Tina Leonard - Surprise! Surprise!

“And I earn my salary by protecting your interests,” Martin retorted. “I’ll do anything you instruct me to do, Sam. And you know how much I like Maddie. It damn near killed me to have to think about drawing up divorce papers. You know that! She’s like everybody’s kid sister.”

“Not mine.”

“Okay, half the male population sees her in a kid-sister light. The other half would kill for just five minutes to kiss the lace of her underwear.”

“I will assume you are in the first category, unless you want your head removed from your shoulders,” Sam said dryly.

“Definitely, buddy,” Martin answered hastily. “But that’s what I mean. I hated to see you lose her, especially when I know there are multitudes of clowns just waiting for a babe like her. But now I’m telling you to cover your bases. Not that Maddie’s lying. What if the test tubes got scrambled in the lab or something?”

“What are you saying? That my kids could have problems and I shouldn’t provide for them?”

“I’m saying don’t you want to know for certain that this Maitland clinic got your genes mixed with Maddie’s before you take the serious step of changing your will?”

Sam digested that for a moment. “No.”

“Why not?”

“It wouldn’t really matter to me, Martin. Maddie and I talked about adopting kids at one point, anyway. The process was long and arduous, and we didn’t make it through many of the steps before…” Before he’d snapped under the pressure of not being able to give his wife what she wanted. And now she’s done it, without me. She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved. What difference would adopted children or my test-tube results make? She loves them. And so will I. “Why should I have tests to establish paternity? Just to find out those aren’t my babies? Call me a dreamer, Martin. I don’t want to find out they’re not mine. I’d rather assume I’m just chock-full of egg-seeking, healthy, tough, indestructible sperm. Do you mind?”

Martin sighed. “You know, your ego is skewed. Most men would need to know that their money wasn’t being used to take care of another man’s progeny. You? You just want to get Maddie back.”

“I want to believe I can have progeny,” Sam growled. “Ego cost me my wife. Smart men learn from their mistakes.”

“I know,” said Martin. “That’s why I keep you on as a client, even though you don’t listen to a word I say. You’re a good man, and a lawyer ought to have one good client who isn’t looking for a loophole.”

Sam frowned. “Speaking of loopholes…”

“Oh, boy,” Martin said. “Don’t make me cry, Sam.”

“I may not be the hero you think I am. Get out the tissues. I haven’t been feeling very heroic lately.” Mainly, he felt like he’d let his sons down by not being present at their birth. I shouldn’t have left Maddie to her own devices. I let my pride overrule my heart.

“I’ve known you since high school. It’s tough to suffer any illusions about a guy who used a jock strap as a slingshot in the locker to defend me from the A-string army. I became a lawyer to protect you from any and all litigation your bad humor got you into from that day forward.”

“It was only a few overdeveloped knot-heads who needed to be taken down a peg. You could have used your own jock strap if it had been bigger.”

“Great. Always the personal jibes about the short, skinny guy,” Martin complained.

“But you don’t owe me your life from that day forward,” Sam told him gently. “I merely want one simple thing.”

“Name it,” Martin said, as always.

“I want to find out how I keep Maddie from dipping into my sperm savings in the future. I have rights in this matter, and I want them exercised. I know she wants more children. Four was always her dream number. I just don’t want my name in the father slot on her future lab experiments.”

Martin coughed, and it sounded like whatever he was drinking spewed everywhere. “You really are giving up the hero role, aren’t you, buddy?”

“Yeah. I still want it friendly and easy, the way you managed to work out the specifics of our separation.”

“Kid-glove detail.”

“Exactly.”

“Why do I have a bad feeling Maddie isn’t going to want to be my stand-in little sister after this?”

“Maddie believes I only want to be here for the sake of the children. She’s never going to be convinced that I want her for her, and that I honestly believe we belong together. Any future children are going to have to come from our physical—”

“I think I get your drift,” Martin interrupted. “I’ll get right on it.”

MADDIE STARED AT her mother and Sara, who’d come in to help her with diaper time. Then she burst into tears.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Franny demanded.

“I don’t know. I’m weepy for some reason.” Maddie touched the toes of her babies lovingly, each touch a miraculous sensation she cherished. “I think seeing Sam again has me off balance. This should be a happy day, and yet he’s angry with me. I expected him to be upset, but I didn’t realize how strained we would feel.” It had been so much better when she and Sam had enjoyed a happy marriage. To see him again after nine months had been a shock to her system. His anger had been heartbreaking.

Each grandmother took a child in her arms. Franny shooed Maddie toward the bathroom. “Take a shower. You’ll feel so much better if you do. A good warm shower will wash all those worries away.”

“All right.” Maddie sighed and went to get some fresh clothes. She was in between sizes. Her pregnancy clothes were too big now, and her regular clothes didn’t fit. She pulled out another pair of elastic shorts and a sleeveless top that would cover a nursing bra. “At least this gives me the illusion of working toward my normal body size.”

Franny eyed her over the sleeping baby in her arms. “Don’t rush yourself. I know you’re feeling tense with Sam right now, but I’m sure he finds you attractive just the way you are.”

“Men always think of your body the way it was before the baby,” Sara assured her. “At least Severn always says he still sees me as the girl he fell in love with.”

“Maybe that’s the trouble. Sam’s not in love with me. He’d live with me again, to give the children a proper family. But any deep feelings we had went out the window during our marriage.” Even though this had been a fact for a long time, Maddie still found it wrenching.

“He didn’t seem angry to me awhile ago,” Franny said. “Although I did hear him raise his voice a bit when he was on the phone.”

“Must have been about the wine company merger,” Sara guessed.

“I think he was talking to Martin,” Franny said with a frown.

“Oh, well. That explains it. He always yells at Martin.” Sara shook her head as she finished diapering a baby. “It’s not a normal legal relationship those two have, that’s for sure. I don’t yell at my lawyer. He’s too…uninvolved for me to yell at. I say what I want, and he does it.”

“Well, Sam never did what anyone wanted him to,” Franny asserted. “And Martin merely does his best to advise Sam, who is usually intractable, and I mean no insult to you and Severn. Sam is Sam and I’m sure he had Martin’s head in a vise for good reason. Now, dear, I’m positive Sam is simply trying to come up to speed on the fact that he’s a father, and he’s not angry with anyone.”

Maddie wanted to believe Franny’s words, yet was painfully aware of the wounds their marriage had suffered. “Mother, haven’t you ever heard the old saying there’s no going back?”

“Nope. Haven’t heard that one. I have heard that the second time’s the charm,” Franny said brightly.