21. Jack
Chapter twenty-one
Jack
M aggie’s comment in the truck rattled me. I was going to be a father soon. The playboy, ladies’ man version of me was long gone, and I wasn’t so sure I missed it. Chaste, settled, and married were the words that would describe me now, and I needed to prove that as much as my fake marriage.
This baby was more life-changing for me than Maggie realized.
While I basked in my carefree and irresponsible lifestyle throughout high school and college, I didn’t realize I was drowning.
Drowning in loneliness and isolation and anxiety that wouldn’t subside the least bit until I became closer to Maggie.
Her company was a breath of fresh air compared to the people I used to surround myself with.
She didn’t fawn over me because of my profession or my family.
She wasn’t afraid to call me on my bullshit.
Wasn’t afraid to piss me off. Every moment spent with her felt like I was exactly where I was meant to be, and that scared the absolute hell out of me.
I could worship her in silence for now. Use that time to prove that I would fight for her and our family no matter what.
I was wracked with nerves as Maggie knocked on the door. The family lived in a beautiful suburban house with white shutters and blooming flowers in the front yard. An SUV was parked in the driveway, and a swing hung from a large oak tree in the front yard.
This is it.
This is what your future is going to look like .
I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
The door opened, revealing a tall, blonde woman with a huge smile.
Two dogs barked from not far behind her as she quickly motioned us into the house.
“Hello! Welcome to our home. Sorry about the dogs. We have two Airedales with more energy than our girls.” Maggie laughed as one of the dogs leapt onto its hind legs and propped its front paws on her knees.
“No, problem. We’re big animal people,” Maggie answered with a smile and cupped the dog’s chin with one hand, scratching his head with the other.
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot you two are polo players.” The blonde woman laughed and held her blinged-out hand out to me. “I’m Clarissa Rogers. You must be Maggie’s husband.”
It still felt like a punch to the gut when someone called me a husband. I tightened my face into a smile before taking her hand. “Nice to meet you, Clarissa, I’m Jack Hennicke.”
I wasn’t a nervous person. Ever. I was the last guy on the grass, looking like the star of the show with an ego bigger than the polo field.
But something about meeting a parent before taking care of their child worked up my nerves, and my accent slipped out.
Through my peripherals, I could make out Maggie glancing at me in surprise, no doubt hearing the dose of German in my voice.
Her lips twitched up before she faced Clarissa again.
“It’s good to see you again, Clarissa.”
“Oh, I can’t tell you how thankful I am again, Maggie.
You are such a lifesaver for doing this,” Clarissa gushed and pulled Maggie into a hug.
“My girls adore you from their lessons, so don’t be surprised if they’re clinging to you all night, asking you horse-related questions.
Or questions about unicorns. They’ve been asking about those non-stop. ”
Maggie’s face lit up as she laughed. I loved it when she laughed. “I should be the one thanking you. I’ve been dying to spend time with some little ones ever since I found out I was expecting.”
“Well, let me tell you, darling, it’s the biggest blessing you will ever receive. These girls are beyond energetic, and they drive us crazy, but they’re the best things that have ever happened to Bruce and me.”
If my stomach hadn’t been churning before, it sure as hell was now. These people were so damn happy. Their family sounded picture-perfect. They would never imagine faking a life like this.
“That’s amazing to hear.” Maggie reached down to clutch my hand. “We are so excited to be having a baby.”
I glanced at Maggie. We. It was still a foreign word to hear. A perfect silence ensued, only lasting a few seconds. We heard the chaos before it arrived in the form of two little blonde-haired girls, each with sparkly pink bows in their hair.
“Miss Maggie!” One of the girls ran to Maggie, hugging her legs. She reached down to hug her back.
“Hi, Josie! How are you today?”
Josie snorted and tilted her head all the way up to face Maggie. “I just saw you today, silly! I’m good, though. Kellie and I had Animal Crackers when we got home from our lesson, and they were so yummy.” I smiled at the little girl. Her enthusiasm and positivity were infectious.
“That sounds awesome!” Maggie beamed at her.
Kellie, I assumed, also ran up to hug Maggie after her sister let go. “Hi, Miss Maggie! You get to babysit us tonight!”
“That’s right,” Maggie replied with matching enthusiasm. “We’re going to have so much fun.”
“Me too!” Kellie yelled, waving her hands in the air.
“Me three!” Josie chimed in.
“Alright, I think we’re ready to go.” The girls’ father emerged from the double doors just off the foyer. He adjusted the blue and white-striped tie around his neck before putting a hand on his wife’s lower back and kissing her cheek. “You look beautiful, Clarie.”
Clarissa gave him a genuine smile before returning the compliment. “As do you, husband.”
He turned to me and held out his hand. “Hey, there. I’m Bruce. Nice to meet ya.”
I shook it and nodded. “Jack Hennicke. The pleasure’s mine.”
Clarissa turned to her daughters. “Girls, do you need anything before we go?”
Both shook their head, gazing up at their parents in adoration.
“You guys do look super pretty,” Kellie bounced. “Is it a special ‘casion?”
Their parents laughed. “ Occasion . And no, your father and I are just having a nice dinner. Sometimes we need quality time with each other,” Clarissa answered.
“Ohhh, okay. I’m gonna spend quality time with Miss Maggie tonight. And the other guy.” Kellie looked at me with an unknowing smirk.
I withheld my laugh.
“Girls, this is Jack, Miss Maggie’s husband,” Clarissa answered.
Josie let out a dramatic gasp and turned to Maggie. “You’re married?”
“Yes, I am,” she laughed.
“Okay-dokey, is everyone good? ‘Cause, we’ve got a reservation to make.” Bruce checked his silver Rolex and gave Clarissa a knowing look.
“Yes, we should be going,” she answered quickly and turned to us.
“Dinner is in the fridge, just pop it in the oven at 350 for thirty minutes, and it’ll be good to go.
The girls can play, watch TV, or whatever they want, and their bedtime is at eight-thirty.
We’ll be home by eleven, but I’ll let you know if it’s later.
You have my number, so just text me if you need anything or have any questions. ”
A look of uncertainty crossed Maggie’s face for a millisecond, but she covered it up with a smile. “Perfect. Thank you so much. Have a great night, you two!”
“Oh, no, thank you. Both of you,” Clarissa responded as Bruce began opening the door and dragging her out. “We’ll see you later!”
“Bye.” I waved them off as the door shut.
Josie turned away from the door and threw her hands in the air. “Yay! Party time!” She and Kellie darted into the living room together.
A hand gripped my forearm as I faced Maggie. “Hey, we got this,” she whispered.
“Mags, I don’t know shit about kids.” The last time I was around someone this young, his mother yelled at me because I was slurring drunk words to him about his skateboard.
“Just don’t cuss around the kids and smile big.” She reached up to kiss my cheek. “Let’s do this.”
An hour later, the four of us were sprawled out on the floor of the girls’ playroom.
Maggie wasn’t kidding when she said these girls were horse- obsessed .
Posters of jumping, dressage, and polo horses filled the walls, along with some cartoon ponies, pegasi, and unicorns.
Stuffed animals and bins of toys lined the room's perimeter, and we had created an entire horse village with all the horse toys they owned, which was more than I had ever seen in my life. We each got our own horse, and the girls insisted we speak in character. I had the girls giggling after doing my first impression of what I thought my black stallion would sound like. It turned out that kids weren’t so bad, at least when they were entertained.
The girls questioned me like I was a celebrity after Maggie informed them that I was a professional polo player.
They asked what it was like traveling the country for my job and if I had ever ridden a unicorn.
After hearing loads about their obsession with the mythical creature, I conjured up an idea.
“Actually, Maggie and I have a unicorn at our house.”
Their jaws dropped to the floor, encouraging me to go on. I could fib a couple of eight-year-olds by putting a plastic horn on one of my grey horses, and they would never know the difference. Maybe they would come to visit our place sometime to see it.
Shit. What are you doing? Bonding with little kids and fantasizing about showing them a unicorn? What’s gotten into you?
Maybe these fatherly instincts were beginning to kick in.
A chorus of “what’s?” and “oh my goodness!” filled the space.
“Yeah, her name is Neva. She’s a white horse with little brown spots, and she has a big unicorn horn on her head.” I glanced over at Maggie, who hid a smile and nodded, encouraging me to go on. She was probably as shocked at my behavior as I was.
“No way! You have a real live unicorn? I wanna see it!” Kellie exclaimed, wide-eyed and in awe.
“Yes, we do,” Maggie chimed in and scooted closer to me. “She is the most magical creature in the whole barn.”
Josie looked between us. “Wait, unicorns don’t have spots. Are you sure she’s real?
My wife laughed and nodded. “Neva is a special unicorn. She’s not like the ones you see in movies.” She brushed her hair out of her eyes, and I reached my hand over to rest on her thigh. I could tell she was trying her best not to glance over at me.
“That’s so cool!” Josie yelled as she galloped around the room with her small horse toy in hand.
“Miss Maggie?” Kellie asked innocently and crawled closer to us.
“Yes?”
“Is it scary to fall off when Mr. Jack plays polo? I’ve never fallen, and I am kind of scared of it happening to me.”
Maggie looked at me and mouthed a silent aww before turning back to Kellie. “Well, Jack is a professional, and everyone on the field puts safety before anything else, so it’s not likely that something will happen to him.”
It wasn’t necessarily true, but I liked that she calmed their nerves without blatantly lying to them like I did about our fucking unicorn.
“Ohhh,” Kellie nodded.
“And, we always make sure to treat our horses the right way so they don’t trip often,” I added. I had never gotten to explain polo to a little kid before. Seeing their faces light up when I told them something new was refreshing.
Josie hopped over to sit next to her sister. “Mr. Jack, is polo hard?”
I nodded. “It’s a little challenging at first, but the more you practice, the better you get.”
“Can I be a professional polo player like you someday?” The look in the young girl’s eyes nearly broke me, and very few things had that effect on me. She looked like she was gazing at birthday candles on a cake, dreaming of what she wanted more than anything.
“Of course, you can. You can be anything you want.” I gulped. A conversation with an eight-year-old was not supposed to feel as intense as it did.
“I’m gonna work really, really hard, and then I’m gonna have a unicorn of my own someday in my barn filled with polo horses.” She smiled, a wistful look still filling her eyes.
My stomach churned, and my heartbeat picked up. I was going to have a kid who asked these same questions—a kid who might have the same dreams in a few months.
And I realized, I couldn’t wait for my own kid to ask me questions like this. Yes, my stomach rolled like thunder, and my heart thumped worse than it did when I saw our baby in black and white, but what fought the panic was the desire to be the father this baby deserved.
This was getting real.