“Jacob, this is the end of our journey. Tasha’s on her way to take us to the airport.”
“Destiny, you didn’t have to get Tasha involved. I would have taken you or gotten someone to take you.”
“Well, I don’t need anything from you, Jacob! Not even a ride.” I had settled into the lifestyle where Jacob was taking care of me, but I had to go hard for myself and not depend on a man to do anything for me, from now on. What a wakeup call.
Jacob’s face didn’t show any emotion, other than the darkness in his sad eyes. “I know I have fucked up, and it may seem beyond repair, but I need you to know that I will never give up on us. By some stroke of good luck or good karma, we will be together again. We weren’t built to fail, so I’ll take this time as just a trial.”
“This is hardly a trial, Jacob.”
“But it is, Destiny, and you will see.”
“Okay, riddle me this. Who is going to take care of Justine’s baby while she’s locked up for the rest of her life…you? Definitely not me!”
Jacob didn’t have an answer for that question, and to be honest I don’t think it had dawned on him to think about Justine’s child.
I was right.
We were done.
If he was the father, he would be the next person in line to care for the child. He wasn’t the kind of man to neglect his responsibilities. Now, I was three months pregnant, making Justine’s supposed baby one month older than mine by pregnancy dates.
“All I know is that I love you…you, and the baby growing in your stomach. I don’t care anything about Justine.”
“But her baby, Jacob.”
“I love you.”
“Love isn’t supposed to make you cry, Jacob. I’m supposed to be happy, and I’m not. I can’t be with you until I figure out how to deal with everything that’s going on.”
“Destiny, don’t leave me. Do you want me to get on my knees and beg you, because I will?”
“No amount of begging will keep me here,” I said as the doorbell rang. “That’s Tasha,” I said walking toward the door.
Jacob caught me from behind and took my suitcase from my hand. “I’ll carry this for you. I don’t want you to hurt the baby.”
“Thanks.” I turned and walked away from him. “Junior, Montana! Come on, we’re about to leave now,” I said as I stopped by their rooms.
They ran out ahead of me and downstairs to meet Tasha.
At the top of the staircase, Jacob touched my arm.
I turned around to face him. “What?”
“This is only temporary. I’m coming for my family as soon as I can prove to you that I never meant to hurt you.”
I started to walk down the stairs, then rushed to reach the bottom, where Tasha stood boring holes through Jacob with fire and brimstone in her chocolate brown eyes. Upon making eye contact with me, she grabbed the kids hands and said, “Come on to the car with me.”
They broke free and ran over to hug Jacob’s leg and told him goodbye before galloping behind Tasha to the car.
I turned to face Jacob. I took one last look around the house that was almost mine. “For what it’s worth, I still love you and I always will, but Justine being pregnant with your child is more than I can deal with, now or at any time in the future.” And I couldn’t imagine helping Jacob raise her child, which would only be a month or two older than mine. “So, this is goodbye.”
“For now,” he said simply.
I reached my hand for my bag, but he refused to give it to me insisting that he take it to the car for me. I humped my shoulders and went and sat in the car. As far as I was concerned, it would be the last thing he ever did for me.
Chapter Eight
Jacob