AN: Sorry for the long delay. Life has been manic. Things are calming down now, so I should be updating more often.
Only thing I'll say about this chapter: Jack isn't done. This will come up again. And ya. Ugh.
Chapter 21
Lunch with Jackson in the Valley Inn was a long-standing date, they made time for whenever they could.
She used to look forward these days and anytime alone that they could find.
These days, she dread almost all interactions with him when they were alone.
She'd promised Bianca. Promised to hear Jackson out. Listen to whatever he had to say.
She smoothed her dress, eyes catching sight of the now visible swell of her stomach.
Eighteen weeks had flown by, and she was finally settled in and enjoying the pregnancy.
Her morning sickness was gone. The baby moved consistently enough that she could feel him, and her mind eased every day.
It was too much to believe that the pregnancy would go to term. That she would have a healthy baby. But every day she got closer to that, she let her heart believe just a little more.
Every day, she was closer to her son, to holding him, to loving him. To having some semblance of a happy ending.
Jack was waiting at the table as she entered the dining room. Her instincts told her she shouldn't have come, and she didn't want to hear what he said.
Jack glanced up at her as she headed toward the table. How could she be pregnant with another man's baby, and still ne the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen?
"Jackson," She admonished, easing into her seat.
If he'd called her here just to repeat the same things he'd been saying for months, she wouldn't be sat for long.
"You look incredible," He acknowledged, offering her a soft smile.
"Thank you. I'm finally feeling incredible. He's worth it, though." Her eyes drifted to her stomach, and a soft smile spread across her lips.
He wondered if she truly believed that? She seemed too. Seemed confident. Unwavering.
"I hope so," Jack said softly, shaking his head.
"I don't know why I bothered," She was nearly on her feet when he reached out to stop her.
"Stay, please. I'm sorry."
"If you asked me here just to repeat the same conversation we continue to have, I'm not interested."
"I asked you here because I love you and I miss you."
She sighed. Nodded and sat down slowly. "I know that too. Has something changed?" Her eyes met his briefly as she searched for a glimpse of hope.
"I love you. I miss you. But I don't know how to move past this," He motioned to her stomach. "That's David Hayward's child, and you willingly choose to have it."
"I chose," She stopped and took a steadying breath. She shouldn't do this with him again. "To take back my body. My children. David just happens to be the biological father."
"You know I would have loved to have a child with you. More than anything, Erica. If you wanted a child, we could have tried."
She pushed out a frustrated breath and shook her head. "I didn't know how much I wanted, needed another child until the opportunity presented itself."
"You could have done both. Destroyed the embryo, and we could have tried."
Her eyes met his, and she took a steadying breath. She had told him this many times, but this time, he would understand. "I don't want any child. I wanted that one. The one stolen from me. The one who's been frozen in that clinic for most of my life. I wanted him only him."
"Not our child," He scoffed.
She nodded and kept her eyes locked with his. Her gaze was unwavering. Her resolve unflinching. "No. Not our child. This child," She glanced down briefly and smiled at the ever expanding form, "is the child I want."
Jack shook his head. "How can you say that? Knowing who his father is?"
"He's my son. David just happens to be his father. I can separate the two."
"You shouldn't have to. You shouldn't have done this, Erica. After everything that guy has done, you give him a child."
"I asked you to do this with me," She hissed. "Or do you just like to forget that happened? You tell it like I left you, Jack. I asked you to do this with me. I asked you to be his stepfather. Love him the way you love Greenlee, Lily, Reggie. I asked you to be a family with us. You're the one who says you can't love David's child. You're the one who walked away."
Jack winced, shaking his head. She was right, though. Before she'd gone to Hayward, she'd asked him to be a part of this. Asked him to love her and the child, be a family.
He wanted to.
He just couldn't make the leap.
How could he possibly love David Hayward's child, knowing the hell David had and would put them through.
"I want to spend the rest of my life with you. That's never going to change. But asking me to love, help raise this child... knowing what Hayward has done, will do, I can't watch him hurt you."
He used this as his opening. Moving quickly before she could reply.
He slid a folder of papers toward her, opening to the first page.
"Sign this," He said, pointing to the signature area. "I will be your counsel. With everything Hayward has done, it will be an open and shut case."
She looked up from the document, eyes blazing. Who did he think he was?
"A custody agreement?" She breathed, words hard and filled with anger.
"Yes. You' get full physical custody, and David can have visitation rights. I'd say just weekends, but that's your call."
"Do you have any idea what this would do?" She half asked, half said. "Do you know what David would do if he was kept from his child?"
Jack tried to answer, but she shook her head and spoke first.
"David will be a good father. He will be present and hands-on, and he won't come after me for his son. Unless I push him. Unless I tried something like this. Who could blame him really," She mused angrily. "Having his child stolen a second time."
"He wouldn't have a leg to stand on. You could even get his rights terminated if you wanted."
"Who do you think you are?" She asked through a strangled breath. "This my choice. My body. My baby. I decide what's best for him. You do not get to be involved in this. You do not get any say in something you want no part of."
"I think I'm the man who loves you. Who you love. And I will do whatever it takes to protect you."
"I can protect myself," She almost yelled, the words burning as they raced up her throat. "I can take care of myself. I know what I'm doing, and I will not be treated like a child."
She stood, scooped up the papers. Her eyes met Jack's before tearing them in half. "I will not be told how to handle my life or my child's."
The papers fell into a heap on the table. Jack shook his head as she turned her back and walked away.
He should have stopped this before she had the chance to ruin her life.
She stopped just outside the dining room and took a few steadying breaths. This child was worth all of this and more, she reminded herself.
No one else knew David the way she did. No one understood how his mind worked. How his heart ached for a child. How he would do anything to be a father to his child.
They would prove the entire town wrong. They would give their son the life he deserved. A life neither of them had.
Everyone else be damned.
TBC
