SWEET INNOCENCE
Chapter Seventeen
While Jack and Rose were at the
hospital, Cal was starving, so he began to look through the cabinets and came
upon a letter. He saw Jack's name on it and began to read it, just out of
curiosity.
Hello, Jack,
If you're reading this,
something bad has happened. I never meant to do any harm to you, and I honestly
never wanted to lie to you. I am really sorry that this had to happen. I should
have never let Cal talk me into it. I know there is nothing I can say to fix
this, but this child I carry isn't yours. You see, it's Caledon's. He never
knew, and I didn't want him to know. Is there some way you can ever forgive me?
Mary Whitney
Cal thought about it. What had he
done, and who was this Mary Whitney? If he had gotten a girl pregnant and not
known about it, what had he been suppressing that he couldn't remember?
It was then that Jack showed up.
He had told Rose he was going home to check on Cal. Jack looked at him as he
sat there with the letter on the coffee table. He looked up at Jack with so
many questions.
"Hey, Cal. What's up?"
Jack saw the letter on the table. He remembered the pink stationery.
"Jack, I need to ask you
something, and please be truthful about this." Cal looked at Jack,
wondering if he could trust him.
"Okay." Jack took a
seat across from him.
"Who is Mary Whitney, and
why did she not want me to know that she was pregnant with my baby?" Cal
asked.
"Cal, I am sure you have
many questions about this, and I would love to answer all your questions, but I
don't think that I should be the one to tell you." Jack held his keys and
put them on the table.
"Why not?" Cal looked
at him. Why did he not want to tell him about Mary?
"Because it was this very
thing that caused your accident." Jack sat back in his seat.
"Please, Jack. I need to
know. I need to understand why." Cal demanded to know the answer to his
question.
"Fine. I will tell you. But
you gotta promise me something." Jack knew it was a mistake to tell him,
but he had asked and he wasn't going to hold anything back from him.
"Yeah. Anything." Cal
would give anything to know.
"Promise you won't go all
crazy on me and start trying to fight with me." Jack stood up.
"Yeah. Okay. I
promise." Cal awaited what Jack was going to tell him.
"All right. Here's what
happened. Mary Whitney drugged me and had sex with me. I didn't know why she
had done this at the time. But she did. A while later, she told me she was
pregnant and that the baby was mine. She wanted to break me and Rose up. I told
her that I would be there for the baby, and that was when she blew it. She ran
out the window and jumped." Jack recalled that awful day.
"She killed herself?"
Cal looked at him with tears in his eyes.
"Yeah. A few days passed and
her mother called me, telling me she had some things with my name on them. She
told me she would drop them off here, and I told her sure."
"What happened after
that?" Cal asked, still curious about what had happened.
"I went through the stuff
and found that letter. When I read it, I knew exactly what had happened."
He was ready for Cal to come up to him and strike him.
"What?" Cal looked at
him, looking for more answers.
"Cal, we may not be the best
of friends. But honestly, I don't know why you hate me so much. I mean, I can
understand because of Rose. But really, why?" Jack had a few questions of
his own to ask.
"I don't have an answer for
you, Jack." He wished he could remember.
"Well, when you do get your
memory back, you think you can give me an answer?" Jack really wanted an
answer. Why did he hate him?
"Sure." Cal nodded his
head.
"Okay. On with your
questions. After reading that letter, I realized that you had put Mary up to
this. She apparently was working with you to get me and Rose broken up. So I went
to school, looked for you, and showed you the letter and the autopsy report.
You looked at it and then you ran out of school. Later that day, we heard you
had died, but in reality you were in the hospital. Rose's mother called us and
told us you were at the hospital."
"I did all this?" Cal
asked.
"Yeah." Jack nodded his
head.
"I shouldn't have lived. I
don't know why I was so jealous. I'm sorry, Jack, for all the misery and
problems I caused you and Rose." Cal felt bad.
"Apology accepted, if you’re
sincere about it," Jack said, not knowing if Cal was acting or if he was
really telling him the truth.
"I am, Jack. Because of you,
I am a different person." Cal went up to him and hugged him.
"You’re welcome to stay here
as long as you want until you get your memory back. Uh…meanwhile, I have to go
to the hospital, because Rose just had the baby last night. I just came back to
see how you were doing. Uh…there's food in the fridge. If you want anything
else, I can pick it up for you," Jack offered.
"Thanks, Jack. You’re a more
caring person than I could ever understand." Cal got up and walked to the
kitchen.
"You’re welcome. Want me to
bring you something back?" Jack asked him.
"Anything you bring back is
fine," Cal said.
"All right. I will bring
back an assortment!" Jack yelled back at him.
"Okay. See you later,
Jack." Cal smiled.
"Yeah," Jack said as he
opened the door.
Jack was unable to believe that
Cal had actually changed. They could be good friends if Cal agreed. Hell, they
could actually be partners. All he could think about besides Cal was Rose. He
knew she would be in the hospital for a day or two, so he and Cal had a lot of
time to get to know each other.
*****
After finding something in the
fridge, Cal went back to the room he was staying in and turned on the TV. A
news bulletin came on with a news report about him.
"Caledon Hockley has
reportedly not died after yesterday's tragedy. It seems he survived and is now
alive and well. Sources say he committed suicide because of Mary Whitney, a
girl who killed herself weeks ago who was pregnant with his baby."
Cal began to feel guilty. He shed
a few tears. All he could think about was his child. That was all he ever
wanted--a girl and a child to love. The more he thought about it, the more he
knew it had been wrong, what he had done.
It began to make sense to him,
and suddenly he could feel things coming back. He ended up falling asleep, not
wanting to remember his horrible life.
*****
Jack had gone to get something to
eat, feeling hungry after leaving Cal. He ordered an assortment like he said he
would and brought it back home. Cal was not in the living room when he got
there, so he figured he must be asleep.
He started to get things ready so
he could eat, but went to see if Cal was hungry. He saw him asleep with the TV
on, so he turned it off. Cal did not move. He slept like he hadn't slept in
years. So Jack left him alone.
Jack ate his food and turned on
the TV, seeing the same report Cal had seen. Jack flipped the channels, came
upon a movie, and sat back and enjoyed it as he ate.
After he ate, he fell asleep on
the couch. He was supposed to go to the hospital, but Rose would understand
that he was tired and without sleep because of last night.
*****
Later on that night, Cal woke up
to find Jack on the couch, asleep. He shook him. Jack woke up, scared to death.
He accidentally punched Cal.
"Cal, I am so sorry. I
forgot you were here," Jack apologized.
"It's all right. I remember
now, Jack. I remember everything." Cal touched his face where Jack had
punched him.
"So, where do we stand? Are
we friends or enemies?" Jack asked.
"I'm not really sure on that
part yet, but I thank you for everything you have done. I no longer wish to
inconvenience you. Would you mind taking me home now?" Cal wanted to go home.
He felt like crap for the things he had done.
"Sure. Mind if I wake up a
little before I take you?" Jack got up.
"Yeah. Go ahead." Cal
backed away and sat down.
"Cal, I don't know what you
will choose when you make your decision. But let me tell you this, for as long
as I have known you, I never wanted us to be enemies. I wish we could be
friends, for Rose's sake. I know you dated her in the past. But that was before
I even knew Rose. So don't hate me for being with her. If anything, you should
be happy she met a guy like me, a guy who will do anything for her," Jack
said, and took a sip from his glass of water.
"I guess I can respect that.
I will let you know." Cal knew Jack. He was waiting for something.
"Guess that's all I can ask
for. Let's take you home." Jack got his keys.
Jack grabbed his keys and went to
the door. Cal followed him. They both got into the car and he drove Cal home.
He left him, and when he went inside, Jack left for the hospital.
Jack saw Rose breastfeeding the
baby when he got to her room. She smiled at him and wondered where he had been.
Jack had never felt better. His family was with him and Cal was considering a
friendship with him. He couldn't ask for anything more.