Belinda Barnes - Daddy's Double Due Date

Hunter poured the remaining coffee down the drain and left his cup in the sink. “I need to pass on lunch.”

Lauren pulled lettuce and tomato from the refrigerator. “Do you want a sandwich to take with you?”

“No, thanks,” Hunter said, noticing Lauren’s slumped shoulders—the only outward sign of her anguish over once again failing to conceive. “I’m sorry. If you decide to try again—”

“We appreciate everything you’ve done. This whole ordeal has been very difficult.” Lauren turned away, but not before he saw the tears pooling in her eyes. “I don’t think we’ll try again for a while. I need some time away from the stress.”

“I understand.”

Jared pulled his wife to his side. “Hunter, you’ve been a good sport about this. It’s not your fault it didn’t work out.”

Then why did he feel responsible? Hunter thought. “I’d better be going.” He headed for the front door, wanting to get outside to draw a breath of fresh air, to get away from the pain etched in their faces. And the guilt threatening to choke him.

Hunter hurried to his pickup and backed down the long drive. He had to know if a stranger had been impregnated with his sperm. Ten minutes later he hurried inside the antiseptic-smelling fertility clinic where the receptionist flashed him a smile.

“I’m Hunter Morgan. Someone called me this morning about Laura Ashley Morgen. Do you know who it was?”

“No, sir, but I’ll see if I can find out.” She picked up the phone and punched in a number.

A moment later, a nurse he recognized hurried toward him. “Mr. Morgan, without a consent, I can’t discuss—”

“I received a call this morning indicating my sperm was used to impregnate a Laura Ashley Morgen. Is that true?”

The nurse’s brows puckered behind her wire-frame glasses. “Wasn’t your sperm designated solely for your sister-in-law?”

“Yes, but what about the call this morning? I want to see documentation ensuring my sperm didn’t go to this other woman.”

“We use a double-check system. A mix-up is virtually impossible.” Opening a folder on the reception desk, the nurse scanned its contents. Her eyes grew wide, then wider still.

Hunter moved closer, his fears confirmed. He muttered a curse and ripped out the page containing his name from the file. Anger shot through him, swift and hot, followed immediately by a rush of painful memories he refused to think about now. He crushed the paper in his fist.

The nurse grabbed for the sheet. “Give me that.”

“Not a chance.”

“I know you’re upset about this. So am I. We’ve worked hard to develop a foolproof system. Something like this shouldn’t happen. I intend to do a thorough investigation. When I find the person responsible, they’ll be fired. I’m sorry about this, but you can’t take that page. It’s confidential. Surely you understand—”

“Lady,” he said, struggling to maintain what little control he had left, “right now this record is the least of your worries. I want to know how this happened and what you plan to do to prevent a recurrence. Give me answers or I’ll shut you down.”

“What about the good we do for so many couples?”

He met her gaze. “It’ll be up to a judge to decide whether this is an isolated case of negligence or common practice and if the potential for harm outweighs the good.” Hunter turned on his heel and stormed from the building, not slowing until he reached his truck. He yanked the door open and dropped onto the leather seat, remembering another day fifteen years ago when he’d learned he was going to be a father. The painful memories of what had followed ripped through him. He slammed his fist against the steering wheel. The sound of paper crumpling drew his attention to the sheet still clutched in his hand. It felt as if all the oxygen had been sucked from the cab of his truck. He inhaled three deep breaths until the ache in his chest began to subside.

A baby. Speculating over how it had happened wouldn’t change the fact that Hunter was going to be a father. Last time he’d been too young and had no say in his child’s future or his own. This time, things would be different. He knew nothing about the woman who carried his child except her name, but by sunset he would know everything.

Hunter pulled the cell phone from his pocket and dialed. His secretary answered on the second ring. “Dianne, I need information on a woman ASAP.”

She laughed. “Is this personal or business?”

“Personal, but it’s not what you think.”

“Too bad. What’s her name?”

“Laura Ashley Morgen with an ‘e.’ She may live in Hale.”

“Do you want a partial or full report?”

“Everything you can find.”

“I’ll get right on it,” Dianne said.

“Great. I’ll be there in ten minutes. Something’s come up. Can you clear my calendar for the rest of today?”

“It’s done. Do you want me to cancel your meeting with that Johnson boy and the high school counselor or reschedule?”

“Go ahead and reschedule as soon as I have an opening. That kid is headed for trouble unless we can get him to find a new set of friends.”

“If anyone can reach him, you can.”

“Thanks. I wish I felt that confident.”

“Who is this Laura Ashley Morgen?”

He considered her question. Dianne had a penchant for being nosey, but this was personal. “You tell me.”

Back at his office, Hunter spent the next six hours thinking about the situation. Even though he’d had nothing to do with the clinic error, he knew everyone, including his family, would fear he had gone back to his old ways of drinking and carousing. Given his past, he really couldn’t blame them. He couldn’t expect them to believe those days were over. Forever.

He leaned back in his chair, rubbed his burning eyes with his thumb and forefinger, then reread the clinic’s report for the twentieth time. Patient: Laura Ashley Morgen. Sperm donor: Hunter Morgan. He punched in his brother’s speed dial number, needing to talk to the one person who would shoot straight without judging him. But after realizing how news of the baby would hurt Jared, Hunter hung up.

He scanned the report Dianne had given him as she’d left for the day. Since moving to Hale a year ago, Ashley Morgen had been employed at Barnett & Williams. How ironic she should work for the defense firm that opposed him on most cases. Fate obviously had a cruel sense of humor. His gaze skimmed over the information. He paused. Dread knotted his gut. His heart raced. He held his breath and glanced at it once more. Marital status: single.

A sick feeling replaced the knot in his stomach. He scrubbed a hand over his face and swore. Events from his past rushed at him. There hadn’t been a day in the last fifteen years when he hadn’t mourned the loss of his unborn baby. He’d been the only one to grieve, a fact that had irreparably stretched his already-strained relationship with his father to the breaking point. Hunter had never been able to be the perfect son his dad had wanted. By the time Hunter had become a teenager, he’d given up trying to please his dad and turned rebellious. He’d done things to annoy his dad like spinning his tires in front of Buck’s law office. He’d even tried to outrun the police once. It all seemed so long ago.

Now, despite Hunter’s diligence to use protection, he had fathered a child with a woman he’d never met. A single woman who would likely have to struggle to get by. A woman who, without regard for the hell she would put him through, had made him a father, when that was something he hadn’t thought he would ever be ready to endure again. Especially not now when he still awoke sometimes at night with tears in his eyes over the child he had never had a chance to hold.