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There were no photographs of any kind, not of people or places or events, which he found odd. Most women displayed pictures.
After a while a door clicked open. Karyn came into the living room, her eyes still damp. She was an attractive woman, not Hollywood-slim but nicely curved, more girl next door. Her height was a mystery because she was wearing very high heels. He’d noted her sexy walk all day as he’d followed her.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“I knew he was a marine, but I didn’t know he’d passed away. I should’ve waited for my private investigator to dig deeper when I was given Kyle’s name. He was out of the state on a job, and I was in a hurry to get results. I—I’m sincerely sorry for how I handled this.”
“Dig deeper for what, Mr. Ryder?” she asked.
“Vaughn, please. Ms. Lambert, I believe your brother may have fathered a child with Ginger Donohue six years ago.”
She dropped onto the sofa, her eyes wide. “Kyle has a child? A piece of him is still here?”
“It’s a possibility. Since we can’t do paternity testing with your brother, we can do relationship testing with you.”
“I’m an aunt? Please tell me about— What’s the child’s name?”
“Cassidy.” He pulled out his cell phone and brought up a photo.
“Oh.” Karyn ran her fingers over the screen, tears pooling in her eyes again. “She’s so beautiful.”
“Yes.”
“She kinda looks like Kyle.”
And you, he thought. “Does the name Ginger Donohue ring a bell, Ms. Lambert?”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand. Cassidy is six? Why would this woman wait so long to come forward?”
“Are you sure your brother didn’t know?” Vaughn asked.
“I’m positive. He would’ve been there for his daughter, no doubt about it.”
“I don’t know why Ginger didn’t tell Kyle, since obviously he was alive for the first three years of Cassidy’s life.”
“So, something changed. Is it money? I was the beneficiary of Kyle’s death benefits, and I haven’t spent much of it. It should go to his daughter—”
Vaughn stopped her with a gesture. “Ginger walked out of Cassidy’s life two years ago.”
Karyn leaned back abruptly, staring at him but her gaze not really connecting, then a slow dawning of excitement came over her.
“When do I get to pick her up?” She looked around her space. “I’ll need a bigger place. Near a park. I’ll have to check out schools.” She smiled and looked directly at Vaughn. “Where is she now? When do I get her?”
He ignored her bubble of happiness. He had to. “If the testing confirms she’s Kyle’s daughter, you’ll meet her, of course, and be part of her life. But, Ms. Lambert, she won’t be living with you. I’ve been her father since the day she was born. I’m not giving her up.”
Chapter Two
“You’ve been her...father?” Karyn shook her head, confused. “I don’t— Did you know she wasn’t yours?”
He nodded. “Ginger was pregnant when we met, but we didn’t get married until Cassidy was a month old. The birth certificate lists the father as unknown.” Vaughn walked to her front window and looked out. “I asked for years to adopt Cass, but Ginger put me off. Then she left. That’s why I started the search for the biological father. I want to legally make her mine.”
Karyn’s mind spun as shock piled atop shock. She hardly knew what to think, except that this woman, Ginger, must be the epitome of femininity to attract both Kyle, a regular guy, and this Vaughn, who was a cut above. Apparently neither man had seen her for her true self.
“We ran into a lot of dead ends because so many years had elapsed,” Vaughn said, his back still turned to Karyn. “An old roommate of Ginger’s provided the name Kyle Lambert as a possibility. After that it was a matter of connecting the dots, but I’m still not sure it’s your brother. We had a name. There are others of the same name and age around the country. Do you know if he lived in San Francisco seven years ago?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t visit.”
Vaughn came back and sat down, resting his arms on his thighs and focusing on Karyn again. “I’m sorry for the pain this is causing you, reliving your brother’s death.”
“It’s never far from my mind, but now there’s joy, too, if Cassidy is his child.” She touched his arm. “I can see this is hard for you, too.”
“Harder for Cassidy. She was old enough to feel the abandonment but without any context to understand it. She used to ask about her mother, but it’s rare now. I have no good explanation to give her anyway. We just carry on. Fortunately, I have a big, generous family. She’s well loved.”
Karyn believed him. But now that the shock was abating, a hunger to know Kyle’s child took precedence. “I haven’t had dinner yet,” she said. “Would you like to join me?” She needed to do something normal—heat up a can of soup or leftover pizza, which was all she had on hand. They could talk more while they ate.
“I have a flight to catch. I’m already cutting it close.” He opened his briefcase then passed her a tube containing a swab. “You just scrape the inside of your cheeks,” he said, gesturing.
She eyed the item. “What about chain of custody?”
His brows went up. “Pardon?”
“One of my clients is a regular on Crime and Punishment, so I watch it every week.”
He smiled, which had been her goal. “You’re an expert then.”
“Absolutely. I know the way this is supposed to be done. The specimen should be collected by a neutral third party, like at a lab.”
“I can arrange for that, although this would be a civil case, not criminal, so the same rules don’t apply.” He sat back, more relaxed than he’d been earlier. “I’ll make a deal with you. If it comes back negative for Kyle as the father, we can redo it through every legal step.”
She thought that over. “I guess you’re just looking for the truth—not playing any games.”
“If you knew me better, that wouldn’t be a question. Plus, I’m an officer of the court. As an expert in, uh, television justice, you understand what that means.”
She smiled at his attempt to bring humor to the situation. “Yeah. Okay.”
Karyn felt awkward doing the test in front of him, not looking at him as she did so, then dropping the swab into the tube and passing it to him. He tucked it into a padded envelope then into his briefcase, their own chain of custody.
He stood, so she did, too. “No matter how this turns out, I enjoyed meeting you,” he said and headed to the door. “May I ask where you were going before you so effectively ditched me? Nice job of that, by the way.”
She smiled. “The ATM at Sprinkles for a red velvet cupcake.”
“They sell cupcakes from an ATM?”
“Well, that’s what they call it. It dispenses one at a time.” She shrugged. “I’d had a long day.”
His hand was on the doorknob. “You went to the happiest place on Earth.”
“I shopped there. Don’t get me wrong, I love Disneyland, but when you go inside to purchase gifts for clients and don’t even get to take one ride on Space Mountain, it’s not a fun trip.”
“I’ve never been to Disneyland.”
“Are you serious? You’ve never taken Cassidy? We have to correct that.”
The air between them felt heavy with sudden tension.
“Maybe we will,” he said finally. “Good night, Karyn. Try not to get too anxious waiting.”
“Fat chance.”
“I know.” He left.
* * *
Karyn wandered back into the living room to look out the window. She saw him walk up the street and out of sight. He must’ve parked where she wouldn’t be able to see him coming.
After a minute his car went past. He gave her a wave.
“You’re a nice guy, Vaughn Ryder, cowboy lawyer,” she said out loud. “But if you think you’re going to make all the decisions and I’m going to go along with them without discussion, you’re crazy.” She’d already missed six years of her niece’s life.
She knew she was counting on being that sweet little girl’s aunt way too much to be healthy, but Karyn needed something to get her through Christmas, which was always a tough time of year for her.
Her stomach growled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since breakfast, but the soup and leftover pizza didn’t appeal. In fact, nothing sounded good, so she went into her bedroom to get paper to wrap the presents she’d purchased today. She would drop them off in the morning to her clients, along with the ones stacked on her dining table.
She couldn’t wait to get them out of her house. They were a painful reminder of how little she had to look forward to with her trip home to visit her parents on Christmas, no longer a day that they celebrated. For a month she’d shopped for everyone else, but she hadn’t bought a single present herself to give. She didn’t even go through the motions.
Sometimes it just about killed her.
She’d finished the seventh of ten packages when her doorbell rang. She looked through the peephole, wondering if Vaughn had come back. Kind of hoped he had, actually, but it was a stranger.
“Who is it?” she asked.
“Delivery from Mr. Ryder for Ms. Lambert.”
Surprised and curious, she opened the door.
“Here you go,” a teenage boy said then took the stairs three at a time, hopping out of sight.
Karyn knew what it was without looking at the logo on the box. The incredible scents of chocolate and vanilla, and a hint of lemon, filled her head as she carried the box to the kitchen and opened it, finding a dozen cupcakes, three of them red velvet.
She found herself grinning as she peeled the paper off one and took a big bite, closing her eyes and savoring the treat, eating the whole thing before she picked up his business card and dialed the cell number listed.
“Vaughn Ryder,” he said.
“I devoured one. I expect it’s not the last I’ll have tonight.”
“I figure I owed you that much.”
She heard the smile in his voice. “Thank you. It was very thoughtful. I hope you got one for yourself.”
“Two. Red velvet and chocolate marshmallow.”
She waited a beat. “Vaughn? Would you do something for me?”
“If I can.”
Cagey. But then, he was a lawyer. “Would you give Cassidy an extra hug for me? For Kyle. She won’t know, but...”
“I can do that.”
Karyn heard the sound of a jet in the background and figured he’d arrived at LAX. “One more thing,” she said before letting him go. “If Cassidy is Kyle’s daughter, I’m going to want more than just to be a part of her life.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure what my rights might be. You probably know better than I do, but I’ll find out. There was something in his will about heirs. I’ll have to look it up. Have a safe flight.”
She tucked the phone under her chin. Yes, a nice guy.
But she still wouldn’t cut him any slack when it came to Kyle’s daughter.
* * *
It was after midnight when Vaughn got home. Cassidy was staying with his parents, so his four-bedroom, two-story house seemed especially quiet. Each of Jim and Dori Ryder’s children had been gifted a piece of land on Ryder Ranch property on their twenty-first birthday, and Vaughn had chosen his without ever expecting to build on it. In fact, he’d never thought he’d live on the ranch after he’d left for college, anticipating law school then fulfilling a dream of life and work in San Francisco, his favorite city.
Funny how having a child could change so much.
Vaughn climbed the staircase, went into Cassidy’s room and switched on the light. The walls were painted her favorite denim blue. Rows of running horses were printed across her bedspread. She’d named every one of them. The only doll in sight was dressed as a cowgirl, a lasso in her hand and tiny red hat on her head.
A wall shelf holding framed photographs drew Vaughn. There was one of the two of them when she was a few minutes old, another when she’d sat her first horse alone at age two. A group photo of the entire family was tucked behind the others and was the only photo of her mother on display. The picture had been taken at a Fourth of July barbecue. Everyone had worn red, white and blue.
Vaughn slipped it out. He hadn’t put away Ginger’s photos after she left, but Cassidy had. Vaughn would find them hidden in various drawers upon opening them. He’d left them alone. Finally she’d stacked them in a box and handed it to him.
“Please put her away,” she’d said, looking much older than her age.
He had, but she’d kept the one, even though they’d taken other family photos more recently. She hadn’t given up on her mother completely.
He’d kept Ginger’s farewell note because it was proof she’d voluntarily given her to Vaughn. It hadn’t said much. “I’ve had enough. Cassidy’s yours. She’s the one you want anyway.”
She was right about that.
Too wound up to sleep, Vaughn went to his office. He booted his laptop and opened personal shopper Karyn Lambert’s Facebook page. There were photos and testimonials from a few clients, including Josh Renard, the Crime and Punishment star she’d mentioned, and Gloriana Macbeth, a major Hollywood star.
Karyn’s publicity photo showed a competent-looking but also sexy woman. Under different circumstances he might have accepted her dinner invitation. He bet she’d have some interesting stories to tell.
The long day caught up with him. He shut down the computer then went upstairs to his bedroom. He had nothing to unpack except the tube with the swab in it. He would package it well tomorrow and send it to a private lab in San Francisco.
And then the wait would start.
Chapter Three
