15. Leah

CHAPTER 15

LEAH

" Y ou okay?" the nurse asks as she's drawing my blood.

I force a smile. "Just fine. Thanks."

With Jack on the other side of the room, I'd rather die than say otherwise.

God, this is so embarrassing. I can't help but think every person in this clinic feels bad for me. After all, here I am, having a prenatal paternity test.

I'd feel sorry for myself, too.

And damn Jack. I'm furious at him for this whole thing, from his reaction yesterday to the fact that he only gets his cheek swabbed today while I need to have blood drawn.

I knew he probably wouldn't be thrilled over the pregnancy, but for him to react the way he did was mind-blowing.

As if I would try to trap him with a pregnancy. In the age of paternity tests, that doesn't even make sense!

For him to insist I'm scamming him and calling him a liar is too much. They were the words that nearly brought me to my knees.

But at least now I've seen the real him. All my silly hopes have been swept away, and I'm left with nothing but reality — cold and harsh as it is.

The nurse finishes up, and I get off the chair. Jack's already standing, looking at his phone, probably trying to prove to me just how much of a waste of his time this is.

As if I ordered the test myself.

We walk down the hallway, and I keep my back ramrod straight and my gaze fixed ahead. Beneath my calm exterior, though, I'm a volcano. If this man says one more insulting thing to me, there's a good possibility I'll bite his head off.

At the door, Jack pockets his phone and finally addresses me. "We should have the results back within a few days."

"Great," I say through tight teeth.

We're out on the sidewalk now, and I start towards my car. I'm not going to wait for him. I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of looking at me with that annoying little smirk of his.

"Hold on."

Jack trots up to me, and I wheel around to face him.

"What do you want?" I snap.

He scowls. "To talk about your job."

I stiffen. Shit. I haven't even thought about what this means for my position.

Technically, he can't fire me. One, it's illegal to fire someone because they're pregnant. And two, he needs the board's permission to get rid of me.

But I wouldn't put anything past this man. If he wants to have something done, he'll find a way.

"What about my job?" I fold my arms.

He sniffs. "Once we get the results back, I'm willing to overlook this and move forward. We don't need to bring it up again."

"Oh, how gracious of you," I hiss.

Jack glares. "But you need to know that if you insist on keeping this charade up, I'll have no choice but to terminate your employment."

I laugh. "Seriously?"

His eyes narrow. "I can't have you walking around telling people that I knocked you up."

"You did knock me up," I snarl. Before I know it, I'm advancing on him, my hands curled into fists.

It's the satisfied smirk on his face that stops me. He knows that he's won the round.

Stepping back, I suck in a sharp breath. "The board—"

"The board." He nods. "They didn't stop me from getting what I wanted before, did they?"

God, this man is cold as ice. How can he stand here and threaten me like this?

I raise my chin, determined not to back down

"You're right," I say. "The board didn't stop you before. But that doesn't mean they'll let you get your way this time."

"Are you sure about that?" He looks amused.

I hold my ground. "Yeah. I'm sure."

Hell no, I'm not sure. But what else am I supposed to say?

Holding my head high, I whirl around and stride towards my car.

I feel him staring at me, and I know that he's seething with rage. But so what? I'm seething as well — and my rage is actually deserved.

When I reach my car, I slide behind the wheel and shut the door. I need to get away from his toxic presence so that I can think.

I start the car and pull onto the road, trembling like a leaf from the confrontation. I knew today would be bad, but I didn't expect it to be this bad.

I feel like I just want to curl into a ball and cry. Never in my life have I felt this alone.

And I didn't even do anything wrong. I was honest with Jack, just like I was raised to be.

And now look what's happened.

My phone rings, Taylor's name flashing up on the car's screen.

"Hey," I answer.

"How did it go?"

I laugh dryly, and it turns into a sob.

"Oh, no," she says. "That bad?"

"He still thinks there's no way he could be the father and that I'm trying to scam him."

"Oh, girl," she coos. "I'm so sorry."

"He also said he has no qualms about firing me if I insist on telling people he's the father. He says the board will let him have his way."

"Oh, my God, Leah," she says. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," I admit. "What am I supposed to do? All I did was tell the truth."

"I know. Would an ice cream sundae help?"

"I don't see how it could," I say, but suddenly the thought of ice cream actually does make me feel better.

"Aw, screw it," I say. "Let's get ice cream. But… that'll make you late getting back to the office."

"So I'll take an extended lunch. What's Jack gonna do, fire everyone who takes a long lunch every once in a while?"

"Maybe," I grumble, not willing to put that past him at all.

She gives me the address to an ice cream shop about five minutes from Leadsom Tower, and I snag a parking spot right out front. Taylor's already waving at me from inside.

I hustle in, and we grab two sundaes from the counter and take them back outside, where the sun shines on some flowers in potted plants.

Nearby, a woman sits on a bench with two toddlers. One of them is spreading ice cream over the bench like it's finger paint, and the other one is throwing a tantrum.

I watch as their mom keeps her cool, wiping the first kid off and scooping up the second one. It looks like a stressful situation, but she's navigating it with ease.

I can only hope that I'll be as much of a pro at motherhood as she is.

"You're smiling," Taylor comments.

I draw my gaze away from the family. "Huh? Oh, I was just thinking."

"About kids." She raises her eyebrows knowingly. "I can't believe you're having triplets."

"Me either." I stare into my sundae. When the doctor told me, I nearly fainted.

As far as I know, multiples don't run in my family, so I never saw this coming. I'm still in shock, actually.

One baby is a lot of work. How will I deal with three?

And without a coparent, on top of that?

"You'll pursue child support, right?" Taylor asks.

"Of course."

I can't afford the however many nannies I'll need all on my own. And then, when the triplets get older, there will be more expenses to think about.

I'm still excited to welcome them, but I'm also overwhelmed, and it's not the money part that's getting me down the most.

Learning that I'm having triplets really drove home the reality of what's ahead. This new life is one that I should be facing with the support of a partner. Or, at the least, a coparent.

And I have neither one of those.

I'm trying not to feel sorry for myself, but right now it's really damn hard.

"Have you told your grandparents about the pregnancy?" Leah asks.

"Not yet."

Truthfully, I'm dreading telling them.

I know they'll be happy to hear about the babies, but at the same time, they're bound to worry about me. They'll probably insist that I move to where they are so they can help me out.

Logically, I know that's the smart move. But that would mean abandoning GourmetGlobal. That would mean letting Jack win. With me gone, he'll be free to make every last change that he wants.

"I don't know how to explain to them that I have to stay here," I say, taking a sad bite of vanilla ice cream. "That it's important."

"Of course it's important. This is your career. You can't support these kids without it."

It's more than that, though. And she knows it.

I glance over at the young family again, but they've already left. Someone new is sitting on their vacated bench.

"You still like him?" Leah whispers.

"No!"

I say it with such vehemence, such denial, that I realize there is a part of me, deep down, that still longs for Jack.

Which means I must be crazy.

And how do I make sense of that?

Maybe I think that an asshole like Jack is all I deserve. Maybe I have this belief that I can't do any better.

One thing I do know, though. My children deserve better than a man like him. So Jack has actually done me a favor by rejecting me and these kids months before they're born.

"I don't need him," I say, more to myself than to Taylor.

She nods. "I know you don't."

He can deny these babies all he wants. He can call me a liar and even slander me until the end of time.

Nothing will stop me from doing the right thing.

I'll be the parent the triplets need, and we'll live our own happily ever after with nothing to do with their jerk of a father.