“Enough?” she echoed. “What does that mean? Harlan Patrick, what are you planning?”
He dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Keep an eye on her for me. She’s going to need you.”
“Oh, my God,” she whispered as he reached the door. “You’re going to file for custody of Amy Lynn, aren’t you? Aren’t you?”
He nodded.
“Are you sure about this?”
“I can’t think of any other way to make her fight, can you?”
“No, but what if she doesn’t? What if she’s not strong enough to fight you?”
Harlan Patrick refused to consider that. He knew that she would never let her daughter go, would never let Amy Lynn feel the pain of abandonment Laurie had felt her whole life long.
“Oh, she’ll fight,” he said with confidence. “I’m anticipating gale-force winds when she figures out what I’m up to.”
“I hope to God you’re right.”
“I have to be,” he said simply. “Her future, our future depends on it.”
* * *
Harlan Patrick was gone. Laurie came back to the room after taking Amy Lynn for a walk to find her own clothes neatly hung in the closet and his gone. Val watched as she made the discovery, her expression uneasy.
“What do you know about this?” she demanded.
“About what?” Val asked.
“About Harlan Patrick leaving? Did he leave a note?”
“No. He said you’d be hearing from him, though.”
“Oh,” Laurie said, wearily. “I suppose he got tired of my moping around here. I can’t say that I blame him. I just don’t seem to have the energy to do anything anymore.”
“Then it’s a good thing that there’s only one more concert to do. You’ll be able to get down to Texas and get some rest.”
“I don’t think I’ll be going to Texas, after all,” Laurie said. “There doesn’t seem to be much point to it now.”
Val looked as if she wanted to argue with her, but she said only, “Well, Nick will be happy to hear about the change in plans. He’s anxious to see you. He’s been worried about you.”
“Why?”
Val hesitated. “The reviews haven’t been what he hoped for the last couple of cities. You know Nick—he starts imagining that the sky is falling.”
She couldn’t seem to make herself care about it. “I was off a couple of nights. I know that,” she admitted. “I’ll do better tonight, I’m sure.”
“I’m sure you will, too,” Val enthused. “You always knock ’em right out of their seats at the final concert on a tour.”
But somehow Laurie couldn’t work up any enthusiasm for that final show. She knew that she was letting the audience down. She even apologized for it, but there was no mistaking the sense of disappointment that pervaded the concert hall at the end of the evening. The posttour celebration at the hotel fizzled out when not one of the band members could bear to look her in the eye.
“I’m sorry,” she said, and fled.
Upstairs as she approached her room a man stepped out of the shadows.
“Laurie Jensen?”
It was less a question than a statement. There wasn’t even time to panic before he was slapping an envelope into her hands and heading for the elevator.
“Wait! What is this?” she called after him, but he was already stepping on the elevator.
Her hand shook as she tried to get her key into the lock. Inside the room, Val was curled up on the sofa, chatting quietly on the phone. When she saw Laurie, she murmured something and hung up.
“What’s that?” she asked, spotting the papers in Laurie’s hand.
“I’m not sure. A man in the hallway handed them to me, then vanished.”
“Legal papers?” Val suggested.
Laurie stared at the envelope. “Legal papers? What kind of legal papers would I be getting?”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Laurie agreed, but her fingers shook as she tried to rip open the envelope.
She unfolded the thick sheaf of papers and began to read. After the first few sentences, the words began to blur.
“No,” she whispered, and sank down on the sofa. The papers fell to the floor. “He can’t do this. He can’t.”
“Who can’t do what?”
“Harlan Patrick,” she said bleakly. “He’s suing me for custody of Amy Lynn.”
“Can he do that?” Val asked, her expression shocked.
“Well, of course he can. He’s an Adams, isn’t he?” She shot back to her feet and began to pace. “But he’s not going to get away with it—I can tell you that. If he thinks he’s going to steal my baby away from me, he’s out of his mind.”