A Natural Father by Sarah Mayberry Read Free Book Online

Dom had never discussed the finer points of the issue with them. He’d never quite known how to explain to his father that thanks to the case of mumps he’d had when he was twenty years old, he was sterile and would never be able to father children of his own. He’d figured he’d get around to it, eventually.

    And now his father was suggesting that the reason his marriage had fallen apart was because he’d strayed. So. Not only was Dom a man who couldn’t go the distance and honor his commitments, he was a cheat, too.

    “Why else marriage break up? Dani was nice girl. She would never cheat,” his father said.

    Dom rocked back on his heels. “This is unbelievable. How long have you felt this way, Pa? How long have you thought your son was a no-good sleaze?”

    It was his father’s turn to rock back on his heels. “That not what I said. You never talk, you never say anything. You come to me and your mother and say marriage over. What we supposed to think?”

    “Shit, I don’t know. Maybe the best of me? Maybe that there was a bloody good reason for my divorce and that I’d tell you once I could handle talking about it?”

    “Talk now. Tell me now,” Tony demanded, thumping his chest.

    “Why would I bother?” Dom said. “You have your own ideas about me, and you obviously like them a lot more than the truth.”

    He grabbed his jacket and strode toward the doorway. He couldn’t remember ever being more furious with his father—and they’d had some rip-roaring fights over the years.

    His father held his ground until the last possible moment, then stepped to one side.

    Dom thrust the handheld unit at him as he passed.

    “Do what you like with it. You won’t hear another word from me on the subject,” he said.

    Then he marched back toward the stand. There was work to do, after all. He’d hate for his father to think his no-good son was adding shirking to his list of crimes.

    “I CAN’T BELIEVE they said no.”
    Lucy forced a small smile. “Well, they did. Apparently I’m a bad risk. No assets, no security.”
    “But you’re making a profit. And you’ll make a bigger one once you get the site up and running and you attract more business,” Rosie said.

    “Said all that. They didn’t care.”

    “Crap,” Rosie said. Then she sat straighter. “We’ll try another bank. There’s got to be someone out there with a bit of vision.”

    “Rosie, I have my van lease with them, do all my banking through them. If they don’t want to do business with me, no one else is going to step up to the plate.”

    “You don’t know that. We have to try.” Rosie pulled her cell phone from her bag. “What’s the name of that new bank, the one advertising all the time?”

    “I’ve already called the other three major banks, and two of the building societies,” Lucy said.

    “And?”

    “Like I said. No one wants to take a risk on me. And that’s before they’ve gotten an eyeful of this.” She indicated her belly.

    Rosie stared at her, clearly at a loss as the facts sank in. “Crap,” she said again.

    “Oh yeah,” Lucy said.

    A waiter appeared at their table and Rosie waved him away.

    “No, wait. I need chocolate,” Lucy said.

    “Good idea,” Rosie said.

    They both ordered hot chocolates and cake before returning to the crisis at hand.

    “There has to be some way around this,” Rosie said.

    Lucy pushed her hair behind her ear. She was tired, exhausted really, but she was hoping the chocolate would give her a much needed kick. Crawling into bed and sleeping for a day was not an option open to her right now.

    “I’ve been doing some sums. If I save my ass off between now and when the baby is due, I can put aside enough to cover my bills for three months. Ma mentioned the other day that Cousin Mario is looking for work. I thought I could offer him the driver’s job for three months. He can take my wage, I’ll live off my savings. It might work.”

    Rosie was staring at