Chapter 28: Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Chase Jacobs
POV
I couldn’t sleep, I for the life of me couldn’t sleep. I’ve tried for the last three hours but I couldn’t sleep. I was exhausted. The last couple of weeks has put me through the ringer.
Every time I tried to sleep my mind would keep replaying my conversation with Carly over and over again. It was driving me crazy.
It was three in the morning, and I was laying in my daughter’s bed with her in my arms, just watching her sleep.
I kept wondering if I’d told Carly too soon. If she was ready. She freaked the fuck out and I didn’t know what to say to her.
Carly was my daughter’s mother. I knew that now. The way Stella instantly bonded with her made me think about how a part of my daughter could feel that she was safe with Carly, that she was her mother even if she didn’t know it.
Right now, watching her sleep peacefully completely unaware of the chaos that surrounded her. She had a mother, a mother that seemed to care deeply for her. Not a stepmother who wanted to exploit her for financial gain.
I looked down at her tiny face, she really looked more like me than she did Carly, she had Carly’s nose and smile, but she looked like me. My little girl. I’m still not used to sharing her. Realizing she wasn’t just mine anymore because now I knew who her mother was.
Carly Lewis. The woman who came out of nowhere and was currently turning my life upside down. The same woman who ran out of my office and fled like the bloody place was on fire.
The woman who still hasn’t returned home. The very woman was the cause of my lack of sleep.
I sighed.
My eyes drift towards the window; it was completely dark out. My thoughts surrounded Carly. What made her flee the way she did?
Something about the photograph freaked her out. Bloody hell the photo freaked me out too.
The thought of us being so close yet having no idea threw me off.
Carly’s reaction however, that threw me off entirely. Had I pushed her too hard. Had I been to hasty in wanting answers? The question had been eating at me all night.
I sighed heavily. I didn’t know if I’d done the right thing and it was eating me up.
Maybe I should’ve given her time after the DNA results. That was a heavy blow to her adding onto Amelia’s little show and then finding out she dropped Stella off herself and that she was at the same hospital I was in six years ago might have been too much for her.
The problem was I didn’t know. I didn’t remember anything about the chase from six years ago. I couldn’t remember the face of the woman I met at that bar five years ago.
I remembered going to the bar, and I remember waking up alone in my hotel room the next morning. I couldn’t remember anything in between. Now I was worried about the fact that I couldn’t remember anything when it came to Carly and my meeting.
My eyes dropped back to Stella. Tracing every inch of her face. She looked so much like me but seeing the little traces of Carly in her made me feel dumb. I couldn’t believe I’ve never noticed it before.
Stella had my eyes, my hair color, and expressions. She had Carly’s facial structure, the same button nose and the same stubborn determination. Now that I picked up on the little things, I was starting to see more of them.
Somehow a strange warmth filled my chest. Yet a part of me still wondered how the hell we were going to tell Stella? How do you explain that the woman looking after you was your mother but she couldn’t remember a single detail about you. About your birth. About her pregnancy nothing. There was absolutely nothing.
Where the hell was Carly? God, I hoped she was okay. I knew she was spiraling and I didn’t want to intrude. We were just beginning to become friends. I didn’t want to overstep. She was going to be in my life forever now. She was going to be at birthday parties, graduations and Stella’s wedding one day.
I hoped she wasn’t sitting somewhere alone convincing herself she was some type of monster. The thought was concerning. I couldn’t imagine Carly doing that. But always a part of me isn’t sure exactly what Carly was mixed up in before she lost her memories.
A part of me hates that I knew she wouldn’t, she wasn’t spying on me, a part of me hated that I cared enough to know. At some point in the last couple of weeks, something has changed. Carly and I are no longer employer and employee. We were beginning to become friends; we were sharing parts of ourselves we didn’t share with anyone else. It worried me.
She wasn’t Stella’s nanny anymore. She was her mother now.
When I hired Carly, I did it to keep Stella happy while she adjusted to the divorce, she was supposed to be someone temporary, but she wasn’t. She’d become someone even I trusted, someone I’d come to know as a friend. She’s become someone important to me. The realization made me uncomfortable.
Because I couldn’t even get rid of her, she was in our lives for the rest of our lives.
The realization should’ve terrified me, I didn’t like the thought of being that close to anyone other than my family and yet it felt strangely right. Maybe it was because she was Stella’s mother and she was part of my family.
A soft noise downstairs pulled me from my thoughts. I frowned and looked outside. Realizing the sun was already out.
Then checked the clock, on Stella’s bedside table.
06:30 A.M.
God was I up all night?
I slowly and gently moved Stella out of my arms and got out of bed.
I made my way downstairs when I saw Carly place her bag on the entry table.
Relief washed over me. I was worried about her.
I followed her into the kitchen.
Carly stood by the counter.
Still wearing yesterday’s clothes. A light blue skinny jean, a baggie t-shirt and a pair of sneakers. Her hair was slightly messy falling out of her messy bun.
Her back was to me. She was starting up my coffee machine.
"Late night?" I ask.
She jumps and turns to me. She had circles under her eyes. She looked as exhausted as I was.
She gives me a small smile but doesn’t say anything.
"Are you okay?" I ask her.
Something flickered across her face.
I couldn’t tell what exactly, but I was certain her expression changed for a few seconds.
Carly gave me a weak smile. "I think so."
"You know it’s okay not to be okay right? You’ve been through hell the last week and a half." I remind her.
She looks at me gratefully. "I know..." she leaned against the island with her elbows. "I’m sorry I left."
I leaned against the counter. "You needed space I know that..."
She laughed softly. "A lot of space and air."
"Apparently." I shrugged.
She hesitated for a second before she sighed. "I went to see Koah..."
I nod. I was happy she wasn’t alone and had someone to talk to. "Did it help talking to her?" I asked.
"A little." the coffee was done and she poured a cup for herself and for me. "Getting a few things off my chest helped me deal with emotions I wasn’t letting myself deal with." She tells me.
"I’m glad it helped you, Carly. If you ever need to talk, you could talk to me too. Remember we’re about to be in each other’s lives for the rest of our lives now."
Her fingers tightened around the coffee mug she was holding; her expression darkens. "Amy called tonight..."
My entire body tenses up. "What did she say?" I ask.
Carly hesitated. Before she spilled everything. The argument, how Amy knew Stella was her daughter. Her weird rant and lastly her threat.
My hands clenched around the coffee mug. I didn’t say anything. Something cold settled in my chest. I was so fucking pissed off. It took everything in me not to rush to the damn hospital and strangle the damn woman with my own to hands.
I was trying not to react out worldly but inside I was already losing my damn mind.
I was already planning how the hell I was going to deal with her.
Did she honestly think she could threaten me and get away with it?
Carly looked at me worriedly. "I’m sorry for dragging you into whatever this is... I’m just scared Amy might really do something. It didn’t sound like an empty threat. It sounded like she was being serious."
"I know." I nod.
"What if she wasn’t bluffing and you or Stella gets hurt. I could never live with myself if anything happened to either of you because of me..."
I looked at her, really looked at her for once and the fear in her eyes wasn’t for herself. No it was for me. She feared for my safety, for Stella’s.
The realization hit me heavy in my chest.
I rounded the island standing right in front of her.
Standing so close to her she had to look up to look at me.
"Carly."
Her blue eyes met my green eyes. "You don’t have to worry about me. Nothing is going to happen to either of us. I promise."
"How can you be so sure?" she whispers out.
"Because I know nothing is going to happen to us. Don’t worry I’ll handle it..." I tell her.
No one has ever threatened me and got away with it.
I watched Carly look into my eyes and my facial expression trying to figure out what I was thinking.
Too bad for her, I wasn’t the most expressive man. My expressions barely ever changed unless my daughter was in the room.
"You make that sound easy." she said softly.
"Because it is easy Carly."
"You don’t need to protect me." she says out of nowhere, a determined look settled on her face.
"I’m not trying to protect you." I was being honest. I wasn’t trying to protect her. Because no harm would befall her.
She rolled her eyes. "Sure..."
She looked so much like Stella when she pulled her face and rolled her eyes, seeing her do that I couldn’t help but laugh.
Carly looked at me in surprise.
"Sorry you just looked so much like Stella when you did that." I tell her.
She looked at me but didn’t say anything. Carly was one of my people now, she was a part of my family now, she’d wormed her way into my family without me noticing until this moment.
Carly mattered to me and I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.
