Chapter 9 #2
After we hung up, I stood there for a moment, phone still in my hand, my heart still racing. She knew. Chloe knew about Leo and Jenna, and she wasn’t running. We were going to be okay.
But then her words replayed in my mind: “She introduced herself to me. After you left.”
Ice flooded my veins. Jenna had approached Chloe. Deliberately. After I’d left the medical clinic, Jenna had walked up to my girlfriend and… what? What had she said? How had she positioned herself? What narrative had she spun?
I thought about Jenna’s calculated friendliness at the diner, the way she’d researched my life online, her comment about Chloe being “beautiful.” She’d known exactly who Chloe was. And when she’d seen her opportunity in that parking lot, she’d taken it.
God, what had she told Chloe?
I walked back inside to find Jack and Harper tidying up, Emma presumably napping upstairs.
“Everything okay?” Harper asked, reading my expression.
“She’s staying overnight at the Jenkins farm. It’s going to be a late one, and the road’s too dangerous in the dark.” I ran my hand through my hair and sat down heavily on the couch.
Jack studied my face, then looked at Harper, who nodded. He sat down opposite me. “You want to talk about it?”
I hesitated. “I should talk to Chloe first.”
“Okay,” Jack said simply, not pushing.
We sat in silence for a moment. Then the words just came out. “I have a son.”
Jack’s beer stopped halfway to his mouth. “What?”
“A four-year-old boy named Leo. His mother showed up with him on Chloe’s birthday.
The timing matches up with my Chicago holiday five years ago.
” I ran my hands through my hair again. “We did the paternity test this morning. Expedited processing. Results come back tomorrow. But, honestly, you only have to look at him to know he’s mine. ”
“Jesus, Sam.” Jack set down his beer carefully. “How’s Chloe handling this?”
“She doesn’t know.” The words felt like lead dropping from my mouth.
“Fuck, Sam.” Jack’s voice was sharp with frustration, his jaw tight. “You haven’t told her?”
“No—wait.” I shook my head, running my hands through my hair again.
“She knows something. She saw me with them at the medical clinic parking lot when I took Leo for the paternity test. She knows about the money I’ve spent on Leo.
” I paused, the sick feeling returning. “And Jenna approached her. After I left the clinic, Jenna introduced herself. I don’t know what she said, but she talked to her. ”
“Wait, what?” Harper sat down beside Jack, her eyes wide. “You’ve been keeping this a secret from her, and she just confronted you over the phone?”
I nodded, my hands clasped between my knees. “She told me she’s angry I didn’t just talk to her. That I’ve been shutting her out.” I let out a shaky breath. “She wants us both to take the afternoon off, switch off our phones, and just talk.”
Jack leaned back against the couch cushions as he processed what I’d said. “So she knows there’s a kid and she’s put two and two together, but you haven’t actually confirmed he’s yours?”
“I would have told her on the phone, but she kept cutting me off. Said it wasn’t a conversation to have over the phone.
That she needed to focus on the alpacas, then we’d talk face to face.
” I rubbed my face with both hands, feeling the stubble on my jaw.
“She made it very clear she’s angry. But she’s choosing to face it with me instead of being a coward like I’ve been. ”
Harper let out a breath, her expression softening. “She’s strong.”
“She is.” A small smile tugged at my lips despite everything. “She’s been putting me off because she was exhausted from that nasty cattle business, but now she’s ready to talk. She’s compartmentalizing — alpacas first, then dealing with me.”
Harper made a sound that was suspiciously like a giggle. Jack shot her a stern look, which only made her giggle more.
“I’m sorry,” Harper said, not sounding sorry at all, her eyes dancing with amusement. “It’s just — alpacas first, then you. That’s so Chloe.”
Despite everything, I found myself laughing too. “Yeah, I’ve definitely been put in my place.”
Jack’s lips twitched despite himself, but the smile faded quickly. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his expression growing serious again. “So tomorrow you’ll tell her everything?”
I looked between them, feeling the weight of their scrutiny.
“I tried multiple times before this. The day I met them, I came home planning to tell her everything, but she’d been called out to the Jenkins’ and wasn’t there.
The next night, I tried again when she got home, but she literally fell asleep mid-conversation. ”
Jack’s expression was skeptical, one eyebrow raised. “You didn’t try very hard.”
I wanted to argue, but he wasn’t entirely wrong.
The truth sat heavily in my chest. “It’s only been five days since Chloe’s birthday, but it feels like a lifetime.
” I looked between them, needing them to understand.
“Jenna’s broke, moving from motel to motel with Leo.
He looks exactly like me. Like, undeniably mine.
And I’ve been trying to help him — paying for their motel, meals, getting Leo some toys — while figuring out how to tell Chloe without destroying everything we’ve built. ”
Jack was quiet for a long moment, his eyes distant. I could see him processing, comparing my situation to his own crisis four years ago. When he finally looked at me, there was understanding in his expression, but also something harder.
“I get it,” he finally said. “I get the impulse to try to fix everything before involving the person you love. To wait until you have all the answers. But I’m telling you from experience – that approach doesn’t work. It makes everything worse.”
His words hit me like a punch to the gut.
Four years ago, I’d been the one calling Jack out on his bullshit.
I’d confronted him repeatedly while Harper was in the last few weeks of her pregnancy with Emma, forced him to see that Madison was manipulating him, told him that either he was having an affair or she was lying about everything.
I’d watched him nearly lose everything because he’d let the viper manipulate him instead of being where he should have been - with Harper.
And here I was, doing the exact same thing. Not exactly the same thing. But I was keeping secrets from Chloe.
“I know,” I said quietly. “I know it’s the same mistake you made. I keep telling myself it’s different – that I’m just buying a few more days to figure out the right way to tell her, that Leo’s situation is more complicated. But it’s not different, is it?”
Jack’s expression was sympathetic but firm. “No, man. It’s not.”
“I just panicked. I wanted to have a plan. Wanted to present Chloe with solutions instead of just problems.” I dropped my head into my hands, elbows on my knees.
“Why?”
“Because she deserves better than being blindsided by my past showing up in the form of a kid I didn’t know existed!
” The words came out more forcefully than I’d intended, and I looked up to see both of them watching me.
“Because she’s been through shit before with her ex, and I didn’t want to put her through that trauma again.
I wanted to protect her from the mess while I cleaned it up. ”
“Sam.” Jack leaned forward, his beer forgotten on the table. “You can’t protect someone from reality. And trying to do it just makes them feel shut out. I know, because that’s exactly what I did to Harper. I treated her like she wasn’t strong enough to be my partner in everything.”
The words hit harder than I expected. “I’m not treating Chloe like she’s not strong—”
“Aren’t you? If you trusted her strength, you’d have told her the moment Jenna showed up.
You’d have brought her into the process instead of managing everything yourself.
” Jack’s voice was gentle but firm. “The biggest thing I learned from almost losing Harper is that partnership means sharing the hard stuff. Not just the solutions, but the process of figuring it out.”
“But she’s been exhausted. Mentally. Physically.” Even as I said it, I knew it was an excuse.
“So tomorrow, you tell her. Tell her everything and let her be part of figuring out what comes next.” Jack paused, his eyes searching my face. “Do you want to be with Chloe?”
“Yes. God, yes.” The answer came without hesitation, from somewhere deep in my chest.
“Then treat her like someone you want to spend your life with. That means trusting her with the ugly, complicated parts, not just the resolved ones.”
Harper shifted closer to Jack, her hand finding his.
“Sam, when the person you love is keeping secrets, every day that passes makes it harder to forgive. Not because the secret gets worse, but because the choice to keep lying gets harder to understand.” There was something in her voice — old pain, remembered hurt from when Jack had shut her out.
“What if she can’t handle it? What if Leo is too much?” My voice came out quieter than I intended, the fear finally spoken aloud.
“You have to give her the chance to decide for herself,” Jack said, his voice firm. “Anything else is you making unilateral decisions about your relationship.”
I thought about the past five days. The way I’d been trying to control every variable instead of trusting the woman I loved to face this challenge with me. My throat felt tight. I had been doing exactly what Jack did. And I’d watched him nearly lose everything because of it.
“Thank you,” I said to Jack and Harper, my voice rough. “Both of you. For everything you’ve taught me. Including the lessons I should have learned sooner.”
Jack stood and pulled me into a hug, the kind that said more than words could.
“You know, for the past four years, you’ve been there for us.
Helping me figure out how to be a better husband.
Showing up when Harper needed a friend. Being Uncle Sam to Emma.
You helped us get back to each other, Sam. More than you probably realize.”
“You two did the work—” I started, but Jack squeezed my shoulder, cutting me off.
“We did. But we couldn’t have done it without you.” He stepped back, his hand still on my shoulder. “Now let us return the favor. Go fix this. If you need help – with Chloe, Leo, anything – we’re here. That’s what family does.”
Harper stood and hugged me too, quick and fierce. When she pulled back, her eyes were bright. “Chloe’s strong, Sam. Stronger than you’re giving her credit for. Trust her.”
As I drove home, I thought about Emma’s birthday party. Four years old. Four years since Jack’s crisis. Four years of him and Harper rebuilding what secrets had nearly destroyed. They’d made it. They were proof that couples could survive catastrophic mistakes if they faced them together.
It was time to face up to my mistakes.