LITMIR.BIZ

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didn’t argue with the need for discretion. The Courage Bay Bar and Grill was the off-duty hangout for the community’s police, fire and medical personnel. Anything overheard here would be on the gossip hotline of every emergency team by morning.

      He quietly followed his friend out. A cool night breeze was coming off the ocean, the air filled with one of his favorite scents—the sea. But Brad wasn’t in an appreciative mood.

      “Is this why you suddenly came up with the suggestion that I donate sperm last year? So she could get it?”

      “No,” Ed said. “When I told you the Crispin Fertility Clinic was willing to pay top dollar for sperm from doctors, I did it because the director asked me to pass the word, and I knew you could use the money. Those were the only reasons. I swear.”

      Brad had met Detective Ed Corbin during his first year at Courage Bay Hospital. A burglar cut himself when he’d tried to escape capture by jumping through a plate-glass window. Ed brought him into the E.R. for treatment.

      While a nurse was seeing to his wounds, the guy grabbed a knife and took her hostage. Brad had kept the thief’s attention by enticing him with offers of drugs he could sell on the street in exchange for letting the nurse go—giving Ed time to circle behind the man and subdue him.

      They’d made a good team that day, and good friends ever since. Brad had never known Ed to lie. He didn’t believe he was doing so now.

      “What happened?” Brad asked.

      “I stopped by Emily’s place about three months ago and saw all these sperm-bank questionnaires spread out on her table. When I asked her what was going on, she told me she’d decided to have a kid by artificial insemination.”

      “You didn’t know before that?”

      Ed shook his head. “Nearly blew me away. Never occurred to me she’d do something like that. I tried my best to talk her out of it. But Emily’s unmovable when she’s made up her mind.”

      “What possessed you to tell her about me?” Brad asked.

      “I figured if she was stupid enough to have some stranger’s kid, she should at least be sure she was getting good sperm. I mean, what would you have done if she were your sister?”

      There was a protective note in Ed’s tone Brad had never heard before. They rarely talked about the personal stuff, which was why Brad hadn’t even known the name of Ed’s sister before today. Emily was clearly very special to him.

      Brad found his anger at his friend beginning to fade. “I’ve never had a sister.”

      “Count your blessings. They’re a damn pain. You love them, and all you want is the best for them. But what happens when you try to help? They tell you to butt out of their business.”

      “You should have listened to her this time.”

      “I couldn’t. She was going to the wrong place. The Crispin Fertility Clinic is the only one that does a thorough background check on its donors to be sure that they are who they claim. I told Emily about Jill Crispin alerting us when she discovered that a guy using a phony name and profession had applied. He turned out to be an ex-con with two outstanding warrants. That con had gotten away with donating sperm to every other damn clinic around because they never checked up on his lies. Who knows how many more there are like him around?”

      “Wasn’t steering her to the right fertility clinic enough?” Brad asked. “Did you have to tell her about me?”

      “Yeah, I did. You should have seen the flakes she had to pick from even at Crispin. I read the questionnaires these guys filled out. Eighty percent of them were dumb college jocks, barely literate, just looking for some extra cash. The idea that Emily’s genes would be mixing with theirs made me want to puke.”

      “What about the other twenty percent?”

      “I suppose some of them were decent, if you could believe what they wrote. The Crispin Clinic is careful that their donors are physically healthy and legally who they say they are. But they have no way of knowing whether these guys are telling the truth when they answer questions about their goals in life and such.”

      Brad had to admit that was true. He could have lied about those things when he filled out the forms, and no one would have been the wiser.

      “But when I tried to impress this fact on Emily, she turned a deaf ear,” Ed continued. “Kept telling me she’d decide who was best. Said she didn’t need me to make her decisions for her.”

      “Then why did she take your recommendation on me?”

      “I wasn’t sure she had. She wanted the best and I wanted the best for her, so naturally I told her all about you so she’d know which one of the anonymous donor questionnaires was yours. But the only thing she said was that if she picked your sperm, I was never going to know and neither were you.”

      “I know,” Brad said. “She quoted what I entered on that damn questionnaire verbatim. And when I called her on it, she did the one thing she knew would make me back off.”

      “What was that?”

      “She pretended to be psychic.”

      “How could she know that would make you back off?”

      “Because I put it on the questionnaire. When asked what was the one thing that would make me avoid otherwise nice and pleasant people, I said it would be if they turned out to be superstitious or believed in all that psychic mumbo jumbo.”

      “Brad, I’m sorry about this. She warned me to say nothing to you. I admit I wanted her to select you for her sake, but I never intended for you to find out.”

      “I wish to hell I hadn’t,” Brad said on a long exhale. “What does her husband think about all this?”

      “Husband? Emily’s not married.”

      “But she shows Barrett as her married name. I thought—”

      “Oh, she was married. Just not anymore. Hell, she doesn’t even date now.”

      Brad stopped walking, grabbed his friend’s arm, halting him in his stride. “Are you telling me your sister is planning to raise the baby without a father?”

      “She’ll be a good mother,” Ed said. “I’m not just saying that because she’s my sister. Emily’s wanted a kid for years, but things…didn’t work out for her. She’s thrilled to be having this baby.”

      Brad released his friend’s arm and sank to the edge of a nearby concrete street planter, putting his head in his hands. This was getting worse by the minute.

      “What’s wrong?”

      He raised his eyes at the concern in Ed’s voice. “My brother and I never had a dad. He took off when we were young, and we never saw or heard from him again. I had a great mother. The best. It’s not enough. A kid needs a father. I always swore my kid would have one.”

      “Brad, legally, the child Emily’s going to have…it’s not your kid.”

      He didn’t need Ed to tell him that. Brad was only too aware that he’d signed away all legal rights to his sperm.

      Yes, the money he’d received had helped to pay down his school loans. But the real reason he’d involved himself in the process was because he believed he was doing the right thing helping an infertile couple conceive.

      He never imagined that he’d find out who got his sperm. Or that she’d be a single woman.

      “What a goddamn mess,” he muttered to the night sky.

      Ed plopped down beside him. “If you want to shoot me, I’ll loan you my gun.”

      His friend’s expression told Brad how badly he felt—despite the fact that he’d been trying to do the right thing for his sister.

      “I’m such a lousy shot, I’d probably

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