The Soldier's Forever Family

She groaned. “Don’t start with the age thing again, please.”

Shrugging, he lowered himself to the towel beside her, settling cross-legged on a hot-pink unicorn, yet somehow still managing to look like a tough male. “I’m not accustomed to doing business on a beach towel.”

So this was about Joanna and Adam. Tamping down regret, Maddie adjusted her purple bikini top, dug into her straw bag and pulled out a bottle of water. She twisted off the cap, offered a sip to Walt, who waved it away with a smile, then swallowed several sips before setting the bottle aside. “Okay. I’m not exactly dressed for a negotiation, but what can I do for you, Walt?”

“I think you’re dressed just fine.” He ran his gaze over her scantily clad body, and she gulped as if he’d made that journey with his hand rather than his eyes.

Whoa. She almost reached for her water again.

Drawing his eyes back to her face, he gave her a crooked smile that was part grimace, as if the words had slipped out despite himself. “Sorry. I’m not usually so unprofessional.”

She brushed back her blowing hair again, not even trying to hide the fact that she enjoyed making him forget his better judgment. “You don’t hear me complaining. But maybe we should wait until business is settled before we pursue this.”

He cleared his throat. “Yeah. Uh, business. Adam wanted me to make some arrangements with you and your sister on his behalf. He said he didn’t want a repeat of that formal meeting yesterday.”

“Seriously? He doesn’t even want to be involved in the discussions?”

“Apparently not. He left me a voice mail with instructions at two this morning. I had my phone turned off—some people actually sleep at that hour—but I caught the message a few hours later. He said he wants us to go ahead and set up a fund for Simon that he can contribute to regularly. He said he’s taking the day off—a very rare event, believe me—but we’re to call him if we have any questions we can’t settle without him. He said he’d see us later, tomorrow if not this evening.”

“Well, I suppose that’s convenient. Joanna’s out on an all-day outing with Simon. The last thing she told me was not to talk to Adam if I ran into him today. I think she was afraid I’d start a fight with him or something. I guess she didn’t know he was taking a personal day.”

Maddie had informed Joanna tartly that she was perfectly capable of controlling herself around Adam, though she’d made no promises that she wouldn’t verbally cut him to bits if he dared criticize her sister. “He hasn’t taken off, has he? Hasn’t run out on her again?”

Walt scowled. “He hasn’t run out—and from what I understand, that isn’t exactly the way it went last time. He’s taking a vacation day, that’s all. Said he needed a few hours away from work and people to get his head together. I mean, that makes sense, right? This has all hit him pretty hard.”

“It makes sense that he’d have conflicted emotions about finding out he has a son. Jo has a few tangled emotions herself. You think she’s happy about having her son’s biological father show up? Simon is everything to her, her whole life. She’d do anything to protect him.”

“I get that. You’re pretty fond of him, too.”

“I adore him,” she replied simply. “And I’d rip the nose off anyone who ever hurt him.”

Walt reached up to rub his nose. “I’ll, uh, keep that in mind.”

Maddie hit her knee with her fist. “What is it with this guy, anyway? What kind of coward is afraid to acknowledge his own son?”

Walt’s expression hardened. “Adam Scott is no coward. He’s a decorated soldier who, like me, barely made it back. This development hit him out of the blue, but on the whole, I think he’s gone above and beyond to do whatever he can for this boy. Trust me, if it had been up to me, there’d have been definitive paternity test results before any financial offers.”

Her eyes narrowed. She drew back in fresh indignation. “Are you implying again that my sister would lie about her son’s paternity?”

He held his ground. “Of course I had suspicions when I first learned of the situation. My friend informed me a woman he’d known for only a weekend had turned up with a son she claimed was his, and that he was making the kid his sole beneficiary. You’d have reacted the same if a client came to you with that scenario.”

He was probably right, but Maddie wasn’t about to admit it. “My sister is not a scammer.”

“I’m pretty sure of that now. I only had to talk to her for a few minutes—and to see Simon, by the way—to figure she was telling the truth, at least about his connection to Adam. But Adam is my friend as well as my client, and he’s doing the best he can to deal with this. I won’t let anyone call him a coward.”

“He won’t even let Joanna tell Simon that Adam is his father.”

“Maybe he thinks that’s for the best. Maybe he’s convinced this is better than hagg

ling over visitation and parental rights. I don’t know. But having no idea how I’d react, I’m not going to second-guess his decisions.”

She bit back any further criticism. Walt hadn’t taken that well. Fair enough. She wasn’t going to let him say a word against Joanna, either.

She and Walt might have crazy chemistry, but they were very much on opposite sides in this situation. And while she could respect Walt’s loyalty, she still found Adam’s actions hard to understand.

She sighed and nodded. “Okay, fine. I’ll talk to Joanna, but my prediction is that she’s not going to be overly cooperative with the legal arrangements. She’s no more interested in formal negotiations than Adam is. From what she’s said to me, I believe she’ll instruct you to advise your client to set up an account for Simon himself and contribute to it as he sees fit in the future. She won’t accept a penny of the money to use for her own benefit.”

“Your sister is a proud woman.”