Page 28 of Her Righteous Protector

“Hogan, about time you got here.” His bushy, gray eyebrows dipped down over his eyes as he glared at Max.

“Mr. Peterson, I called you from the airport and said I was coming.”

“That was over two hours ago. Never mind. Sit down.” He jabbed his finger at the empty chair in front of him.

“Hello,” Max said politely to the woman who sat in the chair next to his. She was dressed in a soft cashmere sweater, pearls, a pencil skirt, and low black heels. Her brown hair was held up in a tight bun. Her jaw was tight too, as were her hands clutching the purse in her lap. When she looked up to respond to his ‘hello,’ Max could swear he saw fear in her eyes.

What the hell?

“Hello,” she whispered.

“Now that you’re both here, I can get started. You two are the only adults named in Meghan Todd’s will. First, I want to explain that I wrote Meghan’s grandmother’s will forty years ago. It was airtight. She left her house and money to Meghan, didn’t want any of it to go to her no-good son, but that young feller has been causing problems about it ever since Meghan inherited it. That’s why when Meghan got the cancer and she knew her time was limited, she wanted me to make up another airtight will, and I have. I’m not going to read the whole damn thing, it’s a waste of your time and my time. I’ve had Pearl make copies for both of you, so I’ll summarize it now.”

With his gnarled knuckles, he shoved two white envelopes across the desk to each of them. Max grabbed his and pulled out the sheaf of papers.

“Are you hard of hearing Mr. Hogan? What part of, ‘I’ll summarize it’ did you not understand?”

Max looked over at the woman sitting next to him. She hadn’t reacted to Elias’ comment. What was her deal, why was she so anxious? Max stuffed the papers back into the envelope and slid them down into the side of the seat cushion.

“I’m all ears,” he said. He really was. The more the man had built up the situation, the more concerned Max had gotten, and the high level of stress the woman next to him was radiating didn’t help.

“Max, five years ago you impregnated Meghan Lancaster when she was on vacation in Tennessee, and she gave birth to a baby boy that she named Zephyr Maxwell Lancaster.”

What did he say?

I couldn’t have heard right.

The man kept speaking. Words were coming out of his mouth, but they made no sense to Max.

I have a son?

Meghan’s face flittered across his mind. She was smiling at the front of the church in her bridesmaid’s dress.

She gave birth to my son, and never told me?

“Mr. Hogan?”

I have a little boy?

Max’s lungs seized. Fury, shock, and joy were fighting for life under his skin.

“Mr. Hogan,” the attorney snapped at him.

“Huh?”

“Did you hear a word I said?” Elias asked.

“I have a son,” Max said gruffly.

“Yes, yes, yes. But after that. Did you hear me?”

Max slowly shook his head. He tried hard to focus, but it was as if all the air in the office had vanished. He couldn’t breathe.

“I said that when Meghan knew her cancer was terminal she wrote up her will and made you Zephyr’s legal guardian. As soon as the DNA test is completed you can petition the court to be instated as his legal father. Meghan has also left her house, 401k, and savings to Zephyr, but unfortunately due to the criminally high level of medical costs in our country these days, most of those assets have been depleted.”

“Cancer?”

“Yes. Breast cancer.” Elias answered. “He shook his head. “Such a shame.”