Stone In Love (Jersey Series #1)

by Sienna Skye

  Morgan walked over and took the note and the check copy from my hand. The note was simply signed with an “M” in his handwriting. The check was signed with his signature, I would recognize it anywhere. His hands were shaking as he looked at the documents. He was obviously shocked and confused. He handed the papers over to Hunter while shaking his head.

  “I feel like I am losing my damn mind. I don’t understand what is happening here.”

  “You really didn’t send these did you?”

  “No, Jules. I swear on my life that I have no clue about what the fuck is going on.”

  Hunter walked over, carefully studying the papers Morgan had handed him. I saw the look on his face as an idea started to cross his mind.

  “First, even I can forge his “M”. I’ve signed his name in a pinch for TechStone. So, anyone could have done that. The signature on the check though, that really does look like yours, man.”

  “It is mine. I am sure of it. The rest of the check is typed though. I don’t type out checks.”

  “Wait, is this your personal account?” Hunter showed the check to Morgan.

  “It’s a personal account, but that is the account I use for the cancer foundation fund we started in Mom’s name. I only use that account for the foundation’s expenses or to make donations.”

  “Who had access to that account besides you?”

  “Shannon. Dad had her handling all of the foundation and business handlings.”

  “Dad’s secretary. And as a result, Dad would have access as well.”

  The two of them exchanged a look that told me they were realizing something that I was just not catching on to. I was growing impatient waiting for one of them to explain it to me.

  “Considering Dad was the reason you broke it off with Julia…”

  “Wait! Hold on. What are you talking about?”

  I sat as I listened to Morgan explain that his father had known about us, threatened not to give me the money for school unless Morgan broke it off, and how Morgan faked the affair with Jackie. He explained that’s why he ignored my calls because he knew if I heard his voice, I would know something was up. He said originally planned to wait to tell me, but then decided he couldn’t wait anymore. He tried to find me at school in North Carolina but couldn’t. He had no idea I was in Virginia. Then Parker told him I had moved on, fell in love with someone else.

  The three of us put the pieces together. How their father must have intercepted my letters in order to keep us apart. How when he read my confession, he decided to deal with the situation. When Morgan was younger, he would frequently just sign the checks that were needed for the foundation. This one was made out to cash, he probably wouldn’t have though anything about it at the time. He also had an email for the foundation that he had rarely if ever monitored himself. That was handled for him at the time as well. While I didn’t remember the email address and hadn’t saved the correspondence, we figured chances were that was where the email originated from.

  A rage I did not even know was possible started to boil inside me. I clenched my hands into fists and tried to control myself. All this. All this because we were pawns in some bastard’s political agenda.

  “So, the two of them did this.”

  “No, Morgan, the three of them.” They both turned to look at me. “My Mother knew too.”

  “Victoria knew?” Hunter plopped down on the couch as if he didn’t have the strength to hear any more.

  “I called the day I received the check. First, I tried to reach Hunter, but he was in Europe at the time. I was desperate, so I called my mother to see if I could get her to get Morgan to talk to me. I started to tell her that it was urgent that I speak to him. That’s when she told me that Morgan had told her and your Dad that I was pregnant and that he was sending the money. She told me I was selfish to think about keeping the baby and would be destroying Morgan’s life when he had clearly moved on. She said having a relationship with Morgan was inappropriate enough, having his baby would be unforgivable.”

  Hunter stood up and looked from Morgan to me. “Well I’ll tell you what. They may have started all this shit, but the three of us are going to end it. We are going to go confront them on this. I’m done with the both of them. What kind of fucking monsters play with lives like that?”

  “I am all for confronting them, but I don’t know how I am going to keep from beating the shit out of Dad. I always knew he was a son of a bitch, but this, this is beyond comprehension. Victoria can kiss my ass too.”

  “I’ve been done with them for a long time anyway, so it won’t be much of an effort to keep it up.”

  “Now that we have that settled. I hope the two of you can try to forgive each other. Put your anger aside.”

  “Oh no, screw that. I am still pissed off. Jules, you may have thought I wanted you to have an abortion, but when you made the decision not to, you still owed it to me to tell me you kept the baby. Even if you called me to say, ‘Fuck you Morgan, this is my choice’, I still deserved to know. And who knows, maybe we would have figured this all out sooner. So yeah, I am still mad as hell at you, babe.”

  What could I possibly say to that? It’s the exact guilt I had been living with all these years. It’s the lie I thought I had been living. I looked up as I heard Hunter’s phone chime. He read a text and then looked at Morgan.

  “Well suck it up, man. Sarah is on the way back with your daughter.”

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Hunter

  Seriously. These two. I need a goddamn drink.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Morgan

  Earlier that day, I was just my usual dumb ass self. Sure, maybe I was preoccupied trying to figure out what I was going to do about Jules, but otherwise, it was a normal day. Then within a matter of a couple of hours, I had gotten a call from my brother who told me that I had a three year old daughter, found out my father and stepmother (oh and most likely my father’s mistress) had created this whole fucked up mess just so my father could look all squeaky clean for his political ambitions. Yes, the irony and hypocrisy that the man with the mistress wanted to look above reproach did not escape me. I had been taken advantage of by the evil threesome and then deceived by the only woman I ever loved. I was getting a raging headache and I had to fight the urge to put Jules over my knee and spank the living daylights out of her. Now I had to try to get my shit together, because I was moments away from meeting my daughter for the first time and I was scared to death. Seriously, I was shaking in my fucking shoes. I didn’t know what I was going to say to her. I just hoped that Jules would help direct things. Damn, maybe I should have told her how pissed I was after meeting my little girl. I didn’t have think too long, because there was a knock at the door. Hunter walked over and opened it.

  In bounded the most beautiful little girl I had ever seen. She had her Mom’s curly dark brown hair and she definitely had her smile. Her nose, that was mine and so were her eyes. She happily skipped over to her mother.

  “Mama! Uncow Hunter gave me nickname. Sunshine!”

  “He did, did he? Did you have fun with Aunt Sarah?”

  “Yes! Lots and lots of fun! And she let me have ice cream. The kind with the sprinkles!” My daughter was bouncing on her tip toes and then spun around. I briefly thought about what they say about kids and sugar.

  “Oh boy, that’s a lot of sugar,” Jules said, her eyebrows raised. “Sweetie, come here, there is someone else I would like you to meet.” Jules looked over in my direction and I could tell she was uncertain about what else to say. It didn’t matter, our brilliant daughter took matters into her own hands. She skipped over to me and I squatted down to get to her level. It was so surreal to see my own eyes staring back at me.

  “Hi! My name is Sophia!”

  Sophia. She named her Sophia. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

  “Hi, Sophia. That is a very pretty name. My Mom’s name was Sophia, too.”

  Her eyes became wide like saucers and her mouth
formed a perfect “O”.

  “My Gramma’s name was Sophia too. But she is in heaven now with the angels.” She nodded her head in a very matter of fact manner.

  How the hell was I going to manage to get through this? Jules had not only named our daughter after my mother but had apparently told her about her. At least enough that she knew she was named after her and she was in heaven. I was struggling with what to say, when I noticed Sophia was studying me very closely. Jules was right, she did make a little frown when deep in thought.

  “What are you thinking about sweetheart?”

  “I know who you look like.”

  “Who?”

  “I am going to show you. Stay right here.” She stomped one foot on the ground to make her point.

  “I won’t move. Promise.” And off she ran. I looked up at Jules. I couldn’t read her expression. “She’s amazing. You have done an incredible job with her.”

  “Thank you. She is pretty fantastic.”

  A moment later, a chestnut haired imp came running back into the room with what looked like a scrap book in her hands. I noticed the expression I had seen a few seconds earlier on Jules’s face had returned.

  “What’s that you have there?”

  “My Sophia book.”

  “Oh, are you going to show it to me?”

  “Yes, because you look like my Daddy.”

  Time stopped in that moment. I may have not known about my daughter, but I was starting to suspect that she knew about me. What was I supposed to do, should I tell her I really was her Daddy?

  She sat on the couch and I sat next to her. She put the book down on the coffee table and opened it. There were pictures of me, Jules, and Hunter. Pictures of me and Hunter together. Of me and Jules. She looked at one of the pictures and furrowed her little brow.

  “Mama, is this Uncow Hunter?”

  “Yes baby, it is.”

  “Where is Aunt Sarah?” Again, the frown crossed her face as she scanned the pictures.

  “Mama didn’t know Aunt Sarah when I made you this book. But, we can add pictures of her to it now if you would like.”

  She smiled and nodded at her mother. Then she pointed to a picture of me. “See, that’s my Daddy. You look like him. My Daddy is not here right now, but he loves me very much. Mama told me.”

  “That’s right, Sophia.” I looked up at Jules, silently asking my question. She gave a barely perceptible smile and nodded her head. “Sweetie, I look like your Daddy, because I am your Daddy. Your mama told you the truth, I couldn’t be with you before, but now I can. And I do love you. Very, very much.”

  “You’re my Daddy?” Her eyes were wide with surprise and her mouth hung open so far she looked like a cartoon character.

  “Yes, baby. I am.”

  She looked over to her mother for confirmation.

  “Yes Sophia, he is your Daddy.”

  She lifted a hand and put it on my cheek and then she threw her arms around me and the little part of my heart that had not yet melted, did.

  Sophia showed me the rest of her book. Jules had done a great job putting Sophia’s family history together. There were pictures of Jules’s Dad and one of my Mom. I had no clue how she got that. Noticeably absent were pictures of my father and Victoria. Good, it would save me from having to rip them out later.

  I heard Hunter clear his throat. Whether it was to get our attention or if it had all been too overwhelming for the big dufus, I wasn’t sure.

  “Why don’t we all go to dinner? There is a great Chinese restaurant down the road. I would just like to go and have a nice dinner with my family. My treat. What do you say?” Hunter looked pointedly at Jules and then over at me.

  “Sure, that would be great. Are you okay with that, Morgan?”

  “Works for me.”

  “Okay, Miss Sophia, if we are going out to dinner, you are going to need a bath and a change of clothes first. Hunter and Sarah, make yourself comfortable. We won’t be too long. Come, Sophia.” Jules had started to walk down the hall when she looked at me over her shoulder and crooked her finger. “Let’s go, Morgan. Daddy training starts now.”

  I followed them into what was obviously Sophia’s room. I had assumed I would be an observer. Jules had other plans in mind.

  “Okay, Morgan. The first thing is getting out a new outfit for little miss over here.”

  “New. Like never worn?”

  She laughed at me. She actually laughed.

  “No, as in clean and not yet worn today.”

  “Got it. Okay. Sophia, why don’t you pick out something to wear?” I was feeling pretty damn proud of myself. I was going to rock at this parenting thing. Then I looked over at Jules whose eyebrows had shot up into her hairline.

  Sophia went over to her dresser and pulled out shorts and a shirt. Admittedly, I didn’t know a darn thing about clothes for little girls, but shorts that looked like rainbow sherbet and an American flag top didn’t seem like they actually went together. I saw Jules biting her lip trying not to laugh.

  “Oh, well, ummm…let’s see. That is one choice, but maybe not the best for a Chinese restaurant.” Yes, reason with her. I helped broker multimillion dollar international software deals. I could handle this.

  Sophia crossed her arms over in front of her and pouted, putting her chin to her chest. I pointed straight at Jules. “She gets that from you!”

  Thinking. Thinking. Aha! A dress! There is no matching with a dress.

  “What I meant was, I think this is almost like a party tonight…”

  “Oh for the love of God….”

  I leveled at stare at Jules who threw her hands up in surrender.

  “I’m just saying…you mention the “p” word and there are going to be certain expectations.”

  “As I was saying. Tonight is very special, so maybe a dress would be nice.”

  That seemed to make her happy and she trotted off to her closet. She came back out with a Disney Princess dress.

  She held the dress out triumphantly, a big smile on her face.

  Great there was no matching. It was a dress. She was happy. I was happy. I looked over at Jules. Not happy.

  “She is not going to dinner in a Snow White costume.”

  “Help me out here. How do we do this?”

  “Simple. You never give her the choice to begin with. She is three. You are the parent. If you want to give her a choice, you pick two appropriate selections and let her choose between the two.”

  Jules sauntered over to the closet and pulled out a pink dress and placed it on the bed. “I think this will look pretty and you can wear your pink sandals.”

  Sophia looked happy with the choice and all seemed right with her world. I mean sure, if I had known there were pink sandals…

  Next, we headed to the bathroom for bath time. Apparently, Jules was not taking any chances with me choosing the water temperature. She set the water and then instructed me to feel it so that I knew what the proper temperature should be. She picked Sophia up and placed her in the tub and held her hand as she sat down.

  “I’ll wash her unless you want to try.”

  “No, no. I’ll just watch this time and see how a pro does it.”

  She snorted at that comment, but I watched her as she put a folded wash rag over Sophia’s eyes while she rinsed her head with water. She washed Sophia’s hair and then massaged in a healthy amount of conditioner.

  “She has all those big loose curls. If you don’t condition her hair, you will have one heck of a wrestling match on your hands when you try to comb it out.”

  “She has hair like her mother. I do recall combing that hair out a time or two.”

  I smiled fondly at the memory and I saw Jules do the same. Then we both just sank back into the sadness of what we had lost.

  Jules continued to give me tips all through the bath. I had been showering myself every day years, but this was a whole different ballgame. When Jules felt Sophia was sufficiently clean, she helped her stand up,
flipped the drain in the tub, then wrapped Sophia up in a fluffy towel and went to pick her up.

  “Here, let me do that.” I bent over and picked my daughter up out of the bath. She smelled all clean and girlie. I carried her back to her room and dried her with the towel. Jules dressed her and then grabbed a comb. She sat on the bed and told Sophia to back up between her legs. She worked on combing Sophia’s hair, once again, giving me tips as she went. As I watched, I couldn’t help but think that if things had been different, we could have been doing this all along, as a family.

  ✽✽✽

  Hunter had made a great choice in restaurants. The food was good and the place had an exotic yet relaxed feel. I watched in awe the way Jules interacted with Sophia. It was almost like watching a choreographed dance. Jules could anticipate Sophia’s needs and wants. She effectively maneuvered around what I suspected could have been a three year old melt down, yet did it in a way that did not give in to our daughter’s whim.

  That’s when it hit me. In the few hours I had known I had a daughter, I had concentrated on what I had been deprived. But, watching Jules as a mother made me realize that she had spent those three years as a single parent. She went through the pregnancy alone, not to mention the delivery. She had to deal with sleepless nights, fevers, temper tantrums, potty training. The list went on. I was sure she had to have been scared to death. I know I would have been. I knew she had her aunt, but as I watched the two of them at dinner, there was no doubt that Jules took on the primary caretaker role. This was not the behavior of a mother who was not a hands on parent. And she did it well. Sophia was a happy, healthy, very smart little girl. While I was sure my view was somewhat biased, she seemed very intelligent and well-spoken for a child her age. So, while I was still incredibly angry at Jules, I had to give credit where it was due. Maybe, just maybe I was not quite as angry I was earlier. Maybe.