On My Own: Book Three in the Who's Your Daddy series Read Online Free Page B

he closed the door, he pressed the answer bar. “Hello, Caroline.”
    “Hi, Dirk,” she replied in a breathy voice. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
    “No,” he lied. “I was just about to grab a bite to eat.”
    “Well, I’m not going to keep you then. Just wanted to let you know everything is in place for the next three days. We’ll have a welcome back party Wednesday, school assembly on Thursday and a parade before the football game on Friday.”
    “Sounds great. Did you have a hard time convincing the folks to go along?”
    “A bit,” she replied. “But it’s all good.”
    “I bet your father’s not happy about this.”
    “He’s not, but I assured him everything will be alright. It will be okay, right Dirk? You’re not going to take my son away from me.”
    “You mean our son,” he bit out. “Like I told you, I will not pursue any legal action against you concerning custody as long as you and the town do what I’ve asked.” He paused to ease his temper. “Don’t forget to give me an estimate on the cost, okay?”
    “Okay . I’ll send you a text with a detailed itinerary so you can pass it onto the film crew. Goodbye, Dirk.” She disconnected the call before he could say anything more. But it was all good. He got what he wanted, hadn’t he?

    Chapter Four
    “Now that’s more like it.” Monique gave him a thumbs up as they entered Devinne’s city limits. On their right was a huge, wooden sign proclaiming Devinne as the birthplace of Dirk Benedict, league MVP and championship quarterback. There were even several banners suspended on telephone poles along their route welcoming him home. “I knew they’d come through.”
    Dirk ’s left eyebrow rose as he tried his best not to laugh. Caroline must have done a lot of tap dancing and probably outright begging to get the townsfolk to cooperate. But she did it, that’s all that mattered.
    He casually glanced out the window of the limo and took in the miraculous changes on Main Street. Instead of the dirt and trash he saw just three days ago, the area was now tidy without a lick of litter in sight. The young men hanging out on the corners were gone and the boarded up storefronts now had colorful photos hung up to disguise the blight.
    Instead of the blank stares that met him on Sunday when he drove through town, today the citizenry smiled as the limo passed. A few even waved and shouted “Welcome home”. He almost wanted to roll down the window and return their greetings, but stopped when he realized it was all part of the show. Caroline probably ordered them to be on their best behavior.
    After speaking with her yesterday, instead of delighting in the upcoming week, he spent the rest of the day in a funky mood. How could she have kept his son away from him all these years? And how could she or her father have persuaded a whole town to keep that secret? He knew his acceptance of the scholarship to USC and transfer upset some people, but to go so far as to deny him the opportunity to be a father was too much.
    He spent much of the early morning hours today in the gym, working himself so hard that Monique had to practically drag him back to his suite. Physical exertion made him forget about his problems, and he certainly had a ton right now. First and foremost was how he was going to establish a connection to his son.
    Just thinking about the boy, Jordan, made his breath hitch. He’d only seen him for a few minutes on Monday, but he saw enough to know that he was his splitting image. Same nose, same eye color, same smile. The back of his eyes burned thinking about all he’d missed in his son’s life; his birth, his first steps and first words. He missed him saying “Dada”.
    The film crew had arrived earlier in the day and had set up their equipment near the entrance of the municipal building. Although the rest of the town seemed to have fallen into disrepair, the politicians made sure their headquarters were in tip top shape. As