Righteous Lies (Book 1: Dancing Moon Ranch Series) (16 page)

She wanted her
parents to know as little as possible...

"Yes, I'm
here," Grace said. "It's not a very good connection."

"How are
things going?" her mother asked.

"Fine,"
Grace replied.

"Are you
still planning on keeping the baby?" her mother asked. The idea that she'd
keep the baby of a stranger seemed beyond her mother's reasoning capabilities.

"Yes, Mom,
I'm still keeping him."

"How do we
get to the ranch from McMinnville?" her mother asked.

After a long
pause, in which Grace tried to digest the fact that her parents seemed to be
not more than twenty minutes away, her mother said, "Grace?"

"Yes, you
wanted to know how to get here," Grace said. "Are you and Dad in
McMinnville... now?"

"Actually,
Grace," her mother said, "The man here at the gas station told Dad how
to get to the ranch. We'll be there in a few of minutes." The line went
dead.

Grace stood at
one of the front windows of the lodge and looked out, and a few minutes later,
she saw her parents car approaching. Resigned to the inevitable, she walked
over and stood by the front door and waited for her parents to enter.

"Oh
my," Ethel Page said, when she saw the size of Grace's belly. "Are
you sure you're not having twins?"

"No, Mom. Just
one very big boy."

Grace's dad
came in and shut the door, and he too stared at Grace's belly.

"Like I
told Mom, I'm having a very big boy."

"Then
you're feeling well?" Ethel asked.

"Yes,"
Grace replied. "Come on in and sit down." She ushered them to a
grouping of overstuffed chairs in front of the fireplace and motioned for them
to sit on a couch with its back to the window facing the stables and the corral,
where they couldn't look out and see Jack working the horses, although there
would be no reason for them to conclude he was the father of her baby. She'd
said nothing about what
the father
did for a living, implying she'd be raising the child alone, and a settlement
from the fertility clinic would cover the cost.

When the three
of them were settled, Grace's parents on the couch, and Grace sitting on a
chair across the coffee table from them, Grace's mother said, "You still
have time to reconsider raising this baby, Grace. There are lots of couples who
want to adopt but find themselves on a long waiting list. You'd be doing them a
service."

"We've
been all through this, Mom. I'm keeping the baby."

"Have you
told Marc's parents about what happened?" she asked.

"Yes,"
Grace replied.

"I suppose
they were disappointed," Ethel said. "I hope you don't plan to go
through this again to have Marc's child. It was foolish enough the first
time."

"The
sample of sperm Marc donated is gone," Grace said, having no intention of
telling her parents it had gone to the sister-in-law of her baby's father. She
hadn't even told Marc's parents, only that there was a mix-up and she wouldn't
be having Marc's baby. They seemed neither disappointed nor relieved, but accepted
it without question.

"That's
good," her mother said.

"No, it's
sad," Grace replied. "I really wanted Marc's child. But I'm having
this one and I'm happy about it. I've always wanted lots of children."

"But not
without a father," Ethel said. "This whole idea of being a single
parent is not good thinking. There will be ramifications later, when you have a
teenage son and no father."

"I'll deal
with it when the time comes." Grace wondered how long they'd be staying.
From the moment they arrived she'd been struggling to think of a plausible excuse
for them to leave, but kept drawing a blank.

"I'm not
quite clear why you're staying at this ranch," Ethel said. "You said
you'd gone into early labor and needed bed rest, but you look fine now, and
it's been several weeks."

"Well...
umm... by the time I moved my stuff here, it was easier to stay. The ranch is
closed until spring, and Flo said she liked having company here."

"Flo?"

"She's the
housekeeper."

"Oh,
that's right. You work for Merry Maids," Ethel said. And Grace left it at
that. "Where is the father of your baby now?" she asked, opening a
whole new can of worms.

"Well...
he's..." Grace stared at her mother, who was staring back at her, waiting.

...He's what? The man I'm living with? Half
owner of this ranch? A cowboy who makes me want to do hedonistic things I've never
dreamed of doing...

The front door
swept open and to her mortification, Grace saw Jack standing at the entry.
Catching her eye, he said, "I'm riding up to check on things at the cabin
in the mountains. You'll be okay for a while?"

Grace sat
frozen in place as Jack walked over to where they were sitting, spurs jingling
with each step. He paused when he saw her parents, then looked at her for an
explanation. Her father stood, and said, "We're Grace's parents. We just
stopped by to see her for a short visit."

Jack offered his hand, "Then it's time we
met. I'm the father of Grace's child."

Grace could not
even begin to imagine what her mother must be thinking, looking at a man who
towered above her father, and who was dressed in his usual denims and chaps and
scuffed boots with spurs, and who had day-old whiskers because he hadn't shaved
that morning because he started moving furniture and painting the room and
didn't want to take the time, and whose hands were large, and weathered, and
work-hardened... not the kind of man they would ever expect Grace to be drawn
to. And she could see, from the glances passing between her parents, that they
hoped she never would be.

"Then you
must work here," her father said, finally clasping Jack's hand.

"Yes,"
Jack replied, and offered nothing more.

Grace wasn't
sure whether that was good or bad, not telling them he was half owner of the
ranch, then decided it was good. If her father knew that much, the first thing
he'd want would be to make sure Jack paid child support.

Her mother had
still not found her voice. But when she did, the first words out of her mouth
were, "It was a very unfortunate mistake, this fertility clinic
mix-up."

"Actually,
Mom, we're happy about it," Grace said. "Jack wanted a son, and like
I said, I've always wanted children."

Ethel looked at
Jack, her eyes moving down the length of him, pausing on his scuffed boots and
spurs, then coming back up to fix on his face, and she said, "Then you'll
be involved with Grace's baby?" There was a definite edge to her tone,
Grace noted.

"Grace and
I will be sharing joint custody," Jack informed them. Then he looked at
Grace and added, "So, you'll be okay for a few hours?"

Grace nodded.
"I'm fine. Flo's here," she said, wanting Jack to leave before her
parents learned she was living in his house.

He held her
gaze for a few moments, and she was certain he understood, because he nodded to
her parents, and said, "Nice to meet you," then turned and left.

After the front
door closed behind him, Grace's mother said, "You gave us the impression
you'd be raising the child alone with a settlement from the fertility
clinic."

"There
will
be a settlement," Grace
assured them. "But the father would like to be involved with his son. We
have things worked out."

"When will
you be moving back to your house?" her mother asked, which carried its own
underlying message...

...how soon until you get away from that
disreputable-looking cowboy?

"Probably
right after the baby's born," Grace replied.

"Do you
think that's a good idea?" her mother asked.

"We talked
about it, Mom, and decided it would be better for me to be here when I go into
labor because there would always be someone at the ranch to drive me to the
hospital. It's also very comfortable here, and I get all my meals. If I were at
my house, I'd have to do it myself, and the doctor wants me to stay as quiet as
possible. This just seems the most practical thing to do."

"Yes, I
suppose it is," Ethel agreed.

Before this,
Grace's father had said little, which was the norm as long as Grace's mother
was present, which was also the reason they'd stayed together for thirty-five
years. He looked at Grace, and said, "You're a long way from the hospital
here."

"There's
one in McMinnville," Grace said. "We can be there in twenty
minutes." She neglected to tell them she'd be having the baby at a
birthing center, for obvious reasons. They'd both go ballistic.

"Then I
guess you know what you're doing," he said.

"Everything
will be fine," Grace assured them. "Now, don't worry about a thing.
In two weeks you'll be the grandparents of a big, handsome boy." She got a
knowing glance from her mother and immediately regretted throwing in the word
handsome, almost hearing the internal monolog in her mother's head...

She thinks the disreputable looking man is
handsome... a common cowboy no less...

To Grace's
relief, her father became anxious to leave because a few flakes of snow were
falling, and after a round of dutiful hugs, they were gone.

Several hours later,
Jack returned from the mountains about the same time Maureen's brother, Greg, arrived
at the ranch to discuss the legal action against the clinic. Sam joined them,
and Maureen excused herself to monitor Susan, who continued to be disturbingly
distraught. But after Maureen left, Greg started in, laying out grounds for the
lawsuit against the fertility clinic.

"There are
multiple issues," he said. "Jack, you've fathered a child by a woman
you didn't intend to impregnate, and now you have an obligation to care for the
child for eighteen years—"

"He's my
son," Jack cut in. "I have no problem with taking care of him, and
Grace."

"I'm not
talking about your moral obligation," Greg said. "I'm talking
about—"

"Just to
set the record straight," Jack cut in again, "neither Grace nor my
unborn son are obligations." He looked at Grace and winked.

"We're
talking about legal rights," Greg said. "Because of negligence on the
part of the clinic, you'll be supporting a child you would not have had to
support if Susan had been impregnated with your sperm, as you and Sam and Susan
contracted with the clinic to do, because under Oregon Artificial Insemination
Law, Sam would have been the legal father. Now, Sam's the legal father of the
child of Grace's dead husband, depriving Grace of the child she wanted. Then we
have Grace who's having the child of a stranger—"

"Not
anymore," Grace cut in. "I'm happy to be having Jack's child."

"Again,
we're talking legal rights," Greg said. "The clinic owes you
substantial compensation for burdening you with the child of a stranger."

"This child
is not a burden," Grace said, placing her hands on her stomach. "He's
mine and Jack's and I love him, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for
him."

"I
understand that," Greg said, a little exasperated, "but you didn't
contract with the clinic for them to impregnate you with Jack's sperm. It's
also my understanding that there's no more sperm from your dead husband stored
in the bank."

"Well,
no," Grace said.

"Then you
need to be compensated for the fact that you won't have another chance to have
a child by him."

Grace nodded.
But if she had been impregnated with Marc's sperm, she wouldn't have met Jack,
and she wouldn't be having his child or him to help raise it, and for some
reason it seemed she'd gained more than she'd lost. Yet, she also wanted Marc's
child...

Greg looked at
Sam. "Then there's Ricky. How do you set a price on a child's life?
Because of the mix-up, there's little chance of a donor sibling from a child
conceived by Susan with Grace's husband's sperm, so Ricky's only chance is for
you, Grace, to fly to New Jersey on the chance of a match."

"She's not
flying anywhere," Jack said. "Grace is afraid of flying, and I don’t
want her to jeopardize our child."

"It's not
your choice," Grace said to Jack. "Not legally... Yet."

Jack looked at
her long and hard. "Don't even think about doing it," he said.

"We'll
talk about it later," Grace replied.

Greg paced in
front of the fireplace. "That's between the two of you, but that's yet
another issue. We also have Susan, who's threatening to terminate her pregnancy."

Grace looked at
Sam with a start. "Did Susan actually threaten to have a late-term
abortion?"

"She's
pretty upset about things, but she won't have an abortion," Sam replied.
"I disabled her car so she can't get to a clinic unless I drive her there."

Grace stared at
Sam. "Then you obviously think she's capable of doing it," she said,
alarmed.

"I don't
think she would," Sam said, "but I want to be on the safe side. After
the baby's here she'll be fine. Mom plans to help out for the first few months."
Sam looked at Jack, who was glaring at Sam, and Grace knew exactly what Jack
was thinking...

...s
he doesn't need an abortion to get rid of
the baby. All she needs is a pillow...

Grace turned to
Sam, and said, "I'll take the baby. I want him. He's my husband's
child." Tears filled her eyes. "Please, Sam. Just let me have him.
Turn over your rights to me. Talk Susan into giving him up at birth."

Jack put his
arm around Grace, who was blinking back tears, and said, "Honey, don't get
all worked up. You could go into labor again."

"I want my
husband's baby," Grace said. "I'll do anything to have him. You can
do something, Jack. Please. You can adopt him too. We can raise him along with
Adam."

"Another
issue," Greg said to Grace. "You have no legal claim to the child
Susan's carrying, and she has a legal right in Oregon to terminate the
pregnancy at any time. But if she can be talked into bringing the pregnancy to
term and giving up the child, we could proceed with the adoption. It might make
her more open to continuing the pregnancy."