Chapter Forty-Three

“You gonna stick by me?”

“Maybe…”

**

"You want to tell me what the fuck is going on with the court calling me and saying they need to know my due date so they can schedule some paternity test? And me not being allowed to put your name on the birth certificate?"

"Can’t we cut this shit already?" I sighed into the phone. "What? Oh come on, Julie… You and I both know that that kid is not mine. Why don’t you just admit it already?"

"It is your kid, Dom," she insisted, her voice hard. "Why won’t you just admit that already?"

"This is crazy," I muttered, running my hand across my face, rubbing my eyes as if that would get rid of the headache I could feel coming on. "You are fucking insane, you know that?"

"C’mon, Dom," she sighed heavily. "Can’t you just…let go of this? Please? It would make all of this so much easier…"

"Easier for who?" I laughed. "Definitely not easier for me… For you, maybe…for whoever the father actually is… Does he even know?"

"I can’t… Dammit, Dom…can’t you just do this one thing for me?" she asked, her voice dropping to a whisper. "It’s just a name on a fucking piece of paper. It doesn’t mean anything!"

I actually shook my head, like she was right there talking to me. "No. I’m sorry, Jules… I really am. But I can’t do this. My name on that piece of paper means that Johnny’s gonna try to dictate what I can and can’t do with the rest of my life, means he‘s gonna keep trying to hurt me and the people I love. And it‘s not fair to the kid, when he gets older, to let him think I'm his dad when I‘m not."

"Please…" she said, her voice cracking. "Johnny’ll get over all this shit… You wouldn’t have to do anything. I’ll make sure he leaves you alone…"

"And how the hell do you think you’d be able to do that?" I demanded. I felt like a total asshole for yelling at her, but I had to, you know? There wasn’t any other way to get through to her.

"I’ll figure something out!" she insisted. "If you would just cooperate for once in your fucking life and not make this harder than it already is…"

"You’re the one making things hard," I argued. "This is all you…don’t try to make me the bad guy here. I‘m giving you a choice. Either tell the truth, or have the court tell it for you. Did you think I was gonna just sit back and let you get away with this? You don‘t know me at all, if you did. There’s no way in hell my name is going on that birth certificate. No way. I‘ve been nice - more than nice… I‘ve given you time, thought you‘d come to your senses and admit what you‘ve been doing before the kid was born. But hell, you must be just about ready to have it, and you‘re still telling the same story… You didn‘t give me any choice."

"You are such a fucking bastard," Julie said quietly before hanging up the phone.