sadness swept across Lexi’s face. “You’ll be gone by the time Drew comes for a visit. Once you track down who you are, you’ll go back to your law practice and to your family and friends.”

Jack tightened his hold on her. “If you think you’re getting rid of me that easily, you’re mistaken. I don’t need to know my name to know where I belong.”

Lexi could hear the sincerity in his voice and knew he meant what he said. But once he knew his name, everything would change. She could only hope the change wouldn’t bring disaster.

Steve liked her, not as a colleague or business associate but as a woman. She could see it in his eyes, feel it every time his hand
accidentally
brushed hers. But he’d never make a move until Nick was out of the picture. Steve wasn’t the kind of guy to poach. In his mind she was still Nick’s girlfriend. Ellen pressed her lips together. Nick, who’d left her high and dry for almost a month, without the courtesy of a single phone call to let her know he was okay.

As far as she was concerned, that constituted abandonment, which left her free to date whomever she wanted. And she wanted Steve.

She picked up the phone fully prepared to tell him just that when Anne, one of the paralegals, rushed into her office. “Ohmigod, Ellen, you’ll never believe it. Nick is one of the featured stories on Yahoo.”

Ellen stared, not sure she’d heard correctly.

“Open up Yahoo,” the woman urged.

Ellen did as Anne suggested. She gasped. A big picture of Nick was under the headline Wyoming Skier Loses Memory in Avalanche.

“He doesn’t know who he is,” Anne said, her eyes sparkling behind her trendy black frames. “Crazy, huh? You’ve got to call and identify him. There’s a contact name and phone number at the end of the article.”

“Of course,” Ellen murmured. She scanned the story and her heart flip-flopped in her chest.
No wonder he hasn’t called me.

Shame slid down her spine. Instead of being worried that something was wrong when she hadn’t heard from Nick, she’d automatically assumed he was dissing her. What did that say about their relationship?

“What about Nick’s father?” Anne asked. “Shouldn’t someone notify Mr. Delacorte that his son has amnesia?”

Ellen glanced at her watch. “It’s 6:00 a.m. in London. I’ll ring him first and then call the sheriff.”

“This is so exciting,” Anne said with such verve that if she was a child Ellen knew she’d have clapped her hands.

“What’s exciting?” Steve asked, strolling into her office. His eyes brightened the way they always did when he saw her. Ellen’s heart flip-flopped in her chest the way it always did when she saw him.

“Nick was in an accident,” Anne said. “He lost his memory but Ellen is going to Wyoming and bringing him home. Right, Ellen?”

Ellen’s gaze locked with Steve’s. Regret rose like bile in her throat. She nodded. “Right.”

After a couple of hours, she decided to take a break. “How did your session with Dr. Allman go?” Lexi pulled two tea bags out of the cupboard and set the kettle on the stove.

Jack looked up from the laptop. “Okay.”

Dr. Allman was the psychologist who’d first evaluated Jack after his accident. He’d been pushing for him to return for a follow-up visit.

“Did he offer any explanation for why you can’t remember your name?”

If she hadn’t been looking at Jack, if she didn’t know him so well, she might have missed the twist of his lips.

The teakettle began to whistle and she lifted it from the burner but kept her gaze focused on him.

“Jack?” she pressed when he didn’t respond.

“He thinks I don’t want to remember.”

Lexi pulled her brows together and absently poured the water into two cups. She’d always had a lot of respect for the psychologist but this comment seemed off-the-wall. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“It does to him.” Jack sat back and wrapped his fingers around the cup she handed him. “He seems to think I’m scared of finding out who I am because then I’ll have to make a choice.”

“What kind of choice?” Lexi somehow managed to keep her voice steady despite the fact that her heart had lodged itself firmly in her throat.

“Staying or leaving.” He rolled his eyes. “As if I’d leave you and Addie.”

Lexi wasn’t sure how to respond so she took a sip of tea, grateful when the phone rang and she could move to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Brennan?”

Lexi’s fingers tightened around the receiver. The deep voice was familiar although she couldn’t immediately place it.

“This is Sheriff Cassidy. Is John Doe, I mean Jack Snow, there?” the sheriff said in a conversational tone. “I tried the lodge but there was no answer in his room. Coraline told me I might find him at your place.”

“Is something wrong?” Lexi choked out the words and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jack push back his chair and rise, a question in his eyes.

“Absolutely not.” The sheriff sounded almost jovial. “In fact, I’m calling with good news. Our mystery man’s fiancée saw his story on the Internet and called. John Doe’s name is Nick Delacorte. He’s an attorney out of Dallas. She’s coming tomorrow to pick him up.”

“Who is it?” Jack pressed.

“It’s for you.” She handed him the phone. “Your fiancée is on her way to Jackson to take you home.”