Chapter 6 - The Man in the Hallway
Travis Cole arrived at Pine Valley Children's Hospital at 9:17 the next morning.
He brought a lawyer.
That told me almost everything I needed to know.
He was thirty, maybe thirty-one, clean-cut and carefully dressed. Nothing about him matched the frightened picture Kayla had painted.
He carried flowers.
He smiled at reception.
He spoke quietly.
People like Wade were judged the second they entered a room.
People like Travis were often trusted for exactly the same reason.
Kayla saw him through the NICU glass and stopped walking.
Wade noticed.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Did he hurt you?”
Kayla said nothing.
Wade's jaw tightened.
“Kayla.”
“Not the way you're thinking.”
“What way am I thinking?”
“He never hit me.”
Wade waited.
“He just made me afraid all the time.”
That sentence was enough.
Travis entered with his attorney.
“Kayla.”
She stepped backward.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“No, you haven't.”
His smile tightened.
“You disappeared.”
“You told me the baby wasn't your problem.”
“I was scared.”
Wade's expression changed slightly at those words.
Travis noticed him.
“And you are?”
“Wade Turner.”
Travis looked at his tattoos.
“The volunteer?”
“My father,” Kayla said.
Travis laughed.
Then realized no one else was laughing.
“You don't have a father.”
“Apparently I do.”
His attorney interrupted.
“We’re here concerning Mr. Cole’s parental rights.”
Kayla's hands shook.
“You said you wanted nothing to do with Samuel.”
“Samuel?”
“My son's name.”
“Our son.”
“You told me to get rid of him.”
Travis's lawyer looked uncomfortable.
Travis lowered his voice.
“I said things I regret.”
“Then you emptied our bank account.”
“We weren't married.”
“You took my rent money.”
“I paid most of it.”
“You took my car.”
“It was registered to me.”
“You changed the locks.”
“You disappeared.”
Kayla's breathing accelerated.
Wade stepped between them.
“Conversation's over.”
Travis smiled.
“You threatening me?”
“No.”
Wade pointed toward the exit.
“I'm showing you the door.”
“This isn't your business.”
Wade looked at Samuel.
“It is now.”
Security eventually escorted everyone into separate waiting areas.
Later that afternoon, Kayla told us the rest.
Travis had been charming when they met.
Then controlling.
He decided who she could see.
Where she could work.
How much money she could spend.
When she became pregnant, he accused her of trapping him.
At twenty-two weeks, an ultrasound showed possible complications.
Travis left three days later.
“I called him when Samuel was born,” Kayla said.
“What did he say?” Wade asked.
She looked ashamed.
“He said not to put his name on anything.”
“So why is he here?”
“I don't know.”
Wade did.
“Money.”
Kayla frowned.
“What money?”
Wade stared at her.
Then sighed.
“Your grandfather wasn't the only one who made something of himself.”
He explained that Turner Custom Cycles was not merely a neighborhood motorcycle shop.
Wade had spent twenty-five years building custom motorcycles.
Collectors bought them.
Celebrities commissioned them.
His company supplied specialty parts internationally.
“I’m not billionaire rich,” he said. “But there's enough.”
Kayla stared.
“How much?”
“Enough that someone researching my name might suddenly become interested in being your baby's father.”
She looked sick.
That evening, the preliminary DNA test arrived.
Probability of Wade being Kayla's biological father:
99.98 percent.
Kayla read the paper twice.
Wade did not read it at all.
He only asked, “Can I keep a copy?”
Denise smiled.
“Yes.”
He folded it carefully and placed it inside his wallet beside Elizabeth's photograph.
That should have been the biggest revelation of the day.
It wasn't.
At 8:40 p.m., a woman arrived at the nurses’ station asking for Wade.
She was seventy-three.
Elegant.
Silver-haired.
And visibly terrified.
Wade walked out of Samuel's room.
The second he saw her, every bit of warmth disappeared from his face.
“Margaret.”
Kayla looked between them.
“Who is she?”
Wade's voice turned cold.
“Your grandmother's sister.”
Margaret Collins stared at Kayla.
Then at Samuel.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I came because you need to know why Travis suddenly wants that baby.”
Wade crossed his arms.
“Then talk.”
Margaret looked toward the hallway.
“He isn't after your money.”
“What does he want?”
She lowered her voice.
“Charles Collins left something behind.”
Kayla frowned.
“What?”
Margaret looked directly at her.
“A trust.”
“How much?”
Margaret swallowed.
“Thirty-eight million dollars.”
No one spoke.
May you like
Then she added the part that made Wade's face darken.
“And Samuel became the legal beneficiary the moment he was born.”
