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Chapter Seven
After the appointment Jill went back to her room to rest and Adrian returned to his apartment. She promised she'd call him the second she heard from Lissa. Just as she was lying down to take a nap her phone rang.
"Hello?" Jill asked.
"You should thank all your lucky stars," Lissa said to her.
"What?" Jill replied in confusion.
"Jesse is still going to marry you. We'll have to push the wedding until after the baby is born, but he's still willing to go through with it," Lissa replied.
"Oh, I umm…" Jill stammered.
"A thank you would be nice. It took a lot of convincing on my part," Lissa informed her.
"Thank you," she said, though the comment sounded hollow.
"We're going to try to keep your pregnancy on a need to know basis right now," Lissa explained.
"How are you going to explain it once I start to show?" Jill asked curiously.
"That you and Jesse simply got…carried away," Lissa replied.
"Wait…the baby is going to be passed off as Jesse's?" she asked her sister.
"Of course," Lissa said in reply.
"But Adrian…he wants to be involved," Jill said.
"He's your best friend. No one will think it's strange that you're spending a lot of time together. And I'm sure a large deposit into his bank account will change his mind about the rest," Lissa replied.
"Adrian's not like that!" Jill exclaimed. "And this isn't fair. It's his baby."
"I forget how young you are sometimes," Lissa said with a sigh. "It's in everyone's best interest to keep Adrian out of this."
"That's not fair," Jill said again, on the verge of tears.
"Life isn't fair, Jill," Lissa replied and with that she hung up.
Jill stared at the phone before tossing it across the room. She curled up in a ball on the bed. Maybe if she made herself small enough she could just disappear.
…
The sound of the ringing phone woke up Jill. She was honestly surprised the device was still in one piece. She crawled out of bed and retrieved it from the ground. Adrian's face flashed across the screen as the caller.
"I've called you like fifty times!" Adrian exclaimed when she answered the phone.
"I fell asleep," Jill said. She crawled back under the covers.
"Did you talk to her?" he asked, referring to Lissa.
Jill twisted a piece of her hair around her finger. "She called," she confirmed.
"And?" Adrian prompted her.
"Jesse still wants to get married," Jill replied. "I guess Lissa spun the story in a favorable way."
"I wonder how…" Adrian commented.
"By telling him he would be considered the baby's father," Jill admitted.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Adrian roared.
Jill held the phone away from her ear. She was surprised she wasn't deaf. "I wish I was. I'm sorry. I tried to talk to her…" she said, growing more upset by the second.
"What is wrong with her? We used to be friends, but it's like…god damn it!" Adrian said, clearly frustrated.
"She didn't think you'd care," Jill murmured softly.
"You don't think that…do you?" Adrian asked.
"Me? No!" Jill said quickly.
"It's my freakin' kid! You're my best friend! Didn't think I'd care. God, she is a piece of work," Adrian spat.
"I'm sorry," Jill said again, feeling the need to apologize.
Adrian sighed into the receiver. "It's not your fault. I shouldn't have yelled. You don't need any added stress. This is just unbelievable," he said. "Are you okay?"
"Not really," she said honestly.
"I'll be right over. Just don't move, okay?" he said to her. He hung up before she had a chance to respond.
…
A few hours later the pair sat on Jill's bed eating pizza out of the box. Adrian's mood was still sour, but he seemed to have calmed down a little bit.
"I'm going to talk to her and make sure she understands that this isn't going to fly with me. I'm going to be this baby's father," he told Jill.
"I didn't realize how important it was to you," Jill said.
"You and I both know what it's like to grow up without a father," Adrian said. "And this baby needs a stable one…not Jesse," he scoffed.
"You're the stable one?" Jill teased.
Adrian's face finally lightened a little. "Sick, isn't it?" he replied.
Jill leaned back against her pillows. "Do you think this stems from Lissa being upset she can't have children? Or do you think something is up with her and Christian? Is spirit getting to her? Her job?" Jill pondered.
"Personally I'm going with the pod person theory," Adrian said. He tossed the half empty box on the ground before he crawled up beside Jill. "The girl we've been talking to for the past few months is an imposter."
Jill chuckled. "That is kind of how it seems," she agreed. "I just wanted her to be proud of me. It seems like everything I do is wrong," she said softly. "Everything I am is wrong."
"It's not you," Adrian replied. "You are a wonderful and sweet and kind and beautiful person. It's her fault for not wanting to be a part of your life."
Jill felt her eyes welling up. "There is no way this baby isn't going to know you. I don't care if Lissa's mad at me forever," she said. "I know my life is definitely better because of you."
He rested his hand on her stomach. "And I'm better because of both of you," he said.
Jill smiled and wiped at her cheeks. "Freakin' hormones," she muttered. But deep in her heart she knew it was more than that.