Claiming The Captain's Baby

“Mr. Wainwright?”

He turned when he recognized the voice of the woman who’d called him. “Ms. Campos.”

The petite, dark-haired woman with a short, pixie hairstyle extended her hand. “Yes.”

Giles took her hand and was slightly taken aback when he noticed a small tattoo with USMC on the underside of her wrist. He successfully concealed a smile. It was apparent she had been in the Marine Corps. “Semper fi,” he said sotto voce.

Nicole Campos smiled. “Are you in the Corps?”

He shook his head. “I proudly served for ten years.”

“I was active duty for fifteen years, and once I got out I decided to go to law school. I’d love to chat with you, Mr. Wainwright, but you’re needed in the conference room.”

Giles always looked forward to swapping stories with fellow marines, yet that was not a priority this morning. He followed her down a carpeted hallway to a room at the end of the hall.

His gaze was drawn to a woman holding a raven-haired baby girl. Light from wall sconces reflected off the tiny diamond studs in the infant’s ears. The fretful child squirmed, whined and twisted backward as she struggled to escape her mother’s arms.

He smiled, and much to his surprise, the baby went completely still and stared directly at him with a pair of large round blue eyes. She yawned and he was able to see the hint of two tiny rice-like teeth poking up through her gums. He couldn’t pull his gaze away from the baby girl. There was something about her eyes that reminded him of someone.

His attention shifted from the baby to the man seated at the head of the conference table. His premature white hair was totally incongruent to his smooth, youthful-looking face.

Giles smiled and nodded. “Good morning.”

“Good morning. I’m Preston McAvoy. Please excuse me for not getting up, Mr. Wainwright, but I’m still recovering from dislocating my knee playing football with my sons.” He motioned to a chair opposite the woman with the baby. “Please sit down.”

Giles complied, his eyes meeting those of the woman staring at him with a pair of incredibly beautiful hazel eyes in a tawny-gold complexion. He wondered if she knew she looked like a regal lioness with the mane of flowing brown curls with gold highlights framing her face and ending inches above her shoulders. A slight frown appeared between her eyes as she continued to stare at him. He wondered if she had seen him during his travels in the Bahamas, while Giles knew for certain he had never met her because she was someone he would never forget; she was breathtakingly beautiful.

Preston cleared his throat and opened the file folder on the table. He looked at Giles and then the baby’s mother. “I’m sorry when my assistant called to ask you to come in that she was bound by law not to tell you why you’d been summoned.” He removed an envelope from the folder and withdrew a single sheet of paper. His dark eyes studied each person at the table. “This is a codicil to Samantha Madison Lawson’s last will and testament.”

Giles went completely still. The name conjured up the image of a woman from his past who had disappeared without a trace. Now it was obvious he had not come to West Virginia for an update about a fellow soldier, but for a woman with whom he’d had an off-and-on liaison that went on for more than a year.

“Ms. Lawson, before she passed away,” Preston continued, “made provisions for her unborn child, hence named Lily Hope Lawson, to become the legal ward of her sister, Mya Gabrielle Lawson. Ms. Lawson, being of sound mind and body, instructed me not to reveal the contents of her codicil until a month following her death.” He paused and then continued to read from the single page of type.

Giles, a former marine captain who had led men under his command into battles where they faced the possibility of serious injury or even death, could not still his momentary panic. A tense silence swelled inside the room when Preston finished reading.

He was a father! The woman sitting across the table was holding his daughter. He had no legal claim to the child, but his daughter’s mother sought fit to grant him visitation. That he could see Lily for school and holiday weekends, Thanksgiving, Christmas and one month during the summer, while all visitations would have to be approved by Mya Gabrielle Lawson.

Giles slowly shook his head. “That’s not happening.” The three words were dripping with venom.

“What’s not happening?” Preston questioned.

“No one is going to tell me when and where I can see my daughter.”

“You’ve just been told.” The woman holding the child had spoken for the first time.

Chapter Two

Mya was certain the rapid pumping of her heart against her ribs could be heard by the others in the room. She hadn’t been able to move or utter a sound when the tall, black-haired man with piercing blue eyes in a suntanned face walked into the conference room. It had only taken a single glance for her to ascertain that the man was Sammie’s ex-lover and Lily’s father. He continued to glare at her in what was certainly a stare down. However, she was beyond intimidation because legally he had no claim over her daughter.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Giles countered in a low and threatening tone. “As Lily’s biological father, I can sue for joint custody.”

“If you do, then you will surely lose,” Mya countered.

Preston cleared his throat. “I’m afraid Ms. Lawson’s right, Mr. Wainwright. Legally, you have no right to the child. But look on the bright side, because it was the baby’s mother’s wish before she passed away that you could have a relationship with your daughter.”

Giles’s eyes burned like lasers when he turned to glare at Preston. “You fail to understand that a woman carried my child and neglected to notify me about it. Even though she’s gone, you’re allowing her to become the master puppeteer pulling strings and manipulating lives from the grave?”

Preston shrugged shoulders under a crisp white shirt. “Ms. Samantha Lawson must have had a reason for not informing you about the baby. I’m going to leave you and Mya alone, and I suggest you work out an arrangement that you both can agree on. Please keep in mind it’s what’s best for the baby.” Reaching for a cane, Preston rose to his feet and limped out of the office.

Lily began squirming again, and Mya knew it was time to feed her and then put her to bed. “We’re going to have to put off this meeting for another time because I have to get home and feed Lily.”

“I don’t have another time,” Giles said. “The sooner we compromise, the better it will be for all of us.”

A wry smile twisted Mya’s mouth. Spoken like a true businessman. She wanted to tell him it wasn’t about compromising. The terms in the codicil did not lend themselves to negotiating a compromise. “That’s not possible now because I’m going home.”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

Mya went completely still, and she stared at Giles as if he had taken leave of his senses. Did he actually expect her to welcome him, a stranger, into her home as if she had offered him an open invitation? “You want to come home with me?”

He cocked his head at an angle. “I don’t hear an echo.”

Her temper flared. “You cocky, arrogant—”

“I know I’m an SOB,” he drawled, finishing her outburst. “Look, Ms. Lawson,” he continued in a softer tone. “Up until a few minutes ago I had no idea that I was a father. But if Samantha had told me she was carrying my child, I would’ve made provisions for her and the child’s future.”

Mya scooped the diaper bag off the floor and looped the straps over her shoulder. “In other words, you wouldn’t have married Sammie, because you weren’t ready for marriage and fatherhood. She wouldn’t tell me your name, but she did open up about your views on marriage and children.” Mya knew she had struck a nerve with the impeccably dressed businessman when he lowered his eyes. Everything about him reeked of privilege and entitlement. His tailored suit and imported footwear probably cost more than some people earned in a month.

“What’s the matter, Mr. Wainwright? You see a little girl with black hair and blue eyes and suddenly you’re ready to be a father? What happened to you asking for a paternity test?”

Giles’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t need a paternity test because Lily looks like my sister.”

“If that’s case, then you can save some money,” Mya mumbled under her breath. Suddenly she realized she wasn’t as angry with Giles Wainwright as she was with her sister. Sammie had completely blindsided her with the codicil.

Giles rounded the table and took the large quilted bag off Mya’s shoulder. “Please let me help you to your car.”

Mya resisted the urge to narrow her eyes at him. At least he’d said please. She walked out of the room, Giles following as she cradled Lily to her chest. Fortunately for her, the baby had quieted. She had parked the Honda Odyssey in the lot behind the office building.

Pressing a button on the remote device, she opened the door to the minivan and placed Lily in the car seat behind the passenger seat. She removed the baby’s hand-knitted sweater and buckled her in.

“We’ll be home in a few minutes,” she crooned softly as Lily yawned and kicked her legs. She closed the door and turned around to look for Giles. He was nowhere in sight. Where could he have gone with the diaper bag?

“Are you looking for this?”

She turned to find him standing on the other side of the vehicle, holding the bag aloft. Bright afternoon sun glinted off his neatly barbered inky-black hair. Closing the distance between them, she held out her hand. “Yes. I’ll take it now.”

Giles held it out of her reach. “I’ll give it back to you when you get to your house.”

She didn’t want to believe he was going to hold the bag hostage. Mya bit her lip to keep from spewing the curses forming on tongue. She wanted the bag, but more than that she needed to get her daughter home so she could change and feed her and then into her crib for a nap.

She knew arguing with the arrogant man was just going to delay her. “Okay,” she conceded. “Follow me.”

She flung off Giles’s hand when he attempted to assist her into the van. The man was insufferable. She couldn’t understand how Sammie was able to put up with his dictatorial personality. It was as if he was used to giving orders and having them followed without question.

Mya hit the start-engine button harder than necessary. Lily’s father was definitely working on her very last frayed nerve. She maneuvered out of the parking lot, not bothering to glance up at the rearview mirror to see if he was following her.

Mya’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel at the same time she clenched her teeth. She knew the anger and frustration she’d unleashed at the man who’d just discovered he was Lily’s father was the result of Sammie keeping her in the dark as to her child’s paternity; repeated attempts for her to get her sister to disclose the identity of the man who’d gotten her pregnant had become an exercise in futility. It was a secret Sammie had taken to her grave.

And why now? Mya mused. What did Sammie hope to prove by waiting a month after her death to disrupt not only her life, but also Lily’s and Giles Wainwright’s? She decelerated and took a quick glance in the rearview mirror to see a black town car following her minivan.

* * *

Giles closed his eyes as he sat in the back of the sedan. Samantha was dead and he was a father! What he found incredulous was that they’d never made love without using protection. And to make certain he would not father a child, Giles had always used his condoms, because he did not trust a woman to claim she was using birth control when she wasn’t. And while he had been forthcoming when he told women he’d slept with that he wasn’t ready for marriage and fatherhood, he never said he did not want a wife or children. It was just that the timing wasn’t right, because after serving his country for ten years as a captain in the Marine Corps, he found difficulty transitioning to life as a civilian.

Giles opened his eyes and stared out the side window. Towering trees growing close to one another nearly blotted out the sunlight, while a series of waterfalls washing over ancient rocks had probably given the town its name. The mountainous landscape appeared untamed, forbidding. It was a far cry from the skyscrapers, crowded streets, bumper-to-bumper traffic and the sights and sounds that made his hometown so hypnotically exciting. He sat straight when the driver turned off into a long driveway behind Mya’s minivan.

He leaned forward. “Don’t bother to get out,” he ordered the driver. “I’m not certain how long I’m going to be inside.”

“I’ll wait here, Mr. Wainwright.”

Giles reached for the colorful blue-and-white-patterned diaper bag. He was out of the town car at the same time Mya had removed Lily from her car seat. The baby’s head rested on her shoulder.

Looping the straps of the bag over one shoulder, he gently gathered Lily from Mya’s arms. “I’ll carry her.” He met Mya’s brilliant catlike eyes, not seeing any of the hostility she had exhibited in the law office.

“Thank you.”

He followed her up the porch steps to a house he recognized as a modified Louisiana low-country home. As a developer, he had gotten a crash course in architectural styles and he favored any residential structure with broad porches welcoming the residents and callers with cool shade. Tall shuttered windows and French doors were representative of the French Colonial or plantation style.

Admiring the house with twin fans suspended from the ceiling of the veranda, the white furniture, and large planters overflowing with live plants did not hold as much appeal as the small, warm body pressed to his chest. He lowered his head and pressed a kiss on her silky curls. The distinctive scent associated with babies wafted to his nose, a pleasing fragrance that reminded him of the times he’d held his nephews.

His previous declaration that he wasn’t ready for fatherhood no longer applied, because the child in his arms was a blatant reminder that he had to get ready. He and Samantha engaging in the most intimate act possible had unknowingly created another human being. Even before sleeping together, he and Samantha had talked about marriage and children and he was forthcoming and adamant that he wasn’t ready for either.

And when he’d walked into the conference room and had seen the infant for the first time, there was something about her that reminded him of someone, and within minutes of the attorney reading the contents of the codicil, Giles knew that someone was his sister. Lily had inherited Skye’s raven-black hair and blue eyes. Giles, his mother, his sister and his cousin Jordan were the dark-haired anomalies among several generations of blond Wainwrights.

He watched Mya as she unlocked the front door; she tapped several buttons on the wall to disengage the house’s security system. He stared at her delicate profile, wondering what was going on behind her impassive expression. She and Samantha may have been sisters, but there was nothing physically similar that confirmed a familial connection. Samantha had been a petite, curvy, green-eyed blonde, while Mya was tall, very slender, with a complexion that was an exact match for the gold strands in her chestnut curls.

She held her arms out for the baby. “I’ll take her now.”

Giles handed her the sleeping infant and then the bag. “What are you going to do with her?”

“She needs to be changed, and then I’m going to give her a bottle before I put her to bed.”

A slight frown appeared between Giles’s eyes. “It’s lunchtime. Aren’t you going to give her food?” he asked. Mya had mentioned having to feed her.

Mya shook her head. “No. I’ll give her a snack after she wakes up. The bottle will hold her until then. Make yourself comfortable in the family room. I’ll be back and then we’ll talk about what’s best for Lily.”

Giles felt as if he had been summarily dismissed as he stared at Mya’s narrow hips in a pair of black tailored slacks. He walked over to a pale-pink-and-white-pinstriped sofa and folded his tall frame down.

Everything about the space was romantic and inviting, beckoning one to come and sit awhile. He admired the floor plan with its open rooms, high ceilings and columns that matched the porch posts. French doors and windows let in light and offered an unobstructed view of the outdoors. Wide mullions in the off-white kitchen cabinet doors were details repeated in the home’s many windows. The tongue-and-groove plank ceiling, off-white walls, kitchen cabinets, cooking island and breakfast bar reflected comfortable family living.

Family. The single word reminded him that he now had a family of his own. A hint of a smile tilted the corners of his mouth when he thought of his daughter. Then within seconds his smile vanished when he realized he had no legal claim to her. The lawyer had indicated Samantha was of sound mind and body when she drew up her will and then added the codicil, but Giles wondered if she actually had been in her right mind. It was obvious Samantha had died, and he wondered if she had known she was dying?

Giles knew he could challenge the will and authenticate his paternity. He had the resources to hire the best lawyers in the country to sue for sole or joint custody with Mya. Lily may be a Lawson, but she was also a Wainwright. And Giles wasn’t above using his family name and wealth to claim what belonged to him.

He rose to his feet when Mya reappeared. She had exchanged her slacks and man-tailored blouse for a pair of skinny jeans and an oversize University of Chicago T-shirt. Thick white socks covered her bare feet. She had brushed her hair off her face and secured it in a ponytail. Giles found that he couldn’t pull his gaze away from the small, round face with delicate doll-like features. He retook his seat after Mya sat opposite him on a chair.

“How old is Lily?” he asked; he decided he would be the one controlling the conversation.

“Seven months.” Her eyebrows lifted slightly. “How well did you know my sister?”

Giles was taken aback by Mya’s question. “What do you mean by how well?”

Mya crossed her arms under her breasts at the same time she crossed her outstretched legs at the ankles. “I know you were sleeping with her, but what else did you know about her?”

“Apparently not enough,” he countered flippantly. “Maybe I was mistaken, but I thought she told me she was from a small town in Virginia, not West Virginia.”

“You were mistaken because we’ve never lived in Virginia. What else do you know about her? Did she ever talk to you about her parents or her family?”

Giles cursed under his breath. He wanted to be the one to interrogate Mya, yet unwittingly she had turned the tables on him. “She told me her parents were dead, but nothing beyond that. Most times we talked about the places she had visited as a flight attendant, while I wasn’t very forthcoming about my time in the military because I did not want to relive some of what I’d seen or done.”

Mya’s expression softened as she angled her head. “Were you deployed?”

He nodded. “I managed to complete a couple of tours in Afghanistan.”

“Thank you for your service.”

Giles nodded again. Suddenly he was reflective. Now that he thought about it, there wasn’t that much he had known about Samantha Lawson, except that he enjoyed whatever time they had spent together whenever she had a layover in New York, which wasn’t that often.

“Samantha and I did not spend a lot of time together,” he admitted. “She would call me whenever she had a layover in New York and there were occasions when we’d just go out for dinner. She loved the theater, so if she had a few days to spare, I’d purchase tickets for whatever play she wanted to see.”

“But you did sleep with her.”

“Yes. And I always used protection.”

Mya lowered her arms. “Sammie told me you did. But we both know the only form of birth control that is one hundred percent foolproof is abstinence.”

A wry smile twisted Giles’s mouth. “I’m fully aware of that now.” He sobered. “You claim that you and Samantha are sisters, yet you don’t look anything like her.”

“That’s because we were both adopted. Our parents couldn’t have children, so they decided to adopt. They adopted me first, and then two years later they adopted Sammie. My sister spent all of her adult life searching for her birth mother and that’s probably the reason why she wanted me to adopt Lily, so I would be able to tell her everything she would need to know about her mother. When she found out she was having a girl, she selected the name Lily Hope, after her favorite flower and Sammie’s hope she would someday find her mother. My sister spent hours writing letters to her unborn baby and making recordings so Lily could hear her voice.”

Sadness swept through Giles as he attempted to deal with all that his former lover had planned for their daughter. “Please answer one question for me, Mya?”

“What is it?”

“Did Samantha know she was dying?”

Mya averted her head. “Yes. When she discovered she was pregnant, she was also diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. Chemotherapy couldn’t be given during throughout her pregnancy, so she had to wait until after the baby was born for radiation and hormonal therapy. However, during her second trimester she did undergo a mastectomy, but by the time she delivered Lily the cancer had spread to her liver and lymph nodes. Even though she never complained, I knew she was in pain. In the end, I hired a private duty nurse to take care of her because she refused to go to hospice. The nurse made certain to keep her comfortable, and several days after Lily turned six months old, Sammie passed away. And when she’s older, I’ll show Lily where her mother and grandparents are buried.”

Giles felt as if someone had reached into his chest and squeezed his heart, making it nearly impossible for him to draw a normal breath. He hadn’t found himself in love with Samantha, yet if he had known she was sick, he would have been there for her even if she wasn’t carrying his child. “I’m so sorry.”

Mya exhaled an audible sigh. “She’s at peace now.”

He leaned forward, hands sandwiched between his knees. There was something he had to know before he decided his next move and he hoped Mya didn’t construe it as heartless. “Was Samantha of sound mind and body when she drew up her will?”

“Are you thinking of challenging her will because you don’t believe she was in her right mind?”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” he argued softly.

“That’s exactly what you’re saying,” Mya said in rebuttal. “There was nothing remotely wrong with Sammie when she drew up her will. She refused to tell me who had fathered her child, and I didn’t understand her reasoning until Mr. McAvoy mentioned your name. Sammie did reveal that she was sleeping with a wealthy New York businessman, and when I finally heard the name Wainwright I understood her reluctance to tell me, because you probably would’ve talked her into having an abortion so as not to besmirch your family name when the word got out that you had a baby mama.”

Giles covered his face with his hand, unable to believe what Mya was saying. “Is that what you really think?” he asked through his fingers.

“It’s not what I think, but how Sammie felt. I know she withheld the fact that she had your child, but in the end she did redeem herself with the codicil. She didn’t want Lily to spend her life looking for her father as it had been with her and her birth mother.”

“What about you, Mya? Do you intend to raise Lily as your daughter?”

With wide eyes, she stared at him. “I will raise her as my daughter. I’m not only her legal guardian, but also her adoptive mother. I’m the only link between Lily’s past and her future, so if you’re thinking about suing me for custody, then I’m prepared to fight you tooth and nail for my daughter.”

Giles went completely still. He had underestimated Mya. There definitely was fire under her cool demeanor. “There’s no need to fight each other when we both want what’s best for Lily.”