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conceived?”
    Jordan hesitated before answering. “I met your mother in a bar on the night before I was about to ship out. We were both alone and got to talking, and one thing led to another. We didn’t even exchange last names. In fact, we barely spoke at all about our lives outside the bar. I’m not normally so casual in my relationships, but I was lonely and feeling bad that I didn’t have anyone to miss me while I was gone. My best friend had just gotten engaged to the girl I’d been in love with since high school. I knew she loved him and would never be mine, but while I was trying to come to terms with that, I guess I just wanted companionship for one night.”
    “I’m sorry. That must have been hard for you,” Tj sympathized.
    “It was, but I’ve dealt with it and moved on. After I heard about Gracie, I looked back on that night and regretted that things happened the way they did.”
    “ But back then . . .?”
    “I never heard from your mother . Like I said, I didn’t even know her last name, and I wasn’t sure Trixie was even her real first name.”
    Tj laughed. “Trixie was her dog’s name.”
    “I figured as much.”
    Hunter got up and poured everyone a glass of water from the pitcher he kept on the sideboard. Tj smiled at him as he set a glass in front of her. He seemed content to allow her to continue with the interview now that the ice had been broken, yet she knew that if she needed him, he’d willingly jump in.
    “You must have been shocked when you got the letter from Mom’s friend.”
    “I was more than shocked,” Jordan admitted. “Initially, I figured it was a scam.”
    “A scam?”
    “It wouldn’t be the first time a woman claimed a man was the father of her child to extort money from him. After I looked into things a bit, I realized this child could actually be my daughter, so I contacted my attorney. He looked into it further, and eventually we contacted you. I realize there’s a chance I might not be Gracie’s father. What your mother and I had was very brief, and although I don’t claim to have really known the woman, it seemed as if entering into casual relationships was something she was comfortable with.”
    Tj laughed. “You aren’t wrong. My mom was a very special woman in her own way , but she liked variety in her love life. No offense, but you aren’t at all her type. She normally went for men who were as wild as she liked to be.”
    “I suppose I must have caught her on a contemplative night. She seemed a lmost sad. It was as if she was struggling with something in her life. It was her vulnerability that drew me to her in the first place.”
    It was odd to think of her mom as having real problems. Tj’d never had much of a relationship with the woman who’d given birth to her. She’d left Tj with her dad when she was still a toddler and hadn’t spent much time with her as she was growing up, although she was apt to pop in from time to time, Tj suspected, to irritate her father. When she’d gotten older, her mom began coming to her for help with one crisis after another. Tj tried to be a good daughter, but other than sending her money or bailing her out of jail, she’d never had the real relationship with her she’d longed for.
    When Tj found out she ’d been named Ashley and Gracie’s legal guardian, she’d been both thrilled and terrified. There had always been a part of her that wanted to save the sisters she barely knew from the life she imagined they most likely led. Her mother’s second husband, the girls’ father, was out of the picture, so there hadn’t been anyone to challenge her right to raise her sisters. Until now.
    “If my mother had to have a child as a result of one of her flings then I’m glad it was with you,” Tj informed the man. “Most of the men she dated really weren’t the type you’d want to father your child.”
    “Did your mom’s husband know she spent time with other men?” Jordan asked.
    Tj shrugged. “I’m