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“Child support is supposed to be based on the relative financial strength and stability of both parents. Last time, how much Pam made didn’t apply. This time, the existence of the trusts likely will be a significant factor,” she explained.

With Pam, I was told that it would be based on my income. While I’d gotten a substantial advance on my two upcoming Star Academy movies, I was just now starting to receive the bulk of my earnings from The Secret Circle. Rita James had promised me that if it hit certain numbers—basically enough to pay off her investors—she would pay me a bonus. This wasn’t really talked about at the time I helped bail her out when her leading man had quit. At the time, she was scrambling to pull everything together.

The Royal Palm was being released this winter, and I was yet to film the J-drama and the James Bond movie. Ms. Dixon was right. A lawyer would see that potential income stream and go after as much of it as possible. Not that I didn’t want to support my children. I did, but I didn’t want to go broke doing it. The problem was, I might not have the same income moving forward. I’d read horror stories about people trying to reduce their support payments once their income streams dried up.

Then I had the businesses. They were starting to show a profit. My local farm was projected to break even this year, even after all the money we spent to fix it up and clean up the fields and orchards. Uncle John’s farm’s income had jumped when he’d partnered with the neighboring farm. Mom’s real estate company was in the black, and the restaurants had been a hit. My partnerships with Jack Mass and Frank Ingram had dovetailed nicely with our management business, so much so that they’d had to hire additional managers. Frankly, in the long run, this would be how I made my living.

The best outcome would be something based on the assets and incomes of all three families that was amicable and that encouraged everyone to remain friendly. I wanted to get to know my kids and not have them used as bargaining chips down the road.

“I understand that you insisted on paternity tests,” Ms. Dixon continued. “From what your mom told me, they will probably come back that you are the father. I know you never had one done for Coby because you trusted Pam to tell you the truth. In this case, I assume you don’t have that same trust level.”

“Correct. Plus, the girls encouraged me to do so, believe it or not. There shouldn’t be a problem with that.”

“Good. I’ve overnighted test kits to the hotel. Tomorrow, we’ll have everyone do the test, and you can send it back. We should know by the middle of next week for certain.”

“Like I said, I think they’re mine,” I admitted.

Everyone was staring at me, so I put Ms. Dixon on speakerphone.

“What do you want out of this?” she asked.

“If we could do something like we did for Pam and me, that would be great,” I said with a straight face.

Thankfully, Dad grabbed Mom before she could go medieval on me. Brook gave me a look that said if I was going to be that dumb, then I was on my own.

“Strike that,” I continued. “I think my mom isn’t willing to step up like she did last time.”

“Do you blame her?”

“No. I’m rather surprised she’s still willing to take on Coby. His daycare had the flu go through it. We pulled Greg’s and my kids out, and Mom has watched them for the past two weeks. I think three more would kill her.”

“You’d also better think of something nice for your mother as payment for her sacrifices,” Ms. Dixon said to offer even more unsolicited advice.

“I thought all grandmothers wanted to spend more time with their grandchildren. Isn’t that payment enough?” I asked.

Ms. Dixon snorted at that, and Dad laughed as well. They drew my mom’s ire. I had better come up with something good if I wanted to go home and remain alive after this weekend.

“I saw the new Cadillacs are at Sullivans’,” Mom suggested.

“You’ll get that the same time Tracy gets her Mustang,” I quipped.

“I’ll let her know,” Mom said, and her expression dared me to tell her otherwise.

“Back on topic,” Ms. Dixon said. “What’s the ideal outcome?”

“I just don’t have enough information to know for now, but I do think they need some financial assistance, at least in the short term. Both girls just graduated from college and need to set up living arrangements and get jobs, which will mean daycare. I’ll want to make sure they have enough for raising the kids. I’ve discovered they aren’t as cheap as getting a dog.”

“What about visitation?”

“Good question. When am I going to have time? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that in a negative way; I mean that literally. Somehow, I’ll have to make the time. I just don’t know.”

“If you would get your pilot’s license …” Brook pointed out.

She was right. I needed to knock that out. If I had it, I could fly in for a weekend or day and see them.

I wrapped up the call because Dad pointed at his phone. It was time to go to dinner with my new baby mamas.

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