I let out a weary sigh at his words. "She was hurting. She hated me. She thought it was the best thing for Jacob. That you were the best thing for Jacob." I inclined my head and tried to convey what I was feeling to him. "Put yourself in her shoes, Cole. You must have seen the painting she made before Jacob's birth. What was going through her mind. She knew you'd never support her in keeping him from me."
Cole looked away and rubbed a hand over his face as if he too was weary.
"Please don't fault her for it. I am so tired of the three of us never being on the same wavelength. For Jacob's sake, let's just move on."
His gaze lifted and there was so much sadness in it. My fingers went in his hair and stayed there as we looked at each other.
"Forgive me," I whispered. "Out of the three of us, you've got the biggest heart. The kindest soul. You are the man who found a woman, saw her worth and pledged to love her no matter what, while still trying to keep me happy." I smiled at him. "It was hard for you too. To love like that, to learn to share people despite your insecurities. You've always been the glue that held us together, Cole. Not me. Not Skye. It's always been you."
He bowed his head and my arms went around his shoulders, to offer comfort and reassurance.
"I love you."
He nodded when I said that but didn't reply.
"You are Jacob's Daddy, okay? He's so lucky to have you. Biology doesn't change shit but I'm really glad we got it out of the way."
His response was to look up and regard me with a slight twist of his lips. "Boy. You have grown a lot in these two years," he said in an almost teasing tone.
Relief and happiness flooded through me when I realised he was okay. Tackling this paternity issue had been my greatest fear and yet, it turned out to be one of the easiest hurdles we had to cross to get to the finish line. I guess we all had grown up in different ways in these two tears. Sometimes pain had a lot to teach you if you tried to learn from it instead of always treating it like the enemy.
****
Skye
*Skye,
I know you told me that you don't want my apology but I'm going to apologise to you, anyway. Since you can't stand the sight of me and writing is what I do best, I'm going to tell you the truth in this letter.
The reason Jasper slept with me was because I offered him money to do it. Don't ever ask him about it because he has never been more ashamed of anything in his entire life. And the reason he couldn't tell you is because I made him sign an NDA.
He needed the money to give Cole, you and Jacob a better life and help his family in London because they were seriously in need. And I wanted Jasper so when he told me about his problem during one of our friendly conversations in London, I took advantage of his situation to satisfy my own needs. He didn't want to do it. He tried his best to make things work another way.
Please do forgive him, Skye. Jasper's a good man. If I could ever give you one more piece of advice it would be to not measure a man's worth by his mistakes. Not that my advice would matter much to you now which is absolutely fine with me.
I'm sorry I hurt you. It doesn't matter to me if you forgive me or not but I do hope you can put everything aside for the sake of making your family complete. He never meant to hurt any of you.
Jasmine.*
~~~
I sat in my car for a long time after reading that letter which had arrived at my workplace this morning. I'd stared at it all day but hadn't dared to open it.
To Skye, it had said on top in curly, rounded handwriting.
I would know that handwriting anywhere. She'd signed one of her books for me once and I had cherished it like a treasure.
Oh Jasper.
I crushed the letter to my chest and cried for a long time before starting the car and heading home.
****
Chapter Thirty-Two
Skye
I entered my house to find Cole and Jasper wildly making out on one of the couches in the living room. For a moment, all I could do was stand and stare at them. Seriously. These two men could make even the most straight of males start to doubt their sexuality when they decided to get it on like that. Although all their clothes were on and they were only kissing, it was still so hot just to watch.
But we weren't at that place anymore. This didn't seem something that I could be a part of anymore. Things had changed. Within me. And no matter how much I tried, I didn't think I could ever go back to that same place when the three of us had been a single unit. It didn't sadden me either, for some reason. Cole made me happy and now that the secret about Jacob's paternity was out, I felt like a weight had just lifted off my chest. I felt...free because I didn't have to carry this guilt with me every time I saw my son's face.
I finally had closure.
Smiling a little, I cleared my throat and the two of them broke apart abruptly to look at me with flushed faces and messy hair. I wanted to giggle. Their expressions were like two kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Jasper got up first, adjusted his jeans and then strode
