Chapter 24
It’s strange. One month you’re all alone in the world raising a
child who has never known a father figure. Then the next month, just like that,
she has two. Blaire was getting quite comfortable with the fact that she had
two men who cared so much about her. Of course she was too young to actually
know what was going with those men and her mommy, but all she knew was she loved
the attention.
Her mommy on the other hand didn’t so much. Violet was so happy that everyone
now knew she was alive and back living in LA and that her daughter would finally
know who her daddy was. But at the same time, she was so nervous. It was so
easy to tell how attached Justin and JC were getting to Blaire, she just dreaded
the day that was soon to come and she’d have to tell one of these wonderful
men that he wasn’t the father of the little girl they’ve come to
love as their own. That would be a bad day, one that she dreaded. Although Violet
was sure whichever turned out to not be the father, he would probably still
be in her life just as much as he was now.
“So, have you gotten the package yet?”
“No, not yet.” Thirteen days earlier they had all gone to the lab
to get the test done. Justin seemed to be the only one who really wanted to
know so badly. He called Violet every day or went over to the apartment as often
as possible to see Blaire and ask if she had received anything yet. “Justin,
she said at least two weeks. We have a little while to wait.”
“I know, I just want to find out if it’s me or JC, you know?”
“I know.” Violet looked at Justin. But this time, she really saw
him, who he was and how he was feeling about this whole situation. Of course
it had been two years, but he was still the same man she had known all of her
life. A few things had changed, but the more they were together, the more those
things seemed to disappear. And the Justin Violet had fallen in love with so
many years ago came back. Sure, she didn’t know if she could just fall
back into their old routine and they could be best buddies again, but that’s
what was happening. She was seeing more of him than JC the past couple of weeks,
mainly because JC was busy working on the new album and Justin wasn’t
really doing much of anything. But Violet was becoming attached to Justin again.
They were getting to know one another on so many levels once again, and Violet
found herself sort of hoping for Blaire to be his. She had forgotten along the
way what it had been that made her find Justin so irresistible, why she had
loved him so much to jeopardize her relationship with JC. She was slowly beginning
to remember all those things now though as she spent more time with him and
Blaire. Which could turn out to be a completely horrible thing. JC and Justin
were finally starting to be civil to one another after the way she had left
things.
Now they were at the park watching Blaire as she played on the playground. She
was having the time of her life, and Justin felt like a proud parent. He may
not have been her biological father, but he felt like it. Sure, JC had more
of a connection with the little girl, but he also had a connection with her.
He wasn’t sure what it was, but something inside him told him that what
he had wanted for so long was about to come to him. He didn’t want to
get his hopes up either though. So he was going to try and wait out the next
week or so patiently, and wait for the call from Violet saying she had gotten
the package. Until then, he would just spend as much time with the little girl
as he possibly could.
“Mommy! Mommy!” Justin and Violet’s attention was steered
toward the little girl running towards them repeating the word.
“What’s wrong Blaire?” Violet immediately began looking the
child over for a cut or any injury that would have made her come screaming for
her so loudly.
“I hungy.”
“You’re hungry? How about we go get some lunch then?” Justin
picked Blaire up and they walked over to the car so they could leave the park
and get the toddler some lunch.
After they had eaten their lunch at the little café by the park, Justin
took the girls back to their apartment and went to meet up with Trace. He promised
to meet him because he needed to talk to him about something.
Almost as soon as Violet had entered her home, Danni seemed to be all over her.
She didn’t really catch everything the woman was saying, but caught some
of it, like package, doctor, and didn’t know if. “D! calm down.
What’d going on?”
“Sorry, I’m just a little excited. You got a package from your doctor
today. I didn’t know if you wanted me to call you and tell you, so I was
just waiting until you got back.”
“And let me guess, it is killing you wanting to know what’s inside,
right?”
“You have no idea! So come on! Open it!”
Looking at the envelope she held in her hands, Violet contemplated opening it.
Shaking her head, Violet set it down on the end table. “I can’t.”
“What? Why? You want to know don’t you?”
“Of course I do. It just seems wrong to open it without Justin and JC
being here.” Violet explained. They had every right to be present when
the bomb was dropped and they finally found out who the real father of the child
was.
Danni groaned audibly as she rolled her eyes. “Come on! You’re killing
me here!”
“Excuse me, but wasn’t it you who said you knew who the father was?
What do you need this piece of paper for?”
“I just want to know if I’m right.” Danni said as she crossed
her arms stubbornly. She wasn’t going to be happy until that envelope
was opened.
“Alright, um, I am going to go put Blaire down for her nap. I’ll
be right back so do not touch that!” Violet said, pointing to the package.
“Oh please, I’ve lasted this long with resisting, it won’t
be that hard.”
“Mhmm.” Violet sounded before disappearing down the hallway with
Blaire in her arms.
Laying her in the crib, Violet kissed her head and tucked her in before telling
her nighty night and turning out the light. Going back down the hallway to the
living room, Violet grabbed the cordless phone and plopped down on the couch.
She couldn’t believe how nervous she was.
Dialing the familiar number, Violet listened to the ringing on the other end.
Expecting to get his voicemail, Violet was a little surprised when JC picked
up.
“JC, hi. I was expecting to get your voice mail. Shouldn’t you be
recording?”
“Nah, I do get a little break every so often.” He chuckled softly
and Violet felt herself smile.
“Yeah. They can’t work you to death like I know they want to so
badly.”
“Hey, they kill me, they can’t get my work anymore.”
Violet laughed a little, swallowing the urge to come back with some sarcastic
reply. Her face fell when she remembered why she had called him in the first
place. “Hey, you alright? You seem a little too quiet.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah I’m fine. I just…um. The reason I called you
was to tell you that I got the results in the mail today.” There, she
got it out. Now she just had too wait to see what his reaction would be.
“Oh, you did?”
“I did.” Violet could tell he had been dreading this as much as
she had been. He loved that little girl, and if the tests showed Justin to be
the father, he would be crushed, because that would give Justin all the leverage
he needed to get back into Violet’s life and take her away from him once
again. But violet had told JC she had chosen him that night, so that should
count for something, right?
“Alright, well, I get done here about eight tonight. Would Justin be free
then?”
“I’m not sure. He’s out with Trace right now, but he hadn’t
said anything to me about later. So I’ll call him and ask him.”
“Alright. Look, they need me back in there. Call me back and let me know,
alright?”
“Of course. Bye.”
“Bye.” JC said then quickly hung up the phone. Violet gazed down
at her hands and tried to get them to stop shaking. It’s not like she
was reading the results now, why was she so nervous?
Not thinking about it too much, Violet dialed Justin’s number and told
him the same thing. Of course he seemed ecstatic about learning this. He said
he would be there at nine so they could read them.
“Alright, since they are coming over tonight, do you want me gone? I don’t
want to get in the way or make you guys feel uncomfortable while your reading
them.”
Violet just smiled at Danni and hugged her tightly. “Just stay in your
room, that way if I need you you’re here.”
“You can bet on it.” Danni said, hugging her back just as tightly.
She was there for her, no matter what that piece of paper told them.
The rest of the day, waiting for the dreaded time to come, Violet and Danni
just hung out around the apartment. Mainly cleaning up a bit. About five-thirty
Danni had ordered the three of them pizza because Blaire was complaining about
being hungry and if Violet didn’t have something to eat, Danni was afraid
she’d pass out. So after eating their pizza, they decided to put in Barney
for the little girl. She had seen it one time at the babysitters and was completely
obsessed ever since, much to Violet’s dismay. She couldn’t stand
the large purple dinosaur.
Looking to her left, Violet inwardly groaned at the time. It had only been an
hour since they had finished eating, leaving about an hour and a half before
the guys showed up. She was completely dreading it. Why oh why did they have
to find out who the father was?
Finally deciding she couldn’t keep worrying about what was to come later,
Violet took a deep breath and sat on the couch beside Danni and Blaire and tried
to calm down watching “The Little Mermaid.”
The end of the movie came faster than Violet ever remembered and as she was
pressing stop, there was a knock on the door. She froze almost instantly as
she realized who it must be on the other side. Straightening up, Violet looked
over to Danni.
“Do you want me to get it?” She offered, noticing how scared and
nervous Violet really was.
“Umm…” Violet fidgeted with her hands on her shirt for a moment.
Hearing the knock again brought her back into the reality of the situation.
“No, I can get it, thanks.” She slowly walked to the apartment door
and opened it to find JC standing there, not looking any less nervous than herself.
“Hey, Jace. Come on in.”
JC passed Violet and stood in the little hallway. “Is J here yet?”
“No not yet, but you’re a little early.”
“Yeah, I know. I just had nothing else to do to pass the time when I got
out of the studio so I figured I’d come here.” Violet shook her
head in understanding. She probably would have done the same thing had she been
in his position.
“Well, are you hungry or thirsty or anything? Being at the studio all
day, you couldn’t have had time to eat.”
“Actually, yeah. I am a little hungry.” JC just realized. He was
trying to busy himself with work so he didn’t think about what happens
after he got out he completely forgot about eating.
“Alright, well we have some left over pizza from earlier. Is that alright?”
“Yeah, that’s perfect.” JC followed Violet into the kitchen
and they just made idle chit chat as they heated up the pizza, while JC ate,
and for the next twenty minutes that they had to wait for Justin to get there.
“Hey, I’m sorry it took me so long. Traffic was horrible and my
mom wouldn’t let me go.” Justin said, entering the apartment after
Violet had let him in.
“It’s alright, J. We were just talking a little and you gave JC
a chance to eat something.”
“Cool.” Was the only thing Justin could think of to say. How long
had JC been there without him? What exactly were they talking about? Had they
peeked in the envelops already and knew he wasn’t the father? All these
thoughts and worries plagued Justin’s mind until he heard JC speak quietly.
“Alright, so uh….should we do this then?”
“Well, I don’t see any reason to delay the inevitable any longer.”
Justin nodded in agreement as he sat down at the kitchen table with Violet and
JC. Violet held the large white envelope in her shaky hands and debated on whether
or not she really wanted to do this. Looking up from JC to Justin and back to
JC, Violet realized she had no choice. Yes, she wanted to know, it was killing
Justin to know, and JC couldn’t help but to think of how crushed he would
be if Blaire turned out to be his best friend’s daughter instead of his
own.
“Well, here goes.” Violet said almost inaudibly as she ripped open
the envelope. Pulling out the sheets of paper, she looked over the results.
She wasn’t a doctor so she didn’t really understand what all of
the letters and number meant. But she understand one thing typed on there. And
that was which of these two men shared her daughter’s DNA.
Violet looked up from the paperwork and stared directly into Justin’s
beautiful blue eyes. “Justin, I…” She stammered, trying to
find the words to say. What would one say in a situation like this? It only
took one look into Violet’s eyes for JC to completely break down.