AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I took each of their little hands, and we walked down to the water. I never saw myself wanting another child, but with Jeremy, he just fit in so well with Christian. They could have easily been twins. It was nice having another child around for Christian to play with, but also to just watch him grow up. With offering Jasmine a position with my company, I was hoping that she would take it, and the boys could continue to grow up together. Jeremy was a special little boy, and I was really hoping I would get to spend more time with him and get to watch as he grew into being a great man.
I was also hoping that the four of us could be a family one day. I didn’t know how Jasmine felt about me. If she wanted something deeper or not. She just got out of a long-term relationship that resulted in a child, and she had the custody battle going on right now. I would completely understand if she needed more time before getting into anything serious. Time I was happy to give her. Still, I was hoping that we could develop something deeper and real.
Only time would tell on that. For now, I was going to embrace all of the time I was able to get with my three favorite people. Hopefully, Jasmine would be here soon, and she could join us in having all of this fun and building mud castles. I had a feeling that would be something she was really good at doing. Today was all about fun and family, and that was all I wanted it to be.
Jasmine
Imadeitbackto my car to see that Liam had sent me a text letting me know that he had picked up the boys and had taken them to the beach. I didn’t expect for him to pick up Jeremy along with Christian. I was torn between feeling happy that he was getting some one-on-one time with him, but also guilty because he was getting that time with his own son, and he didn’t even know it.
Fuck, I had to figure this out. I turned my car on and started to make the drive over to the beach. I hit the hand free call button as I spoke.
“Call Kenny.”
“Calling Kenny,” the female British automated voice said back.
Ringing filled the car, and I was really hoping he would answer. I needed someone to talk this out with. He was going to be very shocked, but I had to talk to someone about this that knew me. That could talk openly and tell me exactly what I needed to hear. Kenny was the only person that has ever been able to do that with me.
“Well hello Sweet Girl,” Kenny greeted me.
“I’m not sure how sweet you will think of me in a minute,” I warned. I knew he was still going to love me, but that didn’t change that it was going to be a shock to him. And he was going to feel a sense of betrayal that I hadn’t confided in him with this.
“Oooh, tell me all of the dirty details,” he practically purred, and it was so not what he was thinking.
“Liam is actually Jeremy’s biological father and not Adam. But neither men know that,” I blurted out. I hadn’t been planning on telling him this way, but it kinda just happened.
“Bitch, what?” Kenny said, and I knew if I could see him right now, the blood would be draining out of his face.
I let out a deep breath before I went into the whole story. He didn’t ask any questions, but I knew he was trying to digest everything I was unloading onto him. When I finally finished the story, he spoke.
“Wow. Just … wow.”
“I know. It’s pretty big and pretty terrible. I am a terrible person.”
“You’re not a terrible person. You made a terrible decision out of fear. I can’t hold that against you. What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. My lawyer thinks I need to tell Liam so we can both fight against Adam. That maybe once the truth is out, Adam will back off not wanting to go up against someone like Liam. I have no idea what I am going to do or what the right call is to make.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it. You know what the right decision is here. You didn’t call me because you needed advice. You called me because you know I’m not going to let you lie to yourself or tell you what you want to hear. You know you have to tell him. Fuck, you have to tell them.”
I knew he was right. It’s why I called him, why I always called him whenever I needed someone to tell me exactly what I needed to hear. The fact that he was right didn’t change that it was going to be incredibly difficult to actually have this conversation with Liam. I was worried about his reaction more than anything. It was one thing to say that he was level headed and a good man, but another for that to be tested with information of this caliber.
“I know … I know. Really I do, but I just don’t know how to tell him. And not just Liam, but Adam as well. How do you tell someone that the child they have believed to be theirs for the past four years, truly isn’t? How do you tell a man that he missed out on the past four years to be with his son? Liam already has a son; he will know exactly what he missed out on. There’s no way I can make it up to either of them or to Jeremy.”
I had to own up to my actions. I knew that I did. But for the past two years, I had grown at peace with keeping my head buried in the sand, and I wasn’t in any hurry to pull it out. Now I had to, and I didn’t know how I was ever going to manage to get the words out.
“You can’t, but you are also costing them more time by delaying telling them. It’s not going to be easy. It’s probably going to be the hardest conversation you will ever have to have, but you need to have it. And you need to have it today. You can’t put it off any longer, or you will only cause more pain.”
“I know. I just wish I hadn’t done any of this. That I could go back in time and either never do the DNA test or be honest from the start. I didn't think this far ahead. I acted out of fear, and now everyone is paying for my mistake.”
It was hard to explain to someone how you were a good person, but you made this horrible mistake. Most people only see a person for their mistakes, and they judge you based on them. Based on a single moment of fear and regret. Every ounce of trust that I had managed to build with Liam was going to be destroyed after this. We might never be able to be the same ever again and it hurt. I had come to care for him. To care for Christian, and the last thing I wanted to do was cause either of them pain. To lose what we had started to form.
“Everyone makes mistakes. Sure, yours is a pretty big one, but everyone does. It’ll take time, but I am sure Liam will come around to see that. To understand that you acted out of fear and not rationality. Plus, from an outsider’s point of view, he shares about one percent of the blame. He slept with you a handful of times in one night and then four years later you have a three-year-old. He could have done the math and asked you if Jeremy was his. He’s seen both boys next to each other for a few weeks now. Has he really not noticed any similarities?”
“It’s my fault, not his.”
Yes, you could argue that Liam should have at least asked or have noticed something by now. However, it wasn’t on him to ask. I could have told him when I saw him on the side of the road after my dash from the altar. He was in the right to assume that I would have said something had there been anything to tell.
“Oh Honey, I’m not saying you are off the hook. Just that when he thinks about it, it will all add up.”
