"I'll tell you where were not going, and that's back to you excluding me from Jade's life."
His words chilled her. The thought of Jade somehow, someday, being taken away from her was her biggest fear.
"What do you mean?" she breathed.
"I mean." he said, his expression flinty, "'you're going to marry me and publicly acknowledge I'm Jade’s father."
"What? You can’t be serious!" Even as her heart thudded, she tried to wrap her mind around the idea and couldn't.
"But I am sweetheart" he responded implacably.
"And if I say no?"
His face closed, hardening, and she got a glimpse of Stephen, the ruthless businessman. "Then I’ll take you to court to establish my parental rights. I’ll use every means at my disposal to give you the legal battle of your life and to get access to my daughter."
She knew those means were formidable. Stephen had wealth, power and political influence, not to mention the Garrison empire to back him up.
Still, she managed to find her voice, and say evenly. "I'd probably win a custody battle. The law is on my side as Jade’s mother and the one who's raised her."
"You couldn't afford a fight, and even if you could, would you want to risk it?" he shot back.
No. she acknowledged, if only to herself. She knew Stephen had the money to hire the best lawyers in town, which would make for a protracted and messy battle. He could very well win generous visitation rights, at the least.
"Think about it." he said, seeming to read her mind. "One way or another I'm in your life."
"I could fight you." She wasn't without some means herself. But she knew she was out of her league with Stephen.
And that was the heart of the matter. He'd always been out of her league, in every way.
"Yeah." he acknowledged too quietly, "but think about your career. You just got a new start in Miami. You don't have the time for a legal battle, and your professional reputation will take a hit."
She hated that he was right. Her professional reputation would suffer. Interior design was such a fickle business. Who would want to hire a woman whose personal life was a disaster? Who might be trailed by reporters to their doorstep?
Stephen had influence in this town. He was a trendsetter and more. She knew there would be people who'd want to keep on his good side—and that would include not doing business with the former lover with whom Stephen was involved in a messy child-custody fight.
"Why are you doing this me?" she whispered, distraught.
"Isn't that my line?" he countered. "Why did you do this to me?"
She opened and closed her mouth.
"No matter what." he said flatly, "we're joined at the hip."
"Oops, sorry to intrude!"
Megan turned and saw Tiffany standing in the doorway from the hallway to the living room. She had no idea how long the sitter had been there.
"I didn't realize you were still here. Megan." Tiffany said, "but I thought I'd check because you usually tell me when you're leaving." Then glancing from Stephen back to her she added. "Didn't you say your dinner was at seven?"
Megan closed her eyes. She'd almost forgotten about her business dinner!
Opening her eyes again, she looked at her watch. It was nearing six. She'd have to hurry.
Tiffany looked from her to Stephen, and evidently judging that shed walked in on a heated conversation, she took a step back. "I left Jade in the kitchen. Call me if you need anything."
When the sitter had retreated Megan looked back at Stephen. "I have a business dinner in a little over an hour to court a potential new client. That's why Tiffany came over."
Shed made an exception to her rule not to let business intrude on her weekends with Jade because Conrad had asked her for a favor. She was supposed to meet Conrad and the potential client at a downtown Miami restaurant—and she wasn't even dressed yet.
Stephen looked at her coldly. "I'm giving you until Monday to make up your mind. And I'm only giving you that amount of time because I know you're scheduled to come by the Garrison Grand and we can talk then without having Jade around." He paused. "You already got four years."
Megan watched then as Stephen strode to the front door and slammed out of her house.
But not out of her life, she thought with a pang.
Chapter Five
The Mediterranean-style Garrison estate in Bal Harbour should have felt like home, but it didn't.
Still Stephen reflected, even now with John Garrison gone, and his extramarital affair and it’s illegitimate child exposed, not to mention Bonita’s heavy drinking, they all still felt obliged to maintain the illusion of a happy family gathering over Sunday dinner.
Yet it was rare for all the Garrison siblings to be present, and tonight was no exception.
Stephen looked around the room. Bonita sat at the head of the dining room table, and his younger brother Adam, and younger sister Brooke, sat across from him.
Missing were Parker and Anna, and Brookes twin Brittany. Stephen figured the newlyweds had better things to do. Lucky dogs. And since Brittany had recently decided she was in love with Emilio Jefferies she preferred avoiding tense family dinners.
Now as they chewed dinner mostly in silence. Stephen reflected on how an outsider might perceive tonight’s gathering.
Valuable artwork hung on one wall, and in front of the opposite wall sat a china closet displaying various crystal pieces. Potted ferns sat in two corners of the room, and Greek columns flanked an arched entry. Overhead, a magnificent chandelier hung from a painted domed ceiling.
The room, like the rest of the estate, was majestic—and cold as ice.
His gaze came back to his family. Better to bite the bullet, he thought grimly.
"I just found out I have an illegitimate child." he announced into the silence.
Brooke gasped, and Adam froze.
Bonita stopped in mid motion her wineglass halfway to her lips.
Given the shock waves that the discovery of John Garrisons illegitimate child had recently sent through the family, he had no illusions about how his news would be received.
Suddenly Bonita gave a raucous laugh. "Just like your father, except you don't have a wife to trick."
He ignored the outburst, though it was uncharacteristic. He was the only one of the Garrison off-spring that his mother didn't criticize, but he knew his news was a bombshell. "There's a three-year-old little girl named Jade."
"How?" Adam asked, raising the question he knew must be in everyone's mind.
He held his brother's gaze. "I had a relationship with her mother. Megan Simmons, when she did some interior design work at Garrison headquarters."