A Dad At Last by Marie Ferrarella Page B

about the situation. “If you don’t mind my asking, how can we be sure that this Connor is the Connor and not just another impostor?”
    In true motherly fashion, Megan came to his defense. “Connor has already submitted to a test to prove his paternity, something, if you recall, Janelle kept postponing.” Looking back, Megan felt embarrassed at how easily she’d been duped by the duo. But that had been because she’d been so stunned by the news and so eager to take her son to her heart. Looking at Connor, she knew he was her son. “As soon as Lacy regained her memory and told Connor that the baby was his, we asked him to submit to a buccal test, and he was more than happy to do it.None of us could afford to have any more paternity mix-ups.”
    â€œHow did Janelle and her husband know about Connor being alive when you didn’t?” Abby wanted to know.
    Megan shook her head. “Somehow they got hold of Harland’s letter to William, but how, I don’t know—though I definitely intend to find out.”
    â€œI think I have an idea.”
    Everyone, including Connor, turned to look at Lacy when she spoke.
    â€œYou do?” Megan queried. “What do you mean, Lacy?”
    â€œI went to see Janelle today. When I left Chase with you,” she explained.
    She’d asked Megan if she could leave the baby at the clinic’s day-care center for a few hours. Megan had quickly volunteered to take the rest of the afternoon off and play grandmother, giving Lacy the use of her car. In the generosity of spirit that defined her, Megan had asked no questions. At the time, Lacy had felt as if she was deceiving her by being deliberately vague. But she’d been afraid that if she told Megan her plans, Megan would forbid her from going to see Janelle.
    Lacy made her confession. “That was the errand I had to run.”
    It was Connor, not Megan, who expressed disapproval. “You went to the jail?”
    Lacy tried not to let his tone affect her. Much as she loved him, Connor had no say in her life. He’d given up any rights to orchestrate her life when he’d distanced himself from her.
    Lacy raised her chin defensively. “There were things I had to find out.”
    Megan sensed this was escalating into a confrontation and intervened. “What did you find out about the second letter—the one that must have been for William?” she asked Lacy.
    Relieved to get back to the subject, Lacy said, “Janelle told me she found it amid her father’s things after he died.”
    Confused, R.J. looked at the others. The story was beginning to take on epic proportions. “Who’s her father? Or was?” he amended.
    Lacy took a deep breath. This was going to come as a shock to him and his sister more than to the others. “Robert Maitland. Janelle’s your half sister.”
    Anna and R.J. blanched as they looked at each other.
    â€œWhat is this, another one of Janelle’s tricks?” Connor demanded.
    This was going too far, he thought. Somehow, Janelle had stumbled across a genealogy of his family and was fabricating things right and left to serve her own ends. He’d had his fill of the lies that had infiltrated his life ever since Janelle had entered it. She’d been his mother’s companion at the end, and he’dinitially been grateful to her for making Clarise’s life more tolerable. But her subsequent actions negated that.
    â€œNo,” Lacy countered firmly. She could see by his expression that she’d surprised Connor. “It’s true. I looked up the birth and marriage certificates in the Las Vegas records—that’s where Janelle was born,” she added. She felt like she was stumbling over her own tongue, the words tumbling out haphazardly. This wasn’t the way she’d wanted to tell them, but facing this formidable family made it difficult to think clearly, even if they were