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“I can’t put myself in her shoes.”
“Why does she think there will be a lot of drama?” he asked. “I’m not sure what I’m missing unless you want to see him and then he will say it’s false or defamation?”
“It could be those things. Or she could have worried he’d do that. I don’t believe he can be charged with anything at this point, but it wouldn’t look good for him or his life to know he got a sixteen-year-old pregnant when he was thirty-four. His life would be ruined. All I’d have to do is try to get a DNA test to prove it. Emily has the information from the money sent to her. There is a trail for sure.”
“If you want to pursue it,” he said. “Or maybe he’d think you’d blackmail him?”
“All those things came into my head until I found out what the big drama is. I think that is what Emily felt might happen too. Now I’m not sure that is what he would be thinking of.”
“Don’t keep me in suspense,” he said.
“When Emily told her mother, there was a lot of shock. She said her mother knew there was flirting going on and told Jason it was inappropriate. Emily didn’t know anything of this. I guess Emily’s mother went to her boss and Jason was spoken to and that was part of the reason he left.”
“But Emily’s mother never put it together Jason was the father?”
“I don’t think she believed Jason would have sex with a minor. And Emily wasn’t giving up the name. But Stacy, that is Emily’s mother, she never spoke of Jason again because she was just happy he was gone.”
“And now that Stacy knows Jason was the father?”
“I guess Stacy told Emily that Jason moved back to the area a few years ago. He’s divorced now and works at another practice. He has a three-year-old grandson that is battling leukemia. It was brought up a month ago in the office where her mother still works. Jason is doing everything he can to find a family member that could be a donor match.”
“Oh fuck no,” he said.
She lifted her eyebrow. “That would be my choice and not yours, Royce.” Not that she didn’t think the same thing.
“Chloe. You’re pregnant. This guy took advantage of a sixteen-year-old girl. Let’s call it what it is. He raped her.”
“I know all those things. I really do. But there is a three-year-old that is sick and innocent right now.”
“You need to think of yourself and our baby.”
“I am. I will. I did some research and found that you don’t have to be a family member to be a donor. You just need to find someone to be a match. I don’t follow those things so I had no idea. Emily said Jason is very condescending and wants it kept within his family. If he knew I was out there, he’d be knocking on my door.”
“My door,” he said. “He’d have to get past me. There is no way he is either.”
“Royce,” she said firmly.
“Chloe. No. This guy asked a sixteen-year-old to end her pregnancy. Then he left when he thought he’d get in trouble. He never once followed up if she did or not. Nothing. If his grandson wasn’t sick it sounds like he’d do everything Emily thought originally and cause a problem for you if you said he was the father. You don’t need him in your life.”
“No, I don’t. I have to come to peace with this myself. I’m not jumping on anything. I have to ask myself what I hoped to gain by knowing him.”
“That’s right. What do you hope to get out of this?”
“I don’t know. But I do know I’m going to fill my belly and then we are going to talk about our baby girl’s nursery. Can we just do that?”
She knew he didn’t want to end this, but he sighed and said, “Sure. We can do that.”
41
Win Them Over
“Does everyone have what they need?” Royce asked both sides of the family on the Fourth of July.
He and Chloe figured it was time that they got both sides together to meet. For him, he wanted the woman he loved to know he was all in and he was going to say it in front of her family.
For Chloe, she was ready to let everyone know where she stood with Jason. Everyone was fully aware of the situation but stayed back to let her make her decision.
He knew Dane gave her an earful but then helped her try to understand from a medical perspective. Everyone had an opinion, himself included, but it did have to come down to Chloe.
