Chapter 30 Jackson
Ididn’t expect to leave the resort again until I headed to the airport to fly home, but nothing really goes as expected, does it?
The four of us crowd a taxi as the driver takes us to one of the clinics that we found online. If everything goes well, we should get paternity test results soon, and that’ll answer at least one question.
The more information we have, the better. That’s how we can make the best decisions.
“You can sit in the waiting room if you want,” Cassidy says quietly from between Marcus and me.
“We’re going in. I have questions,” I reply, keeping my eyes forward as the driver pulls over to the side of the road. “I think we’re here.”
Cassidy draws in a deep breath, exhaustion and stress clouding her eyes. Her face doesn’t have its usual glow either. She looks so drained.
I think we all feel that way to some extent. Having your relationships and friendships fall apart is exhausting. I haven’t heard a peep from Ryan since yesterday, and I don’t expect to hear anything today either.
If we find our bags piled up outside of the resort, I don’t think that we should be surprised.
“Thank you,” I tell the driver as I pass him some money.
The four of us step out of the taxi and head into the clinic. I stay by Cassidy’s side the entire time she speaks with the receptionist and fills out paperwork. She’s not going to go through this alone.
Tension weighs down the air as we sit together in the small waiting room, not a single word leaving any of us. I can think of a thousand things to say, but we need answers from a professional first.
Tyler won’t stop bouncing his damn knee over and over again.
Marcus keeps casting looks at Cassidy like she’s going to fall apart any second.
Meanwhile, I can’t even read her expression. She just stares ahead at a woman seated across the room from us with an infant cradled in her arms.
It’s easy to picture her in the same position. Some people are meant to be parents. They just have this maternal or paternal energy that radiates from them, even when they’re not interacting with children. They’re the people you can run to if you’re in trouble or need advice.
She’s that person.
I want to be, but I want to be a lot of things. I want to do a lot of things.
But will I be a good father? Will Tyler or Marcus be good fathers if the child ends up being theirs?
Good people don’t always equal good parents. Some people just can’t do it. I’ve seen that firsthand.
“Cassidy Monroe,” a nurse says after thirty minutes of sitting in silence.
Tyler, Marcus, and I all get up with Cassidy and follow her to the examination room in the back.
“Oh, everyone?” the nurse says as she looks between us.
“Is that okay?” Cassidy asks her as she sits on the edge of the reclined patient table, her cheeks flushing slightly.
I’m sure this isn’t a normal sight, but we don’t need to be treated like a spectacle.
The nurse nods. “Of course. Let me check some things and then I’ll go grab the doctor.”
Cassidy nods, rubbing her knees anxiously as the nurse starts asking her general questions.
Marcus and Tyler sit down in the two seats close to the door. I remain standing next to Cassidy, my arms crossed over my chest as I listen closely.
“And you’re currently sexually active?” the nurse asks Cassidy.
Cassidy glances at the three of us, her face reddening. “Yes.”
I can’t believe we’re here right now. It seems like we were fooling around in Las Vegas just yesterday. Now, we’re in a doctor’s office to see which one of us is the father of her baby.
I never saw this coming. She said she was on birth control, but no way is a hundred percent effective.
We’re just in that small percentile of failure.
“I’ll get Dr. Torres,” the nurse says after jotting down a few more notes on the paper she’s writing on. She stands and walks out of the room, leaving the four of us alone.
“Are you okay?” Marcus asks Cassidy.
Cassidy nods stiffly. “Yeah.”
“You don’t have to act like you’re fine if you’re not,” I tell her. “This is…a lot.”
Cassidy scoffs, her eyes slightly glistening. She rapidly blinks them. “That’s an understatement. Everything is falling apart.”
I wish I could say something that would actually comfort her, but I don’t think those words even exist.
The door to the room opens, and a tall, lean man in a white coat strides inside.
“Hello, everyone,” he says.
Cassidy puts a polite smile on her face, but I can still see the anxiety etched into every single feature on her face. “Hi.”
“We’d like to do a non-invasive prenatal paternity test,” I tell him, reciting that straight from my Internet searching.
“Straight to business,” Dr. Torres says with a light chuckle. “Well, we can do that. That’ll require a blood draw from the mother and a cheek swab from the father. Whose cheek am I swabbing?”
Cassidy’s face looks as red as a tomato.
“All of ours,” I tell him, jumping right to the point.
I don’t have time to be embarrassed or ashamed or whatever. None of that matters. The results and what we do with them matters, so we’re all getting our cheeks swabbed today.
Dr. Torres nods. “Let’s get started then. Nurse, can you get started with the blood draw?”
The nurse nods in response and ties a tourniquet around Cassidy’s arm before wiping down the injection site with a sterile pad. “You’ll just feel a tiny pinch.”
While Dr. Torres gets the cheek swabs ready, I reach out and take Cassidy’s hand as the nurse prepares to push the needle into her arm.
“I’m here,” I tell her.
Cassidy turns her head, locking eyes with me so that she doesn’t have to see the needle. She tightens her grip on my hand as her blood starts filling the collection tube.
A faint ache hits me deep in my chest. I don’t like seeing her like this. It kills me.
I don’t even care that she kept the baby a secret from us for this long. I can still see the fear all over her face. She’s not malicious.
She’s terrified.
And we know now so why bother holding a grudge? We’ve got too much shit to do for me to get hung up on what was done in the past.
“All done,” the nurse says as she removes the needle from Cassidy’s arm.
Cassidy gives me a grateful look before releasing my hand.
“Your turn,” Dr. Torres tells me as he steps closer with a long cotton swab in his hand.
I open my mouth and let him swab the inside of my cheek.
“Good,” Dr. Torres says before turning away from me to safely store the swab. “We’ll test all of this and get the results back to you soon.”
“How soon?” Tyler asks.
“Probably a week,” Dr. Torres replies.
My eyes narrow. “A whole week? We need this done soon. Really soon.”
Dr. Torres frowns. “I’m afraid these tests take time. The absolute earliest that we can do is two days, and that’s not a guarantee. It depends on the lab we send them to and how busy they are.”
I run my hand over my head, tension forming in the back of my neck. I didn’t expect this to take so long. I’d like to know who the father is before the wedding.
“Okay,” I tell him.
“If that’s all you need, you’re free to leave,” Dr. Torres says. “And if you have any questions, just give us a call or come by.”
“Thank you,” Marcus tells him as he and Tyler get to their feet.
I nod to Dr. Torres before taking Cassidy’s arm and helping her off the table. “Careful.”
Cassidy gives me a pointed look. “I’m not that danger prone.”
“Can never be too careful. You’ve got someone along for the ride,” I reply, my fingers grazing her back as we all leave the room.
“He’ll carry you everywhere if you let him,” Tyler adds, a dash of humor slipping into his voice.
Cassidy smiles a little. “Well, I’m not going to.”
“He’ll probably still try to,” Marcus replies.
I roll my eyes.
For a moment, things feel somewhat normal. As normal as they possibly could. There’s nothing but us, our baby, and our stupid jokes.
I miss that moment as soon as it passes and reality sets back in.
When we get in a taxi to head back to the resort, I check the time on my watch. “When we get back, you should eat something and then rest.”
“It’s noon. I don’t need to rest yet,” Cassidy replies.
“You need rest,” I assure her. “You’re going through a lot physically and emotionally right now, and it would be good for you to rest.”
“You don’t have to sleep. You can just relax and watch a movie,” Marcus says from the other side of Cassidy. He gives me a pointed look. “Whatever makes you most comfortable.”
“I’m also not that hungry.”
I sigh heavily. “No, I’m drawing the line there. You have to eat something, Cass. At least do some sort of salad and maybe some grilled chicken. I read that stuff like that is good for pregnant women to eat.”
Cassidy drops her head back against the car seat. “Jax…”
“Take it down a notch, dude,” Tyler mutters to me. “You’re stressing her out more barking orders.”
“I’m not barking orders,” I say pointedly. “She needs to eat more to sustain her and the baby. I don’t care if I’m the father or not. I want the best for the baby.”
Tyler and Marcus eventually nod in agreement. I get why they want to stand up for her, but my intentions are good. And they want the same thing as me.
A healthy mother and child.
“Fine,” Cassidy sighs. “But don’t get mad if I don’t eat every bite. If everything made you sick, you wouldn’t feel like eating much either.”
“Just eat at least half. Please.”
Cassidy nods and picks at the stretchy material of her black leggings. “Thank you for coming with me today.”
“You don’t have to thank us,” Marcus replies. “And we didn’t come because we felt obligated.”
“Or because we pity you,” Tyler adds.
“We’re not going to let you go through this alone,” Marcus tells her as he places his hand over hers. “I don’t care what comes our way next.”
Her face softens before a sniffle breaks from her. She groans and covers her face with her hands. “I’m so tired of crying. Just when I think I have no more tears left, I cry again.”
I gently rub her shoulder, wishing just my touch could siphon away all her pain. I’d take it all so that she could finally be at peace.
But that’s not how reality works and this path is going to be long and hard for all of us.
I can only hope that there’s peace and happiness waiting for us at the end.
When we make it back to the resort, we take her back to her room. Tyler and Marcus get her settled in bed, and I call room service to have lunch brought to her.
“You’re not going to stay?” Cassidy asks.
“You need to rest,” I tell her as we stand next to her bed. “Try to sleep if you can. You’re expending more energy than usual.”
Cassidy places her hands on her stomach above the blanket that Tyler and Marcus tucked in around her. “Because someone is along for the ride.”
A flicker of warmth ignites in my chest as I nod. I wonder who the baby will look more like. Her or the father?
I hope the baby looks more like her because she’s perfect.
“Rest,” Marcus says before kissing her on the forehead. “We’ll see you soon.”
Tyler kisses the top of her head. “Call us if you need anything.”
“We’re okay, Ty?” Cassidy asks him with a hopeful look on her face.
He gives her a warm smile and nods. “We’re okay. I’m not going anywhere.”
Relief shines in her eyes. “Okay, good.”
“Come on,” I tell the guys, motioning for them to move away from her.
“Yeah, yeah,” Tyler replies, waving me off.
I remain by Cassidy’s bedside for an extra few moments after Tyler and Marcus walk away. I take her hand and kiss her knuckles, resisting the urge to crawl into bed and hold her.
“We’ve got you,” I remind her. I don’t want her to forget that.
“This is crazy,” she whispers as she gazes up at me. “Do you think everything is going to be okay?”
“I hope so,” I reply before releasing her hand and taking a step back. “Eat. Sleep. Please.”
When she nods, I turn around and follow the guys out of her room, my shoulders feeling a hundred pounds heavier than before.
“Who’s up for a drink?”