Semiautomatic Marriage

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter One

Carolyn Leigh’s eyes rounded as she looked at the two men seated across the table from her in the lawyer’s office. “I thought this meeting was about my unknown benefactor, who’s helped me financially through medical school, using your firm as a conduit.”

“Well, in a way it is,” the gray-haired lawyer, Mr. Bancroft, assured her as he pushed his glasses farther up his nose.

“Am I expected to pay it back?” she asked evenly, trying to keep the apprehension out of her voice. What she didn’t need was more indebtedness. After having just graduated a month ago, she was trying to find a full-time medical position as soon as possible to alleviate her other debts.

“No, the grant was yours, free and clear,” the lawyer assured her. “The news we have for you is good.”

Carolyn tensed. Good news? Growing up as a sickly foster child, her life had been filled with people telling her they had good news for her, when the truth was she was just being shifted from one unsatisfactory foster placement to another. Even though she was an adult now, and had managed to get herself through medical school by sheer grit, and working a job for nearly six years, a remembered anxiety suddenly tightened her stomach. She still had nightmares about being helpless as a foster child, thrown into one traumatic experience after another. She’d felt like a pawn in some diabolical game. Here we go again, she thought, trying to steel herself for whatever was about to crash into her well-laid plans.

From the first moment Carolyn walked into the office, she’d sensed a certain hesitancy, as if the two men weren’t exactly sure how to proceed. She’d only met William Bancroft, the elderly lawyer, once before, and had never met the good-looking, younger one, Adam Lawrence—Bancroft introduced him only by name, without identifying who he was and why he was there. She assumed he was a junior associate.

They politely offered her coffee, which she refused.

“Well, then, why don’t you lay the groundwork, Adam?” Bancroft suggested, nodding at him. “We’ll cover the legal details after that.”

The dark-haired man smiled at her, and she was aware of his strong features, slightly tanned complexion and the determined jut of his chin. Somewhere in his thirties, he must have been, and his clear, gray-blue eyes narrowed slightly as if he were searching for the right way to begin. Carolyn’s heartbeat suddenly quickened as she waited for Adam Lawrence to speak. What was this all about?

“You’ve heard of Arthur Stanford,” he began in a conversational tone, and smiled, as if he recognized her tenseness.

“No, I haven’t,” she answered with her usual honesty.

He seemed a little surprised at her directness. “Have you heard of Horizon Pharmaceuticals?”

“Of course. Everyone in the medical field is aware of Horizon. It’s a major supplier of pharmaceutical drugs. One of the oldest companies in the Northwest, I believe.”

He nodded. “That’s right. Arthur Stanford is the owner of Horizon Pharmaceutical. He passed away recently.”

“And there’s some reason I should know this?” This man’s death had probably been in the news, but she’d been too busy studying to read the newspaper. Something about this whole meeting put her on the defensive. There was an undercurrent in the room she didn’t understand. Was she on the hot seat for some unknown reason? Plenty of schoolyard scuffles had conditioned her to get her mitts up before an expected blow came. She mentally geared up to be ready to handle whatever he was about to lay on her.

“The financial aid you’ve been receiving for medical school came from Arthur Stanford. He arranged for the grant to be paid through Mr. Bancroft’s office.”

“Really?” she answered in honest surprise.

“Yes, really.”

She’d often wondered who’d set up the grant that had made it possible for her to attend medical school without interruption. She’d assumed that it was an organization, not an individual. The truth was, she’d applied for every financial aid listed in the college office. No one was more surprised than she was when the university’s director of admissions called and told her that she’d been selected by an anonymous donor for a generous stipend.

“I’ve been very grateful for his financial help,” she readily admitted. “It would have taken me an extra two years to work my way through medical school without it. My grant was a great deal more generous than most awards. Did Mr. Stanford financially help many medical students?”

“No, you’re the only one.”

“The only one?” she repeated in disbelief. “But why? I mean, why was I the fortunate one?”

Adam hesitated, not at all certain how to proceed. Bancroft had insisted that he be the one to tell her the truth, and he’d readily agreed, but Dr. Carolyn Leigh wasn’t at all what he’d expected. By any standard, she was a very attractive woman: petite features, soft, shapely mouth, large, sky blue eyes and blond hair the color of rich honey. Even her simple, inexpensive pink summer blouse and navy skirt couldn’t detract from a slender, shapely body that could easily give any man ideas.

Even though Adam had only been in her presence a few minutes, he’d already recognized that there was more to her than her appealing looks. An undeniable toughness and resilience radiated from her. He’d bet she could put any leering male in his place with a sharp word or a well-aimed kick. It wasn’t hard for him to imagine her in a doctor’s white jacket, a stethoscope around her neck and a bedside manner that could either charm or deftly manage the most unruly patient. No, she wasn’t at all what he’d expected. He wondered if they were handling this all wrong. There was nothing to do now but plunge ahead and be as honest as he could.

“It wasn’t an accident that you received the generous stipend,” he explained. “You see, Carolyn, Arthur Stanford has a personal interest in you.”

“How could that be? I told you I didn’t know Arthur Stanford,” she replied firmly. “I’ve never heard his name, as far as I know. And I have no reason to believe he’d have a special interest in me.”

Clearly she wasn’t about to accept the truth until she had more facts to back it up. Adam suspected this strong fiber in her personality was going to play havoc with his plans. He tried to keep his tone neutral, as if they were discussing something that wasn’t going to change her life forever.

“It’s true, isn’t it, Carolyn, that you’ve grown up without family and without knowing who abandoned you as an infant?”

She nodded. Her unknown roots had been like an albatross around her neck since she was old enough to know what the word orphan meant. She’d always been treated like a changeling, not belonging anywhere, not to anyone. She’d learned very young to make her way in the world alone, and as far as she was concerned that wasn’t going to change.

“I don’t see why my background is of interest here.” She firmed her chin as she locked her gaze on him. “What is this about?”

“I know that what I’m going to tell you, Carolyn, will be a shock. I guess there’s no way to prepare you for the news, so I’ll just come right out and say it.” Adam had the foolish urge to reach out and hold her hand, but realized she’d reject the gesture. “Arthur Stanford had a very personal interest in you, Carolyn, because he was your grandfather.”

Grandfather. The word exploded in Carolyn’s head like a grenade. She tried to say something, but for once in her life, her mouth wouldn’t work. Almost instantly shock turned into disbelief. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. With great effort, she found her voice.

“Let me get this straight. You’re telling me that the money I’ve been receiving is from Arthur Stanford and he’s my grandfather?”

He nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you. There’s no doubt about it. You’re Arthur Stanford’s granddaughter.”

Her whole life, Carolyn had dreamed of belonging to someone of her own flesh and blood, longing to know what family genes she carried. She’d fought all her battles from a sense of aloneness, and as she looked into Adam’s reassuring face and gentle eyes, she pleaded silently, Please, let this be true.

He must have read the plea in her expression, because he smiled and took her hand. The warm contact gave her the reassurance she needed to believe the impossible.

“I have a complete report here,” Bancroft said, handing Carolyn a folder.

Both men fell silent as she read the file.

For the first time Carolyn learned the mystery of her birth. Her mother, Alicia Stanford, had been a sixteen-year-old who ran away when she discovered she was pregnant. Her affluent family’s efforts to find her ended unhappily a year later when she returned home with a terminal disease. She refused to say what had happened to the baby and would not identify the father. Apparently nothing was done to try to locate the baby until a few years ago.

Carolyn learned that she was just starting medical school when the investigators her widowed grandfather hired finally tracked her down, and the millionaire began to support her education.

“He knew for four years that I was his granddaughter!” Disbelief gave way to deep disappointment. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes. “Why didn’t he tell me? Why did he keep it from me?”

“We don’t know,” the lawyer admitted. “When your grandfather arranged for your financial grant, he insisted on total secrecy.”

“He received continuous updates about you,” Adam told her. “He knew that you went to work for the financial firm Champion Realty and Investments right out of high school and could have worked your way up in that company. From all the reports, Carolyn, you certainly could have a career in business, as well as medicine.”

Bancroft shoved his glasses up his nose and cleared his throat. “And that brings us to the legal matter at hand. The good news. The matter of his will.”

Both men looked at her in a way that made her breath catch. “He left me…something?”