Her eyes almost feverish, Lenore leaned forward a bit further on the couch, making Caitlin worry that the older woman would tip onto the floor. “Nathan listens to you, Caitlin. He respects you. He won’t listen to my advice about this because he thinks I can’t be objective—and maybe he’s right. But you’re an uninvolved party. If you talk to him, tell him what a mistake he’s making—”
This time it was Caitlin who interrupted. “I have spoken to him, Mrs. McCloud. Nathan has made his decision. He isn’t going to change his mind because of anything I say—or anyone else, for that matter.”
Lenore shook her head. “You can convince him that it’s in the child’s best interest to find another family for her. Nathan’s not qualified. He isn’t prepared. He doesn’t understand everything that’s involved in raising a child to adulthood. Especially on his own, with no one to help him…”
“You can help him.”
The quiet comment made Lenore recoil. “No. I can’t.”
“I understand how difficult this is for you, but Nathan needs you, Mrs. McCloud. Granted, you and I may not completely understand the commitment he has made, but you have to admit that his reasons were actually quite noble. He has a kind and generous heart, which he probably inherited from you, since your charity work is so well-known, especially on the behalf of local children.”
“That isn’t going to work,” Lenore announced sternly. “It’s true that I’m not a vicious woman, but it’s simply too much to expect me to help my son spend the rest of his life paying for his father’s selfish mistakes. I won’t do it.”
“She really is a sweet little girl.”
“You aren’t going to help me, are you?”
Caitlin twisted her hands in her lap. “I can’t agree to try to talk Nathan into giving Isabelle away. Whatever hesitations you have—or even that I might have—I believe he’s more aware of the ramifications of his decision than you seem to think. He might have acted impulsively, but it wasn’t blindly. He loves his little sister, and he’s going to do what he thinks is best for her.”
“And when you find yourself running this business entirely by yourself because Nathan’s personal life is too hectic?”
Caitlin almost winced. Lenore had come too close to describing the past week. “I’m sure Nathan will learn to juggle work and child raising. Single parents do it all the time.”
“My son is not a single parent!” Lenore stood abruptly. “It’s obvious that you’re on Nathan’s side—”
“I’m not on anyone’s side,” Caitlin objected. “I am simply not getting involved in your family dispute.”
“So you say. Just don’t tell anyone I didn’t warn you about the trouble headed your way.”
“Mrs. McCloud—”
But the older woman had already reached the door. She let herself out with a slam that was somehow still dignified.
Caitlin clenched her hands in her hair and let the growl that had been building inside her escape on a frustrated exhale.
Just what had Nathan gotten them both into?
Chapter Six
Late that night Nathan stood beside Isabelle’s bed, gazing down at the tiny figure burrowed into the blankets. Her golden hair spilled over the pillows, and her breathing was slow and even. Hedwig the owl kept wide-eyed vigil at her side.
There was a certain satisfaction in standing there watching her sleep, confident that she was safe, well-fed, warm and content. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be sitting alone in his house tonight, not even knowing where his little sister was or who was watching out for her.
He still clearly remembered the first time he had seen Isabelle. It had been on his first, awkward visit with Stuart and Kimberly in California, three months after Isabelle’s birth.
Stuart had tried to stay in touch with his other offspring, but Nathan was the only one who had taken his calls. Nathan had made that trip to San Diego thinking it would be a one-time visit, an opportunity to sit down with his father and talk frankly about the devastation Stuart had left behind within his first family. And maybe to seek a little advice about how Nathan, as the eldest son, should deal with those repercussions.
He had known even then that some people might find it odd that he’d sought counsel from the very man who had caused the problems in the first place, but Nathan had always valued his father’s opinions. Stuart’s betrayal had shaken Nathan’s faith but hadn’t erased all the memories of those earlier, happier years.
Nathan had figured he and his father both deserved one last face-to-face confrontation, even though his siblings hadn’t agreed. Gideon wouldn’t even discuss the trip, and Deborah had angrily announced that she had no interest in anything Stuart had to say about his actions. Prickly and apprehensive, Nathan had arrived on his father’s doorstep. Fifteen minutes later he’d been sitting in Stuart and Kimberly’s sunny living room with baby Isabelle on his lap. She had gazed up at him with wide-eyed fascination and a dimpled, toothless smile. He had become a big brother again, as devoted to this baby sibling as he was to Gideon and Deborah. He could no more disclaim Isabelle than he could the brother and sister with whom he’d been raised.
It had been mostly because of Isabelle that he had traveled to California several more times after that first visit. He had grown fonder of his little sister, and he’d rebuilt a relationship of sorts with his father—admittedly not the same as before, but still a bond of blood and shared experiences. He’d even come to like Kimberly and to accept the fact that Stuart was happier with her and Isabelle than Nathan had seen him in years in Mississippi.
And then it had all ended in a fiery helicopter crash in Mexico.
Nathan had grieved deeply for his father—a grieving made more painful by the fact that he hadn’t been able to share this pain with those he loved best. His mother hadn’t been able to discuss her late husband’s death. Gideon had become even more withdrawn and remote than before, and Deborah had retreated both physically and emotionally from her family, keeping her feelings locked behind a barrier of hurt and anger.
Oddly enough, it had been Caitlin who had been most available to Nathan during that initial shock of grief. She had been his partner only a few months at that time, but she’d sensed his need to talk about his father, and she’d proven to be a good listener. He’d been careful not to take too much advantage of her sympathy, but the couple of times he had unloaded on her, he had always felt considerably better.