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She frowned at him. “Don’t lie to me. I know you’re engaged to Jennifer; it’s all over the papers!”
Scott shook his head. “No it’s not! Those are just assumptions from reporters at trashy magazines and fish wrapper publications that use our old photos to trick everyone into thinking we’re engaged. We are not engaged!”
She shrugged again. “Well, the Times is not a trashy publication, so say whatever you want, but just get rid of her so that we can be together. We have to be together, Scott… we are having a baby! We’re going to be a family! You have a responsibility, and you can’t just walk away from that!”
She slid her fingers into the neck of his shirt and tried to rub them over his bare chest, but he pushed himself up off of the sofa and began to pace back and forth across the floor in front of her. “I am not going to walk away from my responsibility to you or to my child!” He stopped then and stared straight ahead before turning to look sharply at her.
“How do I even know if that is my child?” he asked in frustration as his eyes bored into hers. “You cheated on your husband with me. Who’s to say who else you cheated on him with? You could have slept with any number of other guys. I don’t know that that really is my kid you’re carrying!” Scott took a few steps toward her and planted his hands on his hips. “I’ll tell you what. You get a paternity test. I made Naomi get one, and I’m going to make you get one.
You come back to me and we will open the results together. If that’s my kid, then I will absolutely take responsibility for it and for your care. Do you understand where I’m going with this? Will you get a paternity test?” he asked firmly.
She rose up from the sofa and walked up close to him again. “Yes, I will get a paternity test. Then you’ll see that the one night of burning passion that you and I shared resulted in a life that we created, and that we will raise together. Then you can get rid of your other women, and you and I can have a family, and so many more nights like the first one we had. Remember how much you loved it?” she asked coyly.
He pulled away from her and walked to the end of the living room. “I was drunk. What I remember is having sex with you. That’s it. There was nothing special about it that stayed in my mind. Get the paternity test, and if it turns out that you are actually carrying my baby, then we’ll talk about me taking financial responsibility for it. Until then, go back to your husband and don’t contact me again, and don’t you dare talk to any more reporters or media. That was way out of line. You had no business doing that.”
She frowned sharply and walked toward him as he began to head for his front door. “I can talk to anyone I want to! I had to set the record straight! I had to tell them the truth, because they were printing such outrageous stories about that rotten Naomi girl and Jennifer Jones!”
Scott leveled his gaze at her. “They’re still printing outrageous stories, and you’re adding to it. Now, get the test and then I’ll talk to you again, and don’t open it until you see me. I want us to open it together.” He looked at her seriously and she waved her hand in the air dismissively.
“Whatever. Fine. It’s your kid. I’ll be back with the proof of that, and then you and I can talk about being a family.” She turned on her heel and strutted out of the door. Scott glared furiously at the back of her head as she walked away, and then he closed the door hard behind her.
There was no way that he was doing anything for her until he had proof that the baby was actually his, and there was no way he was ever going to be with her, no matter what the results of the test came out to be.
He hadn’t been at his desk for more than an hour after Cora left when his phone rang. He looked at the screen and saw Jennifer’s face smiling back at him. He answered the phone with a tired sigh and a smile.
“Hey lady.” He leaned back in his chair and gave her his full attention. “What’s going on?”
There was a pause before she spoke with some hesitation. “What’s going on?” she asked in a soft voice. “Okay… so you haven’t seen the papers. We need to talk. Can I come over please?”
“What do you mean ‘seen the papers’? What’s happening now?” he asked worriedly.
She sighed. “I’m on my way over.”
“All right. See you when you get here.” He ended the call and frowned at his phone, wondering what more could possibly be happening.
Twenty minutes later, she was at his door. They walked to the back patio together and sat at the table beneath the umbrella.
“You look good,” he complimented her as they took their seats.
“Thanks! I changed my diet. I think it shows up in my skin and hair pretty well. So… we have a new problem.” She pulled the Times from her bag and laid it out in front of him, open to the pages where their engagement had been announced.
Scott’s jaw fell open as he stared at it, reading it in utter disbelief. “This?!” he gasped. “This… how did this… who… ohhhhhhh.” He groaned, leaning back and covering his face with one hand.
“So we’re officially engaged. Congratulations. I had no idea either until my housekeeper showed this to me.” She picked up a water bottle from her bag and took a long sip.
“I can’t believe this. Is it ever going to stop?” he muttered miserably.
“Well, this one isn’t a fish wrapper. This is the Times, Scott. This is one of the publications that takes this kind of thing seriously. This isn’t a rumor.” She eyed him expectantly.
He sat forward again and looked at the newspaper before him, shaking his head. “This is what Cora was talking about today. This is why she came over here.” He groaned.
“Cora? Who’s that?” Jennifer asked curiously.
He planted his forefinger on the photograph of the single woman at the bottom of the page. “That’s Cora,” he said quietly. “She showed up here a little while ago wanting me to dump Naomi and break off my engagement with you and shack up with her and her baby.”
Jennifer frowned. “Yeah… about that. What’s going on with you and Naomi? I thought that she was just your decorator. Then I saw this photo do
wn here, and… that is you, isn’t it? What are you doing walking out of an obstetrician’s office with her?”
