Page 28 of Remember That Time

I jumped up from my seat and took the envelope, quickly opening it. My heart pounded in my chest as I pulled the papers out and started to read over them. I had to flip through several pages before I found the answer I was after.

I collapsed in my chair.

"Are you sure this is accurate?"

Was there any way they could have been tampered with?

"I had them run the test three times, sir."

Holy shit!

I was going to be a father.

"I want you to use every resource and find out who this person is." I wanted to know where my kid was and who the other parent was. "And inform the mailroom that anything like the previous letters is to be delivered to me immediately."

"Yes, sir."

I blew out a breath as I stared down at the test report. I was really going to be a father. I knew that it would happen eventually, but I always assumed I would be married first, and hopefully in love with the person I married.

Didn't matter. This was my child. Married or not, I wanted it. I just had to find the person I'd slept with. I could offer them a lot of money to let me have the kid. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of being a single parent, but I was less thrilled with the idea of never seeing my child.

I needed to figure out a way to tell my grandmother. I wanted to wait until I found the person behind all of this and got them to sign an iron-clad agreement to give me the child when it wasborn. I didn't want to getYiayia'shopes up in case it didn't work out for some reason.

"Lester, get my lawyer on the phone."

I needed to know where I stood in relation to this kid and their other parent. What were my rights and what were my options. I also needed paperwork. I wanted everything tied up in a nice neat legal package. I'd even put a bow on it.

Lester held the phone receiver out to me. "Sir, Mr. Anderson."

"Bob," I said after taking the receiver and putting it to my ear. "This is Janos. I'm in need of your assistance. I also want to pick your brain."

"Pick away, my friend."

I briefly explained the situation I was in and what I wanted to do. After some going back and forth about the laws pertaining to child custody and my rights as the non-birthing father, we settled on an agreement I felt was fair to all parties involved.

I reached up and rubbed the bridge of my nose with my fingers. The conversation with my lawyer had taken about an hour. By the time it was done, I had a deep ache right behind my eyes. Not because of anything my lawyer said specifically, but because of how involved all of this was.

It was crazy more than anything. My rights as the non-birthing father were not that much. If this person decided to move across the world and never tell me, I had no real recourse.

On the other hand, if I could get this person to sign the paperwork my lawyer was preparing for me, I could gain custody of my child. I had no doubts that I'd have to hand over a significant amount of money, but I could make it so the other parent wasn't even in the picture.

I wasn't sure that was the right thing to do, though. I knew I wanted full custody. That thought was firm in my mind. Butcutting the other parent completely out of our child's life might not be the way to go either.

It all depended on who they were, their character, and what they were trying to get out of me. If they truly just wanted to inform me of the child's existence and get child support, why be so mysterious?

They could have just called.

I glanced at my cell phone when it rang, a smile spreading across my lips when I saw who the caller was. This was a sure fire way to get my headache to go away.

"Hello," I said as soon as I answered the call. "Are you back in town?"

"Flew in with my parents last night," Gianni replied.

"Everything go okay?"

"For the most part."

"Good." I smiled, my body relaxing at the sweet sound of Gianni's voice. "Now for the important question. Did you have fun?"

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