From what she’d learned, the Ruby Mountains were named for the red garnets found by some of the early explorers. A ring would let all those women know he was taken.
She groaned when she realized how possessive she’d become already. The possibility that their marriage could be annulled in the near future was anathema to her.
Before long they arrived back at the hotel. Within the hour they’d eaten a delicious Italian meal sent up from one of the restaurants. After a waiter had cleared everything away, Jim handed them the forms to fill out. There were so many questions to answer. The background questions took forever.
“What are our chances?” she asked him anxiously.
“You have a strong case, Catherine. Cole is well known in this state, and can provide for all of you. He’s the biological father’s brother. You have the biological mother’s notarized letter designating you as the person she wants to raise Bonnie. Your time spent in the ICU where you bonded with the baby will stack the deck a little more in your favor. Bonding is the crucial issue in adoption cases.”
She took a shaky breath. “What might be the obstacles?”
“There aren’t any,” Cole insisted, his expression implacable.
“I’m afraid there is one,” Jim asserted. The furrow between Cole’s brows deepened. “It’s a little like insider trading on the stock market. You know something no one else knows and make a move, leaving everyone else in the dust.”
Her mouth felt unpleasantly dry. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
Cole jumped to his feet. “It’s not a good analogy. This isn’t money we’re bilking out of people.”
“True, but you’re depriving other couples of being given a chance to be considered.”
Catherine lifted beseeching eyes to Jim. “Then we’ve got to pray the judge will overlook that aspect when he considers the positives. I didn’t force Terrie to write that letter. In fact I didn’t seriously consider the idea of adopting Bonnie until Terrie was dying.”
“I’ll put that in the deposition and file it with these papers. Have you answered all the questions?”
“Yes.”
Cole nodded.
“Then all I need are your signatures at the bottom. I’ll date them.”
Once she’d affixed hers she glanced at him again. “How long do you think it will take before we can get a hearing?”
He gazed at her speculatively. “Judge Lander has a busy court docket, but I think I can safely say a week.”
A week…
Sensing her disappointment, Cole’s hand covered hers. “Jim will get it done sooner than that.”
The other man pushed himself away from the table and stood up. Smiling down at Catherine, he said, “The Farraday name will have more pull than anything I say, but I’ll try my best.”
“Thank you, Jim. We love Bonnie. You have no idea how much this means to us.”
“I think I do.” He regarded both of them fondly. “For what it’s worth I applaud you for the unselfish step you’re taking for that little baby. The minute I know something I’ll be in touch.”
“If the judge rules in our favor, the case will be sealed?”
“Absolutely. No one will have access to the record so your secret will be safe. I’ve known Buck for years. I attended his wedding to Lucy and under stand why Cole wants his reputation protected. Now Lucy can never be hurt. It will be up to you if you ever decide to tell Bonnie her true pa rent age.”
Catherine’s gaze swerved to Cole’s. He always seemed to know what she was thinking because he said, “If the time comes we feel it necessary, then we’ll tell her.” She gave him an assenting nod.
“Well, my work seems to be done here. I’ll be going and leave you two newlyweds alone.”
She got up from the table and gave Jim a hug, which he reciprocated.
While Cole walked him to the elevator, Catherine hurried into her bedroom to change. The word “newlyweds” had caused a strange flutter in her chest.
She unpinned her corsage.
After the mistake she’d made kissing Cole the way you would as a prelude to making love, the worst thing she could do was waltz out there in a minute to talk to him wearing a nightgown.
The fear that her heated response might have surprised him in a negative way gnawed at her, but she honestly hadn’t been able to hold back. Embarrassed just thinking about it, she quickly removed her wedding finery and slipped on jeans, which she co-ordinated with a short-sleeved cotton sweater in a lilac color.
“What have you got there?” he asked as she darted from the bedroom and hurried over to the fridge behind the bar.
“The flowers you gave me. They’re so beautiful I want them to stay fresh.” She moistened a paper napkin to lay over them, then put the corsage on one of the shelves. Once the door was shut she turned to him, hoping she appeared composed. What a fraud she was.
His suit jacket hung over one of the chairs. He’d loosened the collar of his shirt and pulled the tie away. She felt his shuttered gaze from across the expanse.
“I haven’t taken time off to play in a long, long time,” he began. “Have you?” The question caught her off guard.
“Not that I remember.”
A faint smile tugged at his lips. “That’s what I thought. How would you like to fly down to Laguna Beach tomorrow? We’ll spend a few days sunning in the surf. Forget our worries. It will give us some time to relax and get to know each other without dead lines.”
“I’d like that a lot, but-”
“You don’t want to leave Bonnie.” He could read her mind.
“That sounds pathetic, doesn’t it?”
“No. You’re making sounds like a mother.”
She rubbed her palms against womanly hips. “It’s just that Bonnie has needed so much love and attention. Now that she’s in foster care, I go by to see her every day, either before or after work.”
His indulgent eyes had been following her movements. “Then let me suggest something closer to home. After we visit her in the morning, we could drive over to Lake Tahoe for the day and have dinner somewhere before returning to the hotel. Each day we’ll go some place different, and the day after that, until we have news. What do you say?”
She felt her heart expand. “I think you already know. It’s a wonderful idea. I-I haven’t known you long, but I believe you’re a wonderful man.” The words had come out of her mouth before she could stop them, but in all honesty he deserved to hear the truth.
“If it turns out we can adopt Bonnie, she’s going to be the luckiest little girl in the world to have you for a father.” She dragged her eyes away from him. “Goodnight, Cole.”
Four days later they got the call from Jim to meet him in the judge’s chambers for the verdict. He stood inside waiting.
Catherine’s heart was beating so hard she thought she would faint. Cole put a supportive arm around her while they waited for the judge to enter.
“Be seated,” he told them.
The judge took his place and put on his glasses. “Mr. and Mrs. Farraday? I’ve read over your adoption petition. It’s an unusual case. Your recent marriage concerns me, in that the two of you haven’t lived together, there fore no climate has been established to measure. On the other hand, for you to enter into this union tells me of your unqualified love for this child who has no mother or father living. I find it commendable that Mr. Farraday, an up standing member of the community and this state, wants to father his deceased brother’s child. I’m also impressed by Mrs. Farraday’s impeccable record as a social worker.