In chapter 2 we were introduced to the girls' soccer coach and her rough approach when it comes to coaching. We met Gosalyn's new dance partner Javo, who Gosalyn may or may not be attracted to. We also briefly met Jack, the man that Beth dated after Drake broke off their engagement. He came back to town and he wants something, and that is Beth. We left off with Gosalyn and Abby catching them kissing in the kitchen.
After the girls leave, Beth quickly pulls away from the kiss and slaps Jack so hard that he has to hold onto his face. He is surprised by her reaction to him kissing her. He thought he could come back into her life and win her over, but it's not going to be as easy as he thought.
"Ow, why'd you hit me?" He asks as he holds his face.
"How dare you! How dare you come into my house and disrespect my marriage that way. You ought to be ashamed of yourself." Beth angrily scolds. But Jack isn't going to easily back down.
"We had something Beth. And we can have something again. I could feel it when I kissed you."
Beth tries to slap him again but he grabs her hand to stop her. "No use trying to fight it. After all, we are connected for life."
"What are you talking about?" Beth asks as she pulls her hand out of his grip.
"We have a son" Jack says with a sly look on his face.
"We do not have a son. Jake is Drake's son, not yours." Beth shoots back with more anger in her voice.
"We will see about that. I want a DNA test."
"You can't be serious." Beth says as she starts to clear the table of their coffee cups and the cream and sugar.
"What's the matter? Are you afraid that I'm right and that Jake is mine?" Jack asks as he continues to press her.
Beth takes a minute to think about her next words to Jack. She turns around and looks at him, at the same time mustering as much confidence as she can. "Jake is mine and Drake's son. And if a DNA test is what it will take for you to back off….."
"You'll do it?" Jack asks with hope in his voice.
Beth nods "If it will get you to drop this crazy notion that Jake is your son, yeah I'll do it. I need to talk to Drake about it first."
"Talk to him today" Jack orders as he starts to leave. "I want this test done tomorrow. Then we'll know the truth."
As Beth watches Jack leave, she begins to worry about the possibility of him being right. All this time, she assumed that Drake got her pregnant. There was no reason for her to think otherwise. The timing made sense. She was pregnant before she got involved with Jack. But what if the doctors were wrong about that? She closes the front door and lets out a nervous sigh. She sinks down until she is sitting on the ground and pulls her knees to her chest.
/
Gosalyn and Abby quickly retreat to their bedroom after spotting Beth and Jack kissing. They are not sure what to think. Both girls assumed that Drake and Beth were happily married.
"Abby, did you see what I just saw in the kitchen?" Gosalyn asks as she puts her back up against her door, preventing anyone else from coming into their room.
"You mean Beth kissing that guy? Yeah I saw that. Who is that guy anyway?"
"I remember seeing him before. I think Beth went out with him a few years ago. What's he doing here?" Gosalyn asks as she starts to get upset.
"Do you think Beth is cheating on your Dad?" Abby asks as she sits on her bed.
Gosalyn starts to pace as she thinks about the past few days, few weeks, few months. Did she miss something? Did they all miss something? "No, she wouldn't do that. Would she?" Gosalyn ponders this some more. She's known Beth for a few years now. But how well does she know her?
/
Drake arrives home and finds Beth upset. She quickly rushes into his arms and he holds her for a few minutes. As he continues to hold her, he calmly questions her about her current emotional state.
"Honey, what's wrong. Are the kids okay?"
Beth waits a few seconds before pulling out of his arms. She has tears in her eyes. "Um, Jack was here."
"Jack, that doctor from the hospital? The Jack that you dated? That Jack?" Drake asks as his calmness is replaced by dreaded fear and curiosity.
Beth nods as she wipes away tears. "Well clearly he upset you. What happened? What did he say to you?" Drake asks as he leads Beth over to the couch to sit down.
"Well, um he kissed me."
"What?" Drake starts to get angry as Beth continues.
"I slugged him, I yelled at him for disrespecting my marriage that way."
"That's my girl" Drake smiles as he pictures his wife slugging the man.
"I wanted him to leave, but then he said something else to me."
Drake waits for his wife to continue her story. Beth knows what she wants to say to Drake, but she has a hard time getting the words out. She knows that this is going to hurt him, especially if it turns out to be true. She thinks back to her wedding vows. For better, for worse. She promised to be honest with him. This definitely constitutes a time for the worse. She knows that she has to tell him. "He wants us to run a paternity test on Jake."
"What? Why?" Drake thinks about it before he says his next words to Beth. "Honey…. Sweetie..." Drake tries to get Beth to look at him. "Is it any way possible that…Jake…. is" Before Drake finishes his question, Beth nods as her eyes fill with more tears. She starts to cry. Drake holds her and tries to comfort her in the best way that he can, considering the fear and anger that has started to emerge inside of him.
/
Back in the girls' room, Gosalyn and Abby are still discussing Beth and the man in the kitchen.
"Are you going to tell your Dad?" Abby asks. Gosalyn stops pacing and looks up at her. Of course she should tell him. If Beth is cheating on him, he is a right to know. But on the other hand, what if they are wrong? What if this is just a big misunderstanding. They would be getting Drake and Beth upset over nothing. But what if something is going on and they don't do anything to stop it? Gosalyn is torn.
"What if it's nothing? What if we misinterpreted what we saw?" Gosalyn tries to look at it a different way, but there is no use.
"Yeah right! They were kissing. There is no mistake about that. They couldn't have just fallen into each others' beaks." Abby responds as Gosalyn continues to think about the situation she is in. She wishes she never saw Beth kissing that guy. She loves her Dad and Beth, but when it comes down to it, her loyalty lies with her Dad. She knows that she can't keep this a secret.
/
In the family room, Drake and Beth sit in silence. Her head is rested on his chest and his arm is around her, rubbing her arm up and down. After a few minutes of this, Drake calms down, and thinks about his life right now. He is married to the love of his life. He has a daughter, who is really his niece. He has a son, who may or may not be his biologically. He has two foster children. He decides that he has to take care of his family, no matter what Jake's paternity test proves. His thoughts are interrupted when Jake emerges from the steps. He just woke up from his nap.
"Daddy?"
Drake and Beth look up at their son and are happy to see him. Drake walks over to him and picks him up. He is still in a sleepy mood so he rests his head on Drake's shoulder. Drake rubs his back and looks back at Beth. She has a hopeful look on her face. "Everything is going to be okay." Drake tries to assure his wife.
Gosalyn and Abby walk down the steps and join the family. Drake turns around to greet them. "Hey girls, um Trina is going to be here in a few minutes to pick you up. Gosalyn I hope you don't mind but I asked her to drop you off at your rehearsal.
Gosalyn decides this is not a good time to discuss Beth and the guy she was kissing. She nods in agreement and walks back up the stairs to get ready for rehearsal.
/
At rehearsal, Gosalyn is dancing for Javo. She is gracefully gliding across the floor, performing a beautiful ballad. He is watching intently with his arms crossed. Javo is a professional dancer. He has danced since the time he could walk, studying with schools in England and New York City. Gosalyn has no idea what he is doing at The Art of Bree Dance Company in Saint Canard. Bree is great, but the studio is considered to be a very small fish in a big sea of professional schools. These thoughts in her head start to affect her dancing, and she is not as balanced and centered as she'd like to be. She starts to feel his eyes on her, which makes her more nervous. She stumbles in her fouette turn and stops dancing. She stands there for a few seconds and stares at Javo, waiting for him to say something. He doesn't speak. Instead, he joins her and the two start dancing the ballad together.
Gosalyn is very intense as she follows his lead. She is very intimidated by him. Not only for his experience, but also for his stunningly good looks. She does her best to fight the attraction that she is starting to feel. She has a boyfriend, Skyler. She can't be attracted to someone else. Can she?
"Relax" Javo finally says as he adjusts Gosalyn's shoulders and arms. She looks up at his face. Her expression is that of a child in school that has just answered the question incorrectly. They continue to dance, and Gosalyn continues to feel intense. Her tension is obvious in her dancing. She feels the need to impress him, to have is acceptance. But the tension in her body is not allowing her to perform to the best of her ability. As her dance partner, he can feel this. He turns her and pulls her into a hold with her back to him, and gropes the top of her leg. Gosalyn is frozen. She has no idea what to do. This is wrong, very wrong. But she doesn't stop him. She is in shock, but quickly tries to hide it as they continue to dance.
/
Drake and Gosalyn are in the car together. He had picked her up from rehearsal and they are on their way home. She is quiet, which is very unusual. Gosalyn would usually talk Drake's ear off any time she had the opportunity to spend alone time with him. But tonight is different. She has a lot on her mind. Drake has some things on his mind too, but he puts that aside for now. He notices that his daughter is quiet. In fact, she hasn't said a word to him since he picked her up.
"Something on your mind, kiddo?" He asks her. She doesn't answer him right away, but she wants to. Anytime something bothers her, she's able to talk to her Dad about it. But this time is different. She does not want to talk about Javo. She doesn't even want to think about him, but her mind keeps reverting back to the moment that he groped her leg. She immediately pushes those thoughts aside and goes right to the other topic that has been bothering her, Beth.
"Dad, I have something to tell you." Gosalyn finally answers him. Her voice full of regret for what she is about to say. "I saw Beth kissing some guy in the kitchen today."
Drake continues to stare ahead at the road as they approach the bridge to the Saint Canard suburbs. His eye twitches at the thought of his wife with another man. Gosalyn worries about her father. "Dad?"
"It's okay, I already know." Drake says calmly. "I don't want you to worry, okay? Beth and I are fine."
Gosalyn wasn't expecting this reaction. She is confused. "Wait, she told you she kissed another guy, and you're fine with it?"
"If you need to know the details, Jack kissed her and she didn't want him to. She slugged him and told him to leave."
"Oh" Gosalyn sits frozen in her seat. On some level she is relieved to hear that Beth wasn't cheating on her father. She also feels bad for having bad feelings toward Beth, assuming the worst before finding out what really happened.
"Look I appreciate you telling me about this." Drake continues "I know it couldn't have been easy for you."
Gosalyn puts on a fake grin for her father. "I've got your back Dad."
"And I have yours, you know that right?" Drake asks as he glances over at her.
"Yeah, I know."
"So if something else is bothering you, would you tell me about it?"
"Of course" Gosalyn lies.
/
The next day, Drake and Beth take Jake to the hospital for the paternity test. They don't tell Jake why they are there, so he is nervous. He thinks he is there to get a shot. He doesn't willingly walk into the hospital, so Beth carries him. They meet up with Dr Wright who will conduct the test and make sure that the samples and results are kept secure.
"Good morning Doctor." Drake greets the doctor and shakes his hand.
"Good morning. I have everything set up, so whenever you're ready…"
"Thanks" Drake and the doctor walk ahead of Beth and Jake. "Uh, listen, I told my son that we were bringing him here for a checkup. So, can you just play along, you know, check his pulse, his temperature…."
"You got it" The doctor smiles as he leads the family into the exam room. Beth sits Jake on the table and climbs up to next to him. He moans and starts to wine about wanting to leave.
"Doctor, can you please tell our son that there are no shots today?" Beth asks as she tries to keep Jake next to her.
"No shots today kiddo. Just a routine checkup" The doctor says as he gets his stethoscope ready. He does what Drake asks and listens to his heart, checks his pulse, checks his temperature and his reflexes. The last thing he does is swab his mouth for DNA. After he is finished, Beth takes Jake to the cafeteria for a snack as the doctor takes Drake's DNA.
"How long for the results Doc?" Drake nervously asks.
"If you want to hang out for a while I can have them back here in an hour"
"Okay, yes, yes let's do it" Drake nods as he breaks eye contact with the Doctor. He is jittery. He is so scared that the tests will show that Jake isn't his son. He decides to join his family in the cafeteria and wait for the results.
/
Gosalyn and Skyler take in an afternoon movie in down town Saint Canard. Gosalyn is looking forward to it. She is hoping that spending time with her boyfriend will help her forget about Javo. They take their seats as the movie begins. They share popcorn and a soda. A few scenes into the movie, Skye reaches over and rests his hand on Gosalyn's leg. On an ordinary date, Gosalyn would welcome the gesture, but today is different. After what happened with Javo, she is very uneasy about anyone touching her on her leg. She covers her discomfort by taking Skye's hand and holding it in hers. He smiles at her and they continue to watch the movie.
/
After an hour of drinking milkshakes, it is time for Drake and Beth to meet with Dr Wright to hear the results of Jake's paternity test. Beth decides to leave Jake with a co-worker. They arrive at Dr Wright's office and sit in the chairs in front of his desk. Dr Wright sits in his chair and places the file on his desk. He is ready to share the results. Drake and Beth are now more nervous than ever as they hold hands.