Page 7 of Sharing Forever in Hope Creek (Hope Creek #2)

Later that evening, Jack sat nursing a whisky at the small table at Hope Creek Farm’s guest house—Mitchell and Stella’s home.

All throughout dessert, Margaret and Stella had continued the small talk.

Afterwards, Jack had wanted to stay and speak more with Callie, but Margaret had drawn him to one side when Callie had gone to the bathroom and been firm that he should return with Mitch and Stella to the neighbouring property and speak to Callie again in the morning.

Callie had looked strained, so Jack had agreed.

Now, not unexpectedly, Mitchell knocked briefly on the door before letting himself in.

‘Is Kade okay?’ Jack asked.

‘Fast asleep and no temperature.’ Mitch cut straight to the chase. ‘You know it’s yours, don’t you?’

Jack’s fingers tightened around the crystal tumbler as he looked up at his friend. In his gut, he knew it, but he wasn’t prepared to admit it—yet. ‘You know I still have to see the proof.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Want to join me?’ Jack indicated the whisky.

Mitchell grabbed another glass and poured himself a double before sitting opposite Jack.

‘Callie’s as straight as they come. There’s no way she’d lie about something like this.

Even when we were younger, she couldn’t tell a lie to try to escape the consequences of anything she’d done wrong—she’d just come straight out with the truth and an immediate apology. ’

‘I’m still getting the paternity test done.’

‘I understand that, but …’ He closed his eyes for a moment. ‘Hell, Jack! This is a mess. How did you two get involved? Stella said it was a one-night stand.’

‘Only because Callie was gone when I woke up.’

‘She was probably uncomfortable about it.’

‘She said as much.’

‘It fits,’ Mitch agreed. He took a long, slow sip of his drink. ‘You wanted more than one night with Callie?’

Jack nodded. ‘I thought it was the beginning of something.’

‘You got that right.’ He winced. ‘Look, I know, and I think you must know, the test will prove your paternity, so how do you feel about being a father—if it’s even sunk in yet?’

‘You’ve been there. You must know I’m shocked rigid. Hell! I’m terrified!’

‘Yeah. I can relate to those feelings.’

‘You know I never wanted to be a father.’

Mitch looked at him over the edge of his glass. ‘You’ve never had a change of heart over the years?’

Had he?

Jack reflected on the question for all of ten seconds.

‘No. No change of heart.’ He sat forward in his chair and said earnestly, ‘The only urge I ever had when I held my sister’s baby was to hand it back.

Literally holding a life in my hands and feeling the fragility and the total dependence of a baby scared me.

I’ve always been concerned I’d mess up and cause damage unwittingly.

Lord knows I’m the product of two individuals who should never have been parents. ’

‘Yeah, but you turned out well despite your parents, and so did Jacinta,’ Mitch insisted, referring to Jack’s sister.

Jack shook his head. ‘I’ve never even entertained the idea of being a father. Kids have never been on my radar.’

‘It’s different when it’s your own—or, when you think it’s your own,’ Mitch told him.

‘I can’t imagine my life without Kade in it.

You know I love him to bits, and even when I found out he wasn’t my biological son, I was still prepared to fight Deanna tooth and nail for him if she hadn’t granted me custody. ’

Jack couldn’t argue with Mitch’s point. ‘It’s obvious how much you love him—and he loves you.

’ A knot of anxiety formed in Jack’s chest. Mitch had an amazing bond with Kade—one that Jack envied because he would’ve loved to have shared that kind of bond with his father.

But Jack’s father had been more interested in building his business empire and his son had merely been a tick-a-box heir to the empire, whilst his daughter had been a disappointment because he’d wanted another son.

Jack felt his lips pull down contemptuously as he remembered his father saying that he’d wanted the heir and the spare.

‘You’re a natural father but I doubt I could be. ’

Mitch scoffed. ‘Natural father? What’s that?

’ There was a challenge in the steel of his gaze.

‘You really think there’s such a thing?’ He didn’t give Jack a chance to respond.

‘And, if there is such a thing and I’m a “natural”, where the hell did I get it from?

It certainly didn’t come from my father. ’

Another fair point.

Neither Mitch nor Jack had been blessed with fathers who were paternal in any way, shape or form. It’d probably been one of the reasons they’d bonded as young men.

‘I was damned lucky Aunt Liz took an interest in me, and doubly lucky to have spent a lot of my formative time in Hope Creek. There are plenty of great role models in this community who showed me what parents should be like—Margaret and Jim are only one example.’

‘The Richardsons seem to be great parents,’ Jack agreed.

‘And they’re foster parents, but they couldn’t love Stella, Morgan and Callie more if they were their biological parents.’

‘I can see their love.’ It struck at his heart knowing the Richardsons had more love and concern for their three foster daughters than his parents had ever had for him or his sister. ‘It’s an incredible undertaking to take on someone else’s child. I admire them, and you, for it.’

Mitch pointed a finger at him. ‘You can do this, Jack. You’re a good guy and I know you’ll support Callie and the baby, but I reckon it won’t merely be a responsibility you can’t walk away from. You’ll end up embracing being a father with all the joys and challenges it brings.’

‘Will I?’ Jack let out a long breath. ‘If I’m going to be a father, I want to be a good one, but I don’t know the first place to start.’ He mimicked his friend’s earlier action and pointed a finger at Mitch. ‘You had Jim’s example. I haven’t had anyone to use as a role model.’

‘Hey, you have me!’ Mitch said indignantly before he reasoned, ‘Being a good father isn’t about having a good role model. It’s about love, commitment and being there for your child. It’s about learning from your own experiences and making the choice to do better.’

Jack took another sip of his Scotch, enjoying the smooth slide of the amber liquid down his throat as he let Mitch’s words sink in.

‘I don’t want my child to feel unwanted or unloved, but I don’t know how I’m going to make this work.

I’m deeply attracted to Callie but it was one night.

’ One sensationally mind-blowing night. ‘I don’t want to marry her just for the sake of the child.

I’ve always thought a child would be better in a shared custody arrangement than in an unhappy marriage. ’

‘Whoa!’ Mitch said as his whole upper body straightened in his chair. ‘You jumped from fatherhood to marriage at supersonic speed, and that’s something I strongly advise against. Nobody ever said anything about marriage.’

‘Don’t get me wrong.’ Jack sat forward. ‘I’ve never pictured myself married.

’ Well, maybe he’d imagined that with his first proper girlfriend.

Only in his teens at the time, he’d been desperate to carve a happy future for himself that was the opposite of everything his parents had shown him.

‘I guess I’ve got more old-fashioned values than I realised, because it’s a reflex for me to think of marriage when a baby is involved, but I know it’s illogical. ’

‘You said it. Illogical .’ Mitch put his glass down and said firmly, ‘Definitely don’t make the mistake I made.

There’s no way I should’ve married Deanna.

Stella was always the woman I loved and I regret every second of the years we’ve missed out on together.

I made the wrong choice because I thought Stella was already lost to me and I thought I had to do the right thing by Deanna and the baby. ’

‘I know.’ Jack put up his hand to stop Mitch’s lecture. ‘Believe me, having supported you during the hell you went through—even from afar—I’ve learned from your mistake.’

‘Marriage is about more than being together for the sake of a child.’ Mitch was on a roll and wasn’t about to be stopped, but Jack figured he probably had to get it off his chest. ‘It’s about partnership, respect and most of all it’s about love.

It’s about finding someone you can share your life—your forever with.

Someone who makes you not only a happier person but a better person. ’

Jack knew Stella was that person for Mitch and he couldn’t be happier for them. But did he want to share forever with Callie? Forever was a hell of a long time and it was way too early to tell.

Sharing forever …

Mitch’s words echoed in his head. As hopelessly romantic as they sounded, they held a certain appeal—pointing him in the direction of the stability that had always been lacking in his life.

‘I can’t wait to marry Stella this Saturday.

’ Mitch’s features softened as he spoke.

‘She’s always been the love of my life and if you and Callie rush into marriage you’ll be selling yourselves short.

You’re both great people who deserve to find the kind of love Stella and I have.

And even though I think you’re both terrific, it doesn’t mean you’re terrific together. ’

Something indefinable made it hard for Jack to take his next couple of breaths.

Love did exist.

Mitch and Stella had found it.

Jacinta had found it with James.

The one girl he’d thought he loved—although in hindsight those feelings had probably only been a result of a teenage infatuation because it had been his first relationship—had found it with another man.

Yet, Jack had suppressed the notion of finding it himself and told himself he didn’t need it. A psychologist would probably have a field day with the defensive workings of his brain.