“I know this is a lot to take in, but I’m more than willing to take a DNA test, and if I’m not, I have the resources to help, if you want to know,” Vega spoke.
“I need some time to process this, and to talk to Kodi and see what she wants to do,” Jalen informed him because she was being overloaded.
“Take your time. A lot of my work I can do from just about anywhere, and I plan on being in town for the next couple of weeks.” He pulled an envelope from his pocket and handed it to her. “These are the results that led me to find Kodi,” he told her.
She gripped them in her hand before nodding and standing. “It was nice to meet you, Vega. I hadn’t expected you to be, well, you. I thought you’d be some old pervert,” she said honestly.
Vega chuckled. “Is that why you picked a coffee shop across from the police station?” he asked as he inclined his head towards the building.
“Yes, this place is a notorious hangout for them as well.” She held out her hand, and he shook it. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Take your time,” he responded, and Jalen went to her car, slid in, and stared out the windshield.What the hell?
21
Rohan let everything Jalen said to him sink in. He was shocked that there was a possibility that this man was the father of four of them. They didn’t speak about her mother, but from what he could tell, there was no love lost between the two of them. He also knew, just from context clues, that the older woman had been quite promiscuous. So, her being with the same man for any extended period seemed to have Jalen baffled.
He could only imagine how much of a shock it had been for Jalen to find out that this man could be four of their fathers. A part of him wanted him to be. Because, from what Jalen had told him, he sounded like a decent man. However, he didn’t voice that because he didn’t know exactly how she felt about it. He honestly could never comprehend her feelings on the matter completely because he wasn’t the one going through it, but he could listen and be empathetic.
He placed his hand in her hair, scratched her scalp gently, and she looked up at him. He could see the indecisiveness in her eyes, and he knew she was fighting with herself about what to do. Vega, as Jalen had told him, was the other man’s name; he had asked her not to tell Landon that he wasn’t her father, and shewas torn between doing as he requested and telling Landon that there was a possibility he wasn’t.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she told him with a sigh.
Rohan leaned down and kissed her softly. “I know that this is a hard decision and you want to do what’s best for all of your siblings.” He had no doubt about that because everything that she did was with them and their well-being in mind.
“I do. I just…I don’t know this time. Will keeping it from them and waiting to find out hurt more than help? What do you think I should do?”
He thought of the best way to answer her. He didn’t want to interject himself into the situation because what he would do might not be the best solution for all of them. He didn’t trust that he could think in the same way that Jalen would. There were more than likely factors that he didn’t know about, and therefore wouldn’t consider. However, she had asked him. So, he would be honest with her.
“I think telling them will prepare them for either outcome. Whether or not he turns out to be their father. As long as you set the expectation that it could go either way. I believe they’re mature enough to handle it if he isn’t, as long as they’ve been made aware.”
“I just don’t want to see the disappointment in their eyes if he isn’t.”
“I understand that, baby. Hiding it from them won’t help. It’s only going to upset them if you have to tell them he is their father, and you knew there was a possibility and you kept it from them.”
“You’re right, and then I’ll have to deal with the twins’ questions. I just don’t know if I’m ready to do that right this second,” Jalen countered.
“You don’t have to do it right this second. He said he would be in town for a few weeks. Take a couple of days to get yourthoughts together and figure out how you want to break the news.”
Jalen leaned up, and Rohan leaned back down, meeting her in the kiss she wanted. “Thank you for handling my slight freak-out.”
“You don’t have to thank me.”
“So, how was Trent’s meeting with his boss? That was yesterday, right?”
“Yeah, it was. Trent said it went really well. Apparently, Kieran liked the way he was running the company and gave him a lot of leeway to make some changes he wanted to after Trent presented them to him.”
“And you said Trent was worried about him being a hardass.”
“Well, his worry wasn’t misplaced. He definitely used to be. Probably still is, but I suppose marriage has gotten him to relax a bit,” Rohan said.
Jalen hummed her acknowledgement and turned her attention to the movie they had long ago ignored in favor of her telling him about her meet-up with Vega. He wasn’t really sure of anything that had actually happened in the movie. However, it didn’t seem that she minded.
Once they were finished with that movie, she looked at the time on her phone before she settled her head back in his lap. She’d been at his place for a little over two hours, and he knew she had a habit of checking her phone when she felt like she’d been gone from her sisters too long.
“Do you need to go?” he asked.
“No. We can watch another movie. Kodi’s there with the girls, and she’s doing someone’s hair. So, it’ll take her another couple of hours at least.”
