He stopped and met her look head-on. “As a matter of fact, I am.”
She blinked as though his honesty had taken her by surprise. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I’ve tried twice, and Noelle and her future obviously isn’t something you want to discuss with me.”
“You’re not her father,” Mary Jo snapped.
She couldn’t have said anything that would have wounded him more. He considered himself Noelle’s protector. He loved that baby as if he were her father. He’d brought her into this world and been the first to hold her in his arms. From that moment forward, Mack had felt a special bond with Noelle, warranted or not.
“Right,” he said stiffly, and walked past her. Once inside, he closed the door. He hung up his clothes, put away his groceries and swallowed a groan of sheer frustration.
Not more than five minutes later, his doorbell rang. Assuming it was Mary Jo, Mack toyed with the idea of not answering. Instead, he walked to the front door and threw it open. He wanted to make sure she understood that he resented the intrusion.
Staring at him intently, she stood on the other side with Noelle in her arms. “I hate it when you’re upset with me.”
He left the screen door shut and waited for his heart to stop pounding. “Are you ready to talk?” he asked.
She nodded.
Mack held open the screen and let her in. He motioned for her to sit down on the sofa and went into the kitchen to make them coffee. He brought out two cups. She ignored hers. He ignored his. Mary Jo set Noelle on the rug, and the six-month-old immediately began crawling toward the coffee table.
Despite his dour mood, Mack couldn’t help smiling. He bent down and scooped the baby into his arms. Happy to see him, Noelle gurgled with delight. Then, remembering why Mary Jo was in his home, Mack sobered and set Noelle back on the carpet to crawl about as she pleased. As Mary Jo had so recently reminded him, he had no rights with regard to this child.
“You…aren’t Noelle’s father,” she said again.
He glared at her. She’d already made her point and he could see no reason for her to say it again.
“But I wish you were,” she added.
Those words removed the sting from her earlier comment. “I do, too,” he admitted.
“It’s obvious that you love Noelle.”
He couldn’t have made his feelings toward Mary Jo and her baby any plainer. He loved them both, although so far it’d done him little good.
“I…I spoke with Ben and Charlotte recently,” she continued. “They talked to Olivia, who recommended that I file for child support. Apparently it doesn’t matter whether David has a job or not. They said it was important that I register with the state.”
He wondered if Mary Jo would accept that advice. When they’d last spoken, she’d been dead set against taking any action, certain David would follow through on his threat.
“According to Charlotte, Olivia has lots of experience in these cases and she said David would be forced to own up to his responsibility.”
“But you’re afraid he’ll ask for joint custody of Noelle once the support request goes through?” Mack believed that was a scare tactic.
“That’s what people keep telling me, Linc included. I hate it when everyone seems to think they know what’s best for me and Noelle.” Her voice quavered slightly.
Mack found himself wrestling with indecision, but he’d done too much of that in the past. He had to hold fast to his convictions.
“You want what’s best for Noelle, yet you’re willing to let David terrorize you.”
“I’m afraid he’ll find some way of taking Noelle away from me,” she said, sounding close to panic at the mere thought of it.
“Which is playing right into his hands, isn’t it? David doesn’t want to be part of Noelle’s life. He couldn’t care less about his daughter—or you, for that matter.”
“I know,” she whispered. She reached down and picked up Noelle, who squirmed in her arms, wanting to be put down again. Mary Jo clung to her baby.
“Do you honestly think any judge in the land would consider giving Noelle to David?” Mack asked incredulously.
“I…don’t think so, but it could happen. I can’t risk that. I don’t need David. I don’t want anything to do with him. Basically he’s saying he wants me to leave him alone, and I’m happy to do that.”
“But then you aren’t protecting Noelle.”
“Yes, I am,” she insisted.
Mack walked to the other side of the room. “Is he named as Noelle’s father on the birth certificate?” He turned back and watched her nod reluctantly.
“What if something happened to you?” he asked. “What if, God forbid, you became ill or were seriously injured and unable to care for Noelle? Who would take her?”
“Linc and Lori…maybe. I hadn’t thought of that.”
He wanted to shout that these were the very scenarios that ran through his mind in the middle of the night.
“If you were…gone or incapable of caring for Noelle, the state would contact David, because he’s Noelle’s legal father. She would then become his responsibility.”
Mary Jo looked horrified. Noelle slid out of her arms and plopped down on her thick diaper, sitting at her mother’s feet.
“When Ben talked to me, he said he was afraid that if…sometime down the road I got married and my husband wanted to adopt Noelle, David would do everything he could to cause problems. He’d use Noelle for his own purposes.”
Mack had thought of that himself. He didn’t trust that jerk for a second.
Mary Jo glanced his way. “I’ll never understand how I could’ve been so blind and stupid. One error in judgment, and look what happened.” She swallowed visibly.