Read Online Indemnity: Book Two: Covenant of Trust Series by Paula Wiseman - Free Book Online

father.
    “ Go to court and make her give proof of paternity.”
    “ What about custody?” Brad asked.
    Bobbi watched her husband shift in his chair. “Well, Chuck?” She leaned forward, her elbows resting on the table. “What about it? Are you going to sue for custody?” He couldn’t lie to her now. She’d asked him point blank, in front of their sons.
    He looked at Brad and then Bobbi and without any hesitation in his voice, he said, “Yes.”
    Bobbi dropped her head and waited, but there was no indignation, no shock, not even a question. Her boys said nothing. “You guys are okay with this?”
    “ Mom, what else can he do?” Brad shrugged, and shook his head. “Deny the boy’s his?”
    “ What happened while I was upstairs? Weren’t you the one who said he had no proof? That Dad was just acting on speculation?”
    “ Mom, first of all, I didn’t say speculation. I said worst-case scenario. Based on the public records’ manipulations she went through, I don’t see how the kid’s not Dad’s. Besides, what kind of damage would that do to him if he found out his dad didn’t want him.”
    “ What about the damage this is going to do to your sister?”
    “ Bobbi, this is not going to hurt Shannon at all,” Chuck said.
    “ How can you say that? You don’t know!” She stood and paced across the kitchen. “Joel? Your dad has an illegitimate son he wants to bring into our family. This doesn’t faze you?”
    Joel poured the last of the pretzel crumbs from the bag directly into his mouth, and chewed until he could manage to speak. “It’ll take some getting used to, but I think once we get to meet him—”
    “ Meet him! Have you lost your mind?”
    “ Mom, he’s our brother.”
    “ No, that boy is the ‘son of the bondwoman’!” Bobbi’s eyes flashed, and she pointed a finger at Joel.
    “ Bobbi, what are you talking about?” Chuck asked.
    “ This is what I read this morning!” She whipped around to face him. “About Abraham and Sarah. He had Ishmael with Hagar, and Sarah told Abraham to throw them both out. And he did.” Bobbi clenched her jaw, and stared at Chuck, daring him to reply. “God told Abraham to listen to his wife!”
    “ I don’t think that applies,” he answered quietly.
    “ Why not?”
    “ I don’t know. I haven’t read that story in a long time, but it can’t be the right thing to do.”
    Bobbi jabbed at the kitchen table with her index finger. “Then you tell me how it can be good and right, to bring a living, breathing reminder of your affair into my house!” Bobbi said through clenched teeth.
    “ You already have one,” Chuck said softly. “Shannon Hope Molinsky.” Bobbi’s chest tightened at the mention of her daughter’s name. “No affair, no reconciliation, no Shannon. You can’t separate those.”
    She had no argument, no rebuttal. He’d done it to her again, cutting her off from anyone who might agree with her, leaving her isolated and speechless.
    Her boys ... They betrayed her. They jerked all the supports out from under her and left her twisting in the wind. Struggling to maintain her composure, and her dignity, she turned, and without another word began loading the dishwasher.
    After a long awkward silence, Brad made an excuse about needing rest, mumbled a goodbye and slipped out as quietly as he came in. Maybe he was feeling guilty. Bobbi hoped so anyway.
    “ Mom?” Joel carried his cup over, and placed it in the top rack.
    “ Joel, there’s not anything you can say right now that won’t make it worse,” Bobbi said without looking up.
    “ I’m not choosing Dad over you. It’s nothing personal.”
    Bobbi rolled the dishwasher rack back in and slowly raised her head to look at her son. “It is absolutely personal. I thought you, of all people ...” Her voice was low, controlled, but fury lay just below the surface. “You and Brad are something else. For you to sit here and self-righteously disapprove of me ...” She rolled her