Jack Who? (Book 1 Draft Version)

PART TWO~CHAPTER : 34

♪♫••═════ PART TWO~CHAPTER : 34  ═════••♬ ♭

My mother's ringtone rattled my phone, waking me after what could have only been a couple of hours of sleep. After opening my eyes for the split second it took to grab the offensive device, I blindly pressed ignore, turned the ringtone off, and tossed it aside.

I had no idea how Jack was doing a radio show at this very minute after no sleep.

In the week since he left on tour, I had alternated between his bed and the guestroom, looking for peaceful sleep, and a few nights ago had settled on his bed.

The phone vibrated beneath my arm as I drifted off again with every detail of Jack's short visit swimming in my mind.

Flopping restlessly over, I covered my ears with my arms when Rusty went nuts, as usual over the mail drop. Any morning was the same if the house was quiet enough for canine ears to hear the mail truck idling outside the gate long enough for the mail carrier to fit our articles into the mailbox. The dog was a nuisance, and how Jack and Tristan could like him, I had no idea. I wanted my own dog back.

"Rusty! It's just the mail!" Tristan's voice rang out from down the hall. My irritation at the dog having waked my son diminished when Tristan's pratter continued coming closer to the master suite and there was no clink of a crutch.

Raising my head from the pillow, I saw that his tiny fingertips were barely touching the hall wall for support, and when he reached the room he took unaided steps to the edge of the bed.

"When you wake up, Momma, can we have chocolate chip pancakes?"

"Chocolate chip pancakes? Is that all you eat?"

When I used Jack's line on him, he laughed. Then a thoughtful look came over his face, a flit of recollection, and he asked, "Did Daddy come home last night?"

As we took the elevator to the first floor, I explained why Jack could not stay longer. Tristan went on into the kitchen, and I opted for the quick walk down the driveway to the mailbox hoping the outside air would wake me.

Lightly shoving the dog aside with my foot, I slipped out the front door and jogged down the steps. Waving through the fence to a neighbor who was walking their well-behaved dog, I punched the code into the box.

With the small bundle of letters in hand, I headed back to the house, abstractedly scanning them as I walked. My eyes froze when the addressee on one envelope jumped out.

Jackson Loren and Tristan Jack Duplei

In the entry hall, I absently let the rest of the mail fall into the basket on the table, but held tight to the ominous envelope.

The return address was a local lab. The envelope did not need to be opened to confirm the ugliness inside, but I did so anyway, ripping it with no care of Jack finding out.

The cover sheet read:

'Dear Mr. Loren:

The attached protocol contains the results of ....'

My eyes skimmed to the next paragraph.

'From the testing shown on the attached protocol it can be determined that you, ARE one of the biological parents of Tristan Jack Duplei.'

"I got the chocolate chips out!" Tristan sang from the adjoining room.

Clenching the papers so tight they crunched, I carried them into the kitchen.