The Wrong Way Back To You

Ch. 10

They were all on the porch, except for Dominic, drinking coffee when Jake pulled up to the house. Allie was dreading this conversation but knew that it had to be done. She kept telling herself that this was going to be the easiest of the two. Talking to Dominic about things would be more difficult. That was the real dread.

"Well," Amy said trying to break the awkward silence, "now that we are all here-"

"What the hell, Allie? Why did you do this to my brother?" Randy immediately jumped on her, picking up from where he did last night.

"Randy-"

"She is not getting a free pass."

"I am not asking for a free pass or anything, but I will not stand here and be spoken to like that. I let it slide last night. I was tired and did not want to deal with it all, but now, I will not allow it to happen."

"Do you expect us to be okay with what you have done?"

"No, I don't. But I think that you need to know the entire story before you go jumping to conclusions and putting all of the blame on me. I am not the only one at fault here."

"So are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?" Jake leaned against the rail, arms folded across his chest.

"Congrats, it's a boy and he is 7 now."

"I don't get it. How could you?"

"Excuse me? How could I ? How could I? " Allie was getting annoyed already and she could feel her temper getting the best of her. "You have a lot of damn nerve, let me tell you."

"We all need to calm down for a minute. I think that we are all just a little confused as to why you didn't tell any of us that Jake was the dad. Why did you wait all of this time?"

"You never even gave me a chance to be a father."

Allie could not help but laugh. "You are joking, right? Please tell me you are joking."

"I cannot believe that you are laughing at how you lied to this family for so long." Randy continued ot glare at Allie. He was going to be relentless. He was more upset about things then Jake's parents were.

"I do not have to do this. Dominic and I are fine just the way we are. I can easily pack up my s**t and drive our asses back home. I am not going to be made out to be the only villain here."

"If the shoe fits," Randy sneered.

"Allie, you kept my son away from me for 7 years. For 7 years you let some other guy raise him. Some guy who was just a friend in your words. Does he know anything about me? Did you ever mention me to him? Or was I just a sperm donor for you and Steve? Something you had planned all along? Use the stupid hillbilly to get you a baby?"

Allie snapped inside. She could handle everything that was being thrown at her but there was no way in hell that she was going to let any of them disrespect Steve after everything that she had done. She was done being nice. She was done being the doormat. It was time they all knew the real truth. "Fine, you wanna do this? Let's do this. But let's do it right. I am only going to go through this once and I am not going to repeat myself. "

Her dad tried to stop her and calm her down but he was met with anger as well. "Allie-"

"No, this is what you wanted. This is why I did not want to come here! Now I have to have a conversation with my son that I did not want to have yet."

"Allie-"

"No, Dad. He wants an explanation as I am sure that everyone does. They are getting one. They are getting the truth. I am not going to be the only one taking blame here and I will be damned if they are gonna talk trash about Steve"

"Ok," Andrew held up his hands as if to surrender.

"The first time I came here I met Jake. We hit it off and hooked up alot. I left and we still dated. I would come here and he would come visit me. Pretty simple. Here's where it gets tricky. I got pregnant. I called and told Jake that I was pregnant. Does anyone care to guess his response?"

The family looked back and forth between Allie and Jake. Jake was trying to find the memory in his mind of that day. He had blocked out alot from back then. Allie took a step towards him and looked him head in the eyes. The other people on the porch instantly disappeared. She was talking to Jake and only Jake.

"Even after all of these years, I can still remember. You asked how I could let this happen and me getting pregnant just ruined your life. That you weren't ready to be a dad. You had other things that you wanted to do and changing diapers was not one of them."

Jake's mother gasped at the thought of those words coming from her son's mouth. She never would have suspected that from him. His dad didn't know what to say. Randy and Julie were in a stunned silence. Was she really telling the truth?

Allie watched as the memory of the conversation came back to Jake and the blood drained from his face. He remembered the conversation. He remembered saying those words. But he didn't mean it. It was just the shock of being told that. She shouldn't have taken it seriously. She should have known that he didn't mean what he was saying. Jake looked like a fish gasping for air and his mouth opened and closed with no words leaving his lips.

"So, I did what I thought was best for all of us. I told him that I was pregnant by my best friend Steve. Steve was not Dominic's biological father but he was his dad. He stepped up and took care of me and Dom and did everything for that little boy, Jake.

"Steve begged me to tell you. Every time Dom did something amazing, every holiday every milestone, Steve wanted you to know. If was not because he did not want the responsibility, because that was not the case. He loved that little boy with everything and would have taken a bullet for him. He felt guilty that he was experiencing the things that you should have been there for. So you all can hate me and curse me all that you want. I did what was best for my son at the time. I did not want him to think that his dad did not want him or resented him for being born. That little boy was the best thing that happened to me and I would not change that for the world."

"Allie-"

She turned her attention back to Jake's family. "So you can stand here and hate me or get in my face and yell at me and tell me what a horrible person I am. You did not know the whole story. All you thought you knew was that I was pregnant by my best friend and how could I do that to your son and brother? You thought that I just cheated on him and went on my merry way. You saw first hand, how we were when we were together. You saw how much I loved him but yet you were so quick to judge me and condemn Steve. You should be thanking him for stepping up when Jake would not. I am so grateful for him doing that and you should be too.

You can say what you want about me but don't you date speak bad of my husband. He was the one who stepped up and took care of a child and loved a child that was not his as if he were his own. Steve was the one who wanted me to tell you and I didn't want to. You had your chance and you made your choice."