“What happened when you got back?”
“I found out that I’m pregnant with Luca’s child.” She spit out the words as quickly as she could and waited for the fallout.
“Pregnant? I should’ve known you two going away together for a month would lead to trouble. Are you two an item, now? I hate to say it, but that would probably help the cause if you were.”
“Not anymore,” Claire admitted, dashing her lawyer’s hopes. “He didn’t take the news about the baby very well. He stated pretty bluntly that he didn’t think it was his and got quite angry about the whole thing. So like I said, I don’t have any clue what we’ll face tomorrow.”
“You know, I’ve been thinking over the past year about retiring. You may be the client that puts me over the edge.”
At that, Claire had to laugh. She knew Stuart would work until he dropped dead in the courtroom, but he was a curmudgeon about it anyway. “Look at it this way, Stuart—you just have to represent me in court. This is my life.”
“You’re right,” he agreed. “I’ll meet you at Edmund Harding’s office at 8:45 a.m. tomorrow.”
Twelve
“Are you sure you want to do this, Luca? You only have a few minutes left to change your mind.”
Luca turned away from the window overlooking Central Park to gaze at his lawyer. “Yes. I have to do it.”
“Actually, you don’t,” Edmund argued. He’d been irritated with Luca since he came in and started changing the arrangements they’d worked so hard to put together. “There’s nothing that says giving up custody is the punishment for being mean to the mother.”
“I’m not giving up custody,” Luca argued. “I’m just setting the terms that will make her happiest. It’s the least I can do after everything else.”
“And what about you? What will make you happy? These are your children we’re talking about. The children you never thought you’d have, I might add.”
“Seeing Claire happy will make me happy,” he answered without hesitation. It was true. As hard as this was on him, he needed to see Claire smile more than anything. That look of hurt and devastation on her face from that night at his apartment had haunted him for days. He was willing to do whatever it took to fix that, even giving up most of his rights to his children. He didn’t want to do it, but it was the punishment he deserved after rejecting the baby as his own.
A soft knock came at the door and the receptionist stuck her head inside. “Mr. Harding, Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Ewing are here for your nine o’clock.”
Edmund nodded sadly and looked at Luca. “Last chance.”
Luca just waved away his concerns. He knew what he had to do, and he didn’t care if his lawyer liked it or not.
“Send them in.”
Luca took a seat at the table beside Edmund. For the first time in a long time, he felt nervous. He wasn’t quite sure where to look as the door opened. He didn’t know what he would see in Claire’s eyes. Taking a breath, he looked up to see her as she slipped into the office behind her lawyer. Her gaze met his, and he knew that he was making the right decision. There wasn’t the slightest hint of animosity there. She was anxious, exhausted, sad, but not angry. He had been the angry one, the one to lash out. She was just here to see what kind of punishment he was about to hand down because he thought she was lying to him.
They took their seats, and Luca squirmed slightly in his chair. Edmund eyed him suspiciously, but Luca ignored him. His focus was entirely on Claire. She didn’t look good. He thought pregnant women were supposed to be radiant, but perhaps that was later on. Now she just looked run-down, like she had when he’d first taken her to Martha’s Vineyard. A month of good food, sun and loving had changed her, but now it was like they’d never gone.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asked.
Everyone at the table, including Claire, looked startled. Edmund reached out to grip his forearm and silence him, but he pulled away. This wasn’t about negotiations. It was about Claire.
Her gaze narrowed at him for a moment before she nodded. “I’m fine. I’m just having a rough first trimester. It was the same with Eva. Thank you for asking.” Her tone was cold, and he deserved that.
“Mr. Harding, my client and I are curious what today’s meeting is about. We go before the judge on Thursday. It’s a little late to start making changes to the agreement that Mr. Moretti and Mrs. Douglas came to on their trip.”