Loving Heart (The Broken Heart Series Book 3) (5 page)

“Good Morning, may I help you?” A very pretty young woman with purplish hair said smiling.

“Hi, I’m here to see Dr. Kate.” I perused around the room. The room was decorated exquisitely. A beautiful vintage chandelier hung in the middle of the room. Huge windows from ceiling to floor were overlooking the water near FDR Drive and flowers in crystal vases were everywhere, and this was just the entrance of the office. It seemed as if it might have been someone’s birthday.

“Jenesis?” The young girl asked.

“Yes.”

“Come with me, please.” She stood up with a cup of coffee in her hand and guided me to the office in the back. She opened the door and Dr. Kate was sitting on the couch and a man was standing looking out of the window near the back, his back was facing me.

“Thank you, Karen.” she said softly. Dr. Kate stood up and gave me a hug. “Jenesis, are you okay?”

“Yes.” I looked over at the man standing by the window and he turned around. It was Dr. Joe. “What is he doing here?” The blood in my veins boiled over. I could feel the heat rising in my face.

“Jenesis, I know you’re angry, but we all need to know.” She glanced over at Dr. Joe then back at me.

“Wait, you set this up?” I shook my head. “We
all
need to know…
who
needs to know?” I stared at him as he approached me.

“Jenesis, Dr. Kate and I are getting married. We need to know if you’re my daughter so we can start our life without lies.” Sweat dripped from his eyebrow.

“Wait…start
your
life without lies? Are you crazy?” I replied with a smirk.

“Jen, please…it’s not my fault. You’re blaming me.” he barked.

“I’m not blaming you.” I lowered my head. Then, I raised my eyes to him. He looked straight into my eyes.  “You confessed to me something you should’ve said a long time ago. I needed to know why my father was abusive to my mother, and I needed to know why he hated me so much.” I sighed deeply.  “Don’t you see…it all makes sense now…he hated me because of you! Now
you
don’t want to live with the guilt. You could have protected me; you could have saved me from the years of abuse from him…
the devil
…the monster underneath my bed. Now you want to play hero so you can have a clear conscience and move on with
your
life with
her
?” I shook my head and pointed towards Dr. Kate, then I slammed my hands on the large conference table. “What about me? What about what
you
and
my mother
did to
me
?” I shouted at the top of my lungs, as the tears trundled down my cheeks, my body trembling with the deepest rooted anger that came from the inside out. Then I remembered how I lost the other two babies, and I took a deep breath and leaned against the table. My body was shaking and my palms were sweaty. I could feel the baby move inside of me and I stroked my stomach tenderly consoling my unborn child. I glanced over at Dr. Kate as she pressed a button on the desk phone.

“Karen, bring in some water, please.” she said as her lips quivered.

Joe stood staring at me running his fingers through his hair obviously shaken by my reaction. Dr. Kate was more of a mess than he was; you could see by the tension in her face and the worry in her eyes that she was taken aback and upset. Karen walked in with a pitcher of water on a tray with champagne glasses. Her hands were trembling making the tray shake. I thought she would drop everything.

“Thank you.” Dr. Kate nodded her head at Karen.

“I’m sorry, these are the only glasses I could find at the moment.” Karen glanced at me as she closed the door behind her.

Dr. Kate poured me a glass of water and handed it to me. I drank slowly feeling the cool water slide down my throat quenching the burn that exuded all over my body.

“Jen, there wasn’t a moment when I didn’t want to go to your house with my shotgun and kill your father. I told your mother so many times to leave him…and finally, she said yes. We were going to tell you on Thanksgiving, we had everything planned. I moved to New York when you got accepted to Penn State. Your mother said she needed time to get everything settled before she could leave him. We saw each other every time she went to visit you. I went to Pennsylvania every weekend to be with her. He never knew anything because she always told him she stayed with you.” His eyes teared up. His body was giving out on him. He leaned against the conference table holding the edges with his hands, the white of his knuckles showing the weight of his weak body. I knew this memory of my mother was killing him inside.  “She was so excited to finally leave him and she was going to pack up some stuff and send it to me without him knowing. I think he knew something was going on because the weekend of your birthday, he decided to take her on a mini vacation because he knew she was going to stay with you for your birthday.” He shook his head. “She sent me a text. Here…read it.” He was choking back his tears as he handed me the phone.

I grabbed the cell phone reluctantly. I looked down to see a photo of a message. He must have saved it the night she was killed. I swallowed hard and panic set in. I glanced at Dr. Kate then at Dr. Joe as my heart pounded against my chest. I look down at the phone again as my hands trembled.

Sat, Nov. 21, 9:15 PM

Joe, I’m in the bathroom at the gas station on route 209. I think he knows about us, he’s been drinking all day and saying things here and there. I’ve wanted to call Jenesis all day to wish her a happy birthday but he won’t let me. He forced himself on me today. I almost threw up. But I had to, if I didn’t he probably would’ve killed me. I’m sorry. He’s so drunk and right now, he’s getting more to drink. I’m scared. When we get to the hotel I’m going to call you to pick me up. Leave New York now and head down here.

2/2   

I’m leaving him today, then we can drive and get Jenesis and we will all leave to New York and live together…as a family. Joe, I love you, I wanted to surprise you next week but I can’t wait. I’m pregnant. It’s yours. If something happens to me…Please tell Jenesis, I love her, remember what I told you, she might be yours, so always treat her like she is. I love you…I love you. I have to go he’s banging on the door.

My heart was beating erratically, and I literally became dizzy trying to catch my breath. I was having a panic attack. Joe grabbed me by the arms and sat me on the couch.

“She was pregnant?” I whispered as I turned my face towards the window and held my belly. I was gasping for air and crying hysterically. Dr. Kate came over and hugged me tightly and I grabbed on to her.

“You need to calm down.” she said.

“No one told me she was pregnant. The coroner didn’t say anything. I didn’t go to identify the body. I wouldn’t have known. I wouldn’t have known.” I said as I shook my head, tears rolling down my cheeks as my whole face contorted from the ugliest cry you can think of.

“Your Aunt Stephanie knew, but she didn’t know if you knew about me.” he was exasperated.

“What? You mean she knew about you? Why was everyone lying to me? I don’t understand. I wasn’t a child anymore. All of these years passing me by. All of those years afraid of my father and there was a simple explanation. You and my mother were selfish. You only thought about your happiness, never mine.” I shook my head. I wiped my tears and deep down inside I wanted them to all disappear.
How could they do this to me?

“Your mother was a good woman, caught in an awful abusive marriage way before I walked into her life. But then things got worse. He knew…he knew all along about us…and he knew that there was a chance that you were mine. And that’s why he did what he did to you every day. I loved her to death…and now she’s dead along with my baby. The only piece of her memory that I can hold on to is
you
…I need to know if you’re my daughter. Please Jenesis, let’s do this test together. I need to know…I need to know.” he pleaded with tears in his eyes. I looked into his eyes and I saw myself. I wanted to know.
I needed to know.

“How did he know?”

“Your Uncle Mike…told him. He was in love with your mother and he got jealous when he saw us together at the diner in Sayreville. I was kissing your mother and rubbing her belly when he walked in with a client. She had just told me she was pregnant with you.

“My God, this is so disturbing. I trusted Uncle Mike with everything. Why?” I sat on the couch in disbelief.
Uncle Mike out of all people; I.am.devastated.

“Jenesis, I’m sorry. I know this doesn’t make sense. Please, I need to know, I want to be your father. I always wanted to be.” he whispered. I stood glaring at him for a moment. My insides were shaking and my baby was doing somersaults. I needed to know so I could move on.

“Okay…let’s do it.” I reached out for him and he held me tight in his arms and kissed the hair at the top of my head. A strong tight hug from a man I always looked up to, who now, just might be my father. My phone vibrated again. It was Michael. I let go of Joe and grabbed my cell phone.
                                                                                              Jenesis, where are you? Are you okay? What’s going on?

Michael

I sent him a text.

I’m with Dr. Joe and Dr. Kate. I’ll call you when I’m on my way home.

He didn’t respond.

“Jenesis, I wanted to make things right between you and Joe and I want you to know if you are not his daughter, you will still be part of our family. I’m pregnant and I would love to share this experience with you.” she said smiling.

“We have a friend who does paternity tests he’ll be here shortly. Can I get you some coffee?” She stood up and walked towards the door. 

“Let’s order breakfast…you both are eating for two now. Karen can you order some food from the diner around the corner?” Joe said graciously.

“I’d like Michael to be here. Do you mind?” I asked as I stood up to walk around. I felt a panic attack coming on.

“Of course not, please call him”, she said. Joe looked toward the window then walked over to Kate and kissed her on the lips. I wanted to smack him and smack him hard. Kissing her betrayed my mother, but she was dead, and he needed to move on, too.

“I…want you to know…I don’t know the whole story about what happened between you and Dave. The media hid everything, but I sense there’s so much more going on here. I hope Michael wasn’t involved. I would hate to have to dislike him…or break his neck.” he stared at me intensely.
If he only knew the truth.

“Michael is the love of my life and this baby is his. You don’t have to worry about him.” I glanced over at Dr. Kate, she was startled when the phone intercom buzzed.

“Dr. Kate, a Ben Ramer is here. Should I let him in? The food will be here in a few minutes.” Karen’s voice belted out through the intercom.

“Yes…Hold the food. Let him in.” she shouted. “Jenesis, I think he’s here. It might be a colleague of his. I asked John to come.” she said happily as she glanced my way. Karen opened the door and a young man walked in rolling a brown leather Louis Vuitton suitcase.

“Dr. Kate? I’m Ben Ramer. You asked John to come but he had a prior engagement, so he sent me instead. Is everyone here?” he asked standing up tall, dressed impeccably sharp in a dark gray suit. His green eyes burned a hole through mine, making me feel uncomfortable, so I stood up and removed myself from his view walking over towards the couch.

“Um…We’re both here, sport.” Joe said sarcastically as he gave Ben a ‘
you better watch it look
’. “But she’s waiting for her
husband
so you’ll have to wait.” Joe smiled at him.

“Not a problem. I have all day. May I?” he said as he pointed to the couch where I was sitting.

“Jenesis…shouldn’t you call Michael, your
husband
, now?” Joe motioned with his eyes for me to get up and move away from Ben.

“Yes, will you excuse me?” I smiled at Ben.

“Of course, I’ll be here when you get back.” Ben said with a white toothed grin. I walked out of the office and passed Karen on the way out to the hallway. I enjoyed Ben flirting with me. I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

I tapped on Michael’s name on my cell phone.

“Hello?”

“Jenesis, what’s going on?” Michael said softly.

“I’m here with Dr. Joe and Kate. I want you come. I’m getting the paternity test done.”  I whispered.

“Okay, baby, I’ll be right there. Where are you?” he said without even taking a breath.

“I’ll text you the address so you could put it in your GPS. I love you.” I hung up the phone and walked back into the office as I texted the address to Michael. Ben stood up.

“Please, sit…” he motioned for me to sit on the couch with his green eye’s which then conveniently followed my ass when I walked by, I just shook my head.

“No, thank you. Joe, may I speak to you outside…alone.” I tilted my head to the side towards the door and he followed me out of the office.

“I wanted to thank you,” I said as my lips trembled. I held my stomach as I tried to think of the right words to say to him.

“For what? Ruining your life.” he shook his head.