“Thank you,” she said gratefully.
“I wasn’t finished speaking,” he said in a tone that had her snapping her head up to look at him. “I said I won’t take Jacob from you but I also told you I won’t spend another day without him,” he said and waited for his words to sink in.
Jasmine’s eyes widened, as she realized what he was saying. “You want us to live together?” she said in shock.
“I won’t dishonor my son by just living with his mother. I will not allow the other kids to pick on him because his mother is a mistress,” he said with venom.
“I don’t understand,” she began.
“Come on Jasmine, you’re smarter than this,” he sneered at her. She continued to look up at him blankly.
“We’re getting married,” he said. Jasmine gasped, as she stared open-mouthed at him. He had just asked her to marry him, no scratch that he’d just told her she was going to marry him. She didn’t even know how to respond.
“I…I don’t want to get married,” she finally managed to stutter.
“That’s very obvious from your actions ten years ago but this isn’t about you, or even about me, this is about Jacob and what is best for him, so you’ll marry me because it’s what’s best for our son,” he said. He wasn’t shouting or sneering anymore, he was deadly calm and seemed almost defeated, which was worse for her, because it made it all seem so much more real. She also didn’t understand his little comment about ten years ago, considering he was the one who left her but she was so tired of arguing.
“There should be another more reasonable solution other than marriage. We can work out a visitation schedule,” she tried one last chance to fix the situation that was quickly spiraling out of control.
“There’s no other solution, I told you I want to be with my son every single day. I don’t want to just visit him every other weekend and on alternative holidays. I’ve already lost half of his childhood, I won’t lose anymore,” he said.
“Can we at least take a few days to think about things and talk some more, this is all so new and we are both emotional?” she asked him.
“Jasmine it’s either this or else,” he said, leaving the veiled threat unsaid.
“I guess it makes sense,” she conceded.
“Good, I’m glad you feel that way but don’t think that there won’t be an iron clad prenuptial agreement. When our son turns eighteen and goes off to college, our sham of a marriage will end and then we can be free of each other. Don’t worry though, I’ll leave you with something and just think, while we’re married you get to live in the way you’re so accustomed to. I may not have been good enough for you ten years ago but I’m worth far more than your father ever was now,” he snarled.
“I don’t care about your money or what you can give me; I’m not the one wanting to get married. I think we could find another solution,” she snapped and let out a sigh of frustration. She was getting far angrier the more he lashed out at her.
“I’m tired, where’s the guest room?” he asked, as he rubbed his hand through his hair for the hundredth time. She showed him the room and then dragged herself off to her own, feeling defeated and more drained than she ever had in her life.
Jasmine figured she’d climb into bed and lay there awake all night. She was grateful when her heavy eyes closed and she felt oblivion overtaking her.
“Dad,” Jacob yelled, as he came skidding into her room at the crack of dawn. Her first thought was, why did she keep getting woken so horribly early and then panic started to overcome her at the look of complete devastation on her child’s face.
“I knew he wouldn’t be here,” Jacob said as tears started streaming down his face and he crawled in the bed next to her to sob on her shoulder.
“It’s okay baby, he’s here, he’s just in the other room, he hasn’t left,” she said, as one of her own tears escaped. She hated to see her son in pain for any reason but the unbearable heartbreak of him thinking his father was gone was the most horrible thing she’d ever experienced.
“Hey bud, are you okay?” Derek said, as he stepped into the room and saw Jacob sobbing in her arms. He looked up and the tears stopped instantly, as a huge grin overtook his face.
“You didn’t leave,” Jacob exclaimed, as he jumped from the bed and threw his arms around his father. Derek picked him up and sat down on her bed. She scrambled up into a sitting position and pulled her legs up to her chest, hugging them tightly. Derek looked over at her with an expression that seemed to say, I told you there was no other answer. She knew he was right.