Temptation - Brenda Jackson [43]
The old man made a point of calling often, and if Zeke got the notion not to accept the call, Matthew Travers wasn’t opposed to sending one of his offspring to check on their oldest sibling. Hell, the old man had shown up on his doorstep a time or two himself. Zeke had learned the hard way his father was a man who refused to be denied anything he wanted.
Zeke shook his head thinking that must be a Travers trait, because he felt the same way about certain things. He was definitely feeling that way about Sheila. “Hello?”
“How are you doing, son?”
Zeke drew in a deep relaxing breath. That was always the way the old man began the conversation with him, referring to him as his son. Letting Zeke know he considered him as such.
Zeke sat back down on the sofa and stretched his legs out in front of him. “I’m doing fine, Dad.”
At times it still sounded strange referring to Matthew Travers as “Dad,” even after twelve years. They hadn’t talked in a while and he had a feeling that today his father was in a talkative mood.
The next day Zeke got to the office early, intending to follow up a few leads. Regardless of whether Brad was cleared of being Sunnie’s father, there was still someone out there who’d set up an extortion scheme and had made several members of the TCC his or her victims.
He hoped he would be able to call it a day at Global Securities by five and hightail it over to Sheila’s place. He hadn’t been able to sleep for thinking about her last night. And he hadn’t liked sleeping in his bed alone. Those days she’d spent with him had definitely changed his life.
He sat down at his desk remembering the conversation he’d had with his father. His father still wasn’t overjoyed that Zeke had turned down the position of chief of security of Travers Enterprises to come work here with Darius. As he’d tried explaining to the old man, he preferred living in a small town, and moving from Austin to Houston would not have given him that.
And had he not moved to Royal, he thought further, he would not have met Sheila.
A few hours later while sitting at his desk with his sleeves rolled up and mulling over a file, his intercom buzzed with a call from his secretary. “Yes, Mavis?”
“Mr. Price and his attorney are here and want to see you.”
Zeke glanced at the clock on his desk, a sterling-silver exclusive from his cousin. He frowned, not believing it was almost four in the afternoon. He couldn’t help wondering why Brad and his attorney would be dropping by. “Please send them in.”
Seconds later the door flew open and an angry Brad walked in followed by Alan Nelson, Brad’s attorney. Zeke took one look at a furious Brad and a flustered Alan and knew something was wrong. “What the hell is going on?” he asked.
“This!” Brad said, tossing a document in the middle of Zeke’s desk. “Alan just got it. It’s a copy of the results of the paternity test and it’s claiming that I’m that baby’s father.”
Sheila hung up the phone. It was Ms. Talbert again. She had called to say the results of the paternity test were in. Although the woman couldn’t share the results with her, she told her that she would call back later that day or early tomorrow with details about when and where Sheila was to drop off the baby.
Sheila felt her body trembling inside. She was a nurse, so she should have known not to get attached to a patient. Initially, she had treated Sunnie as someone who’d been placed in her care. But that theory had died the moment that precious little girl had gazed up at her with those beautiful hazel eyes.
The baby hadn’t wanted much. She just wanted to be loved and belong to someone. Sheila had certainly understood that, since those were the very things she wanted for herself. She hoped that Sunnie had a better chance at it than she’d had.
But not if she ends up in the system. And that thought bothered Sheila most of all. A part of her wanted to call Zeke, but she knew she couldn’t do that. He hadn’t gotten