Susan Crosby - A Family, At Last

“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.