Chapter 30
Declan
Ibarge into Penny’s apartment as soon as I hit the landing. I don’t bother to knock, and Autumn comes running from the bathroom to see who it is.
“Dec!” she yells, coming to grab my hand. “Mommy is sick.”
Shit.
I can hear Penny puking in the bathroom, and Autumn drags me towards the sound.
Penny’s sitting on the floor on her knees, bent over the toilet bowl, and I immediately stand behind her to pull her hair back. Autumn is standing in the doorway with wide eyes, not sure what to do.
“Hey, baby girl. Can you go get me a water bottle from the fridge for mommy?” I give her a warm smile, and a moment later, she races to the kitchen.
Autumn loves her mom so much, and it’s written all over her face that she’s worried about Penny.
“Hey, are you okay?” I ask Penny, rubbing circles on her upper back.
She shakes her head, and Autumn returns with the water bottle.
“You know what, why don’t we leave mommy alone for a minute?” I tell Autumn, not wanting to convey that I’m worried about her, too. “Let’s go put a movie on.”
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Penny, and she nods, looking frighteningly pale.
Autumn reluctantly follows me, and I guide her to the couch to turn the TV on. “What movie do you want to watch?”
She looks at me with worried eyes. “Does mommy need to go to the doctor?”
I sit down next to her and pull her to my side. “I don’t think so. But I’m going to keep an eye on her, just in case.”
That seems to satisfy her for now, and we navigate the TV until we land on a popular princess movie.
I make sure she’s set up with her blanket, and I start making phone calls.
First to Lucas and Jordan, and next to Alex and Briana.
Fuck the NDA Penny signed when she was just a teenager.
She needs a support system right now, and everyone needs to know what’s going on.
As I wait for everyone’s replies, I do a quick internet search of Brad.
There are countless articles and photos of him.
And most aren’t in good light. There’s nothing too damning, but he’s always been partying, and from the looks of it, has gotten himself out of trouble multiple times.
His mom has obviously covered up some shady shit for him.
I get a text from Lucas saying he and Jordan will be here in five, and Alex and Briana tell me they’re on their way.
I check on Penny in the bathroom, and she’s got her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around the toilet bowl.
I get a wet washcloth, place it on the back of her neck, and then kiss the top of her head.
“Autumn’s distracted,” I tell her. She nods her head, looking at me with sad eyes, and a moment later, I hear a knock on the door. “I’ll be right back.”
“What’s going on?” Jordan asks as she enters the apartment with Lucas on her heels. Her eyes are full of worry, and I don’t blame her.
Autumn pops up and yells, “Auntie, Jay! Mommy is sick.” She runs to give Jordan a hug, and Lucas looks at me with a grim expression on his face.
“What movie are you watching?” Lucas asks Autumn once she lets go of Jordan, distracting her so I can tell Jordan what’s going on.
“How much do you know about Autumn’s father?” I ask.
Her brows furrow in confusion, but she says, “Almost nothing. What I do know is that the story Penny tells everyone is a lie. But I’ve never pressed her because I figured she had a good reason for keeping it a secret.”
I swallow and then tell Jordan everything I know. As I recount what happened in the tattoo shop today, her eyes are wide, and she looks like she’s about to cry. “Isn’t that like rape or something?” she whispers in complete shock.
I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know. But it’s definitely not morally right. I’m only just processing this right now, and the more I think about it, the more I want to murder the guy.”
“You’re going to have to get in line. I’m going to go check on her,” she tells me and heads down the hallway.
A moment later, another knock sounds on the door.
I greet Alex and Briana and join them on the landing. “Is she okay?” Alex asks. All they know is that Penny is sick and needs them.
I shake my head. “No. I’m going to tell you guys something that you’re not going to like. But Penny needs you right now, and because she’s not the one who told me this, I don’t think she can get in trouble for it.”
Their faces are full of confusion, and I start the story with the man in my chair today. I tell them everything he said, and Alex goes from shocked to murderous as I get to the end. Briana has tears streaming down her face.
“I don’t understand,” Briana cries out. “Why didn’t she tell us she knew who it was? For a while, I thought she was lying, but she wouldn’t budge, so then I thought she was actually telling the truth.”
“She signed an NDA,” I tell them. I’m not sure if this puts Penny in any legal trouble but I don’t really care at the moment.
“What?” Alex barks out. “What do you mean NDA?”
“He’s Senator Elias’s son,” I tell him.
I can see the gears turning in his head, and he turns on his heel to swear.
“Right now, I think she needs you guys. She’s not doing well.”
Briana pulls the door open and rushes inside, and Alex stays with me on the landing and tilts his head up to blink away tears.
“I should have known. I should have pressed her more when she came home sobbing that she was pregnant. I know my daughter, and I was always highly suspicious of her story about how it was some random one-night stand. But I told myself that she would come to us when the time was right. But years went by, and she didn’t say anything.
How did we not see this?” he says the last part to himself as a stray tear falls down his cheek.
I clamp my hand on his shoulder, and he wipes a hand down his face.
I can only imagine the mental gymnastics they’re going through, hearing their daughter’s story for the first time, the real story.
Alex and Briana look like they are devastated by this revelation.
I know when Penny first told me about the douchebag, I felt so much rage, and now that I know who Autumn’s father is, my mind is wandering to some pretty dark places as far as his life is concerned.
No one gets to fuck with my wife’s mental state like he did. And no one gets to talk to her like he did. He should be grateful that it was Becca who punched him because if it were me, he would have ended up six feet deep.
We head inside, and Lucas, Alex, and I make sure Autumn has a belly full of food and is distracted while Jordan and Briana take care of Penny. A while later, Penny emerges from the bathroom and goes into her room with the two women.
I can’t even imagine how Penny is feeling right now. I want to be the one to hold her and comfort her, but I know that her mom and best friend are taking care of her fully.
My phone pings, and it’s a text from Jude.
Jude: You all good?
Me: I’m fine but Penny isn’t.
Jude: Just a heads up. That guy stood on his phone out front of the shop for a good half hour. He looked pissed as fuck. And before he hung up and left, he turned to the shop and smirked like he was up to no good.
Me: You think he’s coming back?
Jude: I do. He was spewing words about Penny, “the kid”, and Becca, that I won’t repeat.
Fuck. Out of all the tattoo shops in California, he had to make an appointment at mine. What are the odds?
“Everything good?” Lucas whispers.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. But I think trouble might come knocking.”
He nods his head toward the kitchen, and I get up and follow him. “What happened?”
I tell the story for the third time today, and Lucas nods the whole time with a neutral expression on his face. “Do you think this guy is dangerous?”
“Honestly, no. He seems more like the type of guy who has somebody else fix all his problems. I’m just not sure if that means a lawyer or muscle.”
“Well, whatever you need from me, I’m more than happy to help.”
I nod my head. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
~ ~ ~
Penny
I’ve never felt so drained in my life. Even when I was pregnant with Autumn, I didn’t feel exhausted like this. But I’m pretty sure my body is in shock, and coupled with the vomiting, I have no energy left.
“So, what’s the plan?” Jordan asks.
I’m curled in a ball between her and my mom on the bed. Declan called in the cavalry, and I’m not sure whether to be extremely thankful or upset with him. No one knew anything about Autumn’s sperm donor, and now my whole circle knows.
“Nothing,” I tell her honestly. “I signed an NDA. No one is supposed to know anything.”
“He shouldn’t be able to get away with something like that. You had no representation. You were just a kid,” my mom argues.
“In the eyes of the law, I was an adult. I made a choice and I have to take responsibility for it.”
“So, what, we just ignore the fact that this guy poked holes in a condom? If that’s not illegal, then I don’t know what is.”
I cringe. This whole time, I thought Autumn was a miracle baby, getting through two forms of birth control, but it turns out that Brad had other malicious plans. It’s a low blow, but regardless, it is what it is. I wouldn’t trade Autumn for the world.
“I never have to see him again. So, who cares?”
“But what if Declan wants to adopt Autumn?” Jordan whispers.
Yeah. That’s something I thought of as well.
I haven’t just been sitting around, twiddling my fingers for the past six weeks while I internally freak out about how I’m technically now a wife.
I’ve also been freaking out about my daughter.
If Declan wants to adopt her, I will have to get Brad to sign his parental rights over.
It doesn’t matter if he was on the birth certificate or not.
Which means I would have to come face-to-face with him.
And as far as I know, he didn’t even know he had a daughter.
I handled everything through the lawyer that was sent my way and never once had to see or talk to Brad.
I always figured I would be tracked down eventually, but when I think about it, I’m not sure if any of his family knew I kept Autumn.
I could have given her up for adoption or aborted her.
The NDA just said that if paternity came back positive, I could never tell anyone who the father was.
Nowhere in it did it say what I had to do with the child.
“Declan adopt Autumn?” my mom questions.
I look at Jordan, and she cringes and mouths, ‘Sorry.’
“Just let it go, mom.”
She sits up and looks at me. “Let it go? That’s not happening. Why would Jordan say that?” She looks to me, then Jordan, and back again.
I push my hair behind my ears. “Because we’re together,” I tell her. It’s not exactly a lie, but it’s not the whole truth either.
Her eyes narrow, and I look away. “Since when?”
“Uh, maybe I should just… go,” Jordan says, rising from the bed.
“Sit your cute butt down, right now, Jordan Bailey.” My mom points at her and then the bed, completely serious.
Jordan climbs in next to me, and my mom is looking at us like we’re two teenagers who just got caught smoking weed in the high school bathroom.
“One of you better start talking, right now,” she demands.
Jordan and I look at each other, and she’s the one to break first. “PennyandDeclanaremarried,” she spews out so fast that it takes my brain a few seconds to understand what she just said.
My mom blinks once. Twice. Three times. And then her eyes go comically wide. “What did you just say?”
I have the forthright to look ashamed. This is not how I wanted my mom or dad to find out about Declan and me.
Sure, we’ve been married for over a month now, but nothing’s really changed between us.
Just the sex. Lots and lots of sex. Okay, and he’s around all the time, but that’s neither here nor there.
“Declan and I got married in Vegas,” I tell her honestly. I guess this is happening right now.
Her brows furrow. “I’m confused. Declan is supposed to propose to you.”
Now it’s my turn for my eyes to widen. “Excuse me?” I ask.
My mom slaps a hand over her mouth and all three of us look at each other. What the hell is going on?
“You know what,” my mom gets up from the bed and walks to the door, “we’re going to pretend like we never had this conversation. I’m going to make you something to eat.”
She leaves so quickly that I don’t have time to stop her.
“Did she just say…”
“I think she did,” I respond to Jordan.
“Oh my God. That means…”
“He asked my parents for permission.” I finish the sentence for her. He was, or is, going to ask me to marry him for real for real. Or at least give me a proposal that wasn’t alcohol induced.
My stomach turns to knots again, and I run to the bathroom with my hand over my mouth, emptying my stomach once more. There was a part of me that thought Declan was going to regret all his decisions when it came to marrying me, but if he asked my parents for permission, that means he’s all in.
“Hey, are you okay?” Declan comes rushing in a moment later.
I nod my head, and he helps me to stand. “I’m fine. Just stressed from everything.”
We haven’t talked about Brad, but both Jordan and my mom knew what had happened, and I know it’s because Declan told them.
I brush my teeth, and Declan stares at me the whole time. When I’m finally done, he says, “I’m sorry for bringing everyone here.”
I wrap my arms around his waist, and he circles his around my shoulders. “It’s okay,” I tell him honestly. Because if that prick, Brad, can go on spewing the shit he did, then it’s time for me to be able to say something and trust the people around me.
“Brad figured out who Autumn was, Penny.”
I look up at him in shock. “What?”
He nods solemnly. “I could tell he worked it out in his head. He wasn’t too happy about it. I think… I think he might come back.”
His words have me bent over the toilet one more time. I really thought I was going to be done with this guy, but the universe has other plans, it seems.
Only time will tell.
I guess now, it’s just a waiting game.