Tiffany walked into the house after work the next day and was greeted by Erin holding up two dresses.

"What in the world?" she asked.

"I brought these with me and you need to pick one." Erin said matter of factly. Tiffany shook her head as she sat her purse down on the counter.

"Lance is taking me bowling, Erin. Why do I need a dress?"

"So you look really good when you roll all one thousand gutter balls you're sure to roll."

"I'll try the black one on but that doesn't mean I am wearing it." Tiffany said since it looked like it had a bit more fabric than the red one. Erin handed her the black dress and then looked at the door.

"Where's Parker?" she asked.

"He stayed after school to practice for the play they're doing next weekend. I actually need you to go pick him up around six if you can."

"Cool beans." Erin said with a nod. "Now go get ready, you smell like a muffler." Tiffany found herself giggling like a teenager as she started toward the bathroom. The phone rang as she passed through the living room and she grabbed it quickly off the side table.

"Hello?"

"Hi I need to speak with a Tiffany Fields." a feminine voice replied. Tiffany thought about hanging up since it sounded like a sales person but she decided to be polite.

"This is her." she said.

"Hi ma'am. My name is Rita Hanson and I work with the hospital. We got a phone call from a Lance Asher today requesting a paternity test done between himself and your son. I wanted to make sure the appointment time he scheduled is okay with you." Tiffany felt her heart breaking apart in her chest. Why would Lance do this? He knew damn well that Parker was his son and even if he had had doubts in the beginning he had formed a bond with Parker over the last few weeks. It wasn't fair to Parker to question his paternity now.

"When is the appointment?" she asked fighting to keep her voice calm.

"Tomorrow at nine in the morning. It won't take any longer than ten minutes. All we have to do is swab your sons mouth."

"Thank you." Tiffany said and she hung up quickly. She threw the black dress down on the couch and went back to the kitchen.

"What are you doing? You have to get ready because Lance will be here in less than an hour."

"I am not going anywhere with that son of a bitch." Tiffany spat, her hurt quickly turning to anger as she slammed herself down in a chair at the table.

"What happened?" Erin asked sitting across from her.

"Apparently Lance is having doubts now and scheduled a paternity test for tomorrow."

"But I thought he was going to sign the birth certificate and ask Parker about changing his name tomorrow." Erin said with confusion.

"So did I." Tiffany replied as she tapped the phone on the table. "How could he do this? If he wasn't sure about being Parker's dad then he shouldn't have jumped into the role until after the paternity test. How am I supposed to explain this to Parker?"

"This doesn't sound like something Lance would do." Erin said in an effort to remain diplomatic.

"Well he did! The woman from the hospital said he scheduled the appointment. I don't care how much I love the man, I will not let him hurt my son."

"Why don't we wait and give him a chance to explain himself?" Erin asked gently. Erin would kill Lance herself if he was really putting Tiffany through this but for some reason she knew there had to be more to the story. Lance had seemed sure that Parker was his son and there had to be an explanation for the sudden doubts.

888

Lance wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and cursed at the way his heart was hammering in his chest. He was a twenty six year old man but right now he felt like a nervous teenager as he walked up to Tiffany's door. He knocked and then waited for someone to answer.

He raised his brow when he heard angry whispers coming from the other side of the door and knew there was an argument going on between Tiffany and Erin. Lance was wondering if he should knock again when the door opened and Erin was looking at him with a tight smile.

"Come on in." she said in a tense voice. Lance stepped into the kitchen and saw Tiffany sitting at the table with a tear stained face and anger in her green eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked starting toward her. He stopped suddenly and ducked when the telephone she had been holding in her hand passed dangerously close to his head, before bouncing off the wall and crashing to the floor.

"How dare you!" Tiffany demanded angrily as she rose from her chair and pointed an angry finger at him. Lance took a step back and held his hands up.

"How dare I what? And why did you throw the phone at me?" he asked. He knew how bad her temper was and right now she was clearly very angry.

"I thought you were a singer, I never realized you were such a good actor! All this time pretending to believe that Parker was your son when really you didn't believe me from the beginning. You really had me fooled, Lance. You even had me starting to believe the three of us were going to be a family!"

"We can be a family, Tiffany, I love you." Lance said as his brain tried to wrap around everything she was saying. "And I know Parker is my son why are you saying this stuff?" Tiffany's mouth quit working momentarily as her brain registered the fact that he had just said he loved her and wanted the three of them to be a family.

He was more cruel than she would have ever guessed. She had always thought he was one of the most kind and gentle men she had ever meant but now she was seeing the real him. He was a liar and a selfish jerk.

"Stop saying what you think I want to hear!" Tiffany said and Lance saw her face flame red as she stomped her foot and put her hands on her hips.

"I don't understand what you're mad about," Lance said as he looked at her and Erin helplessly and wished one of them would explain.

"You don't understand why I am mad?" Tiffany demanded. "How about I explain it to you."

"Please do." Lance said, keeping his voice calm and quiet in hopes that that would soothe her anger.

"All this time you've been playing daddy and then you go behind my back and schedule a paternity test at the hospital? What do you think I am, some gold digging slut who is lying about you having a son just so I can get my hands on your money? I don't need your damn money, I have plenty of my own! How dare you make my son love you and then pull something like this!"

"I didn't schedule a paternity test, Tiffany. I know Parker is mine." Lance said as a nagging suspicion in the back of his mind told him exactly who had caused all this trouble.

"Well the hospital called me, Lance, and they said that Lance Asher scheduled a paternity test for tomorrow morning." Tiffany replied feeling doubt creep into her at the helpless look on his face.

"It wasn't me, Tiff. I wouldn't do that to you or to Parker. You should know me good enough to know that I wouldn't do that."

"I know what I heard." Tiffany replied as her anger deflated and tears filled her eyes. "Now leave."

"Tiff please…." Lance started but Erin opened the door and motioned for him to leave.

"I think you should go for now. She's not in the mood to talk anymore." she said as Tiffany sat back down at the table and buried her face in her hands. Lance felt his heart break as he watched her shoulders heave up and down and he knew she was crying.

"Tiffany, I'm going to fix this. I didn't call that hospital but I know who did. I love you. I have loved you since I was nineteen and I love that boy and I know he's mine. Just forget about the appointment at the hospital because I don't need some damn nerd in a lab coat to tell me that Parker is my son." When Tiffany didn't look up or acknowledge that he had spoken he felt his heart break. He wanted desperately to walk across this room, take her into his arms and kiss her senseless until she knew without a doubt how much he loved her.

"Just go, Lance. Give her some space." Erin said gently.

"I didn't do this. It was my manager. I'd be willing to bet my life on it." Lance replied angrily. Erin nodded.

"I believe you and Tiffany will too. She's just hurt right now." Lance nodded. He spared one more glance at Tiffany and then walked out the door. As he fired his truck to life and headed down the road he felt his anger growing. Damn Thomas Blaine for sticking his big red nose where it didn't belong.

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Thomas's office. When Peggy answered, Lance didn't even try to be friendly.

"Where the hell is Thomas?" he demanded. Peggy stuttered several times before she finally found her voice again.

"He is out of the office for a couple days, Mr. Asher. I believe he is coming your way."

"Thanks Peggy." Lance said and hung up the phone. Lance was growing angrier by the second as he pulled up to the hotel and saw the reporter sitting outside.

"Lance Asher!" the short, nerdy man said as Lance got out of his truck.

"I'm not in the mood right now." Lance replied and the man seemed taken aback for a moment. Lance had always been friendly with reporters and worked hard to maintain a friendly image. Right now however he was dying to break something and the mans little voice recorder was fixing to get shattered on the sidewalk if he didn't get it out of his face.

"Please just give me an interview. I'm with Country US magazine." Lance was about to tell the man to go to hell when he realized that this would be the perfect time to let the world know about his son. He let out a long breath and nodded.

"Come on up to my room and I'll give you an exclusive. There is some news that I would like the world to know."