STORM: A Standalone Romance (88 page)

Penelope

“What’s going on?”

I brushed past JT and gathered the papers on the counter, afraid he might see his name in them and want to know what was going on. I had to get a lawyer. I had to get someone to stop this, to make this craziness go away.

Harrison was his father.

I just couldn’t wrap my mind around that. This teacher who marched into our lives and threatened to report me to child protective services. Some of it was beginning to make sense despite everything. And I didn’t want it to make sense. I didn’t want to see any of this from his point of view.

We had sex. He kissed me and made me feel…and all this time he had this secret.

“Penny?”

I turned and focused on JT. Only when his eyes narrowed did I realize that I was still crying. I reached up and rubbed my cheeks, got rid of the evidence.

“Everything’s fine,” I said. “You should go get ready for school.”

“Why was Mr. James here?”

I shook my head. “We just…” What was I supposed to say to that? “We were just talking.”

“About me?”

“It’s not important, JT. Go get ready for school.”

“Penny—“

“Go, JT.”

He stared at me a moment longer, but he didn’t push it. He turned and walked off and the relief that settled on my shoulders was almost enough to knock me off my feet.

How was I going to explain this one to him?

*****

“What does this mean?”

Jack Sullivan, my parents’ lawyer, studied the papers I’d been served that morning. He wouldn’t look up and that made little fingers of fear dance up and down my spine. His face reminded me of those bitter few months after their deaths when I learned just how much financial disaster they’d left behind for me to deal with.

“Jack…”

“It’s not good, Penny.” His dark eyes were filled with compassion as he finally looked up. “They’re claiming that the adoption was never legal because he never gave his consent to it.”

“But I distinctly remember my parents talking about it. They had paperwork that showed both parents gave up custody. That was important to them.”

“Yes, well, this document claims that his father’s signature was forged by
his
father – JT’s grandfather. And—if they can prove that is true—that makes the adoption invalid.”

“So he can just come in and take my brother away from me?”

“That’s what he’s trying to do.”

I shook my head, fear continuing to dance on my spine. In fact, it had now moved to the pit of my stomach. I dragged my fingers through my hair, biting my lip in hopes of stemming the tears that seemed to flow much too easily these past few hours. As frustrating as JT could sometimes be, I wasn’t going to allow some liar to march in and take him away from me. It didn’t matter if he was his father. He wasn’t here for the past fifteen years. I was. He couldn’t just disrupt JT’s life, turn it upside down, and rip him away from the only home he’d ever known. I wasn’t about to allow that to happen.

“How do we fight it?”

“Well,” Jack said, drawing out the word as though he was searching for the answer to my question, “we contact the local courts and set a hearing. In the meantime, we get an injunction against this custody order. Where is JT right now?”

“At school.”

“I would suggest you go withdraw him. As long as this man is employed by the school, he’ll have free access to JT. And that could be counterproductive, considering what he’s trying to do.”

I had actually considered that. But I wanted JT’s day to be as normal as possible until I figured out what our next move would be. Now, I supposed, that would be my next step.

“What’ll happen at the hearing?”

“We’ll make a case for you and the original adoption. You have the adoption papers, right?”

“Somewhere.”

“You’ll want to bring those so we can have them submitted as evidence. And anything else your parents might have kept that could help. Letters from the mother, emails or letters from the adoption attorney…whatever you think might be helpful.”

“I’ll take a look at their stuff.”

His eyes were filled with compassion when he looked up at me again. “We’ll do everything we can to fight this, Penny. But you need to prepare yourself for the possibility—“

“No.” I stood and tossed my bag over my shoulder. “I won’t. I lost my parents. I can’t lose my brother, too.”

I held my head high as I stormed out of his office. But my courage crumbled when I reached my car. The tears I’d been fighting all morning released themselves in a torrent, sobs tearing through my chest as I beat my hands against the steering wheel.

I could I have gone from complete bliss to such misery in the stretch of just a few hours?

How stupid had I been to let that man into my bed?

I thought…
shit
, I don’t know what I thought. I wanted him to be a good man. I wanted him to be a teacher who actually cared. I wanted him to be the guy who went looking for someone else’s kid just because it was the right thing to do, not because he had a secret that would blow up everything that I’d built the foundation of my life on.

That was what I got for trusting a stranger. A stranger who’d already threatened to take my brother from me.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

*****

Susan was busy, but she made the time to talk to me when I arrived at the high school. It was nearly noon when I walked into the office, so the students were restlessly waiting the half hour until lunch. I could almost feel the restless energy that vibrated within the building even though most of the students were sitting behind closed classroom doors. I remembered being a student in these rooms, sliding notes to my friends under the cover of notebooks and unopened text books. It was certainly a more innocent time, but I wouldn’t go back to it for all the money in the world.

“What can I do for you, Penelope?”

I settled in a chair in front of Susan’s desk, thinking about all the students who had sat here to face the consequences of some classroom disruption or ill-advised prank. JT had been here just the day before, facing the consequences of his arrest Friday night. It was here that he found out he’d been cut from the football team because of his behavior, the catalyst that led to his argument with me, his disappearance, and my decision to call Harrison and ask for his help. And that…I wouldn’t soon forget where
that
had led.

“I need to take JT home. And I’ll be keeping him at home for the foreseeable future.”

“Can I ask why?” Susan said in her principal’s voice, a voice I was still getting used to. Susan and I had been classmates at this same school. She was two years ahead of me, but the school was so small we still had many classes together over the years. She even dated—and married—one of my closest friends. So, despite her meteoric rise from counselor to vice principal to principal, it was still a little difficult to see her in this position of authority.

I chewed on my lip for a second, wondering just how much trouble I wanted to cause Harrison. The spiteful side of me wanted to see him marched from these corridors in humiliation. But the more cautious side of me didn’t want to do anything he might be able to use against me in court.

“You know that JT is adopted,” I said slowly.

She sat back, a worried frown marring her attractive face. “I do.”

“It seems someone has discovered some irregularities with the original adoption process. There’s going to be a hearing and I need JT to be at home, away from any rumors or…complications that could arise.”

Susan studied me for a minute, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m afraid I’ll need a little more information,” she said with a taint of reluctance to her tone.

I nodded, but I wasn’t sure what to say. I felt like everything I did or didn’t do from this point on would be used against me.

“Can I ask this,” Susan began, leaning forward over her desk, “does it have something to do with Harrison James?”

I’m sure she could read the answer on my face even though I looked down, bit my lip, and tried not to give her a direct response.

She leaned back again, a heavy sigh slipping from her lips.

“Well, just so you know, he quit this morning. Said he had a private issue that was interfering with his ability to do his job. He wouldn’t elaborate, but to have you show up on the same day with this story…it seems like the two are related.”

“He quit?”

Susan looked pained as she nodded. “It’s unfortunate. He was a real favorite of the students even though he’d only been here six weeks. I was hoping he’d agree to a five year contract at the end of this year. But, obviously, that’s not going to happen.”

I just nodded.

“Listen,” she said, drawing her words out slowly, “why don’t we just leave JT where he’s at. If you decide he’d be better off at home tomorrow, well, we’ll deal with that then. But I think with all the disruptions that have been going on in his life, maybe it would be best to let him finish the day. Okay?”

I nodded.

“I’m sorry for what’s happening to the two of you. After everything you’ve been through…” Susan stood and came around her desk, taking my hands between both of hers. “If there’s anything you need, you know Sam and I are always there for you.”

“I know.” I squeezed her hands as I stood. “I appreciate it, Susan.”

“These things have a way of working themselves out, Penny. You just have to have a little faith.”

I wished it was that easy. But a part of me was pretty sure it would take a lot more than faith to see this through to its conclusion.

*****

I went home from the school. I should have been at the bakery, but Nick assured me when I called earlier that he had everything under control. He was still a little angry with me over the whole fiasco yesterday when he walked in and caught Harrison kissing me. I could hear it in his voice. But he had as much at stake in that bakery as I did, so I knew he wouldn’t let me down if he could help. The only problem was that there was more work than three of us could handle. How long would just he and Angela have to keep things from falling apart? What was I going to do if they couldn’t keep up with the orders while I was dealing with this whole mess?

It would be just my luck for me to win the battle, but I’ll still lose the war because I can’t keep our only source of income from going under.

I dropped my bag by the front door and made my way to the back of the house where my parents’ bedroom had been closed up since the funeral. I stood at the door, my hand on the knob, trying to force myself to push it open. I knew, logically, that I should have cleared this room out three years ago. I should have packed up their things and sold the furniture. I should have repainted the room and claim it as my own. The house was, after all, mine now. But I couldn’t make myself do it.

I took a deep breath and pushed the door open. The scent of disuse greeted me, along with a little undertone of the lavender sachets my mom liked to leave in drawers and under pillows. I almost expected to see her standing at the side of the bed, smiling as she watched me come in.

Hello, darling,
she would say with that brilliant smile of hers.

It hurt to be reminded—once again—that I would never see that smile again.

I took a deep breath and walked to the closet where I knew my dad had kept a small safe that held all their important papers. Their will had been there, along with their insurance policies and the deeds to the house and the bakery. I’d searched through it in the days after I got the news, blinded by tears. But I hadn’t taken the time to note the other things held inside.

I knelt on the floor and opened the safe—the combination was a combo of mine and JT’s birthdates—and reached inside to drag out the paperwork still hiding inside. There was more than I’d expected—birth certificates, letters from lawyers, loan papers, titles to the cars—things I’d never bothered with before. I should have. Some of these things might have come in handy when I was dealing with my parents’ many creditors. It was a little late to worry about it now.

I gathered them all and took them back out to the living room, securing the bedroom door behind me. It was difficult to look through these things, the things my parents had thought were important enough to store in a fireproof safe. Not only were there legal papers, but pictures, keepsakes, things that brought back memories I’d buried so long ago it was like ripping out a tooth as they dug themselves back up.

I was crying again and I hated myself for being so weak.

It took some digging, but I finally found the original adoption paperwork. And, there, on the back page, was his signature. Harrison James Philips. My eyes were drawn to the other signature, Julia Marie Castiano.

I remembered her. I remembered meeting her just a few weeks before my parents brought JT home from the hospital. I was only ten, but I remember her long blond hair, her flawless skin, and the swelling that was my future sibling. I remember I was fascinated with her, with her New York accent and her experience in the world. I remember wondering about the man who fathered her child, imagining some tragic romance. There had been a look in her eye when my dad asked her about him that had sparked a tragic sense in me, even then.