CHAPTER
NINE
Lana was still trying to process all she’d learned this morning. She’d almost lost Jayson and never would have known it until it was too late.
When he’d talked about the mission that nearly killed him, her heart had stopped. She’d had to constantly remind herself he was in front of her breathing and talking.
Then she had to remind herself he wasn’t hers anymore. Then her heart broke all over again at that reminder.
No matter what happened in their past, she knew her heart was still his. What broke it all over again was that it was one-sided.
The silence was deafening after they had given their orders to the waitress. Jayson was the first to break it.
“Talk to me, Lana. Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?”
“I did call you, Jayson. Some guy answered your phone and cursed me out and told me I was a whore. I waited a week and showed up at your apartment. Some chick answered the door in your shirt saying you were indisposed, and you didn’t want anything to do with me. So, I left. Gave you what you wanted,” Lana admitted, the pain and hurt rushing back full force.
“Shit, Lana. I never knew about either one. I never cheated on you. No, let me say what I have to say. Please.”
Lana had started to interrupt until Jayson put his hand up. She nodded at his request to let him finish when she saw the pain and regret in his eyes.
“I never cheated on you with Brandie. She tried her best but failed every time. She was the one who went to Command about our marriage in Vegas. I didn’t know until after you were gone how she’d found out about it.”
“But our marriage in Vegas was fake. That guy didn’t have a license,” Lana reminded him of that tidbit of information.
“Our marriage is real, babe. The guy who was actually ordained was present and training the one who performed it. They both signed the marriage certificate.”
“Oh. Why did she do that? I was nothing but nice to her when she got assigned to Bragg,” Lana huffed, taking a sip of her coffee.
“She was determined to land her a Special Forces guy. She knew you were with me. She was already banging Spinelli, but he was also banging three others at the same time. So, because I was the only one in our unit that seemed to have his head on his shoulders and ready to settle down, I became a challenge to her. I never fell for her bullshit. Even told her to jump off a cliff. In my head she was another Ashe.”
“Yeah, she was,” Lana admitted, looking down into her coffee. “But, Jayson, she had photos, voicemails, letters…”
“She made copies of the ones I sent you. She was a master at cloning shit. The photos were fakes she’d done through photoshop. The day she’d come to you with the ultrasound photos was also the day I had been at the X.O.’s office with JAG to file official charges of stalking and harassment on her. She was being placed under investigation and removed from theteam. Spinelli backed me up with everything because she was also doing the same thing to him.”
“I can see why you hate me now.” Lana sighed heavily, the shame hitting her hard. “Guess that’s why your friends wouldn’t let me near you.”
“I was a mess when you left. I started drinking and nearly got booted from the Army. Why didn’t you contact my command? They knew we were married, Lana.”
“Because I was afraid of the same thing, honestly. Your X.O. was your biggest supporter. I tried to call you from the parking lot the day I found out that I was pregnant. I was in tears. Your friend called me a whore and cursed me out then hung up on me. I waited a week then showed up and, well you know what happened there as I said earlier. When I got back to Texas, I was hospitalized and nearly lost the twins. I was severely dehydrated and hadn’t been eating because I was so depressed with everything.”
“Fuck, Lana. I didn’t know.”
Lana heard the pain in his voice. She actually believed him when he said he’d never cheated on her with Brandie.
“I finally got my head out of my ass when the doctor said I was in danger of losing the twins. To me, they were all I had left of you. If you didn’t want me, at least they would.”
Lana couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down her face as the memories came rushing back. The stabbing pain nearly crushed her all over again.
“They were born fifteen weeks premature. Dani came first, loud and tiny. When Jay was born, he wasn’t breathing. They fought hard to get him breathing. Once he took his first breath, they rushed him out of the room. Several hours later, he stopped breathing again. They continued to fight to get him back again. Dani had screamed out loudly, protesting all the noise just as they were about to call Jay’s time of death. He suddenly startedbreathing again, even screaming out his own protest. Those two are close, the best of friends.”
“Why didn’t you call me then, Lana? I would have come. No matter what, I would have been there.”
“I did, Jayson. When I called, a chick answered, while having sex with you, kept telling you to keep going, she would handle the intrusion.”
“What? I would never have done that to you, Lana. No matter how upset I was with you. When were the twins born?”
“October 31st.”
