ONE LAST TIME
Chapter Five
Rose stared at him with the baby
in his arms. She got up and looked at him. "Tell me the truth. Is he
yours?"
He looked at her. "Rose,
before you jump to any conclusions, let me tell you my story." He put the baby
down on the bed. He made sure he wouldn't fall off the bed before he began his
story about what had happened.
He looked into her eyes and began
his story. "I was thinking about you. At the time, my grandma had just
died. I was drinking heavily. I began to cry ‘cause I missed you so much. She
came over and saw me crying for you. I went into her arms, and for a minute, I
thought that she was you. I saw you in my mind and I kissed you. I took you
upstairs and made love to you that night. When I woke up, I thought it was a
dream. I woke up without any underwear on that night, wondering what had
happened. It was then that Amber told me that we had sex and that I came inside
her and she had Jack. I swear, Rose, I had no idea this happened. I hope you
believe me, ‘cause it's true. She kept telling me the baby was mine. I kept
telling her that he wasn't. She wants me to take care of him until she
rearranges her life. Her boyfriend beats her, and she didn't want him to get
hurt."
"I see. So, he is
yours?" Rose felt betrayed, like he had cheated on her. She knew what he
had been through, and it took her a while to get used to the idea that the
little boy was his. But how could she blame him? She had done the same
thing…not have sex with someone else, but kiss Eric, thinking he was Jack. So
who was she to judge?
"How old is he?" Rose
touched the baby's face.
"Two, I think." He held
him in his arms securely.
"Jack, we have to see if he
is yours. I don't want to see you pay for something that isn't even
yours." Rose turned away.
"Yeah, I know. Rose, you
know why I came back?" He stood next to her.
"Yeah, for me. Why? Is there
something else?" She looked at him.
"Yeah, there is. Has the
community center reopened?" he asked her.
"It was never rebuilt. They
put up a mini-mall instead. Why do you ask?" Rose knew what he was
thinking.
"I want to rebuild it."
He had a certain look in his eyes--determination.
"Why? This community doesn't
appreciate you. Why should you go out of your way?" She knew they didn't
deserve this after what they did to him.
"Because I have to, Rose.
It's been on my mind since it happened. I am responsible for it." The
guilt had been piling on him for years. He had to take care of this. It was his
mission before he left this place.
Rose knew him so well, she didn't
even try to change his mind, because once he was set to do something, it was
very hard to get him off of it.