asked.
“Actually, that’s the whole problem. I don’t have any idea who’s responsible. If I only knew for sure who the father of my baby is, I would feel a lot more secure.”
Mr. Smith eyed her with thinly veiled disgust. “You mean you’ve been involved with several men and now want to proceed with a paternity suit against one of them?”
“Oh, no, it’s nothing like that.” Lauren could feel her cheeks flush scarlet as she hurried to deny his accusations. “It may involve a paternity suit, but certainly not from me.” She went on to tell her story one more time, fervently hoping that when she was finished, Mr. Smith would tell her that she had nothing to fear and would be better off spending her time looking at baby furniture than with an attorney.
As Mr. Smith listened carefully to her unusual experience, he watched her with growing interest. As junior partner of the firm, he needed a big case to bring him a little extra recognition. Anything involving a prominent doctor and an attractive but struggling local businesswoman would have been worthwhile, but a paternity suit was a godsend.
“Mrs. Nelson, I want you to know that you’ve done the right thing. Now is the time to begin preparing our case against Dr. Daniels. We wouldn’t want him to catch us unawares. First of all, we’ll issue an injunction against him to keep him from bothering you. Then we can decide when to file our defamation of character suit against him along with a negligence suit against the medical center and the nurse and, of course, there will be a malpractice suit against your personal doctor. … Now what was his name? Dr. Reese?” The attorney was busily jotting down notes on a white legal pad.
Lauren’s blue eyes widened as her dismay increased. Instead of offering her some words of comfort, this attorney was frightening her even more. It sounded as if he planned on suing everyone in the city of Houston. If he kept this up, she would be spending more time in court than with her baby.
“And then if the blood tests prove that he is indeed the father, we’ll sue for child support, which should be substantial considering his income potential.” Mr. Smith continued with his profuse ideas and his pencil scratched wildly across the page, adding item after item to his list.
“Wait a minute,” Lauren spoke up, but the lawyer didn’t pay any attention as his eyes began to glaze with dollar signs. “I don’t think I want to do any of those things,” she said, trying again to be heard, but still he continued, practically frothing at the mouth in his anticipation.
“And I can begin today, gathering information on past cases that could have some bearing on yours. Of course, we’ll want to hire a detective to get some incriminating evidence against Dr. Daniels and the whole staff at the medical center. Now let’s talk about my fee. I usually charge two hundred dollars an hour, but that should be no problem once we tap into the doctor’s resources. I can’t give you an approximate total because I don’t have any idea how much time I’ll have to spend, but we can start with a thousand-dollar retainer. If you’ll just write me out a check, I’ll get my secretary to give you a receipt and I’ll go to work on your case right away.” The verbose Mr. Smith finally paused for a breath and Lauren jumped at her chance to be heard.
“No thank you,” she stated firmly, pushing herself out of the depths of the cold leather chair.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I said that I’m not interested in having my problem dragged through the courts for the next ten years.”
“But you have so much potential for income,” Mr. Smith protested. “We could take that whole medical facility and its doctors to the cleaners. I could set you up with enough money so that you would be able to live in style and never have to work again.”
“I like my job and I like my doctor. This is
“Actually, that’s the whole problem. I don’t have any idea who’s responsible. If I only knew for sure who the father of my baby is, I would feel a lot more secure.”
Mr. Smith eyed her with thinly veiled disgust. “You mean you’ve been involved with several men and now want to proceed with a paternity suit against one of them?”
“Oh, no, it’s nothing like that.” Lauren could feel her cheeks flush scarlet as she hurried to deny his accusations. “It may involve a paternity suit, but certainly not from me.” She went on to tell her story one more time, fervently hoping that when she was finished, Mr. Smith would tell her that she had nothing to fear and would be better off spending her time looking at baby furniture than with an attorney.
As Mr. Smith listened carefully to her unusual experience, he watched her with growing interest. As junior partner of the firm, he needed a big case to bring him a little extra recognition. Anything involving a prominent doctor and an attractive but struggling local businesswoman would have been worthwhile, but a paternity suit was a godsend.
“Mrs. Nelson, I want you to know that you’ve done the right thing. Now is the time to begin preparing our case against Dr. Daniels. We wouldn’t want him to catch us unawares. First of all, we’ll issue an injunction against him to keep him from bothering you. Then we can decide when to file our defamation of character suit against him along with a negligence suit against the medical center and the nurse and, of course, there will be a malpractice suit against your personal doctor. … Now what was his name? Dr. Reese?” The attorney was busily jotting down notes on a white legal pad.
Lauren’s blue eyes widened as her dismay increased. Instead of offering her some words of comfort, this attorney was frightening her even more. It sounded as if he planned on suing everyone in the city of Houston. If he kept this up, she would be spending more time in court than with her baby.
“And then if the blood tests prove that he is indeed the father, we’ll sue for child support, which should be substantial considering his income potential.” Mr. Smith continued with his profuse ideas and his pencil scratched wildly across the page, adding item after item to his list.
“Wait a minute,” Lauren spoke up, but the lawyer didn’t pay any attention as his eyes began to glaze with dollar signs. “I don’t think I want to do any of those things,” she said, trying again to be heard, but still he continued, practically frothing at the mouth in his anticipation.
“And I can begin today, gathering information on past cases that could have some bearing on yours. Of course, we’ll want to hire a detective to get some incriminating evidence against Dr. Daniels and the whole staff at the medical center. Now let’s talk about my fee. I usually charge two hundred dollars an hour, but that should be no problem once we tap into the doctor’s resources. I can’t give you an approximate total because I don’t have any idea how much time I’ll have to spend, but we can start with a thousand-dollar retainer. If you’ll just write me out a check, I’ll get my secretary to give you a receipt and I’ll go to work on your case right away.” The verbose Mr. Smith finally paused for a breath and Lauren jumped at her chance to be heard.
“No thank you,” she stated firmly, pushing herself out of the depths of the cold leather chair.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I said that I’m not interested in having my problem dragged through the courts for the next ten years.”
“But you have so much potential for income,” Mr. Smith protested. “We could take that whole medical facility and its doctors to the cleaners. I could set you up with enough money so that you would be able to live in style and never have to work again.”
“I like my job and I like my doctor. This is
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