Free Somebody's Baby by Annie Jones Page A

He should be the one facing the old man down, bearing the brunt of the old man’s belligerence.
    “Just to hold him for a moment, you understand.”
    It was the quietest, most humble sentence Adam believed he’d ever heard his father speak to anybody but Maggie Burdett. Where did that come from? Who was this person standing in Josie’s kitchen insisting…no, merely asking in humility and faltering hope…to see his only grandchild?”
    “Where is the little fellow?”
    “I…I don’t think I should tell you that, sir.”
    Something between a wheeze and a chuckle answered her. “You’ve already told me more than you realize.”
    And just that fast the man Adam readily recognized as Conner Burdett resurfaced. He’d been a fool to think the seasoned bully could have changed. It had all been an act. An act to manipulate Josie and unearth answers.
    “I haven’t told you anything,” Josie said.
    “Oh, yes you have. For starters you didn’t deny he was my grandson. Nor did you say you didn’t know where he is, just that you didn’t think you should tell me. ”
    Adam drew in his breath and held it until his lungs ached. The Burdett offensive has just begun. Conner would go after Josie, hammer away at her with every tool in his considerable arsenal until he’d gotten every bit of information from her and left her in tears and fearing for her son’s future.
    “I know you have my flesh and blood.” The words came slowly, though Adam did not know if that was for effect or because Conner was choosing them so carefully. Either way they made the bile rise in Adam’s throat. “The child is a Burdett and I have rights.”
    “Please, Mr. Burdett…” Josie’s voice disappeared into a sob.
    That was it. Adam could no longer stay out of this.
    “This is my family, the son of my son,” Conner boomed.
    “Wrong.” Adam stepped fully from the bathroom and reached the kitchen in just a few steps. “This child is my son. That makes him nothing to you but the child of some stray you took in and never really loved as your own.”
    You can know a man a lifetime and still not know everything that he is capable of, good and bad. That is not the kind of thing you can gauge in a matter of a few seconds. Unfortunately, sometimes a few seconds is all you have—so make them count.
    Conner had taught Adam that a long time ago. Start with the details and work your way out. Listen to what a man tells you, but don’t dismiss what your own gut has to say. Adam applied those skills now to quickly size up the old man.
    Eighteen months ago, Conner Burdett made an imposing figure. Though in his sixties, the tall, raw-boned man had still sported a full head of mostly brown hair, keen eyes that sparked with grit and vigor and the ever-present authority that came from knowing no matter what, he still owned fifty-four percent interest in the family business.
    As far as Adam could see today, that controlling interest in the company was all he still possessed. He made a fleeting study of the man before him.
    The elder Burdett had lost weight. His hair had faded to white and thinned considerably. The newly developed stoop of Conner’s shoulders had taken inches from his height. The man who had once seemed a veritable pillar of confidence to a younger Adam now stood almost eye-to-eye with him. And in those eyes Adam saw a weariness and remorse that had never been there before.
    Adam clenched his jaw and reminded himself to listen to his own feelings. His son’s future could well be at stake and he wouldn’t risk it to something as deceptive as appearances or sentimentality. Conner Burdett was still capable of anything. Anything.
    Adam braced himself to bear the full brunt of his father’s wrath.
    “Adam? Son?” Conner reached out. His hand shook. He took one step forward and then another as if he couldn’t quite believe what he saw before him.
    “Yeah?” Adam shifted his weight, pulling Nathan more to one side so that he could hand him