“When is his birth date?” he growled, quickly finding his equilibrium.
Shelly swallowed so deeply she knew for certain Dare could see her throat tighten, but she refused to let his
reaction unsettle her any more than it had. She lifted her chin. “November twenty-fifth.”
He flinched, startled. “Two months?” he asked in a pained whisper yet with intense force. “You were two months
pregnant when we broke up?”
She snatched her arm from his hold. “Yes.”
Anger darkened the depths of his eyes then flared through his entire body at the thought of what she had kept from
him. “I have a son?”
Though clearly upset, he had asked the question so quietly that Shelly could only look at him. For a long moment she didn’t answer, but then she knew that in spite of everything between them, there was never a time she had not been proud that AJ was Dare’s son. That was the reason she
had returned to College Park, because she felt it was time he was included in AJ’s life. “Yes, you have a son.”
“But—but I didn’t know about him!”
His words were filled with trembling fury and she knew she had to make him understand. “I found out I was pregnant the day before my graduation party and had planned to tell you that night. But before I got the chance you told me about the phone call you’d received that day, offering you a job with
the Bureau and how much you wanted to take it. I loved you too much to stand in your way, Dare. I knew that telling you I was pregnant would have changed everything, and I
couldn’t do that to you.”
Dare’s face etched into tight lines as he stared at her. “And you made that decision on your own?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“How dare you! Who in the hell gave you the right to do that, Shelly?”
She felt her own anger rise. “It’s not who but what. My love for you gave me the right, Dare,” she said and without
giving him a chance to say another word, she angrily
walked out of his office.
Fury consumed Dare at a degree he had never known
before and all he could do was stand there, rooted in place, hell-shocked at what he had just discovered.
He had a son.
He crossed the room and slammed his fist hard on the desk. Ten years! For ten years she had kept it from him. Ten solid years.
Ignoring the pain he felt in his hand, he breathed in deeply when it hit him that he was the father of John Doe. No,
she’d called him AJ but she had named him Alisdare
Julian. He took a deep, calming breath. For some reason she had at least done that. His son did have his name—at least part of it anyway. Had he known, his son would also be wearing the name Westmoreland, which was rightfully
his.
Dare slowly walked over to the window and looked out,
suddenly seeing the kid through different eyes—a father’s eyes, and his heart and soul yearned for a place in his
son’s life; a place he rightly deserved. And from the way the kid had behaved earlier it was a place Dare felt he needed to be. It seemed that Alisdare Julian Brockman was a
typical Westmoreland male—headstrong and stubborn as hell. As Dare studied him through the windowpane, he
could see Westmoreland written all over him and was
surprised he hadn’t seen it earlier.
He turned when the buzzer sounded on his desk. He took the few steps to answer it. “Yes, Holly?”
“Ms. Brockman is ready to leave, sir. Have you completed the paperwork?”
Dare frowned as he glanced down at the half-completed form on his desk. “No, I haven’t.”
“What do you want me to tell her, Sheriff?”
Dare sighed. If Shelly for one minute thought she could just walk out of here and take their son, she had another thought coming. There was definitely unfinished business between them. “Tell Ms. Brockman there’re a few things I need to
take care of. After which, I’ll speak with her again in my
office. In the meantime, she’s not to see her son.”
There was a slight pause before Holly replied. “Yes, sir.”
After hanging up the phone Dare picked up the form that
contained all the standard questions, however, he didn’t
know any answers about his son. He wondered if he could ever forgive Shelly for doing that to him. No matter what she said, she had no right to have kept him in the dark about his son for ten years.
After the elder Brockmans had retired and moved away,
there had been no way to stay in touch except for Ms. Kate, the owner of Kate’s Diner who’d been close friends with
Shelly’s mother. But no matter how many times he had
asked Kate about the Brockmans, specifically Shelly, she had kept a stiff lip and a closed mouth.
A number of the older residents in town who had kept an eye on his and Shelly’s budding romance during those six years had been pretty damn disappointed with the way he had ended things between them. Even his family, who’d thought the world of Shelly, had decided he’d had a few screws loose for breaking up with her.
He sighed deeply. As sheriff, he of all people should have known she had returned to College Park; he made it his business to keep up with all the happenings around town. She must have come back during the time he had been busy apprehending those two fugitives who’d been hiding
out in the area.
With the form in one hand he picked up the phone with the other. His cousin, Jared Westmoreland, was the attorney in the family and Dare felt the need for legal advice.
“The sheriff needs to take care of few things and would like to see you again in his office when he’s finished.”
Shelly nodded but none to happily. “Is there anyway I can see my son?”
The older woman shook her head. “I’m sorry but you can’t
see or talk to him until the sheriff completes the paperwork.”
When the woman walked off Shelly shook her head. What had taken place in Dare’s office had certainly not been the way she’d envisioned telling him about AJ. She walked
over to a chair and sat down, wondering how long would it be before she could get AJ and leave. Dare was calling the shots and there wasn’t anything she could do about it but
wait. She knew him well enough to know that anger was
driving him to strike back at her for what she’d done, what she’d kept from him. A part of her wondered if he would
ever forgive her for doing what she’d done, although at the time she’d thought it was for the best.
“Ms. Brockman?”
Shelly shifted her gaze to look into the face of a uniformed man who appeared to be in his late twenties. “Yes?”
“I’m Deputy Rick McKade, and the sheriff wants to see you now.”
Shelly stood. She wasn’t ready for another encounter with Dare, but evidently he was ready for another one with her.
“All right.”
This time when she entered Dare’s office he was sitting
behind his desk with his head lowered while writing
something. She hoped it was the paperwork she needed to get AJ and go home, but a part of her knew the moment
Dare lifted his head and looked up at her, that he would not make things easy on her. He was still angry and very much upset.
“Shelly?”
She blinked when she realized Dare had been talking. She also realized Deputy McKade had left and closed the door behind him. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
He gazed at her for a long moment. “I said you could have a seat.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to sit down, Dare. All I want is to get AJ and take him home.”
“Not until we talk.”
She took a deep breath and felt a tightness in her throat. She also felt tired and emotionally drained. “Can we make arrangements to talk some other time, Dare?”
Shelly regretted making the request as soon as the words had left her mouth. They had pushed him, not over the edge but just about. He stood and covered the distance
separating them. The degree of anger on his face actually had her taking a step back. She didn’t ever recall seeing
him so furious.
“Talk some other time? You have some nerve even to
suggest something like that. I just found out that I have a
son, a ten-year-old son, and you think you can just waltz
back into town with my child and expect me to turn my head and look away and not claim what’s mine?”
Shelly released the breath she’d been holding, hearing the sound of hurt and pain in Dare’s voice. “No, I never thought any of those things, Dare,” she said softly. “In fact, I thought just the opposite, which is why I moved back. I knew once I told you about AJ that you would claim him as yours. And I also knew you would help me save him.”
Eyes narrowed and jaw tight, Dare stared at her. She watched as immediate concern—a father’s concern— appear in his gaze. “Save him from what?”
“Himself.”
She paused, then answered the question she saw flaring in his eyes. “You’ve met him, and I’m sure you saw how angry he is. I can only imagine what sort of an impression he
made on you today, but deep down he’s really a good kid, Dare. I began putting in extra hours at the hospital, which
resulted in him spending more time with sitters and finding ways to get into trouble, especially at school when he got mixed up with the wrong crowd. That’s the reason I moved back here, to give him a fresh start—with your help.”