Secret Love (The 4Ever Series Book 2)

by Isabella White

  At the realization that she was gone, his body started to shake from the tears. A pair of motherly arms wrapped around him, hugging him tightly, and by the floral smell of her perfume, he knew it was Aggie.

  “Speak to me. Tell me what is going through that mind of yours.”

  Jake looked up at her, biting the inside of his lower lip. Moira handed him a tissue, and he took it to wipe away his tears. After taking a deep breath, he told them about the thoughts he used to have about her, how much it had angered him and that now his thoughts were of anger again, although not anger directed toward her anymore, but rather at himself for not having tried harder to find her.

  Jake’s phone rang and he saw Amelia’s face on the screen. He picked it up as he stood, and as soon as he answered, he started talking, too fast for her to understand what he was saying.

  “Jake, calm down. What is going on?” Amelia’s voice was laced with concern.

  Jake broke down and started crying again.

  “Jake, please… just calm down. Start again, slowly this time.”

  “She didn’t get the abortion, Amelia. I have a daughter.” He finally managed to croak out.

  There was silence for quite some time before Amelia spoke. “How do you know that, Jake?” She sounded angry.

  “Because I saw her,” he managed to croak.

  “Who?” Amelia asked.

  Jake knew why she sounded hostile. Amelia was mad at Holly and upset because she couldn’t get pregnant, while Holly managed to do just that, yet had aborted a healthy baby just because she couldn’t handle morning sickness and high blood pressure. Amelia’s words, not his. She’d even ended up seeing a psychiatrist as she’d struggled to get over that fact. It had messed her up as badly as it had Jake.

  “I saw them both.”

  “Wait, you saw her?” Amelia asked, this time without the obvious clenching of teeth.

  “Yeah. I asked her about the child, but...” He choked on a sob.

  “Jake, stay calm.”

  “I need to speak to Mom, please.”

  “Hold on, I’ll get her.” He heard a sliding door opening, then the sound of people chatting in the background. “Mom,” he heard Amelia’s voice call softly. The sliding door closed again a few seconds later. “Jake’s on the phone. He needs to speak to you.” Her voice had started to break, too. It was obvious to Jake that what he’d told his sister was beginning to sink in, that the girl she’d been angry with all these years was someone she should never have been angry with at all.

  “What is going on?” He heard his mother say.

  The first thing Mara gave him was a sigh. “Jake, son, don’t do this, please.”

  Jake knew she thought he was running out of the wedding.

  “What happened five years ago, Mom?”

  Mara was silent for what seemed like an eternity. “Five years ago… what on earth are you talking about?”

  “Mom. What happened? Please.”

  “Jake, what is going on? Have you been crying?”

  “Why are you avoiding my question? She never went through with the abortion, Mother. I have a little girl, one she never wanted me to know about. Now, what happened?”

  His mother remained silent at first. “Are you talking about Holly?” she asked, sounding shocked and a tiny bit upset. He knew how she felt; he knew how his whole family felt about Holly. And they were all so wrong.

  “Yes. Now, what happened?!”

  “Jake, we can sort this out when you get here. I’m not going to tell you what I think happened over the phone.”

  “No! Tell me now. I need to know. Holly said—”

  “Holly said.” His mother’s voice was harsh. “You spoke to her, then.”

  “Mom, I saw her with a little girl, one who looks exactly like me. I had no choice. You said she didn’t want the baby. Why would she keep it and not let me know, Mom?”

  “I don’t know what went through her mind back then, or why she never let you know, Jake. I told you what happened. I knew this would happen. Why did you speak to her?”

  “Mom, she had the baby. I saw my daughter with my own eyes. She’s not lying or trying to bullshit me, either. When I asked her about it, she told me that I made my bed five years ago and to lie in it. What exactly does she mean? Can you answer that?”

  Mara sighed. “Your wedding is tomorrow. Get your ass here, or so help me, Jake—”

  “Have you heard a thing I’ve said? I have a child, Mother! One I thought was dead.” By now he was yelling.

  “I’m not doing this with you over the phone. I refuse.”

  “Then I suggest you get back to Boston, because I can guarantee you, I will not be on that two o’clock flight.” He severed their connection. He was heartbroken, but seriously pissed off. Maybe what Holly had told Moira in the OR hadn’t been to throw her off. He had a bad feeling that maybe his mother wasn’t telling him the truth about what had happened that day.

  HOLLY

  Holly opened the front door. She’d just gotten off the phone with the airline. There was a four o’clock flight leaving for Seattle; they needed to be on it. Jamie rushed to her side, already wearing her swimsuit under her summer dress. Shit! She’d promised her that she could spend the day at the beach with Rod and Jane, but it wasn’t going to happen.

  “Are you okay, Mommy?” Jamie asked in that angelic voice of hers. Holly had missed that voice so much. She gave her daughter the tightest hug. What was she going to do if Jake found a way to take Jamie away from her? Tears gathered in her eyes, and she sniffed hard.

  “Baby, I know Mommy promised you that you could spend the day at the beach, but we have to leave, sweetheart. We have to go home.”

  Jamie started to protest, her bottom lip quivering. “But… you promised.”

  “I know, but we—”

  “No! I want to go to the beach!” she screamed.

  “Holly…” Jane gave her a weary look from where she was sitting on the couch, sighed, and then got up.

  “Jamie, baby, I’m sorry. But we have to go home today.”

  At Holly’s stern tone, Jamie jumped with fright. She’d never been spoken to like that by her mother. Scared, she ran over to Jane and threw her little arms around her grandmother’s thighs.

  “Bridgette, please take Jamie into the other room,” Jane asked.

  “I want to go to the beach, Nanna.”

  “We’ll go soon.”

  “No. I told you we have to leave.” Holly sounded frantic.

  “Holly, enough!” yelled Jane, and Holly started to cry. “Bridgette, please,” she repeated.

  “Come along, Jamie. Let’s go and see what’s on the Cartoon Network.” Bridgette took Jamie’s hand and led her out of the room.

  “I’m her mother, not you. We need to leave, and we need to do it now,” she said through sobs.

  “Holly, you promised her…”

  “Jake didn’t leave for Hawaii. He saw her, Mom, and I can guarantee you he’s on the phone to his lawyer right about now. He wants her back,” Holly said, lowering her voice. Pulling herself together, she took out her phone.

  “No, Holly, he left last night,” Rod said from the kitchen, but it seemed he wasn’t entirely sure, judging by the huge orbs his eyes resembled from what he’d overheard.

  “He didn’t leave. He changed his flight due to an emergency. He was at Downsend when she was there… he saw her, Rod.”

  “Who are you phoning?” Jane asked when she saw Holly press a number.

  “I’m not going to let him win, Mom. I’m calling Dad.” Just as she touched the green call button, Jane grabbed the phone from her.

  “No! No! Damn it. This is enough.”

  “Did you not hear me? He’s going to take me to court. I need to call…”

  “No, you don’t.” Jane closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “I’m not going to let you ask your father for another dime.”

  “I have no choice, we don’t have the money…”

  “Then
settle this like grownups, Holly.”

  Holly felt betrayed. “What are you saying? He didn’t want her, and now…” she trailed off, grabbing the top of her head in frustration.

  “I know how this sounds, but I’d rather deal with those scumbags, Holly, than watch your father take his pound of flesh from you and Jamie again.”

  “He has a child with Kate, the woman he’s about to marry. How on earth am I going to explain that to Jamie? She is waiting for him to come out of the rainbow and be with us, Mom, she’s not going to understand any of this.”

  “It’s part of life, Holly.”

  “She’s only five years old.” Tears streamed down her cheeks.

  “Fairytales don’t exist. The sooner she learns that, the better,” Jane begged. “We don’t have the money to go to court. God knows how hard these past four years have been, Holly. Having to tell Jamie no she can’t do ballet because there isn’t money, and no she can’t have a certain doll she’s always wanted because there’s no money… no, no, no. I can’t do that anymore. Speak to him and make some sort of an arrangement. Figure this out and make it work.”

  Holly knew her mother spoke the truth. As much as she wanted Jamie to believe in fairytales, it was stupid. She’d known that the lies she’d told about them living in a rainbow would backfire one day, and the truth about her father was going to come out—she’d just never wanted it to happen at such a young age. Charles Scallanger was exactly as Jane had said. She would pay, and if she didn’t, he would make Jamie pay for it in some way, like forcing her to visit with them despite the fact that she didn’t like Gabriella, her father’s wife.

  “We stay, we go to the beach, let that girl play in the waves, and for once try to sort things out like normal people do.” Jane’s eyes were soft. “If he phones, pick up and arrange to meet him, Holly.”

  Holly nodded. She hated that thought, but her mother was right. It was time to stop running. Jake would not let this go. He would hire a private investigator, and he would find them.

  Jane led her to the couch while Rod went to make some coffee.

  “What happened?” Jane asked.

  Holly sighed, closed her eyes, taking a moment to compose her thoughts. With a deep breath, she opened her eyes and told her mother everything. Rod came over with the coffee and listened attentively. When Jamie returned wearing shorts and a T-shirt with the cutest flip-flops, she frowned at her mother with a pout.

  Holly opened her arms, and when Jamie eventually ventured into them, she pulled her onto her lap. “I’m sorry I yelled at you, baby. Will you forgive me?”

  Jamie nodded, a soft smile adorning her lips, then wrapped her tiny arms around Holly. “I love you, Mommy.”

  “I love you, too, baby.” She kissed Jamie on the shoulder. Taking a deep breath, she smiled at her daughter. “You ready to go to the beach?”

  “We’re not leaving anymore?” Jamie asked, her eyes sparkling.

  Holly shook her head and smiled.

  “Yay!” Jamie squealed. “Can Bridge come with us?” Holly nodded, and Jamie jumped off her lap and ran back to the room.

  “Holly, I’m so sorry,” Rodney said. “Believe me, he is the last bastard I wanted to find out about her. I saw everyone at the hospital toasting with champagne, teasing him about getting married, and he even made some stupid battle speech to make it sound as if he was going to war. I thought he’d left—it’s all my fault. I should’ve picked your mom up at the airport. I’m so sorry,” he whispered, his voice breaking.

  Holly knew the war speech. He’d given it once when they’d played paintball way back when. “It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have foreseen what was going to happen.” She smiled at him and took a sip of her coffee.

  “I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” said Jane. “I know it couldn’t have been easy, and I have absolutely no idea how we are going to tell Jamie that her father is not stuck in a rainbow and she has a little brother, too.”

  “It doesn’t matter anymore, Mom.” Holly felt defeated, but what other choice did she have? Jake knew about Jamie. He wasn’t going to let it go. She had to think about Jamie. She loved the idea of her father, so perhaps allowing Jake to meet her would be for the best.

  JAKE HAD LEFT HOLLY MORE THAN ten messages since he’d gotten off the phone with his mom. Mara had tried to phone him a dozen times after that initial call, but he knew all she wanted was for him to get his ass to Hawaii. As she refused to talk to him about Holly over the phone, he was going nowhere.

  Kate called him numerous times, too. He eventually picked up, but told her that the wedding needed to wait. It wasn’t easy; as all he accomplished was to make her cry. She didn’t understand why and was freaking out, as everything had been paid for.

  “Kate, I need to sort this out. I’ve just found out I have a child I was convinced had been aborted. If I don’t sort this out, I might never see her again.” His voice was thick with tears

  “I can’t believe you are doing this to me! Don’t you care about me at all? Can’t you figure all this out after the wedding? Are you even sure this child is yours?” she sniffled.

  “Kate, listen to me. If I don’t figure this out right now, I’ll never get to see her. Put yourself in my shoes. Don’t you want me to have this chance to meet my child—my flesh and blood? And of course she’s mine. Aggie said she’s my spitting image.”

  “You should be thinking about me and Michael right now, Jake. We’re about to become a part of your family,” she said in a sarcastic tone as if Michael meant everything and this new little person in his life, Jamie, was nothing.

  “Just make the arrangements, Kate. Postpone the wedding for a few days. I really have to go now.”

  “Fine, I’ll get Daddy to talk to everyone. Just promise me you’re coming here to marry me when you’ve sorted everything out.”

  “I promise,” he said. “And I’m really sorry about this.”

  He ended the call. Frustrated, he dialed Holly’s number again. It was nine in the evening, and he was sitting on the deck of his home that was mere yards from the beach. It was a home he’d gotten for Kate, Michael, and him to be a family in. Never in a million years had he realized, or could have imagined, that he already had a family.

  Amelia, Armand, Robin, and his dad were on their way home.

  “This is Holly. I can’t take your call at the moment, but please leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”

  Holly’s phone didn’t even ring anymore. That familiar hollow feeling of her being gone ached in his gut. He’d even gone to the airport to see if he could find her, stationing Moira and Aggie at the security line entering the terminals, but she wasn’t there. He’d shown the photo he’d taken out of her file before leaving the hospital, requesting that if she showed up with a little girl who looked like him, they needed to postpone the flight and phone him. He’d paid a shitload of money for that to happen.

  On hearing Holly’s recorded message yet again, he sighed; he had heard that message more than a dozen times. When the beep sounded in his ear, he begged, “Holly… please.” His voice broke. “I know it’s late. I’m dead tired, but if you get this, call me. No matter the time. Jamie is mine. too...” He terminated the call.

  He’d cried a lot already, especially when he heard her voice message. Then he remembered Rod. Why the fuck hadn’t he thought about him before? Grabbing his phone, he dialed Rodney’s number, but he got a recorded message too. As soon as the beep went off, Jake started talking. “Rod, I know you think I’m a fucking bastard, but you’re wrong. I swear to you, I wanted that baby. Somewhere there was a misunderstanding, and I’m going to find out what. Please, ask Holly to phone me. Please. I know we can sort this out.”

  He wanted to kick himself for not having phoned Rodney sooner. He’d completely forgotten about him knowing Holly. This mess could’ve been sorted out hours ago if he’d just remembered.

  He would never forgive himself for not being there five years ago.

>   Closing his eyes, he lay back on the chair. The ocean was rumbling behind him. The smell of sea salt permeated the air and felt sticky on his face. The stars shone brightly, and it was a full moon. The evening was simply gorgeous, but his emotions didn’t reflect it. Why hadn’t she told him about their daughter? Why hadn’t she fought with him and asked him why he hadn’t been there? Why hadn’t he? They’d had so many opportunities and yet, they hadn’t taken a single one.

  But that wasn’t the number one thought lingering on his mind. How on earth had she managed to sleep with him over and over within the span of two months? To kiss him like he was the only one for her, to give him the choice of coming home, and him throwing it back in her face when he couldn’t choose her. She would never forgive him. He thought about the outcome if he had chosen her that day. She might have told him about their child. If it wasn’t for Moira, he wouldn’t even know her name: Jamie.

  It was her sister’s name, her twin. He remembered that dream he’d had. He’d dreamed out of nowhere the night he’d fallen asleep in the doctor’s room with her—two of them to be precise. He been so angry at her when he’d woken up from that amazing dream, angry that she hadn’t waited for his dad to speak to her and assess the formula again. He would’ve found something to make the pregnancy easier on her.

  He’d had to force himself to leave her a note. She’d even messaged him that next morning asking him if he remembered what they’d spoken about and for a split second he thought he hadn’t dreamed her words, that she’d kept the babies—because he was certain she’d told him she’d had twins in his dream—and that was why the dream had changed. But when she mentioned Zürich, he’d gotten angry again and just told her to go. He wanted her gone. He had felt the regret a couple hours later. What if she had told him and had just changed it the next day to Zürich? She was a twin... but no, the ultrasound would’ve picked up on a second heartbeat. And there’d only been one girl at the hospital, not two.