“He’s not my son.”
“But he can be. We can be happy together Jeff if you just give us a chance!”
Holy shit! Is this girl serious?
“Rebecca, I love Ari. I only want to be with Ari. I only want to have children with Ari. I’m sorry, but I don’t have those feelings for you. I never have, and I never will.”
Tears were streaming down her face as she looked away from me.
“Who is the father, Rebecca?”
She wiped the tears away from her eyes before she turned to look at me again.
“Jason Reed.”
My stomach dropped. What the hell is she saying?
“Jason? Jason was dating Ari at that time you got pregnant…wait.” Motherfucker, this girl was more evil than I could’ve ever imagined.
“You knew Ari was with Jason, didn’t you? You did this on purpose! From the very beginning, you had every intention of hurting Ari, didn’t you?”
I stood up and walked over to her side of the bed.
Rebecca started crying again. She looked up at me, shaking her head.
“I just wanted to get back at her for taking you away from me, Jeff. I didn’t think I would end up pregnant. Then she broke up with Jason days after we slept together. I told him about the baby, and he said he wanted nothing to do with it. When Crysti told me that she heard you and Ari were getting married, I panicked. I had to come up with something to get you back, and I thought….”
“You thought you could lie to me and tell me I was the father of the baby. How exactly were going to pull it off. Rebecca?”
Turning away from me she whispered, “Does it even matter anymore. Jeff?”
“Yes.”
“Fine…I was trying as much as I could to pull you away from Ari. I figured she would get sick of it and make you choose between us. I was banking on you taking the side of the baby because I knew about your father. I thought it would work out perfectly. I was planning to just call you after I had the baby, so you couldn’t be here for the birth. I was going to use the excuse that I couldn’t get through to you because of you were so far out in the country.”
I felt sick to my stomach. I thought back to a few hours ago when Ari did exactly what Rebecca wanted. And I did just what Rebecca hoped I would do.
“You didn’t think I would ask for a paternity test?” I asked, taking a few steps away from her.
I needed to get out here, away from this nut case, and back to Ari.
Ari. I had the worst feeling come over me. Something was wrong.
Rebecca was now looking at me, “I figured you would fall in love with him and then not even care about the test.”
“I need to leave. Don’t ever contact me again, Rebecca. Do you understand me? If you so much as look at Ari or me ever again, I’ll make sure you regret it.”
I took my phone out of my pocket and turned it on. I needed to talk to Ari. I had sixteen missed calls and five text messages.
I started to walk out of the room, as I called Ellie.
“Jeff, wait! Please don’t leave me alone,” Rebecca before she started to cry again.
I turned around to look at her when Ellie answered her cell.
“You motherfucker!”
I stopped dead in my tracks. What the hell?
“Ellie?”
“I never thought I could be as angry with you, Jefferson as I am right now. I hate you!”
Holy shit. What the hell is going on?
“Jeff?”
“Gunner? What the hell is wrong with Ellie?”
“Did Rebecca have her baby?”
“Um, yeah, but turns out.”
“Okay, do you think maybe now you could come to Hill Country Memorial Hospital in Fredericksburg? Your fiancée needs you.”
Oh my god. Ari.
“What’s going on, Gunner? Is Ari okay?”
“She was upset after you walked out on her. She took Rose out for a ride. Rose got spooked by a bolt of lightning and then took off running. She jumped a small creek and Ari fell off. She has a few bruised ribs and some other issues.”
I turned around and glared at Rebecca. This was her fault. I hated her more than I ever thought I could. I turned back toward the door and left before I did or said something I would regret.
“What other issues Gunner? Is she okay?” I started to jog down to the elevator. After I stepped in, I lost my cell signal.
“Mother fucking son of a bitch!” I yelled as I slammed my hand into the wall.
***
Once I got out of the hospital, I called Gunner back while I ran to my truck.
“Gunner, talk to me. What’s wrong with her? Is she awake? What else did she hurt?”
“Jeff, calm down. She hit her head, but they said she just has a mild concussion. And.”
“And what, Gunner!”
“She wants to be the one to tell you herself.”
What the fuck? “What? Okay, I’m on my way. I’m leaving Austin and heading to Fredericksburg now.” I threw the phone down in the passenger seat and took off.
***
By the time I got to the hospital in Fredericksburg, I was that shocked I didn’t end up with at least five speeding tickets. I rushed in to the ER and was told Ari was in her own room. When I got to her floor, walking off the elevator, I had the worst feeling. This was twice today when I had the feeling that I had just lost something important to me.
I looked up to see Gunner, Ellie, Mark, Sue, Emma and Garrett all sitting in the waiting room. Shit!
Ellie jumped up and started to walk over to me, but then Gunner got up and grabbed her. She looked pissed.
“Um, how long have y’all been here?” I asked, looking at everyone.
“Did she have the baby?” Ellie asked.
“Yeah, um, she did. It, ah…turns out she was lying to me the whole time. She was actually further along than she said. I only found out because I asked the doctor if the baby would be okay since he was born so early, and then he told me that Rebecca’s due was in two weeks.”
Ellie’s whole body started shaking.
“You left her! She told you that bitch was lying, and you just walked away from Ari. We all told you! You walked away, this is all your fault!” Ellie screamed.
As Gunner tried to pull her away from me. My heart started beating faster.
“Ellie, stop!” Gunner yelled, turning her around to face him. “Sweetheart, calm down, please.”
Emma walked up and took my by the arm. When I glanced over at Sue and Mark, I saw that Sue was crying.
“Emma, please just tell me what happened to Ari,” I practically begged as we started walking toward Ari’s room.
Emma looked at me and gave me a weak smile. “She should be awake. She asked to be alone until you got here.”
When I opened the door and saw her, I almost fell to my knees. My beautiful, strong Ari was lying in the bed. She was broken, and alone, crying.
I’d never felt such heartache in my life.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
ARI
My heart started beating faster the moment I heard Ellie talking to Jeff. I tried so hard not to start crying, but then I heard Jeff and Emma outside my room. As the door opened, I could feel the moment he walked into the room. I was looking out the window while the tears slid down my face.
I turned to him, and he looked like he was about to throw up. Good that motherfucker.
“So did you have your baby?” I asked with as much sarcasm as I could manage.
A tear rolled down his face as he looked me up and down. I was sure that I looked awful. My head was pounding, my chest was throbbing, and I even had a black eye. I wasn’t sure how I managed that one. I still say my ribs are broken. Stupid country doctors. I couldn’t even cry without everything on my body hurting.
“Oh god, Ari. I’ll never forgive myself for this, baby.”
Jeff came over and started to reach down to kiss me. I turned my head away from him.