“I realize you think you have some sort of power here, but you gave up your parental rights, remember? The system doesn’t actually favor those guilty of child abandonment. So again, convince me why I shouldn’t take out a restraining order,” Brian said with a pointed look at the fussing baby.
“I’m the child’s mother! She should know her natural family. Don’t you agree? Isn’t that in the kid’s best interest?”
“Not if you’re probably just going to take off again. I’d prefer to shield her from that if I can.”
“I’m not going anywhere; I told you—I realize I made a mistake...”
“Why’d you have her in the first place?”
“I thought I wanted a baby to complete my life, but quickly discovered I didn’t; they’re the worst, right? All cries and poop. I dropped her off at your place because I couldn’t deal, and leaving her with any of my family members was out of the question. I figured you were her best shot, so that’s what I did—I took a shot in the dark.”
“You left her in the cold dark outside of a stranger’s house!”
“I thought it was your house! And she was well-bundled. I left a note and everything; obviously, I cared about the baby—I just didn’t want to be a single mom. But now that I see you would’ve been perfectly willing to co-parent...”
The baby was wailing now and Brian reached for her.
Deidre stared at him warily for a moment, then handed the screaming child over. “Does it do that a lot?”
“She’s a baby. Of course, she does—it’s the only language she knows for now.” He let out a short sigh. “Where have you been all this time? What do you do that would allow you to jump right in and look after a baby for half the day?”
“I work at an architectural firm and I get to work from home.”
“Listen, I have no proof you have any qualifications to do this, and no evidence you genuinely feel the way you say.”
“I’m here now, aren’t I? Besides, you didn’t exactly vet me before taking me to bed, so what are you saying? I was good enough to lay with, but not look after your seed? Then you should really be more careful where you point that weapon. And what qualifications did you have?”
“I was there for her—the only parent willing to be.”
“Look, I don’t want that woman raising my kid!”
“Well, I’m raising my child how I see fit, and that woman more than fits. I still intend for Karen to be in our lives.”
Deidre’s mouth twisted in a way then she regarded him studiously, tilting her head like a dog. “So what is Karen’s role exactly? Is she really just the nanny?”
“That’s definitely none of your business. She looks after Isabelle, which is all you need to know.”
“To hell with that—I’m Denise’s mother! I have a right to know more about who’s looking after her.”
“Her mother,” Brian said low in his throat, his voice thick with ridicule. “And again, the baby’s name is Isabelle, and Karen’s more of a mom than you’ve ever been—she’s the only mother she knows!”
“Well, I’m here to change that; I won’t have my baby growing up thinking the help’s her mother.”
A bitter chuckle escaped Brian, and he fought to keep his voice even and demeanor calm. No use giving this woman any more ammunition to try to use against him.
“Do not refer to Karen as ‘the help,’” he said quietly. “She is far more than that.”
“How far?”
“Again, none of your business.”
“So she’s also a convenient fuck buddy, I’m guessing.”
It was best to change the subject quickly—he didn’t know how much longer he could hold himself back from yelling at her to get out and not shadow his doorstep again.
Then she’d probably go off—he had the feeling she was the type of woman who’d go all boiled bunny, the type who’d slash your tires and pour sugar in your gas tank after a breakup, even if the breakup came about for a mild reason—nothing at all like cheating. Goodness, for cheating, she’d probably stab the dude in the dick.
The strange thing was that Deidre didn’t have crazy eyes or anything—she looked perfectly normal and rational, but in his interactions with her so far, she seemed to have a hair trigger, ready to escalate at the slightest perceived offense.
Boy, was he glad he’d never pursued a relationship with her type! He’d heard enough stories, and learned from the mistakes of others. A woman like Deidre couldn’t hide her crazy for long, and at the first sign, it was best to run, no matter how good she might be in bed. He had to be careful with how he proceeded.
“How did you find me anyway? I didn’t bring you home.”
“I swiped one of your business cards that night, and since it had your name, occupation, place of business...the rest was easy.”
“How long have you been watching me?” he asked, recalling the black sedan.
“A few weeks. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay with my baby,” she said quickly.
Something felt off, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. She seemed sincere enough.
“And after watching Karen and me with the baby, you concluded...”
“I’m relieved she seems to be in caring, competent hands.”
“So why insert yourself at all? Why interrupt her life now?”
“How many times do I have to say it?”
Karen’s words suddenly came back to him: You don’t think it’s best for the child to be with a natural parent?
Brian sighed heavily. “So what do you propose exactly?”
“I want to move in here and get immersed as soon as possible.”
“Listen, Deidre, that’s a big change for the baby—I don’t want to drastically alter her environment, so how about we consider that option at a later time? In the meantime, perhaps you can shadow Karen for a while and see our routine.”
He didn’t really know if adding Deidre to the mix the way she’d wanted would have actually affected the baby, but since Deidre bought his excuse, he’d go with it.
She seemed to be thinking about his proposal, so he gave her a nudge. “Karen usually comes over around seven a.m. when I leave for work. She does her thing all day, and when I come home around six, she takes off. And that’s that. I don’t think you need to shadow me in the evenings and into the night; besides, it’s basically the same as you’d be doing with Karen all day—going through the motions of changing her, feeding her, putting her down for a nap, etc. I really think you should at least see how Karen and I do things before anything else, and if you have any ideas on how things could be different, we’ll discuss it. Of course, before we even get to that point, I need to confirm you’re actually her mother.”
Deidre huffed, but before she could say anything, he said, “Look at it from my perspective—some woman I met almost a year ago shows up at my door claiming to be the mother of a baby found on my neighbor’s doorstep.”
You could be a lunatic, he managed to stop himself from saying, suspecting that referring to her as crazy in any way might unhinge her.
“I’m Isabelle’s father—I’m supposed to protect her. I can’t let some woman making unsubstantiated claims be around her.”
“But I left you that note!” she said. “I can tell you what it said…”
“Again, I only have concrete confirmation that I’m the father. How do I know you didn’t swipe the kid from some other woman I’d been intimate with in an attempt to con me? I know it sounds crazy, but crazier things have happened, wouldn’t you say?”
She was breathing hard, but it seemed she understood where he was coming from.
“Fine. I’ll do the stupid test. How long until we get the results?”
“Same day—I’ll grab one from the store later. In the meantime, I’d appreciate it if you could come back tomorrow so we can deal with that part, then we can discuss things further. For now, I have a routine to get back to. Plus, I need to discuss things with Karen; she deserves a heads up about...potential changes.”
Deidre stared at him for a few seconds, as if weighing his trustworthiness, the merit of what he’d said. “So what’s the weekend routine like? Is it just you or do you still switch off with her, even though you don’t have work?”
“It’s mostly just me, but Karen pops by throughout the day to say hi—Isabelle is used to her.”
No use telling Deidre how much more to it there was than that. Karen got to sleep in on weekends, but she came over by lunchtime, and if he wasn’t busy, the two of them would hang out. Sometimes, he left her there while he ran errands, and they’d even taken to having Sunday dinners together.
Since the next day was Sunday, Karen would be sleeping in at her own place, and he wouldn’t expect to see her until around twelve or one p.m.—after she’d already had lunch at home.
Which meant that in the morning, he and Deidre could get the test over with. If the results turned out positive, he could start showing her a few things. The two of them could hash out the details in the quiet moments when they weren’t going through the motions of care-taking.
But what about his Sunday dinner with Karen?
Surely, Deidre intended to be gone by then—she’d need to be back bright and early Monday morning to shadow Karen.
Brian took comfort in that.
“I’ll be here first thing tomorrow morning,” Deidre said firmly, and he nodded, feeling sick to his stomach.
He couldn’t tell if it was his gut or just paranoia.
He had so much to lose now, and this woman had the power to upset the life he’d happily gotten used to.
Brian dreaded making the call to Karen. He went over in his head what he would say several times, and though they’d both known the day would come, he still didn’t feel prepared to say the words he needed to say; he was nowhere near ready to let her go in any capacity.
“Karen, would you mind if... no, that sounds too frivolous. You know what, you should probably just say it to her face instead of over the phone.”
He glanced down, noticing Isabelle was asleep again. He took the baby to her room and gently placed her in her bassinet, running over in his head what he needed to do once more.
Karen would be dropping by sometime later today, and he needed to grab the DNA test. That might be the perfect opportunity to tell her what was going on.
He continued brainstorming.