Mountain Man

  I expelled a harsh breath as I sat down on the couch, and my hands curled into fists. I rested my head in my hands and began to rub my temples, but I couldn’t focus. The couch smelled like her. Not just her perfume, but her arousal as well.

  I wished she were here. Damn, how I wished she were here just so I could see that smile, so I could smell the sunshine in her hair, listen to her voice, feel her satin skin…

  I picked up the pillow next to me, and buried my head in it, the scent of her helping to calm me down. It washed over me, and the rage began to seep out of me until it was reduced to nothing but extreme and profound sadness. Suddenly my memories of Angel were replaced with the image of her once Janet had announced I had a child. It was the pained look on Angel’s face that I saw now, and I had a feeling the memory would haunt me for the rest of my days.

  And, yet, rather than get angry, rather than yell at me or yell at Janet, Angel had simply taken herself out of the equation. Realizing that there was a good chance Samuel was mine, she’d stepped down. Knowing I’d have to deal with Janet, she tried to make things easier for me by disappearing.

  Or at least she thought it was the right thing to do. But Angel had no idea that she was the only thing keeping me sane. She was the only source of happiness in my life.

  Before her, my life had been dull and gray, and now it was bursting with color.

  How was I supposed to go back?

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  William

  I stepped onto my porch early the next morning and inhaled deeply, hoping the mountain air would help to calm me. Camille stayed by my side and pawed at my legs as if to let me know there was still someone in my life that I could rely on. I patted her head, stifling a yawn. I’d barely gotten any sleep the night before, and I was dead tired. Hoping to find something to occupy my mind, I wandered into my back yard and noticing the enormous wood pile, I began chopping the logs, hoping that eventually physical exhaustion would force me to sleep.

  It didn’t work, and eventually even Camille grew bored and trotted back inside to get some sleep. I sorely wished I could do the same. I didn’t even have to look at myself to know my face was haggard, and my eyes were bloodshot. I could feel the tell-tale sting.

  I needed a plan but I was having a difficult time creating one. It was like my brain just wouldn’t work. All I could think about was Angel and the weight in her eyes after Janet had said what she had. Of course, the first thing I was going to do was confirm or disprove my parentage of Samuel. It was strange but part of me hoped I was his father, just so I could say to myself that I’d created something beautiful, something wonderful. The other part of me hoped he wasn’t mine because I wanted nothing more to do with Janet.

  Once I was finished with the lumber pile, I walked around to the front of the house to see if anything needed repairing. Yes, I was trying to busy myself so I wouldn’t think about Angel. Not that it was working. While I didn’t see anything that needed fixing, I did notice a white envelope sticking out from underneath the windshield wipers on my truck. I walked over to it and freeing it from the wipers, ripped it open.

  Janet’s scrawling handwriting immediately met my attention. I was surprised that I recognized it after all this time. I figured she must have slipped it under my wipers the night before, maybe after our altercation.

  I narrowed my eyes into slits as I read the outrageous sum she was expecting from me. To make up for the last two years that I hadn’t been in Samuel’s life, she wrote.

  I hadn’t even known Samuel existed until yesterday, and suddenly I was expected to pay for the years I wasn’t present in his life? Yes, it was past time I found out if the child was really mine. If he was, I’d gladly pay whatever the courts insisted upon, but the only problem was I didn’t have the money. I was a simple man living on a meager pension that didn’t allow for much else. I did have a decent amount of money saved up that I’d been hoping to put into the cabin someday, but it looked like those plans for remodeling would have to be put on hold. Probably indefinitely.

  If Samuel was mine, I’d have no other choice but to see about getting a job. I crumbled up the piece of paper and was about to throw it away before I thought better of it and refolded it, placing it carefully in my pocket.

  I wasn’t sure why I did.

  Returning to the house, I gave Camille a quick pat on the head, grabbed my keys, and started for my truck. I was headed to town. On the way down the mountain and into Marshall Heights, I resisted the urge to stop by the bank to see how Angel was doing. I wondered if she was as heartbroken as I was. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle it if such were the case. What was worse, if she saw me, another emotion might flit across her face. One I wasn’t prepared for in spite of my belief that I deserved it.

  Hate.

  I shook that thought away as I pulled into the parking lot and stopped. I let the truck idle for a second or two as I thought over my decision. After a while, I killed the engine and just sat there. If I went through with this, there would be no going back. My mouth pressed into a thin line as I pulled the keys out and slammed the door to the truck. People paused to see what the cause of the commotion was, and then hurriedly went on their way when they saw it was me. Just like they always did.

  Not that I cared. Because I didn’t. I had far more important things to focus on, and I was in no mood to make small talk with anyone. I took the steps up to the double doors of the old building two at a time. Once I was through them, I marched up to the desk where an older woman was busily typing. She glanced up at me and smiled before she recognized who I was, and the smile melted off her face.

  “Can I help you?” The woman asked in a small voice as her fingers hovered uncertainly over the keyboard.

  “Yes, I want to see a lawyer,” I responded as I shoved my hands into my pockets.

  “Okay, Mr. Paxton should be available in about five minutes. Please be seated.” She gestured to the row of chairs that lined the small room with its white-tiled floors and hideous floral wallpaper. Clearly, they didn’t get a lot of customers as was evident by the chipped paint on the walls, and the fact that the whole place looked… old. I wouldn’t allow myself to wonder if that was a bad sign. Marshall Heights was small enough that there were only two lawyers, one on either end of the town. I’d chosen Paxton because he was closest to Peak Mountain.

  I plopped onto a couch in the far corner of the room and tried to relax.

  Whether or not Samuel was mine, I wasn’t going to pay Janet the sum she was asking for. It was hardly fair that I was expected to do so when I was in retirement, and I didn’t have a job that paid me the kind of money she was demanding. Yes, I had a nest egg, but I wasn’t going to pay any of that until the courts told me to. Whatever the justice system deemed fair, I would consider it the same.

  “Mr. Black?” The brunette receptionist called out as her eyes landed on me.

  “Mr. Paxton will see you now.” She gestured toward the door on the right, and I nodded to her before I stood up and walked into Paxton’s office.

  I swung the door open, and seeing the inside of his office, I was surprised by how organized it was. Maybe I’d seen one too many movies, but I always imagined that lawyers had messy offices with papers strewn across every available surface.

  But not Mr. Paxton.

  His office was immaculate and very clean too.

  Mr. Paxton, who was sitting behind his monstrously large desk, looked to be in his late fifties with dark hair that was slicked back and intelligent brown eyes. He was dressed in a suit, but his tie hung limply to the side.

  I saw his Adam’s apple bob when he caught sight of me, no doubt recognizing me at once. But to his credit, he kept a straight face as he stood up and offered me his hand. He tried very hard not to wince when I firmly gripped his hand and shook it.

  “Mr. Black, please be seated.” He gestured to the chair in front of him and sunk back into his. I perched on the edge of the chair, not wanting to make myself comfor
table because I wasn’t comfortable. I had business I needed to take care of and the sooner it was taken care of, the better. There was no time for anything else.

  “Now then, how can I help you?” Mr. Paxton clasped his hands in front of him and looked up at me. He was clearly a man who got right down to business, and I had a sudden begrudging respect for him despite my intense dislike for lawyers in general.

  “I’m here because of a woman,” I said simply.

  “I see,” Mr. Paxton responded as he took off his glasses and began to polish them before he placed them back on the edge of his nose. They made his eyes look much larger, but they also gave him an aura of professionalism.

  “Trouble with the Missus?” Mr. Paxton asked, sympathetically.

  “My ex-wife,” I corrected. “We got divorced roughly two years ago. At least, I filed for the divorce, but she never showed up, so the judge ruled in my favor.”

  Mr. Paxton frowned. “So, I take it you and the ex-missus didn’t leave things on good terms?”

  “That would be an understatement,” I said, sarcastically. “Let’s just say we harbor no lost love toward each other.”

  “And you are here because?” Mr. Paxton prompted.

  “She, Janet, is back in town with a child whom she claims is mine.”

  Mr. Paxton’s eyebrow rose to his hairline. “Do you believe the child is yours?”

  “That’s what I don’t know,” I admitted. “She claims he is, but I haven’t seen nor heard from her in two years, so I don’t know if she’s lying or not.”

  “And you want to do a paternity test?”

  “Yes, most definitely. She also left me this letter this morning.” I pulled out the sheet of paper from my pocket and handed it to him.

  He read the letter as his eyes grew wide in surprise. “She’s asking for this much money to compensate for the past two years?”

  “Exactly.” I nodded. “Now, if the child is my son then of course I’d be happy to pay child support. However, this is a sum of money I can’t afford, and even if I slaved away for years I wouldn’t be able to pay it.”

  Mr. Paxton pursed his lips thoughtfully. “There’s no point in talking about any of the incidentals until we know for sure if the child is yours. If it is not yours, all of this becomes a moot point.” Then he paused. “But if it is yours, then we have lots more work to do.”

  “Understood.”

  “First you should know that a man is legally considered to be the father of a child if the couple were married when the child was born,” Mr. Paxton said.

  “Okay, we weren’t married when he was born.”

  “Very good,” Mr. Paxton continued. “The man will also be presumed to be the father of the child if the baby was born within three hundred days of the divorce date,” Mr. Paxton finished.

  I had to think to myself for a few seconds as I did the math. “Hmm, that could prove to be a problem. Samuel would have been born soon after our divorce was final.”

  Paxton took out a notebook and began to jot down a few notes. Every so often, he’d pause and ask me a question so he could fill in the blanks. I offered whatever information I could remember including Janet’s full name, her age, where she was staying, why our relationship ended, etc. etc.

  Mr. Paxton stood up, and I followed suit. He held out his hand, and I shook it again, less firmly this time.

  “You’re in good hands, Mr. Black.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Delilah

  “Are you just going to sulk all day?” my mother asked, giving me a pointed look.

  I smiled at her, pleased with her sassiness. The truth was that she looked a lot better than she had in weeks. There was a healthy glow to her cheeks, and her eyes sparkled in a way I hadn’t seen for a while.

  “I wasn’t sulking,” I said defensively, but she was right; I’d been sulking for days since I drove away from William’s house, leaving him in the midst of an argument with his ex-wife.

  My mother sighed as she patted the spot next to her on the couch. I knew better than to try to pretend that everything was okay. I just didn’t have that sort of strength anymore. Besides, my mother knew me better than anyone did. So, she’d definitely know when I was trying to bluff her.

  “Yes, you were,” she responded when I finally joined her. “So, what’s bothering you?”

  “Nothing’s bothering me,” I replied although the words sounded disingenuous to my own ears so I could just imagine how they sounded to my mom.

  “It’s Saturday, and you’re sitting here with me. Why aren’t you with William? And why hasn’t he been over for dinner lately? I miss our mountain man,” she finished as she gave me a knowing smile.

  At the mention of our mountain man, tears sprung to my eyes, and I blinked furiously to keep them at bay. I refused to shed one more tear over William Black. He and I were just not in the cards, I’d decided. It wasn’t his fault that he had a son he knew nothing about, or at least that his ex-wife claimed he did. That was not the issue here. The issue was that he hadn’t even told me she was in town, that she was living in Marshall Heights and working at the salon!

  Yes, I’d unwillingly gotten all the gossip when Sandy had come in to do her banking, and she and Donna, my coworker, had started talking about “news.” And it had all come out. How Janet had moved to Marshall Heights in order to get her family back, in order to get William back. And even though I tried to force myself to be happy for him, I was finding it very difficult.

  Of course, I’d thought about the fact that William had to have loved Janet at one time. I mean, he’d admitted as much when he’d first told me about his backstory which included his ex-wife. And now that they had a child together, well yes it made sense that they should be together, that they should try to be happy together. At least for the sake of little Samuel. But where did that leave me?

  Nowhere. I was basically the outsider now, the other woman, the one who gets bumped to the side.

  You can’t think like that, Delilah! I yelled at myself. You should be happy that William has a son. You saw the look in his eyes when he saw Samuel. The fierce longing, the instant adoration.

  William would make a tremendous father. Of that I had no doubt.

  “There’s nothing to talk about, Mom,” I mumbled as I turned on the television and started clicking through the channels. How was it possible that we had over fifty channels, and yet there was nothing interesting to watch? My mother snatched the remote out of my hands and switched the television off.

  “Delilah Montgomery, I’ve let you sulk for the last few days. Now it’s time to tell me what’s going on,” my mother commanded.

  My gaze slid to hers, and I gave her a small smile. “I don’t want to bother you with it, especially now that you’re finally feeling better.”

  “All the more reason to tell me. I’m stronger than you think I am, and I want to be there for you,” my mother said matter-of-factly. “You’ve been caring for me all this time. Now it’s time for me to take care of you.”

  “Mom, I really don’t—” I began.

  “Shush now. I’ll go make us some tea, and you can tell me what happened,” she said cheerfully as she picked herself up off the couch and walked to the kitchen, a bounce in her step. I hadn’t seen her like this in a long time and I couldn’t help the smile that took hold of my mouth.

  She filled the kettle, then set it on the stove as she fished out a box of Oreos from the cupboard, knowing they were my favorite. She padded back into the living room and sat down beside me, offering me the box. I took out three and started nibbling on the first one as I thought about how lucky I was to have such a wonderful mother.

  “William has a son, or at least that’s what his ex-wife said when she showed up unannounced with a baby in tow.”

  My mother swallowed hard but somehow managed not to look shocked. This was, after all, the first time she was hearing this, and she looked as calm and cool as a cucumber. “And he didn’t know about this chi
ld?”

  “No, the whole situation took him by surprise.” I proceeded to tell her how Janet had shown up out of the blue and how she’d insisted Samuel was his.

  “I smell a rat,” my mother said, skeptically.

  “A rat with a legitimate child,” I said softly.

  “You don’t know that yet,” my mother argued. “Is William going to insist on a DNA test?”

  “I think so,” I said, but I wasn’t sure.

  “It would be foolish if he didn’t.” We both chewed on our cookies as we lost ourselves to our thoughts. My mother was next to speak again. “How did William react?” she asked.

  “He seemed stunned at first, but once his eyes landed on Samuel, they just lit up,” I answered. “I didn’t get a good look at him, but it looked like he had the same dark hair that William does.”

  My mother patted my hand consolingly. “These things have a way of working themselves out,” she said with a knowing smile.

  I shook my head. “I don’t really see how that’s possible. This is about as bad as it can get.”

  “This is very far from as bad as it could get, Delilah,” my mom corrected me. “And it’s all still repairable.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “Just because his ex-wife shows up with his son doesn’t mean he’s going to get back together with her,” she pointed out with a shrug. “All it means is that he’s got another little person to take into account.”

  “I guess,” I answered though I wasn’t convinced. I’d seen Janet and I could tell she wasn’t a woman who backed down easily.

  “How did you react?”

  I shrugged as I remembered. “I told him he obviously had to work through some things and then I left.”

  “And you haven’t heard from him since?”

  “Nope,” I answered as I smiled in an attempt to force myself not to cry.