Chapter Eleven

Former Lovers Present Parents

"I was never good enough for you."

The bitter comment Jordan made right before their entrees came kept ringing through Woody's mind. For the rest of dinner and again right now, as he watched her sleep beside their son's bed.

Once the meal came, they had eaten quickly and mainly in silence. Woody absorbing what Jordan had just told him….and Jordan rushing through the meal as swiftly as she could in order to get back to Will. Once back at the hospital, Woody made sure an easy chair was brought in for her, as well as blankets and a pillow. When he had assured himself that Will and Jordan were fine, he told them good night, and eased out the door.

Only he had never left the hospital. He walked the surrounding sidewalks for two hours, then returned once more to Will's room…more to check on Jordan than his son. Her bitter comment, made almost in passing, I was never good enough for you, rankled him to no end.

Whatever gave her that idea? And was that the real reason she never pushed to inform him about Will? That Woody didn't think she was good enough…and would have fought to have their son removed from her custody?

And not good enough for what?

From the time Woody had known Jordan, she was a consummate ME. Okay, sometimes her tactics were a bit over the top….no, a lot over the top…but her pursuit of truth and justice could never be questioned. She dug up the details….and listened to them. And although at first, Jordan could seem a little harsh and rough around the edges, if she was your friend, there was no way you could ever doubt her loyalty. She'd be there for you … whether or not she believed you did the right thing or not. Just look how she stood by Garret.

And him. The Montgomery case came to mind. If it hadn't been for Jordan, Woody would be rotting away in some jail cell right now.

So what in the hell wasn't she good enough for?

He had a sinking feeling that deep down under his ruminations, he knew. She didn't think she was good enough to be his….girlfriend or his wife …and thought that Woody doubted she was good enough to be Will's mother

And he knew who gave her that idea.

He did.

He had rejected her….abruptly….in a way that would hurt her the most. He had assumed, by the time they had the fight in her office, that she had bounced back…decided the absence of her in his life was his loss. But she hadn't. It was all bravado. She was hurting then…and she had never gotten over that rejection.

And to tell you the truth, neither had he. He had gone out to San Diego with an ache in his heart…and other parts of his body remembering all too well what it was like to be with her…hold her….kiss her…make love to her. How she felt when she lost control with him….

He never forgot. Even after several years had passed and he found himself engaged to Kelly….a gorgeous photo model with strawberry blonde hair and green eyes. He had woken up next to her one day, three months before their wedding, and realized that no matter how hard he pretended, he was never going to roll over in the morning to find honey brown eyes and chestnut curls.

And he couldn't live with pretense and lies. He broke off the engagement and broke another woman's heart.

He had thought about re-establishing contact with Jordan then. Coming clean. Telling her the truth. But when he began to make discreet inquiries, he found out that her last name had changed. Turner. She was married. He dropped the idea of reconnecting with her. Will would have been about….seven then. He cursed himself for being a coward.

He could have saved all three of them what was adding up to be a world of hurt. He watched her stir in her sleep, struggling to get comfortable in an uncomfortable hospital recliner, sleeping beside their son's bed. Making sure Will was safe. Idly, he wondered how many sleepless nights Jordan had spent in the past, worrying over the well-being their child. He caught himself before he reached out and brushed a curl out of her face, as Will's parting words wafted through his mind one more time: She doesn't realize she needs someone to take care of her, too, you know?

Maybe they all three needed to take care of each other.

But first, they had to tell Will.

Jordan woke as the nurses changed shifts and the morning staff came into check Will over. She sat up and stretched, vaguely wondering if last night had been more of a dream than reality. The sight of Woody's jacket that he had accidentally left reassured her that their conversation wasn't a vision of the twilight zone. It had happened and was very real. Jordan slowly began realizing that her past wasn't in the past any longer, it had intruded on her present and all of their futures. Will was no longer just her child, but proof beyond all reasonable doubt that she and Woody had some sort of relationship at one time.

Even if it was a heated, passionate one-night stand that had cooled to freezing the minute the sun had come up.

She looked over at Will who was still sleeping through the blood pressure checks. "How is he?" she whispered to the nurse.

"Doing much better. I have a feeling after another lung x-ray, he'll get the 'all-clear' from Dr. Sullivan and can head home. Keep him quiet over the weekend and he can go to school on Monday."

Jordan nodded, thankful soccer season was now over and that was one battle she didn't have to face. Denying Will playing time would be tantamount to telling Nige he couldn't use the computers for a month.

She stood from the chair and stretched, then walked over to talk to her son, who was just beginning to wake up. "Hey sunshine," she greeted softly.

"Hmpf. Coffee?" he asked hopefully.

Jordan had to grin. He was as addicted to the stuff as she was. "I'll see what I can do. It won't be Starbucks…"

"Yeah, but it'll be caffeine. Is Detective Hoyt…Woody….still here?"

"No…he left last night after he brought me back to the hospital."

"Funny…I could have sworn I saw him early this morning, standing in the doorway looking at you."

Startled, Jordan just managed to cover her surprise. "I'm sure you were just dreaming, Will. They've had you on some strong meds."

Will nodded. "He said you two sort of dated before you met Dad," he continued on.

"He told you that?" How dare he, Jordan thought, thinking that Woody may have told Will more than he should have.

"Not exactly. I asked. He said you dated a little…and decided you were better as friends. You two hung out but didn't hook up," Will grinned, thinking about his mom and Woody together. He had a feeling his mom called the shots on most of the hanging out….just like she called the shots on most things now. He had always had a feeling his dad must have had strong powers of persuasion to even get his mom to slow down and even think about marriage….putting her trust in someone other than herself.

"He said that? Oh. Well….sort of. We worked together quite a bit before….before he left to go to San Diego."

"He's kind of nice, Mom. Maybe you two should thing about dating again."

Jordan swallowed the lump of fear in her throat, only to find it bobbing up again. "I…I don't think so, Will. I keep telling you, you're the only man I need in my life."

Will grinned. "Yeah, right. You need someone, Mom."

"We are not having this conversation right now, young man. I'm going to find some coffee…you're going to sit back and wait on Dr. Sullivan. Hopefully, we're going to be home by lunch time. And don't even ask me to go anywhere this weekend. Your butt will be in bed so that you can go to school on Monday. You have exams."

"Yep," Will leaned back in the bed, both hands behind his head. "And then three weeks off for Christmas."

Jordan was half-way out the door when she heard Will's words.

The holidays.

Shit.

She wondered just how wonderful and joyous they would be this year. Will would gain a father he never knew….

But in the process, find everything he thought to be true shook from its very foundations.

Woody glanced at his phone for the third time in less than thirty seconds.

"Looking at that thing it isn't going to make it ring," commented Framus, not glancing up from her computer screen.

"Is it that obvious?" he asked.

"Yeah…at least to me. So who are you waiting on to call you? The new chick from the DA's office…or the hottie you met in the bar last week that insisted on giving you her phone number?"

"You spend entirely too much time analyzing my love life, man."

"Nothing else to do with my time…and stop looking at your phone. Who are you expecting a call from, anyway?"

"Jordan." He said her name slowly and reluctantly, his tongue lingering over the two syllables.

"Doc C? Are you two on some case together?"

"No," he said just as reluctantly and slowly…not wanting to talk about it, but needing to confess to someone why he was so antsy and short-tempered this morning.

"What then? You make a pass at her and she turn you down….again? Some things won't change, Wood-man…"

"No….she's supposed to call me about Will. She had to take him to the hospital yesterday…and …."

"Will's in the hospital?" Framus asked anxiously. She got out of her chair and walked over to Woody's desk, perching on the side. "What happened?"

"His lung collapsed. He has Bullis Disease," Woody continued, not looking her in the eyes, fearing she may be able to read the truth there and he wasn't ready for that.

"Is he going to be okay?'

"Yeah…from what the doctors told us last night….he'll be able to control it with some pills."

"Told us? You were with them?"

"I was with Jordan when she got the phone call," Woody lied, hoping to cover his tracks. I followed her to the hospital."

"Oh." Framus seemed to digest this tidbit of information without question.

"Anyway, she's supposed to call me if they let him out today. I…I…just want to know."

Framus nodded before she slowly got up from Woody's desk. "I know….Will's a pretty special kid. Kept his mom sane after Jason died. He's been her reason to keep going. And in the process of growing up, he's been in and out of the morgue and here enough that most of us kind of consider him our kid."

Woody tapped his fingers nervously on his desk top. He wanted to ask the next question, but didn't want to arouse Roz's suspicions. "I guess he was a lot like Jordan growing up."

Framus chuckled at the memories. "Curious, like her….had to have answers…precocious … sweet….loving….but he had this smile that could melt the hardest heart….I don't necessarily like kids, but Will had me from the first time I saw him. One thing about Will, though. He's Momma's boy. And I don't mean that in a sissy kind of way. I mean he loves Jordan…and looks after his mom." Framus slid from Woody's desk top and went back to her cubicle. "And if I were you, I'd call her. She may be so busy getting him back home she hasn't even thought about calling you yet."

Woody took her words to heart. He hit two on his speed dial. A few seconds later, Jordan was answering his call.

"Is he asleep?" Woody asked, after Jordan responded to his knock on the door. He had caught her with his phone call while she was signing the papers to get Will released from the hospital. She told him she would be in touch with him back as soon as she got Will home and settled.

"Yeah….his medicine kind of makes him groggy. He'll wake up in a little while," she replied ushering Woody into her living room, self-consciously moving her things off the couch to make room for him to sit down. "You're….you're welcome to stay until he wakes up."

"But the doctor says the meds should control his lungs? Keep them from doing this again?"

Jordan nodded. "They will help, and plus the fact that he runs and plays soccer….all that aerobic activity helps, too. That's what's probably kept him from having a collapsed lung before now." She sat down on the sofa beside Woody, trying not to appear too ill at ease. The last person she ever expected to be in her living room was Woodrow Wilson Hoyt.

Former lover. Present father of her son.

"I guess we need to talk," Woody said, sitting forward and propping his elbows on his knees.

Jordan nodded. "I've been thinking….I don't want to tell Will right now…"

"I agree. I think he needs to be a little stronger than he is right now before we tell him."

"But he needs to be told before takes his birth certificate and goes to try for his driver's license. I don't want it to be a total shock to him."

Woody nodded in agreement. "No….that would be really bad…."

"I'm glad you agree. So I was thinking right after Christmas, we could tell him," Jordan concluded.

Woody thought for a moment, not wanting to upset Jordan too much, but knowing what he felt in his heart. He slowly shook his head. "No. I've spent sixteen Christmases without my son. I want this one with him."