folded her arms and remained standing.
âWhoâs the father, Amber?â I asked conversationally.
She stiffened. âIâm not sure,â she said. âI think Scott.â
âMarla served papers in which she claimed Josh was the father.â
âHe could be.â
âHe could be,â I repeated. I didnât have to exaggerate my tone of disbelief. How the hell had I come to be sitting on this fourth-hand sofa listening to my client tell me sheâd had sex with the man who was adopting her child?
âNo wonder Josh picked your ad out of the Dreamchild newsletter,â I remarked, remembering Ellieâs glow of surprised pleasure when she told me how Josh had selected Amber out of all the birth mothers in the listings. âHe must have written the damned thing in the first place.â
She didnât bother confirming something so obvious, just walked back and forth along the cold wooden floor, her long toes reaching for the boards like prehensile appendages.
She was thinking, searching for words to explain the unexplainable, to justify the unjustifiable.
Then she found them. âIt was like I told you,â she began. The insolent stare was gone; her eyes refused to meet mine. âWe went out on a date. We had dinner, and the next thing I knew, he was ripping my clothes off. I told him I didnât want to, but he forced me. Then when I told him I was pregnant, he said heâd adopt the baby but his wife couldnât know it was really his. So he set up the whole thing with Doc Scanlon and Marla, made me pretend Iâd never seen him before.â
I was having a hard time accepting Josh Greenspan as a rapist, but even if Amber had consented to sex, it made sense that Josh would try to protect Ellie from knowledge of his affair with another woman. Especially another woman with working ovaries.
I decided to proceed as if I believed Amberâs storyâat least for the moment.
âSo you decided to get revenge,â I said. âSet him up to believe youâd give him the baby, then change your mind at the last minute. Pay him back for raping you. Good plan, Amber,â I complimented my client, âexcept of course that youâre hurting Ellie even more than Josh and she certainly didnât rape you.â
Amber turned her face toward the window, where the April sun struck the crystal wind chime, making long rainbow streaks of color against the white wall.
âHe hurt me,â she said in a low growl. âHe pinned me down with his big hairy arms and pushed himself into me. Then when I told him I was pregnant he grabbed me andââ Amber ran long fingers against her arm, rubbing herself as if to soothe the pain of that long-ago assault.
âHe said he had to have the baby. He said heâd pay anything, anything I asked for. His eyes were crazy.â She turned her own blue eyes on me, begging for understanding. âAnd after what he did to me, I didnât want his baby, so I said yes. And then I met Ellie, and Iââ
She dropped her eyes, let her hands fall to her sides. âI wanted so much to make her happy.â
She stood in silence for a moment, seeming to go deep inside herself. Iâd never seen Amber so naked, so vulnerable.
âItâs not revenge,â she said at last. She turned the full force of her intense blue eyes on me. âItâs the baby. He doesnât look like Josh, he looks like Scott.â
âSo your wanting him back depends on the outcome of a DNA test?â I asked. âMarlaâs petitioned the Family Court to order one, so weâll know soon enough who the father really is.â
She shook her head. âThatâs what I thought at first,â she replied, her voice a near whisper. âBut the more I think about Jimmy, the more I know I canât live without him no matter who the father is. I want my baby, Ms. Jameson. I want him more than anything in
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