Reap The Whirlwind

Book 2 of the Killian Kendall Mysteries

By Josh Aterovis
Copyright 2026

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Chapter 19

Ilana's office was about half an hour away, in a restored Victorian house in a small town named Berlin. I climbed the steps to the front porch, where the frosted glass in the upper portion of the door read "Constantino Family Law" in stenciled gilt letters.

I hesitated, unsure whether to knock. It felt more like arriving at someone's home than a business. After a moment, I decided just to open the door.

I stepped into an elegantly decorated foyer. A thick Oriental carpet stretched across the polished hardwood floor and a brass chandelier hung from an ornate medallion in the center of the ceiling. Two leather armchairs sat facing an enormous dark-stained oak desk that served as a receptionist's station.

Ilana stood behind the desk talking to a young woman as I entered. Her face lit up in a warm smile when she saw me, and she stepped out from behind the desk.

"Will, it's good to see you again," she said as she offered her hand. "Come on back to my office. Hold my calls please, Jeanine."

She led me into her office, which was even more impressive. It had clearly once been a library — bookshelves lined the walls, filled with heavy law volumes and a scattering of knickknacks and framed photos. A large fireplace dominated the back wall, and in the center of the room sat a French Rococo-style desk with gold trim. Two matching armchairs faced it across a small rug.

"Thanks so much for taking the time to see me so quickly, Ms. Constantino," I said as I stepped inside.

Ilana smiled and waved me toward one of the chairs. "Call me Ilana," she said as she sat on one of the armchairs instead of behind her desk. "And you sounded like it was important. Have a seat."

She looked perfectly at home among the books and dark wood, as if the room had been built just for her.

"It is," I said, as I perched on the other chair.

"Why don't you tell me what's going on?"

I quickly outlined the situation as succinctly as I could. She'd already met Caitlin, so at least she could put a face to a name.

When I finished, she thought for a minute, tapping one long manicured nail against her lips.

"Let me see if I have this right," she said. "You would like me to draw up some documents that give you legal visitation rights to a baby that isn't yours — or even related to you — to make sure the mother doesn't skip out on you and take the baby with her...in exchange for money."

"Something like that," I said halfheartedly. When she broke it down like that, it sounded sort of crazy.

"Well, I have to say, this is a little unusual. Are you sure this is what you want to do? How well do you know Caitlin? I feel like I recall her saying she didn't know anybody at Thanksgiving, including you."

"I mean, I haven't known her that long, but it's not about her. This is Joey's baby."

"It is about her, though. She's the mother and she's the one you will be dealing with. Are you sure you can trust her? Have you seen any sonograms? Anything?"

"Do you think she's not actually pregnant?" I was stunned. That had never even occurred to me.

"I don't think anything, Will. I'm just asking you the kinds of questions you should be asking before you hand over any money. Has she agreed to this legal arrangement you're proposing?"

"Well, I haven't brought it up to her yet..."

"What about her parents?"

"She told me she has a bad relationship with her parents."

"What about the paternal grandparents?"

"You mean Joey's mom? What about her?"

"His father isn't in the picture?"

I shook my head no. "Just his mom."

"How does she feel about all this?"

"I...I don't know. I don't think she even knows about the baby."

Ilana sat back in surprise. "Don't you think someone should tell her?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "Wouldn't that be Caitlin's responsibility?"

"I suppose, although you are getting yourself involved pretty deeply here."

"Could she...cause problems?"

"Well, she does have legal rights — for visitation, at the very least. And she could have a claim to the baby if anything happened to the mother or if the mother was deemed unfit."

"I would never want to keep the baby away from its grandmother. I can't imagine Caitlin would either."

Ilana sat back. "Look, sweetie, I'll be happy to write up any agreements you want. You're a legal adult, and it's not my place to tell you what to do with your life. I just don't want to see you get hurt. You seem like a nice guy, and there are a lot of people out there who like to take advantage of nice guys. Maybe you should at least talk to Caitlin before we go any further."

I stared down at my hands. "Yeah, maybe you're right. What do you think I should do?"

"First of all, find out if she'll even agree to your terms. I would also suggest you tell Joey's mother about the baby. It could save you some serious headaches down the road, and she may even be willing to help out financially. And, frankly, if I were you, I'd ask for some proof that the baby is healthy. Once all that is in place, give me a call, and I'll write up the papers for you."

"How much is all that going to cost?"

"We can talk about that when you call me back."

"You don't think she'll agree."

She gave me a sad smile. "I hope I'm wrong."

I left feeling more confused than ever. Was Caitlin just trying to con me out of some money? I didn't want to think that about her, but Ilana had placed doubts in my mind. I needed to talk to Caitlin as soon as possible.

When I arrived home, however, the thought completely slipped my mind.

Once again, the curtains were drawn and candles were flickering. No enticing aromas filled the air tonight, though. Instead, I found a trail of rose petals scattered on the floor leading to my old bedroom, then on to the window that opened onto the fire escape.

There, I found Aidan, his back to the window as he leaned against the railing, looking out over the river. The red rose petals stood out brilliantly against the background of white snow, broken only by Aidan's footprints.

"You're going to spoil me," I said, and he spun around.

"That's the idea," he said with a grin. "But this is a special occasion."

"And why is that?"

"We're celebrating our engagement."

"I thought we did that last night," I said with a grin. "Several times."

He answered with a grin of his own. "Why don't you join me out here on the fire escape?"

My feet felt frozen to the floor. I hadn't been out there since I jumped.

"Don't you think it's time we replace the bad memories with some good ones?" Aidan held out a hand.

I took a deep breath and accepted his hand, letting him help me through the window. Then, to my surprise, he went down on one knee in the snow.

"I know I asked you this last night, but I want to do it right this time," he said. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a ring box.

"Oh my God," I whispered.

He opened the box, and inside was a beautiful silver ring with an intricate gold design winding around it. He pulled the ring out and held it up to me.

"William Spencer Keegan, will you marry me?" he said.

I felt a tear roll down my cheek. "You know I will. Yes, I'll marry you."

He slipped the ring onto my finger. It was a little big, but it didn't matter. I noticed a matching ring on Aidan's hand, and I drew him up for a lingering kiss.

"Let's do it now," he said in a husky voice.

"What? Right now?"

"No, but before Christmas, maybe next week."

"That's crazy," I laughed.

"Why? I don't want to wait. I want to do this now."

"Sure, why not?" I said, feeling exhilarated. "But what about the marriage license?"

"I, uh, actually called today to find out what we needed to do. One or both of us just has to go to the county clerk's office and apply, which is pretty simple, then you have to wait at least 48 hours before you can get married. If you want, I can go get it tomorrow. It's good for six months so we have plenty of time to figure it all out, in case it doesn't all come together as quickly as we'd like."

"Okay. Wow. You've got this all figured out. So who will perform the ceremony?"

"That I don't know. Why don't we ask Adam if he knows anyone?"

"Good idea," I said with a giggle. "Wait, I have an idea. Let's not tell anyone what's going on. Let's throw a surprise wedding!"

Aidan laughed. "And you thought my idea was crazy?"

"No seriously! I read about it online. Some celebrity couple did it. The guests thought they were going to a party and then...boom! Surprise wedding! I thought it sounded so cool. We can tell everyone we're having a Christmas party."

"What if they have other plans?"

"We tell them it's important to us that they come."

Aidan laughed again. "I think it's the craziest thing I've ever heard, but I love it! Let's do it!"

"Adam will have to be in on it if we're asking him to find someone to do the ceremony," I pointed out.

"That's good, though. He can help us plan it. After all, I've never planned a wedding before, let alone one that's happening in one week."

"Can we continue discussing this inside?" I said, suddenly realizing how cold it was out here.

Aidan laughed, and we crawled back through the window.

We called Adam right away. Aidan put him on speakerphone so we could all participate in the conversation. As soon as we started explaining what we had in mind, Adam became as excited as we were.

"We were hoping you'd know somebody who could perform the ceremony," Aidan finished.

"It just so happens that I do. And you know him too. Bryant is ordained."

"Bryant is a minister?" I gasped.

"Ha! God no. He got ordained online to officiate a friend's wedding. I'm sure he'd be delighted to perform your ceremony. I'll call him as soon as we hang up."

"Thanks, Adam. Um, we were also hoping you might help us plan the wedding."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"I'm honored. Of course I'll help. When are you thinking?"

"We were thinking before Christmas..."

"What? So soon? How are you going to pull that off with school and work?"

"Well...we were hoping that would be part of what you could help with."

Adam laughed. "That's a tall order, but I'll do my best. Do you have a vision for this shotgun wedding?"

"No, everything has happened so quickly. We really don't."

"Okay, let's start with the decorations. Have you thought about that at all? Candles? Flowers? Do you have colors picked out? What about favors? Do you have anything in mind?"

"Whoa, slow down," Aidan said. "We don't want to go overboard. We don't want to spend a lot of money. We just want something simple and meaningful. We're only inviting a few close friends."

"Simple doesn't mean it can't be special," Adam said. "Why don't you boys leave everything to me? It'll be my wedding gift to you."

"You don't have to do all that. We were just hoping—"

"I know. I want to do this. Now, quit arguing and let me get to work. I've already got some ideas."

"Thank you, Adam," Aidan said sincerely. "This means a lot to me."

"And to me, too," I chipped in.

"It means a lot to me that you'd even ask. This is going to be magical. Thank you for letting me be a part of it."

"Thank you...for everything."

We hung up, and I immediately curled into Aidan's chest. "This is all happening so fast."

He wrapped his arms around me. "I know. It's not too fast, is it?"

"I don't know. No, I don't think so."

"Are you having second thoughts?"

"No. I know I want to do this. It feels right. My brain just needs a little time to catch up."

Aidan chuckled. "Take all the time you need, babe."

"But not more than a week," I said with a laugh.

He kissed the top of my head. "If this is too much, we don't have to go through with it. I can call Adam back right now."

"And ruin his fun? I couldn't do that."

"I'm serious, Will."

"I know. And so am I. Let's do this."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. This is one thing I'm sure of, at least."

"What do you mean? Oh, shit! I can't believe I forgot. How'd your meeting with Ilana go?"

I sighed and snuggled closer to him. "Not so great. Or I guess it went fine, just not the way I thought it would go. And that wasn't the only surprise of the day, either."

I proceeded to tell him about my visit from Joey's father, my realizations about Joey, and my conversation with Ilana.

"That's a lot," he said when I finished. "How are you feeling about all that?"

"Hard to say," I said thoughtfully. "It's a lot to process. I feel like I've always known that stuff about Joey on some level, but I just couldn't admit it to myself because he was my best friend and, well, I worshipped the ground he walked on. I guess telling Jack about him brought it all into focus."

"And you've had some distance from him for a while now and accepted that he's gone."

"Yeah, that too. But talking about our families and growing up also made me realize how much I miss my parents. But I don't know how to fix that. I don't even know where to start."

"That's not just on you. Your mom was there for you when you were in the hospital, so I think she'd be open to having some level of relationship with you, but your dad didn't even bother visiting."

His blunt statement of facts hurt, but it was the truth. There was no denying it.

"Maybe we should invite Mom to the wedding," I suggested.

"Do you think she's ready for a surprise gay wedding?"

I sighed. "Probably not."

"What about Caitlin?"

"You think we should invite her to the wedding?"

"I mean, sure, if you want to, but that's not what I was asking."

"Oh, you mean the conversation Ilana said I need to have with her."

"Yeah. How do you think that will go?"

"Who knows? She can be a little prickly sometimes."

"That's putting it mildly."

"You really don't like her, do you?"

"I think it's more that she doesn't like me."

I pulled back far enough to see his face. "What makes you say that?"

"Just the way she was shooting daggers at me with her eyes when she found out we were dating. If looks could kill..."

"Really?"

"Yes, I'm surprised you didn't notice."

"I guess I did notice that she seemed a little off. It was right after that when she asked for money, too."

He nodded. "Yes, I noticed that, too."

"So you think Ilana is right, that I should be cautious with her."

"I've always thought that."

I sighed and laid my head back on his chest. "Why does everything have to be so complicated?" I moaned.

"Life is messy. We just do the best we can."

Friday night, Killian and Asher arrived bearing pizza. Killian burst in with great enthusiasm, Asher trailed behind with considerably less excitement. There was a weird tension between them, and I wondered if they'd once again been arguing on the drive over. Asher had made his feelings about Killian's involvement in our investigation crystal clear.

Laura made her appearance not long after, informing us that Gabe would be a little late since he was still in class, which helped ease some of the awkwardness caused by Asher's pouty silence. Caitlin showed up right on time.

We decided to get started since Gabe already knew most of what we had to share. Laura, Aidan and I took turns filling in Killian and Asher on our progress. There was a lot more to report than there had been the week before, so it took a few minutes, and, at times, we were all talking over each other.

"Okay," Killian said when we finally finished our reports. "So, just to recap, Will and Laura talked to Joey's mom, then Will found and talked to Joey's dad and has mostly ruled him out as a suspect. Y'all talked to Keiyara, who claimed that she was in the boathouse with an unknown guy when Joey was killed, she also claims they heard voices, and you suspect she probably knew more than she wanted to let on. She almost certainly sent Will the necklace. But now she's dead, possibly by suicide, and we still don't know who she was hooking up with in the boathouse. Oh, and Will and Aidan are finally dating officially. Did I get everything?"

"That last one doesn't have any bearing on the case," I pointed out.

"No, but it's by far the most exciting," Killian said with a grin. "And it's about damn time."

"So what's next?" Caitlin asked impatiently.

"We need to find out who was with Keiyara in the pool house that night," Killian said.

Just then, Gabe knocked on the door, so we took a short break to let him get pizza and catch him up before we resumed.

"So how are we supposed to find this mystery guy?" Laura asked once we were all seated again. "Will and Caitlin might have seen him, but we have no clue who he is."

"There were only so many people at the party," Killian pointed out. "Maybe Gabe can talk to the frat bros again and describe him. He didn't appear out of thin air. Somebody there has to know who he was."

"And if they don't?" Aidan asked.

"Somebody has to. Eventually we'll find him."

"I'm getting to be a regular around there anyway," Gabe said with a mouthful of pizza. "I'm surprised they haven't asked me to pledge. I went there yesterday to look around. They had no problem with it, said the police were done and they didn't care. So I went around back and found a back gate as big as life, and it's not even locked. Anyone could have gotten into or out of the back yard without going through the house."

"Great, so that means it wasn't necessarily someone at the party," Aidan said dejectedly. "It could be literally anyone."

"Not necessarily," Killian said thoughtfully. We all turned to face him. He thought for a moment before continuing. "Think about it. If it was an outside person, let's call him Mr. X—"

"Mr. X?" Asher said with a derisive snort.

Killian shot him a dirty look but continued, "How would he know Joey was going to be at this particular party? How'd he know to find him in the backyard?"

"Maybe he followed him," Laura suggested.

"Or he could have done what I did and just party hopped until he found the right party," I said.

"If he party hopped, then he was still at the party at some point. He didn't have to come in through the gate in the backyard."

"You know what, I think Killian is right," Gabe said. "It had to be someone at the party. I think the gate was an escape route, not an entrance."

Everyone started to speak at once.

"Let me explain," Gabe yelled over the din. "Nothing about this feels planned. It seems like a spur-of-the-moment, crime of passion sort of thing. The killer didn't check to see if anyone was in the pool house, he left the necklace, which probably fell off in some sort of struggle, and a pool isn't exactly the most reliable murder weapon. Chances are he didn't even mean to kill Joey. I mean, what if someone had found Joey before he drowned? Or what if someone inside just happened to look out the window and saw him bop Joey on the head?"

"Head bopping is a new addition to the scenario," Killian quickly pointed out. "Is there a reason you included that?"

"Oh yeah, that was the other thing I found out. My cousin said the cause of death is public knowledge unless it's a continuing criminal investigation. Since the case is technically closed, she could tell me what the report said. Your detective could have told you, too. He was just being difficult."

"He's hardly my detective," I said sourly. "So what did the report say?"

"Technically, Joey died of drowning, but..." Gabe paused dramatically, "...my cousin confirmed that Joey did have a pretty serious head wound, which is probably what kept him from getting out of the pool once he was in it. The medical examiner said it could have been sustained when he fell into the pool...if he fell backwards and struck his head on the edge."

Killian picked up where Gabe left off. "Or someone could have bopped him in the head."

"Exactly," Gabe said. "While I was in the backyard, I looked around a bit. They have these big-ass rocks surrounding their flowerbeds, like grapefruit sized. I found one that looked out of place, like it might have been moved. So I took a closer look at it, and there's something on it that may or may not be blood."

"What did you do with it?" Caitlin asked.

"I ran inside and got a plastic bag from the guys, then picked it up with my shirt and wrapped it up in the bag. It's at my house now."

"Great!" I said excitedly. "That's solid evidence we can take to the police!"

"Not so fast," Aidan said. "We've tampered with evidence by moving it."

"Not to mention," Caitlin added, "that they've already made it clear they don't think Joey was killed. What are we supposed to do? Just waltz in, plunk a rock down on their desk, and tell them that they are wrong? That we, being the seasoned professionals that we are, have solved their little mystery for them? I'm sure they'll be ever so grateful. Probably even give us the key to the city." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

"And what if it's just barbecue sauce?" Laura chipped in. "Then we'd look like idiots."

I sighed. "You're right. You're all right. They already think I'm some nutcase who's gone crazy with grief over the death of his best friend. Why prove them right?"

"We're not giving up," Aidan said. "We just need to find some more evidence first."

"What if..." Caitlin said slowly, drawing out the word as if an idea was just occurring to her. "What if Keiyara killed Joey?"

"What?" I asked. I hadn't even considered her.

"We know she slept around, her roommate told you. Maybe she'd hooked up with Joey, too. Maybe she fell for him and he hurt her. We only have her word for it that there was someone else there with her, this mystery guy. We know she had the necklace and sent it to Will. Maybe she did commit suicide, because she felt so guilty over Joey's death. Maybe your visit to her sent her over the edge. You said she was scared and acted like she knew more than she was saying."

Caitlin's words chilled me. It was a solution that fit all the facts...except one.

"We know there was a guy there that night, though," I said. "You were there when he jumped the fence. And that was after we heard Keiyara scream."

"Not to mention that's a lot of maybes," Laura said dryly.

Caitlin shot her a dirty look.

"Laura's right," Killian said, "That's all just conjecture." Caitlin looked ready to argue but he rushed on. "I'm not saying there's no truth in it at all, but that exact scenario doesn't fit the facts as we know them. We have no proof Keiyara even knew Joey, let alone that they'd hooked up. And like Killian said, you know she was with somebody because you saw him. Now, maybe she killed him earlier, then proceeded to fuck some rando to create an alibi, but that would make her a real psycho who probably wouldn't kill herself out of remorse. Plus, why didn't the guy see Joey in the pool when they went to the pool house?"

"If we assume Keiyara was telling us the truth," Laura began, "or at least mostly the truth, then she couldn't have killed Joey. We're assuming she committed suidice, but if she didn't, then that means someone killed her. It's a little much to believe that there are two murderers wandering around killing college students at Pemberton. I think we can assume that the same person killed both Joey and Keiyara."

"But why would he kill Keiyara?" Caitlin asked, obviously not happy that Laura was throwing a wrench into the cogs of her neat little theory.

"He or she," Gabe said, and everyone turned to look at him. "What? The killer could be a woman. Caitlin was literally just saying it could have been Keiyara."

"Fine, he or she could have thought that Keiyara knew who he or she was," Laura continued.

"Maybe another visit to Keiyara's roommate would be a good idea," Killian said. "What was her name?"

"Keisha," Aidan and I said at the same time, and I added, "But I don't know that she would be all that helpful. They didn't get along, and I don't think they talked all that much."

"Still, they shared a room. Maybe she saw Keiyara with Joey. Maybe she'd know if Keiyara had been acting any differently since she found Joey, or if she was the suicidal type. She probably knows more about Keiyara than she thinks she does."

I nodded. "Aidan and I can go see her. She knows Aidan already."

"Great," Killian said. "So what do we know? According to Keiyara, she was with a guy in the pool house, probably while Joey was being killed. She says the guy heard voices from out by the pool, but they didn't bother to look. We know that Keiyara must have found the necklace, either before or after she found Joey, and, at some point, decided that Joey's death wasn't an accident and sent the necklace to Will with the note."

"Though we still don't know how she knew who I was," I said.

"We know that Keiyara died the same day you went to see her," Gabe picked up.

"We know that Joey was seeing his father secretly behind his mom's back." I froze with the last word still on my tongue.

I watched Laura's eyes widen. "No way, Will!" she said quickly.

"You don't know that," I argued.

"There's no way."

"It's as likely as anything."

"What are you two talking about?" Aidan asked in exasperation.

"Joey's mom," Laura said.

"What if she found out that Joey was seeing his father behind her back?" I explained.

"Wouldn't it have made more sense for her to kill Mr. Taylor, then?" Gabe asked.

"This is crazy," Laura insisted. "How would Mrs. Taylor even know where to find him? And why confront him at a party when he still lived at home? It just doesn't make sense."

Killian nodded. "I agree that it's really unlikely, but we have to look at every possibility. Someone should talk to her."

Laura sighed. "Then it should be me."

"Then the only other thing we have to do is identify our mystery man."

"Is that all?" Laura scoffed.

"I can do that," Caitlin offered.

"I think that's something that will take all of us," Killian said, and Caitlin shrugged.

"Are we done then?" Laura asked. "Gabe and I are supposed to meet up with some friends of his tonight."

"I'd almost forgotten about that!" Gabe exclaimed.

"Yeah, I think we're done, unless anyone can think of something else," Killian said, looking around. No one spoke up, so he went on. "Then we'll meet one week from tonight, unless someone learns something important."

"Actually," I said with a look in Aidan's direction, "Aidan and I have a special favor to ask everyone."

That got their attention.

Aidan took over. "Will and I want to invite you guys to a rather unusual party we're throwing next Friday night. It's kind of a surprise party, but the surprise is for you all. It's top secret, but we want you to be here at seven o'clock sharp."

"What's going on?" Laura said suspiciously.

"You'll find out then," I said with a grin.

I could tell she was loath to give it up that easily, but Gabe grabbed her by the elbow and started steering her toward the door. I walked them to the door as they bundled up.

"We're not done," Laura called as Gabe dragged her out. "You will tell me about this weird surprise party."

I just laughed and closed the door in her face. I turned to find Caitlin pulling on her coat as well.

"Oh, hey," I said quietly so Killian and Asher wouldn't overhear me from where they were helping Aidan clean up. "Can I, uh, talk to you for a minute?"

She frowned slightly. "Is this about the money? I was kind of hoping you'd have that tonight."

"That's part of it, yeah. Hang on, I'll grab my coat and walk you down to the car."

I let Aidan know where I was going, and he gave me an encouraging smile and thumbs up.

"So what's this about?" she asked as soon as I closed the apartment door.

"I, um, went to see a lawyer today."

Caitlin stopped in her tracks. "A lawyer? For what?"

"Well, Aidan suggested it, actually. He thought that maybe you and I should sign some sort of agreement that I'd get to be a part of the baby's life before I started handing over money."

"Why is this any of his business?"

"Well, he is my boyfriend. And I think maybe he's right. So I talked to a lawyer, and she's willing to write up some sort of agreement for us, but she said that I should talk to you first to, you know, make sure you're okay with it."

"Gee, nice of you to ask me. What a fucking concept."

"It's not that I don't trust you—"

"No, I think that's exactly what it is."

"Listen! I just need some sort of protection. That's all. She also said we need to tell Joey's mom."

"I already told you I don't want her involved."

"She has legal rights, Caitlin. She needs to know she has a grandchild. Besides, maybe she'd be willing to help financially, too."

Caitlin calmed down a little at that. "But what if she wants to take the baby?"

"She can't. You're still the mother. But if something happened to you, she might be able to get custody."

"Well, I guess that's fair." She pursed her lips, then relaxed with a small huff. "I guess I can sign your stupid contract or whatever. It'll just say you get to see the baby or whatever?"

"Yeah. I just want to be sure I get to be Uncle Will."

She nodded.

"Oh, and, um...one more thing. Ilana also suggested that I should see a sonogram or something before we sign the papers."

Caitlin's eyes narrowed sharply. "So now I'm a liar? Is that it? You think I just made the fucking baby up?"

"No!" I said quickly. "She just said—"

"I don't care what this bitch said. You're calling me a liar."

"I'm not! I swear! It was just her advice. That's all."

"Well fuck her advice and fuck you. You can keep your damn money." She stormed off down the hallway.

I rushed to keep up with her. "Caitlin—"

"Fuck off, Will."

I caught up at the elevator. "Just listen! Put yourself in my place. My lifelong best friend turns out to be a giant asshole, and somehow manages to get himself killed. Then I find out he has a baby on the way, that a part of him is still alive. Of course I want to be a part of the baby's life. Joey turned out to be pretty messed up, and maybe that was due to who he was as a person or maybe it was because of his crappy childhood or genetics or whatever, but I just want to help make sure his child has a better chance at life. And I want to protect me — and you — in the process."

She whirled around to face me as the elevator doors opened. "How does any of this shit protect me?"

"I mean...if we sign a legally binding agreement, then I can't, like, just decide I won't help pay for stuff. And it would set the boundaries for my involvement." I was making stuff up on the fly, but I was pretty sure it all made sense.

She stepped into the elevator, still glaring at me, but as the doors closed, she said, "I'll think about it."

I sighed. Would anything ever be easy? Still, at least she seemed to be considering it. That would have to be enough for now.

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