Chapter 20
“Hey, D! I’m home! I didn’t mean to take so long but I stopped
at Joey’s to see…” Violet Looked up in the middle of explaining
and saw a wide-eyed, ghostly-pale JC Chasez sitting on the floor with her daughter.
“JC.” She whispered unable to move, unable to think, unable to even
blink.
“I have got to be dreaming…Or I’m seeing ghosts now.”
JC said, not breaking the gaze with Violet for fear that she wasn’t real.
“Well, I can tell you one thing, JC. You’re not dreaming.”
Danni said, taking Blaire into the other room once again.
The only movement made for about two minutes was JC standing up. He and Violet
just stood there, looking at one another. Finally, Violet couldn’t take
anymore, she felt as though she were about to burn up. Walking past JC and into
the kitchen, Violet grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator for her
suddenly very dry mouth. “You want something to drink?” Violet asked
him in a shaky voice. Even after two years of him thinking she was dead, just
being in the same room with him once again caused her to have a reaction.
“No, but I would like some answers.”
Hearing his voice directly behind her, Violet jumped a little. Going over to
the corner counter, she leaned back against it and gulped down the icy cold
liquid. “OK. What do you want to know?”
“How about we start with what happened two years ago? Why we were all
told you had died during surgery? But you were actually very much alive and
living in Hapeville, Georgia?”
Closing her eyes, Violet sighed. JC was getting angry, and he had every right
to be. She had lied to him, something she had promised him to never do.
“Ok, let’s start there.” Sitting down at the kitchen table,
Violet inhaled a deep breath, JC joined her. “The paramedics were able
to bring me back to consciousness in the ambulance, you were there, you know.
And when the surgeons operated on me to get the bullets out, I had flat-lined.
But I must be really stubborn, or I’m not meant to die yet, because I
hadn’t died, obviously. Then, later while I was in my own room able to
comprehend everything that was going on, I had to tell the police everything.
They called the FBI and immediately put me into the witness protection program.”
“I knew it! I told everyone something was up!”
“And you were right. I mean, they didn’t send out the best doctor
to lie to you guys. But anyway, I’m sure Justin told you all about how
after the first time Ben attacked me they wanted to hide me somewhere. Then
they came back to get me again after Ben was caught killing some guy trying
to find me and he got away. But I put up such a fight they agreed that if he
had come back and attacked me again, I would be put in a safe house. So I had
no choice this time around. I begged and begged for them to let me see you one
last time, but I couldn’t. It was so hard.” Violet began to cry,
and she tried not to shake and sob. Bringing her gaze up to meet JC’s,
she saw he too had tears in his eyes. “Especially when I heard you and
Justin screaming for me.”
“Well, with how that damn doctor was acting, we felt like he was hiding
something. If we had gotten two feet further, we would have found out what that
something was.”
“I wanted nothing more than to run out there and hold you, but I couldn’t.”
Violet laughed a little. “I had tried. But it only ended in me passing
out again. My body couldn’t handle it.”
JC looked at her and no longer felt anger and sadness, but understanding instead.
And then he wondered one thing. “So why didn’t you come back after
that dealer killed Ben six months ago?”
“I figured it had been too long. This hadn’t been my home in a year
and a half already. And everyone I loved and cared about thought I was dead.
Besides, I had started a new life. One without…” Violet looked up,
unable to finish what she had started to say. But she didn’t need to.
“One without me.” JC whispered, unable to bring himself to look
at her.
“Without everyone.” Violet moved to the chair beside JC and put
her hand over his, expecting him to move away, but he hadn’t. “JC,
the only thing that scared me more than starting a new life all over again,
was having to do it without you.” Tears welled up in Violet’s eyes
once again and she fought to hold them back. “I remember running towards
Joey’s house that night, and when I saw you, all I thought was how much
I loved you and if God gave me the chance, I would have told you that you were
the man for me. The man I chose. Or more like the man who chose me.”
“So, you were going to choose me?”
“Before Ben showed up at the apartment, I had every intension of calling
both you and Justin. But plans obviously changed.”
JC nodded in understanding. He could feel the rage building inside him like
a tidal wave once again. Only this time because that asshole took her away from
him. But fate had worked in his favor and brought her back to him. That had
to mean something, right? Could this be a second chance at their love that seemed
so perfect? But there was something else to consider now. And that something
just ran into the room screaming for her ‘momma.’
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Violet said gently, picking up the
screaming child and rocking her back and forth to calm her down.
“I’m sorry, Vi. She just got away from me.” Danni said, running
into the room.
“Oh that’s alright, D.” She said, still rocking the small
child.
JC watched in awe as the woman he still loved held her daughter. He always knew
she would make a great mother some day, and he was right. But one question burned
in his mind. “So…what about her?”
“what about her?”
“Is she…” As much as he wanted to know, as much as he needed
to know, JC could not bring himself to ask if the blue-eyed, brunette child
was his own, or Justin’s. It just didn’t seem right.
“I don’t know.” Violet answered quickly. “I obviously
couldn’t get a paternity test done, so that’s still up for debate.
Although I’m pretty sure I know who the father is.” The way Violet
looked straight into JC’s eyes gave him a little glimpse of hope that
Blaire was his own child, one he took part in creating. “It’s funny.
The doctor’s had no idea how I was able to carry her, especially to full
term.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, one, I was on the pill.”
“Oh yeah.” JC felt dumb now. He had known that perfectly well.
“And two because I had an extensive amount of blood loss from the bullet
wounds.” Violet said in a quiet voice. “When he told me that the
blood loss didn’t hurt the baby, I never wished I was dead more than at
that very moment.”
“Why?”
“Because not only were they taking me away from everyone, but I was taking
a child away from her father. It was so hard. I’ve had to raise her by
myself for fifteen months, the most crucial time of her life, and she’s
never known her father. I for one have never felt so alone.”
JC took her hands in his own, well, as best he could with Blaire sitting there,
falling in and out of sleep. “But you’re not alone, not anymore.
And never again.”
Violet looked up at the man she loved more than anything. “Promise?”
“I promise. I’m going to be right here for you whenever you need
me. Always and forever.” JC wrapped his arms around the still petite woman
and rested his chin on top of her head.
As much as he hoped against it, JC knew that there was a possibility that Blaire
was not his daughter. And if that was so, he would still be there for Violet,
and the child. He wasn’t going anywhere.
“Thank you, for not being angry with me.”
“I never could be.”
Now, how was Justin going to react to this news? He had known Violet since he
was a boy, and had loved her almost just as long. Even though he was not a single
man, what will he do once he sees Violet again? And finds out there is a possibility
that he could be a father too?