Chapter Five

Joy had been with Jordan a solid month. Woody couldn't believe how well she was coping with a baby. He figured by the end of the first week, the ME would be pulling her long, chestnut hair out.

No such luck.

If anything, Jordan was thriving on her short-term surrogate motherhood. He never would have figured. Her neighbor had agreed to baby sit during the day while Jordan worked. Macy took her off rotation and doubles for the time being. Everyone was thrilled with Joy…and the way Jordan took care of her. Even Max was singing Jordan's praises.

And Joy was quickly becoming a fixture around the morgue. Jordan would sometimes bring her in during the late afternoons when she only had paperwork to do. As she did this afternoon, when he had showed up at her office to go over some files. He found her in her desk chair, feeding Joy her bottle. He had stopped and watched silently at the door…just observing. He never would have figured that Jordan even knew which end of the baby to feed….much less that she even had the slightest maternal streak. Now seeing her with a baby in her arms, softly singing lullabies, was slightly surreal. He wondered what else he didn't know about her…never took the time to learn. To be honest, when they had been together – before Devan, he had one goal in mind…a few more kisses and a move to "third base." He wanted in her in his bed. Badly. He never even remotely assumed that Jordan liked kids. That thought just had never circled in his realm of consciousness with her. But she was definitely a woman, and he guess all women, on some level, dream of the little house, white picket fence, and kids in the back yard. So why should Jordan be any different?

"Ummm, are you about through?" he asked quietly from the doorway.

"Yeah…she's finished. Let me get her burped and in her seat." Jordan shifted Joy to her shoulder and began to pat her back. Joy burped and then slumped back down in sleep. Jordan gently positioned her in her seat, softly humming the entire time.

"You're good with her," Woody stated.

"And that surprises you, doesn't it?" she whispered, not wanting to wake the baby.

"It does…I guess I just never figured…you and babies…it just seems so incongruous."

Jordan smiled. "Not really. Not if you really knew me."

"What else do I not know about you?" he asked quietly, looking deep in her eyes.

"There's quite a bit. But that's water under the bridge of life…and it really doesn't matter now, does it?"

Woody sighed. "These files…" he began…going over the questions he had with her. It didn't take long, no more than twenty minutes, before she had answered all his questions. He got ready to leave, walking over and taking one last look at Joy in her seat. She was contentedly sleeping the rest of the afternoon away. A sudden thought filtered through his mind, unsettling it from its previous settled state. "No one in her family has come forward to claim her, have they?"

"No. Not yet."

"How long is Social Services going to wait?"

"Another two months."

"And then what will happen?"

"I'm going to try to adopt her."

Woody took a deep pull off his beer. After Jordan's announcement about possibly adopting Joy, she had asked for his help. Would he write a letter of recommendation? Would he testify in her behalf at the adoption hearing? Of course, he had said yes. He had stammered it out, really. For a half a second he had been expecting her to ask him to pose as her fiancé or something to give the lawyers and social workers the impression that Joy would eventually have both a father and a mother in her life. But she hadn't asked that of him.

And to tell you the truth, he was disappointed.

Jordan had kept up her end of their agreement when they shook hands that night, here, at the Pogue. She had been professional and friendly….his friend. And absolutely nothing more. She hadn't been pushy or forward. And the few times they had shown up at the same time at the bar, she had never even asked him to dance before she left…like she used to. In short, she was behaving perfectly.

Damn her.

The woman had always held a fascination for him. Even when he was up to his neck in his affair with Devin, there was always something that fascinated him about her. And since she got back from Atlanta, the fascination had only gotten worse. She was different. More mature. A real woman. He kept hoping she would slip up…just a little, so he could alter their relationship and aim it toward something more than a friendship. She hadn't. She had walked the line perfectly. So he was keenly disappointed when she didn't ask him to pose as her fiancé. At least that would have given him the opportunity to hold her hand…sit close…put his arm around her. Maybe spin the wheels of their relationship a little faster. But no. That wasn't going to happen.

Jordan only had eyes for Joy these days. And he kept telling himself he wasn't jealous of a baby. It was asinine to be jealous of an infant.

But he was.

And now Joy may be a permanent fixture in Jordan's life. He should be glad for Jordan. She finally had stability in her life…she was finally able to reach out to others…only she wasn't reaching out to him. But that was his own fault. He told her not to. Sighing and finishing his beer, he wondered just what he would have to do to get her attention again.

He went with her to the adoption hearing. Jordan was there, along with Joy, of course. So was Marci, the social worker. Rene Walcott, Garret, and a few other people were there to vouch for Jordan's sense of responsibility, duty, and ability to raise a child. Nigel and Max were there for moral support.

The judge heard all the testimony and had already read the letters of recommendation. While Social Services didn't exactly agree with a single mother adopting an infant, they weren't going to fight it too hard. Joy had bonded with Jordan, and no other relatives were found to take the baby. Jordan had a support system in place to help her care for the child and Joy's life was going on smoothly.

And Woody was glad for Jordan. It was obviously what she wanted. Joy had brought…well….joy into Jordan's life. The child had given her purpose and meaning and balance. If Woody had found Jordan fascinating before, now she was positively breath-taking. Motherhood had made her even more beautiful physically. She glowed when she was with Joy. In a million years, Woody would have never pictured that with Jordan. He guessed he had never really taken the time to know the woman on such a personal level…he guessed she had been too busy at one time chasing her mother's killer and he had been too busy trying to push her towards a more physical relationship.

The judge had now come back into the courtroom. He looked confused and a bit flustered. Woody didn't take it as a good sign. He was right.

"Dr. Cavanaugh. I have no doubt that you would be an excellent mother to Joy. You have more than proven yourself in the preceding months with the baby. You have a more than adequate support system and can financially provide for her. However, a new fact has just been brought before me concerning Joy and her family. An uncle has been located. He was overseas in Germany, serving in the army. That is why it has taken so long for Children's Services to locate him. He and his wife can't have children….he wants Joy very much. So…due to these circumstances…the fact that a next of kin has been located, I am sorry. The adoption of Joy to Dr. Jordan Marie Cavanaugh is denied. Case dismissed."