Page 155 of Loving Ladybug: Part One
My finger hovered over delete.
Imogen
It’s an emergency. Please call someone.
An emergency? Fine. I unblocked him and called.
“Tenzie?” Jacen’s voice was sleepy. It would be even earlier there in Portland.
“Sorry for calling so early. She’s okay?” I asked.
“Not really. It’s been touch and go. Why didn’t you call me back?” His voice was judgmental, frantic, and tired at the same time.
“I’m out of town, and honestly, I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry she’s having a rough time. While I want nothing bad to happen to her, you’re not my pack and it’s not my baby. Also, I’ve found two amazing people and I don’t want to fuck things up.” My belly dipped.
What if…
“I don’t want to fuck things up for you. That’s not my intention. Sorry, I haven’t slept. We’ve been through every test imaginable. Morgan will be on bedrest for the rest of her pregnancy. It’s making her unhappy, because of her med school rotations and residency interviews, but they’re willing to work with her. The babies are fine, too. For now. There’s a chance she’s not taking them to term,” he told me.
“Them?” I sucked in a sharp breath.
“There are two. One was hiding, which was why we didn’t get it on the scan. I’m not sure why we didn’t pick up the other heartbeat, but it happens apparently,” he told me.
“Twins. She’s having twins.” My heart sped. No. No. No.Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say.
“They’ll keep a close eye on her. She and the babies are fine. Fraternal twins. A side effect of the enhancers she was taking,” he told me. “They did tests on the babies to make sure they were okay. We know this changes nothing. We want you to be happy in New York and the last thing we want is for you to think we’re manipulating you.”
“Jacen, what are you saying?” But I knew. My grip on the phone tightened.
“You’re going to be a father,” he told me. “While our daughter is mine, our son is yours. I’ll send you the tests, so you can have proof.”
“I have a son.” All the air whooshed out of me, like I’d been sent into space.
I was going to be a dad. The only problem was that I lived on the other side of the country and had no desire to move–or get back with Morgan.
What I wanted was Clark and Gwen. Did that make me a bad dad already?
“Tenzie, are you okay?” Jacen asked.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Fuck.”
“I know.” His voice was soft. “Honestly, we don’t need any financial support. This is about doing the right thing, not money. You can absolutely set up an education fund or something for him and have plenty of visits or even partial custody. We want you to have a relationship with him. We know how much you wanted to be a dad–and how amazing of a dad you’ll be. If this is something you want, we’re committed to making this amicableand we’ll love him so much,” Jacen told me. “And if you don’t, we’ll understand.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. One of the babies wasmine?
It was a trick wasn’t it? But I didn’t think it was.
Which meant I had a son.
“I… I have a son.” Shit.
“You do. We’re going to need your medical history,” he added. “Also, if you have input on names, we’d love to hear them, especially if you want to name him after one of your dads or something. Morgan said you’d talked about it. But I’m getting ahead of myself.”
“Yes, I… I can get that right to you. We had talked about naming him after one of my grandfathers. He was a doctor.” My hands shook as I went into my medical record to give the doctor access.
I was going to be a dad?
“I like that. Thank you. I’ll be in touch. We can make this work. If you want to be a dad, we want you to have that opportunity–and if you don’t want to be a dad, we won’t judge, promise.” Jacen ended the call.
