Knocked Up... Again!: A Secret Baby Second Chance Romance

by Lilian Monroe

  I wake up as the sun comes up, so I guess I slept a bit last night. It’s surprising, considering the visitor I had in my room when I got in. I groan and roll onto my side. The mushy bag of thawed peas slides to the floor and I move my feet off the big wet patch the peas left. My foot is throbbing and I glance down to see it just as swollen as it was yesterday. I sigh and lie back down. My father’s words are still ringing in my ears. When I saw him last night, my heart almost stopped. He grinned at me like the Cheshire Cat sitting alone in the darkness. “Owen, my son,â€� he growled from his perch on my bed. I’d stayed completely still, afraid to move in case he pounced. “I haven’t see or heard from you in months.â€� “I’ve been busy,â€� I responded, scanning the room for someone else. “Calm down,â€� he said, “I’m alone.â€� “I thought you weren’t allowed to leave the state during the trial?â€� My father chuckled. “And yet here we are.â€� His eyes narrowed and a grin spread across his lips. In the darkness it looked more like a snarl. “Now. Your mother tells me that you don’t want to be part of the family business.â€� “I’ve never wanted to be part of the family business,â€� I’d spat at him. I stumbled over to my dresser and leaned against it to relieve the pressure in my foot. “What happened to you?â€� “Nothing. What do you want?â€� “I want you to understand that if you don’t let me use this nice little hotel as a new flagship for the business, I’m going to get angry. And you know what happens when I get angry.â€� His eyes had narrowed and a chill went down my spine. “You want to use the hotel – business that I’ve built myself – for your own fucking fraud? No! Absolutely not! Get out.â€� My father had rolled his eyes and leaned back in my bed. He looked at me with one eyebrow raised and shook his head. “Wrong choice.â€� “What are you going to do?â€� “Well, I was going to use that little money-hungry whore to blackmail you with a sexual harassment lawsuit, but the bitch couldn’t even do that right. So now we’re onto plan B.â€� I frowned as I tried to make sense of his words. “Mary? You put Mary up to this?â€� He just sighed and waved his hand lazily. “She was useful for one thing,â€� he’d added as his eyes swung back to mine. I’d gripped the dresser harder as his gaze almost knocked me back. Pure, black fury stared back at me. “She did tell me some interesting information about your new girlfriend.â€� “Don’t you fucking -“ My father had laughed and finally lifted himself off the bed. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt her. That is, I’m not going to hurt her if you don’t cause any trouble. That’s plan C.â€� “Fuck you,â€� I’d spat at him. He’d shrugged and straightened his jacket before walking past me towards the door. “Your funeral,â€� he’d said as he opened it and stepped through. Now, even though he’s been gone from my room for hours, I can still smell his cologne in my sheets. I can still taste the bitterness of his anger in my mouth and all I want to do is scream. My own father tried to blackmail me. I wonder how much he paid Mary to come onto me. I wonder what he’s done to her now that it hasn’t worked. I wonder what he has planned, and why he mentioned Jess. I sigh and rub my eyes with my palms. Something ignites in me when I think of Jess and our unborn child. I can’t let him hurt her. I won’t let him hurt her! I sit up as my heart starts beating faster. I need to stop him. Any loyalty that I had towards him, any residual filial love is gone. He’s not my father. He’s nothing to me, and now he’s threatening to destroy the one thing I care about. Pain shoots through my foot as I hobble over to the dresser. Gingerly, I try to put weight on my foot and stumble as the pain blinds me. Wincing, I grunt as I lean against the dresser. I won’t be able to do much to stop him if I can’t walk. I pull open the bottom drawer of my dresser and frown as I see my clothes in a mess. My heart starts beating as I reach over to the spot with the files. My jaw drops and I push the clothes to the other side, and finally rip every item of clothing out of the drawer. “No, no no no no no!â€� I yell as I see everything is gone. I sit down on the floor and hold my head in my hands, rocking back and forth. He must have taken them. He knows that I had them. That must be why he made the trip himself. Now he’s here, he knows I had incriminating files against him, and he knows that Jess means a lot to me. Any protection that I had for being his son, any leverage that I could have used to keep him friendly is gone. I glance over at my bedside table and see my keys. The USB is hanging off my key chain, a little black rectangle staring back at me. I lift myself up and take the keys in my hand, flicking the USB open and closed a couple times. He may know that I had enough evidence to send him to jail, but now he thinks he’s got it. If I act quickly, I still have the upper hand. Chapter 55 – Jess

  When my tears dry, I lift myself off Gram’s chest. I stroke her cheek gently and sigh. My eyes sweep around the room, taking in the spilled coffee, the bright sunlight, the perfectly tidy closet. What do you even do when someone dies? I stand up and pick up the mug off the floor, staring into it for answers. Do I call 9-1-1? It’s not like there’s anything they could do. Not knowing what else to do, I dial the number. “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?â€� “Uh, not so much an emergency,â€� my voice catches in my throat and I take a deep breath. “My grandmother died in the night. I found her this morning and I don’t know what to do.â€� On the last word, my voice breaks and I hear the dispatch’s voice soften. “Ok, dear. No problem. Do you know what happened? Was it an accident?â€� “She’s 82 years old. She just went to bed, and -â€� My voice breaks again. “I’m going to send police and an ambulance and they’ll be able to assess the situation and help you out, ok? Can you give me your address?â€� Somehow, I make it through the phone call without bursting into tears and in a daze I walk downstairs to wait for the police and paramedics. I open the front door and sit down on the front steps, staring at the quiet street but seeing nothing. Suddenly the past few days make sense. Gram telling me she loved me, telling me to find happiness, telling me not to waste any time. She knew she was dying. “Why didn’t you say anything,â€� I whisper to myself as a tear spills over onto my cheek. I brush it away quickly and take a deep breath. I know why she didn’t say anything, it’s because she didn’t want to be a burden. She just wanted to live her life quietly, and die quietly in her own house. Now the tears are coming faster and I can’t keep up with brushing them away. I take a deep breath and try to pull myself together when I see the emergency vehicles turn down the street. The rest of the morning is a blur. There’s lots of questions, lots of kind words, lots of phone calls. Finally a man in a black suit from a funeral home come and collects her, and I watch as he drives away with my grandmother’s body. The last of the emergency vehicles leaves and I’m alone. I’m completely alone and I’m empty. I walk from room to room like a zombie. After who knows how long, I hear a truck outside the house. I walk out the front door to see Owen sliding down from the driver’s seat. He’s still hobbling, and obviously hasn’t been to the doctor. He looks like he hasn’t slept all night. “Jess, you’re ok!â€� “Yeah,â€� I answer. “I guess.â€� Owen frowns and hobbles towards me a little bit faster. I come down the steps and give him my arm to steady him. He takes it and stares at my face. “What’s wrong?â€� A lump forms in my throat and my eyes start to water. I open and close my mouth like a goldfish and Owen slides his arm around me. “What’s wrong, Jess?â€� He asks again. His voice sounds panicked. “What happened?â€� “Gram died,â€� I finally answer. “They just took the body away.â€� Owen stares at me, wide-eyed, before letting all the air out of his lungs. H
e hops to face me and wraps his arms around me. I melt into him, and for the first time since I found Gram, I let it all go. The tears come fast and heavy and pretty soon his t-shirt is soaked. He just stands there and holds me as I cry. We sway to once side and I hear him make a muffled sound. I pull away. “Sorry!â€� I say. “I forgot about your foot. Why haven’t you been to the doctor? Come on, let’s go inside.â€� He takes my hand and hops up towards the front door. With some shuffling and hopping, he’s through the door and settled on the couch in the living room. I go to the kitchen and come back with two cups of coffee. I sit down beside him and fold my foot under my body as he drapes his arm over my shoulder. My head fits perfectly onto his chest and I sigh. “We really should be getting you to a doctor but it just feels too good to be here like this,â€� I whisper. “Shh,â€� he says, stroking my arm. He turns towards me and kisses the top of my head. “I’m just glad you’re not hurt.â€� “Why would I be hurt?â€� “I was just worried when you didn’t answer my calls, that’s all.â€� “Did you call?â€� I shift my weight and pull out my phone. Sure enough, four missed calls and three messages, all from Owen. “Oh.â€� He chuckles, and then takes a deep breath. “Jess, I need to ask you a favour, and I know it’s awful timing but it’s really important.â€� I lift my head and search his face. “What are you talking about?â€� “It’s a long story,â€� he says. I raise an eyebrow and he sighs again. “How good is your grandmother’s internet?â€� Chapter 56 – Owen

  Jess laughs and rolls her eyes. “What are you talking about?â€� I want to tell her everything, from beginning to end, but I don’t know where to start. She’s staring at me, lifting herself off me and frowning. I put my hand on her thigh. “I had a visit from my dad last night,â€� I finally say. “He was paying Mary to try to blackmail me with a sexual harassment lawsuit. He knows about you.â€� Jess leans away a bit further. Her brows knit together and she shakes her head. “What? What are you talking about? Owen. What the fuck are you talking about. I’m not in the mood for this bullshit. In case you forgot, my one remaining family member died a couple hours ago.â€� Her words bite through me and I squeeze her thigh gently with my hand. “I know. I know! I wouldn’t bring it up in case it was important. Look,â€� I take a deep breath. “My parents have been trying to use me to continue syphoning money for themselves. They want to use the hotel. I refused, obviously, and this was my dad’s idea of a threat.â€� “A threat?! You told me you had nothing to do with the trial!â€� “I didn’t! I don’t! I didn’t know it was going on until after the case against me was thrown out. I found some old files in the office that proved my dad was guilty.â€� “Did you hand them to the police?â€� She’s staring at me, wide-eyed. “No,â€� I say, sighing. My face contorts into a grimace and I put my hand on my forehead. “I wanted to, but I couldn’t bring myself to betray my family like that. I kept telling myself that they loved me, that they’d kept me separate from it all to protect me. That’s why I didn’t tell you about any of it when we first met. I just couldn’t lie to you and tell you they were innocent, and I couldn’t betray them by telling someone they were guilty.â€� She stays quiet, her face stone still. I take a deep breath and continue. “Jess, believe me, I wanted to tell you. From the moment I met you I’ve wanted to tell you everything about me. It’s not until I saw my dad last night that I realised they weren’t protecting me, and they don’t care about me. They were just keeping me clean in case they needed to use my name when they got caught.â€� I sigh, and lift my eyes up to her. “He threatened me. He threatened you! And fuck! I’m not going to let anything happen to you.â€� Jess is still completely still. She hasn’t moved at all and I can’t tell what she’s thinking. “I fucking love you, Jess. My dad took the files last night but I have a copy.â€� I hold up my keys, showing her the USB. “I need you to send these files to this email,â€� I say, giving her the piece of paper with the prosecutor’s email on it. “And then I need you to disappear. Just go away from here, go back to New York. I don’t know if they’re following me or if they’re following you, but you just need to get as far away from me as possible.â€� Finally, Jess moves. She shakes her head from side to side and starts to cry. “No,â€� she says. “No, no!â€� She takes a deep, trembling breath and puts her hand on my chest. “I just lost my grandmother. You’re the father of my child and you’re all I have left. I’m not leaving. I’ll take you to the hospital and send the files from there. You’ll be safe there, they won’t be able to do anything. I am not leaving.â€� Her bottom lip trembles and I wrap my arms around her. She’s shaking, and I just stroke her gently. I shouldn’t be burdening her with this, I should just be comforting her after her grandmother’s death! I’m thrusting all my problems onto her at the very moment when she probably needs my support. I chew on her words and nod slowly. “Ok. Let’s stay together, Jess. I don’t want to let you out of my sight. Not today, not ever again. You’re stuck with me now.â€� I feel Jess let out a small laugh as she rests against my chest. She nods. “Let me drop the truck back at the hotel so it looks like I’m still around,â€� I say. “And then we can go to the hospital and get this toe checked out.â€� Jess nods, and then grins. “With any luck, you’ll be stuck in the waiting room for hours.â€� I laugh and nod. “If I’m lucky.â€� She takes the email and USB from me and tucks them into her purse along with her laptop. She stands up straighter and nods to me before swinging her eyes around the room and sighing. I groan as I stand up and put my hands around her waist. “Thank you,â€� I say. “I know today is probably the worst day of your life. You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met.â€� She shakes her head. “It’s not the worst day of my life. We’re together, so it can’t be the worst day of my life.â€� My heart grows in my chest and I take a deep breath. Jess wraps her arms around me and we hold each other for a few moments. Her voice is muffled against my chest when she speaks again. “Did you mean it?â€� “Mean what?â€� “Did you mean it when you said you fucking love me?â€� She moves her head to look at me and grins. “Is that the old romantic coming out of you again?â€� “I love the shit out of you,â€� I respond with a grin. She laughs and rolls her eyes. I take a deep breath and say it again: “I love you, Jess. With all my heart.â€� Her eyes start to mist and she takes a deep breath. “I think I love you too.â€� Her voice is barely above a whisper but it sounds as loud as a roar to my ears. My chest bursts and I hold her tighter against me, drinking in every second we have together. Our lips meet and once again I feel like I’m whole again. I could kiss this woman for the rest of time. Finally, she pulls away and strokes my cheek. “Let’s go.â€� I nod. “Yeah. Let’s go.â€� Chapter 57 – Jess