His smile is easy. “That’s to be expected. Give it another day and the headache should be gone. We’ll send you home with a prescription as well. The good news is you got your memory back.”
It is good she got her memory back. It just really fucking sucks what she had to go through to make it there.
The smile straightens from Dr. Leverton’s face as he pulls a folder from his clipboard. “I’ve got your medical records here.”
Jules and I both stiffen. I look at the thick stack of papers in the cream folder and wonder if what’s in there will change our lives. My mouth drains of liquid and my throat turns to sandpaper. I’m both anxious and scared, and I know Jules feels the same way.
She’s already plastered to my side, but I still bring her closer until she’s forced to turn toward me. By the look on the doctor’s face, something tells me we’re both going to need the added support of the other.
“Would you like to sit down?”
His question is directed at Jules, and it reminds me I need to be the strong one here. She’s just gone through a traumatic experience, and I need to buck the fuck up and stop being a pussy. But fuck me, the thought of being a dad, one to a child I’ve known since she was only days old, scares me shitless. It also makes me incredibly fucking happy.
“No,” Jules answers, her voice cracking. “Please, just tell us.”
He nods in understanding, opens the folder, and looks down. “When you were admitted into Silver United Memorial in May of 2010, you were four weeks pregnant. On February 1, 2011 at thirty-eight weeks, you delivered, by C-section, a healthy little girl. She weighed six pounds, seven ounces, and was eighteen and a half inches long.”
“Oh, God,” Jules whispers, her legs giving out. I catch her before she hits the floor, but my legs are too weak to hold us up. I manage to ease us both down with her ass in my lap. She’s sobbing, clinging to my shoulders, her head buried in my neck.
I told myself I would be strong no matter what, but that’s out the fucking window with the doctor’s words. I’m a fucking dad. The date the doc just gave us is Aria’s birthday.
Fuck me.
I’m a dad. My niece is actually my baby.
Tears pool in my eyes and trickle down my cheeks, landing in Jules’s hair. So many emotions run through me, one after the other, but there’re two that stand out the most; pure and unadulterated hatred for my brother and absolute love for… my daughter. I’ve always felt a strong bond with Aria, always held an unsurmountable amount of love for her, but that love has multiplied a thousand times over. It’s infinite, has no beginning or no end, and is without reservation.
“It has to be her,” Jules cries in my shoulder. She lifts her head and gazes at me with red eyes. “It has to be her, right?”
My heart squeezes in my chest, because she’s right, I have no doubt in my mind, Aria is the missing baby we created together.
“I’ve placed a copy of the birth certificate in the folder I put together for you,” the doctor speaks quietly. “Both yours and T
heodore Hendrix name is on the certificate. Your records do show you were sexually assaulted when you were admitted. Why the police were never notified, I do not know. However, if what you told me is true and Mr. Hendrix was the one to assault you, there’s no way he could be the father, as you were already pregnant.”
She hiccoughs on a sob. “How could he do that to us?” she cries.
“I don’t know, baby.” I kiss her forehead and push her face back into my neck.
I plan to pay Theo a little visit in jail to get some answers. I just hope there will be glass between us, because if he’s made accessible to me, there’s nothing that will hold me back from exacting retribution.
“Is it possible to perform a DNA test to know for sure if Luca is Aria’s father?” Jules asks the doctor.
“Unfortunately, since they’re twins their DNA would match, so the test would be inconclusive.”
Jules nods and burrows deeper against me.
“I’m leaving her records on the bed. A nurse will be in in a few minutes with her release papers. I know this must be hard on you both, so take as much time as you need.”
With a look of sympathy toward Jules’s bent head, he leaves us alone. I don’t know how long we stay on the floor, but it’s a while before I get us both to our feet. I cradle her against me and sit on the bed. I have no idea what to do except sit there and hold her, my own mind racing with thoughts.
“I want her to be ours so much,” Jules says, then lifts her head to peek up at me. “I know it’s going to hurt her, but God, Luca, I want her to belong to us.”
“So do I.”
“You do?” she asks, a look of surprise on her face.
“Yes. I’ve always loved Aria like she was my daughter anyway, so if she is, it’ll make me very fucking happy.”