Chapter 67: Proof Needed
Jeremy wants to go after Melissa but he knows she needs time to cool down. She won’t do anything to harm the baby, Jeremy tells himself. “Okay, now what the hell is going on here?” He asks. When his mother starts to respond he shots her daggers, “Not you, I want to hear this from Vanessa.” He turns to look at the woman he once thought he loved but knows now it was not even close to love he felt for her.
“I’m pregnant. And you’re the father.” Vanessa says curtly.
“Let’s try this again.” Jeremy is trying to keep his cool. “How is it you are pregnant when we took precautions. Double the precautions.”
“Well, birth control is not always 100% full proof.” Vanessa is looking everywhere but at him. Her cheeks redden as she continues. “And I may have forgotten my pill a time or two.”
“Pill, I thought you were one the needle?” Jeremy asks.
Vanessa glances toward his mother. “I was but didn’t like it so I went back on the pill. It’s no big deal.”
“Obviously it was!” Jeremy is getting irritated by the fact that she won’t look at him.
“So, when did this happen? What was the date we supposedly conceived this baby because it’s been a long time since I fucked you.” Jeremy hears his mother gasp over his use of the term but there is no way he can say they made love, not after experiencing sex with Melissa.
“Well, the doctors can’t tell for sure, sometime in March.”
Jeremy snorts at that. “Try again Vanessa. I know for a fact that they can pretty much pinpoint it down to the day.”
He can see the wheels turning in Vanessa’s head. “Well, he told me the closest he could estimate was the send week of March.” She answers defensively as she folds her arms over her belly.
Jeremy thinks back to that time, yes, he did have sex with her. It was right before he left to go to his conference. The one that he came back from and caught her in bed with Mike. “You sure it’s not Mike’s?” he asks.
“Jeremy!” His mother exclaims. “How could you ask such a thing!”
Jeremy rolls his eyes. “Oh please mother, do you think that one time I walked in on them was the first time they ever did the nasty.” He gets up and starts pacing. He turns back to Vanessa. “Well?”
“No, Jermy it’s not Mike’s baby. It’s your baby.” She is pouting now and Jeremy would laugh if the thought of her having his baby wasn’t so scary.
“Hold up here a minute,” Jeremy says, doing the math in his head. “When is your due date? It’s got to be just around the corner!” Jeremy is close to panicking now. Taking his phone out again, he is thinking about when Melissa got pregnant and when she is due. Doing the calculations he stops in his tracks. “You’re due in like two weeks. Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
His mother gets up from her spot and stands in front of him. “Jeremy, you will calm down right this moment. It is no good to make her upset.”
“Upset, she is sitting there as cool as the ice princess she always was! Two weeks? You don’t show up at the father of your baby’s house for the first time two weeks before you are due! How did you even get here? You aren’t supposed to fly this late in your pregnancy!” Jeremy is going through everything he has learned about pregnancy from Melissa’s books. As if reading his mind his mother speaks.
“How do you know so much about pregnant women?” She seems genuinely intrigued.
Jeremy struts into his bedroom and comes out with a dogged eared copy of “What to Expect When You are Expecting” and a barely read copy of “Your Baby’s First Year” and drops them loudly on the coffee table.
His mother and Vanessa both gasp but it is his mother who asks, “Why do you have those?”
Jeremy is at the end of his rope and he just wants them gone so that he can go find Melissa. “Because mother,” Jeremy says as he stares at Vanessa, “I am going to be a father. Melissa is more than my girlfriend she is my fiance, she is living here permanently with me, and she is having my baby. And how do I know it’s my baby because she doesn’t sleep around.” Jeremy gives that a minute to sink in as Vanessa goes deadly pale.
Jeremy continues, “she told me right away that she was pregnant. I went to her doctor appointments and she was able to tell us right down to a two-day period of when our baby was conceived.”
His mother is slowly lowering herself to the couch, with her hand over her mouth. Jeremy almost feels sorry for telling her this way. “Why didn’t you tell me, Jeremy?”
“Why didn’t I tell you?” Jeremy laughs. “Because of behavior like this mother. You know what Vanessa did to me and yet your dare to come to my house with her and scare off the woman I love? The woman who means everything to me?”
“But, she came to me, Jeremy. She said she was sorry. She made a mistake and wanted you back.” Jeremy’s mother is pleading with him now. “Then when she told me she was having your baby. My grandson, how could I not help her?” She now is looking a Vanessa, who is staring down at the floor.
“Well, I’m assuming someone has some proof? Where are your ultrasound print-outs?” Jeremy asks Vanessa.
“I don’t have them,” she responds still looking at the floor.
“Did you see them, mother?” Jeremy asks.
“Well, no. I mean, I didn’t think she would lie about something like this. Her mother is my best friend.” Jeremy’s mother protests.
Jeremy snorts again. “Yes, and her lover was my best friend.” Turning again toward Vanessa he sums things up. “So, let’s get this straight, you are two weeks away from having my baby and this is the first I hear of it. You have no evidence whatsoever of when you actually conceived this child, nothing to show that I am the father, which is highly unlikely as sex was a rare thing with us and you were adamant that we double up on protection because you were never ruining your figure by having children. And now, you put that baby at risk by flying across the country after manipulating my mother into helping you! Is that about it?”
“We came on the foundation’s plane. She couldn’t get a commercial flight.” His mother answers one of his many questions. “Now, that I think of it, Jeremy, she doesn’t look ready to have a baby does she?” He should be shocked about his mother’s 180 on the whole Vanessa thing but he knows there is nothing she hates more than being made a fool. And it certainly looks like Vanessa has made a fool of her.
Vanessa’s head flies up at that last comment from his mother. “I am pregnant. I was just so sick at the beginning, I couldn’t keep anything down.”
“So was Melissa and she is a lot bigger than you. She still has 6 weeks to go.” Jeremy says. Vanessa has no response to that. Jeremy is done. “I want you two gone. Now. Come back when you can show me proof of your pregnancy and the conception date. Then, only if there is a chance that I am the father, we will do a paternity test.” Vanessa says nothing.
“Jeremy can’t I stay,” his mother begins but he shuts her down. “My very pregnant fiance is out there somewhere and I am stuck here with you two. I want you both gone, so I can go find Melissa. Mother, you are welcome to come back in a day or so if you are still here. Vanessa, you are welcome to come back when you have that proof for me. Now, I am assuming you already had rooms booked, or would you like me to do that for you?”
“No, we have rooms. And we will get to the bottom of this.” She goes over and grabs Vanessa by the arm. “Come on, we got some things to work out. Perhaps we can call your mother while we’re at it. I’m sure she would love to know what’s really going on as well.”
As soon as they are out the door, Jeremy tries Melissa’s cell again. Straight to voice mail. She has it turned off. He tries Markus, it rings then goes to voice mail. Jeremy leaves a message. He manages to wait a few minutes, then sends Markus a text message. Fuck. Where could she be. His phone rings just as he hits send on the text and he answers without looking to see who it is.
“Hey Jeremy, it’s Mike. Don’t hang up…”
Before he can even process what he is doing all the anger and fear that is bottle up inside him drives him beyond his breaking point. With a growl, he hurls his phone across the room and watches as it smashes into a hundred pieces.