The Doctor's Secret Son

For the briefest of moments, she thought she’d reached him. But after that flash of indecision, his expression steeled again.

“The truth.”

The truth?

Her mother had never pushed too hard for her to spill the details of how she’d ended up pregnant. She’d always been a good daughter, had rarely bucked her mother’s wishes. She had probably guessed that her daughter had gotten pregnant while at the CCPO event four years ago. When she’d burst into tears when asked about Joss’s father, her mother had accepted her answer that he was no longer in the picture and getting help from him wasn’t an option. She’d never asked since.

How would she react to him now living in her house?

To his just showing up out of the blue?

Well, maybe, not so out of the blue. Her family knew she’d been in Atlanta for CCPO again a week ago.

Heaviness tugged at her shoulders.

“How long do you plan to stay?”

He shrugged. “Until I have to leave.”

How would that affect Joss? For Trace to come waltzing in, play the role of daddy for a few weeks, then disappear again?

“You can’t just come into Joss’s life, then walk away as if he doesn’t exist. He wouldn’t understand that.”

He crossed his arms and stared at her as if she were a pesky fly. “Not once have I said anything about walking away from my son as if he doesn’t exist.”

She crossed her arms, too, and did her best to stare him down the way he was her

. And not to react to his my son because those words scared her a little. He hadn’t said “our son.”

She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. “You plan to stay in Chattanooga?”

Because she wouldn’t acknowledge that he might mean something other than his staying here.

She wouldn’t let him take Joss to Africa. She wasn’t sure she could stop him forever, but for the moment she was Joss’s legal guardian and had final say.

“You know that isn’t the case. I’m booked on a flight a couple of weeks from now. In the meantime, I’m going to get to know my son. He’s going to get to know me and you are going to facilitate that so it goes as smoothly as possible given the unfortunate circumstances.”

His tone brooked no argument, nor did his retreating back as he stepped outside.

Heart racing, she ran to the front door, watched him walk around to the front seat of an expensive-looking SUV. He grabbed an overnight bag from the front floorboard, then headed back her way.

“Miss me?” he quipped, looking way more relaxed and comfortable than he should considering he was invading her home as an unwanted houseguest and as a man who had just met his son for the first time a few minutes ago.

“You wish,” she countered, glaring at him.

Not acknowledging her quip, he stepped around her, headed toward the hallway, then paused. “You need anything out of here before I crash?”

He was really going to sleep in her room, in her bed, and let her take the sofa? Sure, his reasons made sense, but still...

“Yes.” She pushed past him and went into her room, grabbed one of the pillows off her full-sized bed, then glanced around the room. The room was about twelve by twelve and dominated by the queen-sized bed. There was a stack of books on her night stand, a mix of hers and Joss’s. Some clean clothes were draped over a wicker chair that had been her grandmother’s, waiting on her to hang them in her closet. At least she’d semi-made her bed that morning.

Then again, what did it matter? She hadn’t invited him. He wasn’t her guest. If her house was a total wreck, tough.

On that note, she turned, expecting to see him standing behind her, but he wasn’t. He’d stopped by Joss’s room, probably to stare at their son.

She took a deep breath, pulled a blanket out of a plastic bin from under her bed.

This time when she turned to leave her room, seeing Trace standing in her bedroom doorway caused her heart to stop.