Carolina Man by Virginia Kantra Read Free Book Online Page A

overseas.”
    “My family did.”
    “And they did a wonderful job. Taylor’s clearly adjusting. In most circumstances, absent a finding of unfitness, you would be entitled to the care and custody of your child. But the Simpsons will argue that you haven’t established a parental relationship with Taylor.”
    “I’m her father.”
    Kate suppressed a sigh. “A continuous, meaningful relationship,” she said. “You need to prove that you maintained contact.”
    “I called.” His tone was defensive. “Skyped.”
    “That’s good,” she said encouragingly. She hesitated. “I don’t suppose you kept a phone log?”
    “Hell, no.”
    “No.”
Of course not
. She’d learned that good families, normal people, didn’t obsess over documenting every interaction, no matter how small. “Well, if you have anything else—doctors’ bills, receipts for clothing purchases . . .”
    “I don’t keep track of every dime I spend on the kid. She’s my daughter, not a tax deduction.”
    Kate sympathized with his frustration. But she worked with these cases every day. Good intentions weren’t enough. They needed proof to back them up in court. Her job was to explain the law, to guide her bewildered and defensive clients through the seemingly senseless system.
    “I’m simply saying a judge will look for evidence that you can provide for Taylor. Her physical needs. Her medical care. Her emotional well-being.”
    “I can take care of her.”
    “Now,” she said. “What happens when you’re deployed again?”
    He glared. “What do you want from me?”
    She wanted him to understand. She was trying to
help
. “This isn’t about what I want. It’s about what Taylor needs. What are your plans for the future?”
    “Well,” he drawled, “I was going to have another beer. And then I thought I’d take a whole night off to visit with my family. Get to know my daughter. Do I need to write that down for the judge?”
    Her cheeks burned.
    This is what came of getting personally involved. Of reacting emotionally, impulsively, instead of thinking things through. Naturally, he resented her interference.
    “I’m sorry,” she apologized stiffly. “Sometimes I get a little . . .”
    Judgmental, one ex-boyfriend had accused.
    Controlling, her therapist had said.
    “Focused on the mission,” Luke supplied.
    She blinked in surprised gratitude. “That’s a nice way of putting it.”
    Anyway, it beat Will Brown’s
Interfering bitch
.
    Luke rolled his bottle between his hands. “Look, I get that you’re trying to help. I appreciate you driving out here to give us the heads-up on this social services thing. I’ll make the appointment with your friend, I’ll cooperate my ass off with her questions. But the rest of it . . . We’ll make it work. You said yourself that Taylor’s adjusting. You just don’t understand how it is in a military family.”
    “I understand very well.”
    “You think you do. But you only see the ones that don’t make it. It’s different from the inside.”
    “Not in my experience.”
    “Let me guess.” Those sharp blue eyes narrowed on her face. “Your ex-husband’s a Marine.”
    Kate tugged on her jacket, pulling it around her like armor. “My father.”
    Oh, hell. She hadn’t meant to say that. She didn’t talk about her family. Habit and shame kept her silent. She’d grown up, moved out, moved on. But her father still loomed in her memory, a shadow figure between them.
    “Would I know him?”
    God, she hoped not.
    “Colonel Roger Dolan,” she said. Square-jawed, close-shaved, meticulously pressed and polished. “He died two years ago.”
    Luke shook his head. “Nope. Sorry.”
    “Don’t be.”
    Their relationship was over long before he died.
    A midlevel bureaucrat, Colonel Dolan had never received the respect or recognition he felt he deserved. But he’d commanded fear from his men and wife and daughter.
Obedience is required in a war zone
, he insisted. And he’d made