much longer.
“Who is her father?” He leans down so close that our noses almost touch.
“She’s not yours.” I choke.
“Then why are you as white as a ghost right now? If she’s not mine, if this has nothing to do with me, then why keep her a secret from me? Why lie? And don’t give me some bullshit about you not wanting me to know you moved on so quickly because we both know that isn’t true.”
“Jace, please.” My chin quivers and I’m seconds away from bursting into tears.
This isn’t how I wanted to do this. None of this is how I wanted it to happen.
“Jace Elliot Matthews,” he says his name slow, purposefully emphasizing his middle name.
“What are…” I don’t get a chance to finish my question before he interrupts.
“Elliot. Ellie. Fuck, how stupid you must think I am. You even named her after me.” He takes a step back, running his hands through his already messy hair.
“That’s just a…”
“So help me god, Oakley. If you say it’s just a coincidence I really might fucking lose it. She’s my daughter, isn’t she? Just admit it. Tell me the fucking truth, Oakley. You owe me that much.”
“Owe you?” Something about his statement strikes a nerve, one that has my anger boiling to the surface. “Owe you?” I repeat louder. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I jam my index finger into his chest. “I don’t owe you anything. You are the one who broke us. You are the one who chose drugs over me. You are the one who almost killed me. And even after all that, I still tried to help you. I gave you a place to stay. I tried to be there for you the best I could. And now you have the audacity to come into my home and say that I owe you something.” I let out an angry laugh, the sound pinging off the walls of the narrow hallway. It’s my turn to lean in closer. I press up on my tiptoes and get right in his face. “Get the fuck out of my house, Jace.”
“You know what?” He throws his hands up. “Fine. I’ll leave. But if you think this is over, you’re wrong. If you won’t tell me the truth, I’ll have to find out for myself.” With that, he shoves past me and takes off toward the front of the house.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I follow closely behind him.
“It means that there are other ways to find out the paternity of that child.”
“My child.” I pound my fist against my chest like a protective mama ape.
He spins around just feet from the door, his features softening. He takes a deep breath in and slowly lets it out.
“Oak, I’m sorry, okay. I get that having me storm in here and demand answers isn’t the most tactful way I could have done this. But I’ve been stewing on it for the past thirty-six hours. And I just… I just couldn’t wait any longer. I had to know the truth. I had hoped that you would be the one to give it to me.”
“Why do you even care so much?” My question has his eyes damn near bulging out of his head.
“Are you kidding me?” He shakes his head. “Oakley, if that little girl is my daughter…”
“Then what? You think you have some claim to her?”
“Oak, I’m not trying to step in and disrupt your life. But if she’s my daughter, I want the chance to know her, to be a part of her life.”
My chest physically aches. Isn’t that what I’ve always wanted? For Ellie to know her dad. For her to know the man that I once knew. The good Jace. The protective Jace. The sober Jace. The man who would have literally walked through fire for me.
I know he’s still in there. I see glimpses of him every single time we speak. But there’s so much more to him now. And his addiction is unpredictable and his sobriety is still so new. I don’t know if I can risk it. I don’t know if I can put Ellie in the position to be hurt the same way he hurt me.
“Just tell me the truth. Please.”
“She’s your daughter,” I admit, my words barely breaking the surface. “The night of the accident, well the next day, that’s when I found out. I didn’t know before then. When they told me I was pregnant, and that the baby was fine,