SWEET ANTICIPATION Read Online Free PDF

not at all what I had in mind when I came here today. I wanted to find a way so that I wouldn’t have to go to court. I’m not interested in taking
anyone
to the cleaners. I just want to be left alone to raise my child as I see fit and not have to share him with a stranger.”
     
    “But we could get a settlement that would deny him anything but the minimum of visitation rights. From what you’ve said about him, we might even be able to prove that he isn’t responsible enough to take care of a child and…”
     
    “Stop,
Stop,
STOP!” Lauren leaned forward until her palms were resting on the front of his mahogany desk. “This is all wrong. I knew I never should have come here. As I said before, I’m sorry I’ve wasted so much of your time. I’m afraid I’ve decided that I don’t want an attorney handling my affairs after all. Good day, Mr. Smith.”
     
    “But Mrs. Nelson, you shouldn’t—” His desperate plea was silenced by the door she shut behind her as she left his office.
     
    Lauren fumed all the way home. Sue Dr. Reese? That was absurd. Without him, she would have never gotten into the artificial insemination program and wouldn’t be pregnant today. Sue the medical center? Of course not. They had been nothing but kind to her when she had gone in for her treatment. Sue Dr. Daniels? Lord, no. She didn’t want that man in her life forever, sending child support checks and stopping by her house every Saturday to take her baby away from her for the weekend. Now if he had suggested deporting Dr. Daniels to Brazil, or better yet Siberia, then she might have been more receptive. She wanted that man as far away from her and little Johnny or Joanna as possible.
     
    “I think if I had sat in his office much longer, he would have asked me to sign over the florist shop and probably even the baby!” Lauren exclaimed as she sat in the workroom with Rita that same afternoon. They were putting together a large order for a wedding the next day. Long white gladioli lay in piles on the table, along with orchids, baby’s breath, roses and an assortment of other flowers that would be fashioned into arrangements and bouquets.
     
    “So this attorney didn’t work out,” Rita said soothingly. “We’ll just go back to the yellow pages, pick out another one and start over.”
     
    “Oh, no,
we
won’t. That one experience was enough to sour me on attorneys for the next ten years.” Lauren shook her head so violently that her silky blond hair swung back and forth across her cheeks. “The only good that came from that interview was that it helped me to decide that I’m going to sit back and wait for Dr. Daniels to make another move. After all, it’s been almost a week and I haven’t heard a peep out of him. I’m hoping that he’s already busy with something else and has decided that a legal battle is not worth his valuable time.”
     
    “But you’ll need an attorney if he decides to take you to court,” Rita reminded her.
     
    “I’ll worry about that when the time comes. Right now, I’m too happy with my pregnancy and my business to let myself worry over something that is beyond my control.” Lauren twisted a thin white-satin ribbon into an elaborate bow, tied it, snipped the ends and fastened it securely in the bouquet she was working on. “So until I am forced to think about
that man,
I refuse to discuss him any further. And that goes for you, too.”
     
    “You’re the boss,” Rita responded with a chuckle. “I just want you to remember that I’m here for you if you need any help—with anything.”
     
    “Except choosing an attorney,” Lauren flashed back with a wry smile.
     
    Lauren tried to heed her own advice but, in spite of her brave words, her heart skipped a beat every time she thought about the possibilities. Maybe he was just biding his time until the baby was born. There seemed to be no other way to prove his paternity other than blood tests, which would be performed at birth. If