Chapter 25

Just before Jeremy left his office Thursday morning, four days after Robin was admitted to the hospital, he got a call on his cell phone from his house. He already knew who it was and figured now as good a time as any to talk to the person and get it over with.

He answered on the third ring.

“Uh huh,” he mumbled.

“J, its Robin. How are you?” she asked shyly.

“Fine, and you?” he inquired. He really didn’t like her at the moment, but he couldn’t deny that he still cared about her, especially since she could’ve been carrying his child.

“I’m okay. The baby is fine, in case you wanted to know. The doctors told me that I need to take it easy for the rest of my term.” She snorted. “You know how hard that is for me, especially with the kind of work I do.”

“Yeah, I do. So, what’s up?” he asked her, getting straight to the point.

“Jeremy, I was hoping we could talk. I don’t know where you’ve been, and I don’t want to know. I don’t really feel I have the right to ask anymore. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t be civilized adults about this. I’m sorry… for everything. I wish to God that I could take it all back, but we both know that’s impossible. I think what we need to do now is sit down and talk about all this. I don’t want to lose you. I love you so much.”

Jeremy was quiet for a few minutes. Robin could still hear the construction noise in the background, so she knew he hadn’t hung up on her. She felt like she should give him a few minutes to digest what she just told him.

“Is that all?” he asked.

She was dumbfounded. She’d just apologized to him and he was still acting strange about it.

“What do you mean ‘is that all’? I just poured out my heart to you. I am trying to apologize to you and you won’t even acknowledge that. What do you want me to say?”

Robin was starting to get upset. She knew that if she did, he would shut down any type of conversation and blow her off. She really had not a single bargaining chip at the moment.

“Look, I’m sorry about that. It’s just frustrating doing this over the phone. Can you please come home so that we can talk about this?”

She knew she was pleading now, but what more could she do to get him to come home. Once he got there, she figured she use whatever leverage she had. She knew how much he wanted the baby, but she didn’t know if that would work, considering she wasn’t sure which man fathered it.

“Jeremy, please, just come home and we can talk. Give me an hour to explain everything and we can go from there. Whatever you want. Just please…”

“Okay,” Jeremy said, cutting her off. “One hour, then I’m out. We need to talk, anyway. I’ll be there when I can.”

He hung up the call without another word. He then dialed Charlotte’s number and told her what just happened. He mentioned to her that he was going over to talk Robin, but that there was no way she was ever going to be able to change his mind. He also reassured her that he would be home later on to spend some quality time with her.

After finishing up a few things around the site, Jeremy packed up and headed to his house. After he pulled in the driveway, he stood and looked at the house hard.

In the beginning, he loved that house and everything it meant for him and Robin. Moving into it after they got married was a godsend to them. It meant stability and a great start to a family to them. It was where he wanted to raise his children and, perhaps, grow old with his wife. He remembered how they searched all over for the perfect location, a neighborhood that was friendly, within walking distance to all three levels of school, and had a neighborhood shopping center. It was perfect for them and their future family.

And she ruined that.

He walked up the sidewalk to the front door and knocked on it. He definitely didn’t feel like this was his home anymore. The woman inside was no longer his wife, but a stranger to him. He couldn’t see himself in that house anymore, let along with her anymore. Their whole relationship was built on a lie.

When she opened the door, she still looked small and fragile to him. He noticed that her face was rounder and her breast were fuller than he remembered. If this was two weeks ago, he would be relishing in that. His wife, pregnant with their child.

He stood there staring at her until he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Can I come in,” he asked.

“Oh… of course,” she responded, stepping aside to let him in.

He waited for her in the entrance and followed her to the living room. She sat down on a chair and he sat down on the sofa, across from her.

“So…” he began.

“Wait, let me start.”

He just looked at her. He wasn’t about to say anything, he just wanted to get the ball rolling.

“I know you want an explanation for what has happened, but the honest truth is, I don’t have one. It’s my fault, entirely. I allowed another man get close to me, to seduce me and interfere in our relationship. I was wrong to allow that to happen, I admit that. But in my defense, I did try to break it off...”

“When,” Jeremy asked, cutting her off.

“The day I realized I was pregnant, the first time.”

Jeremy looked shocked. He couldn’t believe what she’d just said.

“The first time? What, two years ago? Are you serious?” he said, jumping up and pacing. “I can’t do this if you are not going to be straight with me. You tried to break up with him two years ago, but something else must’ve happened because here you are again, still with him and pregnant. Again!”

“I know, I know how this seems, but just listen,” she cried. “I tried to break it off with him, but, I don’t know what happened. I got sucked back in. I guess the longer we worked together, the more I gave into him. When I started getting sick this time, I knew I had to do whatever it took to end things. I didn’t want to lose you,” she said looking at him, “or the baby,” she said, holding her stomach. “I knew this was something you wanted, WE wanted, so bad. Just the thought of it being someone else’s, I just didn’t know what to do.”

Jeremy just stared at her in shock. Nothing she was saying was making sense to him. He couldn’t believe or understand how she could stand there and think that the words she was saying to him made sense. He wasn’t in her head and he wasn’t in her heart, but he knew that deep down, she was being selfish and was only looking out for herself. She didn’t care about him, otherwise she wouldn’t have started seeing Greg in the first place.

“I’m so sorry, Jeremy,” Robin cried hysterically.

She got down on her knees at his feet and grabbed a hold of his legs.

“Jeremy, please! I love you and only you. I don’t want Greg. Please, just, please don’t leave me.”

Jeremy couldn’t believe the way Robin was acting. She was crying, on her knees, no less. She was in a place that Jeremy had never seen her go. He figured this is what was meant by the term “groveling on your knees”. As much as he loved seeing her like that, he couldn’t let her do it. It was really no point to it.

“Robin, get up,” he said, gently pulling her off his legs and helping her up on the sofa.

When she sat down next to him, she tried to hug him, but to no avail. He turned to face her and pulled his leg up on the sofa to separate them. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she knew that he was done with her.

“Stop acting like this. You’re not supposed to be getting all worked up. You could hurt yourself and the baby,” he scolded her.

She sat back against the sofa and closed her eyes. He was showing concern for her well being, but it wasn’t what she wanted from him.

“Jeremy,” she said, eyes still closed and head still leaned back against the sofa, “Please, let’s work this out.”

She turned and faced him once again, eyes lit up from her newfound revelation.

“We can go to counseling for however long it takes and I’ll even let you pick the therapist. Or, we could try to work this out ourselves. We could talk to my parents, too. They’ve been together for 35 years. It hasn’t been perfect for them, but they’ve been through their ups and downs and have survived it all. Hell, I’d even be willing to go and talk to your mother. Whatever it takes, I’m willing and able to do.”

She sat back after saying all that to catch her breath. Anything involving his mother was kind of a last resort for her. She hated the woman and she knew that his mother didn’t like her at all either. That should show him how much she was willing to put in work on this.

Jeremy just sat there, taking everything all in. She had said what he’d wanted to hear from her for a while. But saying it now was a little too late. Maybe they could’ve gone to counseling had the incident not gone on for four years. Maybe they could’ve gone to counseling had she told him what happened after the first baby. They definitely wouldn’t be where they are to even have to consider counseling had she not have been cheating on him for pretty much their entire marriage.

He eyed her, from her head to her toes. He was getting annoyed just looking at her. He loved this woman and she had given herself to another man countless times over the last four years.

Although his marriage to Robin was practically over when he cheated with Charlotte, that still didn’t excuse what he did. He felt bad about that, but not enough to bring it up to Robin. If she didn’t mention it, neither was he.

“Look, I can’t do this. I can’t stay in this fake ass marriage married to a fake ass woman.”

He stood up and walked to the doorway. When he was standing in the middle of it, he turned back around.

“I’ll have my lawyer contact you about the divorce,” he said as he walked to the door.

Robin jumped up off the sofa and ran to the door, just in time to shut it back as he was opening it.

“You think that’s it, huh? You think I’m just going to let you walk out, just like that? What? Where you going? Back to ‘her’? Yeah, my mama told me everything. And just so you know, MY lawyer will be contacting you,” she said.

After giving him an evil look, she opened the door for him.

“Now get the hell out my house!” Robin said.

Jeremy returned her evil stare as he walked out the door.