Page 43 of The Baby Twist
“Care to talk about it over some baked spaghetti?” She held a plate up.
As much as I didn’t have an appetite, it sure smelled delicious.
“Come on. You know you want some.” She grinned.
“Fine. Just a small portion.”
While Jenna took the plates over to the table, I grabbed the bottle of scotch off the counter.
“Why do you even have this? You better not be drinking.”
“I stopped on my way home and bought it for you because I knew you’d need it.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“I’m sorry I told him the truth. I would never have if?—”
“It’s not your fault. I know my father, and he always gets the truth out of people one way or another. I’m sure he manipulated the conversation.”
“Pretty much.” She nodded her head as she twirled some spaghetti around her fork.
“You didn’t have to tell me, but you did. Why?”
“Because regardless of what you believe, I’m your friend, and I wanted to give you a heads up before he got to you. He never married, did he?”
“No,” I spoke. “But there was never a shortage of women always coming and going.”
“Reminds me of someone else I know.” She smirked.
I let out a light chuckle.
“He’s worse. When I was younger and did something he didn’t like, he would tell me I should be grateful that he decided to keep me instead of putting me up for adoption. Sometimes, I wish he would have.” I finished off my scotch.
Chapter Twenty
Jenna
Little by little, he was opening up to me. I felt for him because no child should ever have to hear those words. He was more broken inside than I originally thought. We both were, which had me concerned for our child. Getting up from my chair, I walked over to him, grabbed his hand, and led him over to the couch.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
I held onto his hand as I faced him.
“I’m going to tell you a little something about yourself, and I want you to listen. Can you do that for me?” I gave him a small smile as he narrowed his eye at me.
“I suppose I could.”
“Good. You have spent your entire life trying to get your father’s approval. You want so badly to prove to him that he made the right decision by keeping you. You only buried your true self deeper by making choices based on his approval. In doing that, you lost who you really are. You need to find out who the man inside you really is.”
He looked away from me and inhaled a sharp breath.
“I didn’t know you had a degree in psychology.”
“I don’t. But I don’t need one to see what’s really going on.”
“And what about you?” he asked as he stared into my eyes.
“Me?” I laughed. “I spent my entire life trying to hide who I really was. We talked about that before. But I’m not hiding anymore. I’m letting people know who I really am, and if they don’t like it or can’t accept it, they need to move on. The only approval I need is from myself.”
