DILF DIARIES_Oh Baby Read online

  “What’s going on?” Jack asked, gaining the woman’s attention.

  When the woman turned, Jack’s stomach sunk. He knew her. Or did he? She was familiar with her soft features and warm honey eyes.

  “Hello, Jack. My name is Laura.” The woman certainly knew Jack. She turned to Jules next. “Juliet, pleasure to actually meet you.”

  “I’m sorry. Do we know each other?” Jules questioned, waving a finger between them, put off by the woman’s cool tone.

  “No, not really. I mean, I know…” the woman looked around the room at all of them, “each of you. You just don’t know me yet.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jack interrupted, “your name isn’t familiar.”

  The woman smiled with a slight nod. “I know. We have a couple people in common. You knew my sister, Kate.”

  A chill coursed through Jack’s body. Kate. Ramsey’s mom. “You want the baby. You’re her aunt, and you want the baby,” he said.

  “Jack, what are you talking about?” Jules implored, worried by his tone.

  “I’m right, aren’t I? You tracked us down — want her?”

  The woman nodded. “She should be with family.”

  “He’s her father, you crazy hen.” Marty was fired up as she took to her feet, challenging the petite brunette.

  “It’s okay, Marty. She isn’t taking her anywhere. She’s my daughter. It’s been confirmed. She’s staying here.”

  Laura cracked a weak smile, trying to pass it off as understanding. “Jack, we need to be reasonable and do what’s in the best interest of Ramsey.”

  “Her best interest is to grow up with her father,” Jack defended. Nobody was taking his daughter. “She already lost her mother, and that’s more than any child should have to deal with.”

  Laura looked surprised by his answer. “She needs to know her mother, who she was.”

  “And she will,” he said. “I hired a PI to find out everything he could about her. She’ll know whatever we can find. You’re welcome to help with that. She should know her aunt too. But you aren’t taking her anywhere.”

  “Maybe not tonight, but I plan to go to court if we can’t settle this amicably. Kate’s will clearly states I am to raise her.”

  “Well, that isn’t her decision,” Jack reasoned. “I don’t mean to speak ill of the deceased, but she already kept my daughter a secret, robbing me of valuable time. She doesn’t get to dictate who raises her from the grave while I’m…well, alive.”

  “I understand this is all very shocking, but the will is very clear, and I think the courts will see it my way. There’s plenty of evidence, Jack.”

  “Evidence?” Jules spat. “You make him sound like a regular criminal. What kind of evidence could you possibly hold against this man? He’s an honorable man with a selfless career as a firefighter. He’s a local hero, for crying out loud.”

  “Hero? For saving the Craven widow’s cat from the same tree a dozen times, or because of his — what do they call it? Pecker? Pretty honorable.” Laura was dropping low blows, willing to turn everything good into something ugly. She took to her feet to meet their level.

  “Why are you doing this? What do you get out of this?” Jack asked, his tone low and lacking emotion.

  “My niece. A piece of my sister.” The woman’s eyes welled with tears, earning very little sympathy given what she was there for.

  Jack’s stare was cold, icy. “How do you even know about me, or that I have her? Why now?”

  Felix shook his head. “I’ll tell you why. She left her on your doorstep. When I did a background on her sister, I saw her accident and passing was weeks prior to Ramsey arriving.”

  “You’re correct. My sister had only been gone a short time.”

  “You abandoned her. You just left her on a strange man’s doorstep,” Jules accused.

  “No. No I didn’t.” Laura was rattled, swaying back and forth, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

  “You couldn’t handle it,” Felix said. “I’ve seen this before. Your body language. It’s telling your entire story. Let me guess, you took a few months to work on you, get over your sister’s passing, and kick the booze habit.”

  “It wasn’t like that. I was grieving the loss of my sister, my best friend. I was in my final year of law school, which she put me through school, working multiple jobs to keep us afloat. When I lost her, I lost everything. I wasn’t as good with Ramsey as she was. We were both missing Kate. I was depressed, anxious. I needed help.”

  “So, her dad was good enough until you were better and graduated law school? Now he isn’t? So, you just needed a babysitter.” Jules was outraged for Jack and Ramsey. It was killing her to see him go through this.

  “Kate talked of you often, Jack. I knew you were a good man based on what she said. You were always kind to her at the Ram Shack, never hit on her or treated her like a cheap…” Laura stopped to get herself together. Her emotions were taking over. “We just ran to the store to grab diapers and a movie,” Laura chuckled. “I watched from the back step of an ambulance while they checked over Ramsey. You rescued the family from the car that hit us. Someone said Jack, and then I saw Decker on the back of your jacket. I knew it was you.”

  “Ramsey was in the vehicle when her mother died?” Tears stained Jules’ cheeks, and Marty’s too.

  “What were the odds of you being there, that very moment? So yeah, I was a little shaken. They call it PTSD now. I finished school, have my mental state under control, and only drink wine on occasion. None of this can be used against me, by the way. I was grieving. I won’t bore you with the legalities.” She turned to side-eye Felix, probably regarding the booze comment.

  “I’m ready to do what my sister wanted me to do in her…absence,” Laura said. Given she just graduated with a law degree, it wasn’t lost on anyone that she probably knew what she was doing and knew she had a case or she wouldn’t be there trying to take Ramsey from them.

  A long, awkward silence stood in the air, each of them waiting for Jack to respond.

  “I’ll see you in court.” He turned and walked to the door, opening it with a gesture indicating it was time for her to leave, and she did.

  The group sat in the living room, processing what they just learned, when Marty finally broke the silence. “She won’t win, Jack. We all know whatever evidence she has is bogus and can’t be worse than leaving a baby on a doorstep.”

  “She’s a lawyer, and probably knows a few lawyers. We need to get you someone good,” Felix added.

  “The firefighters union has legal,” Marty offered, knowing it was a longshot, but at least it was something.

  “They’re overworked and underpaid. I don’t know if that will be enough.” Jack ran his hands through his hair and let his head just hang for a minute. This couldn’t be happening.

  “My aunt is a paralegal and my uncle finished law school, just never passed the bar exam. I bet they could help find someone,” Felix threw on the table. “He helps a lot of people, but can’t represent them in court.”

  “I appreciate that.” Jack knew it wasn’t the answer, but it was something. “Maybe it’s a starting point? She can’t win. I won’t lose…” Jack couldn’t finish his thought and just shook his head in disbelief and unchecked emotion.

  “You won’t,” Jules said, grabbing his hand, her mind obviously drifting off somewhere outside that room.

  Marty stood, hands on her hips, and looked down her nose at the group. “Well, I’ll tell you what. I don’t like her one bit. I don’t care if she’s the kid’s aunt and the only connection to her mother. She’s a strange one. Doesn’t like cornbread.”

  It was only a matter of days before Jack was served legal papers. They were indeed going to court. He and Jules both took leave from their respective jobs so they could fight back with everything they had. Felix’s uncle Eddie, the almost lawyer, was helpful, but couldn’t represent them in court. He knew a guy who knew a guy, but that guy, along with the firefighter union’s a
ppointed lawyer, both seemed in over their heads.

  General consensus was this woman didn’t stand a chance, but it was all up to the court and how they interpret the evidence she was presenting — evidence they weren’t entirely privy to yet or how Laura was prepared to use it. As it turned out, she didn’t abandon the baby, per se. She stood behind the neighbor’s tall shrubs on the corner and watched until they opened the door and took the baby in.

  When Felix showed up, she walked around the corner to where her car was parked and left. She did an outpatient program to deal with the loss of her sister, the guilt, and depression. The intention was always to fight for Ramsey and only leave her with Jack temporarily while she got her life together, because she’d hired a private investigator right away to start collecting damaging information on him and everyone around him.

  He didn’t fraternize with anyone less than gold standard — his people were good people — but Laura thought otherwise. There were pictures of Jack’s famous barbeques, the half-naked twins, and even pictures of Felix there in uniform that Laura’s legal team was passing off as calls to the law rather than him just stopping by as a friend after his shift for a beer.

  There were pictures of him and the guys at the bar. Even him and Jules arguing the day she ripped his juniper from the ground. Everything they had was flawed, misinterpreted, and completely innocent, but they called it scandalous. There were more than enough character witnesses and eyewitnesses to debunk anything of that nature.

  The unsettling part in all the chaos was the reason Kate kept Ramsey from him. According to Laura, Kate had every intention of telling Jack about the pregnancy. Kate called her sister from the Ram Shack one night and told her Jack was there and she was going to tell him, and she was excited to do so. Not because she was trying to tie him down; she didn’t really want Jack “The Pecker” Decker anyway.

  She was thrilled because telling him meant telling others and it was somewhat freeing. It wasn’t her little secret anymore. When she left the backroom at the bar and went out front to tell him, he wasn’t alone at his table anymore.

  There was a brunette, finely dressed, regal even, and he was holding out a ring while her face was tear-stained. What Kate didn’t know was that was the night Jack’s ex-fiancée, Chantelle, returned Jack’s ring after their engagement came to a screeching halt because of her affair. Kate thought it was a proposal.

  Kate remembered the night she had with Jack when they were drinking away their problems. He spoke about the break up, and Kate had assumed they’d reconciled. She didn’t want to interfere with what she thought was his new life. So, Kate quit her job at the Ram Shack that evening and kept Ramsey a secret.

  Emotions flooded Jack. His whole life, Ramsey’s whole life, was turned upside down because of a misunderstanding. Anger filled him when he thought of Chantelle. Sure, he knew she wasn’t good for him now, but the idea that she not only broke him, but also nearly prevented him from having a relationship with his daughter gutted him.

  Then, it moved to guilt. Had Jack known about the baby, maybe Kate would still be around. He wasn’t naïve enough to think they would have had a happily ever after, but she was kind and he liked her and saw himself easily co-parenting with her. Their circumstance might have been different that fateful day when she passed, and Ramsey would still have her mother. Who knew? What he did know was he would’ve had an established relationship with his daughter, custody, and none of this would be dancing around him, driving him mad.

  A hurricane of noise filled the space, knocking Jack from his thoughts, when the doors of Uncle Eddie’s small office flew open and in walked a head-to-toe game changer. In an expensive, custom made three-piece suit, handbag that cost as much as a small car, and powerhouse presence that made men quiver and babies cry, came a woman in I-dare-you heels with a dragon slayer’s smile.

  “Teagan Winters,” the woman said, full of confidence, as she extended her right hand to each of them around the table. “You are Jack, Juliet, Carl Wood with the union, and…Uncle Eddie.”

  “You know…our…names?” Uncle Eddie asked, sliding his cellphone under the desk in case he needed to call for help.

  “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t. No need to call your nephew, Eddie.” Teagan flashed them a megawatt smile that was a cross between you can trust me and I eat small children because I can. She was both frightening and welcoming. Scary. “I’m here to help. I’m Jack and Ramsey’s new attorney.”

  “New attorney? I didn’t hire…” Jack looked her up and down, and shook his head. He felt his wallet crumble and wondered how many years of hard work it would take to pay for just one hour of Teagan Winters’ time.

  “I did, Jack,” Jules said. “I…uh, called in a favor.”

  “A favor? You know people in high places then, because I’m pretty sure her suit alone cost my entire salary.”

  “Not quite your entire salary, Mr. Decker,” Teagan said, earning a twisted look from Jack. “Yes, I know your salary. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t.”

  Jack looked at Jules, puzzled, but she shook her head and turned her attention back to Teagan, indicating it wasn’t the time or place to discuss this.

  “I’m not going to sugarcoat this. They’ve built a strong case for Laura, Jack. They are pinning your playboy reputation against you and using her breakdown for sympathy. Now, I know you aren’t the guy the rumors are built on—”

  “How could you possibly know all that?” he asked.

  “It’s my job to know.” She nodded. “And am I right?”

  Jack’s head tilted side to side. “Well, yeah.”

  “Okay then. It’s our job to paint the evidence as bias, manipulated, and misinterpreted. We’re going to discredit the shit out of the other side.” Teagan spoke like a coach at the big game — strategy, strategy, strategy, win!

  “Okay, seems easy enough, because none of what they’re saying is true.”

  “It is all true, Jack. Everything they presented happened. It’s documented, and that makes it true,” Teagan said.

  “But—”

  Teagan held up a hand and closed her eyes, unappreciative of Jack’s interruption. “True doesn’t mean guilty, Jack. They will present facts and hope their interpretation of the facts is what sticks. We will show the court their facts are innocent and misinterpreted truths. Joke’s on them.”

  “What about the breakdown?” Jules asked, hoping there was a way to remove sympathy for dumping a baby.

  “We will show sympathy for Laura’s loss, but not her deeds. I don’t care how grief-stricken you are, you do not leave a baby on a random man’s front porch and hope for the best.” Teagan went for the dramatics, grasping her chest and everything. “Thank God it was her father and he’s a good man, willing to take responsibility for the child he didn’t even know he had. And the fact that you weren’t informed, or part of Ramsey’s life, will go on the table too. You have rights, Ramsey has rights. No one gets to play God here.”

  “I don’t agree with what they did, keeping Ramsey a secret, and I wish like hell I would’ve known all along she was coming, but that’s my daughter’s deceased mother you’re putting on the table,” Jack started. “Ramsey may be a baby now, but one day—”

  “Understood, Mr. Decker. We aren’t making her a villain, we’re just showing you’re a victim in all of this too,” Teagan assured.

  “Thank you.” He nodded.

  “I’m good at what I do, and I don’t take cases I can lose. I take family cases serious.” Teagan’s confidence came as easy as breathing. “My ex was a good man, a living, breathing saint who could probably turn water into wine if asked, and I still won full custody of my child despite the skeletons in my own closet. We can win this. Now, I’m paid whether you officially hire me or not, so it’s up to you. Am I your new legal counsel?”

  Jack looked to Carl from the union and Eddie. Loyalty was Jack’s greatest trait and flaw. They’d been willing to walk the coals for him despit
e the hardship. When he looked to them to gauge how to respectfully accept her representation without burning important bridges, both men were brows high and subtly nodding in agreement. Jack needed Teagan Winters.

  “I guess you have yourself a new client.”

  Teagan smiled and put her hands together before taking a seat. “Great, let’s get down to business. I’ll tell you what’s really going to win this case for us.”

  CHAPTER 13

  “Married,” Jack said.

  “Engaged. She said engaged,” Jules anxiously corrected, followed by a weak smile.

  The couple sat on the back patio, their Adirondack chairs side by side as they held hands and watched Ramsey play on her blanket.

  “It’s so much to ask, Jules.”

  “But it can help the case. It shows a stable home with two loving parents versus an aunt — who ditched her on a doorstep and doesn’t like cornbread.”

  Jack snickered. “I don’t get the cornbread thing. It’s so good.”

  It was Jules turn to snicker – she had insider information on the cornbread.

  “In all seriousness, Jules. I can’t ask you to do something so…permanent.”

  “You’re not. I’m offering. It’s just an engagement. We practically live together anyway, we both take care of Ramsey, is it really that different from the way things are now? It’s just…a title change.” Jules wasn’t sure whether she was trying to convince Jack or herself at this point. “Engaged. Anyone who knows us would believe it for all those reasons.”

  Jack’s tone dropped to something more emotional, worrisome. “And when all of this over?”

  “What do you mean?” Jules knew what he meant, but didn’t know how to answer, so she went with a vague question to buy herself time.

  “Do we keep up the charade, let them all think we’re still engaged?” he asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

  She turned to him, her expression pained. Jules then looked away. The direction their conversation was headed worried her. “I guess it would be weird to break an engagement and still be together.”