Babies, Husbands, and why I was a Parent by 17

Chapter Eight: Fraternal Twins

Jacob's eyes bugged out of his head when he saw me. I reached out and shook his hand warily, saying, "My name is Hannah, it's... nice to meet you."

Jacob nodded, clearing his throat. "Hello, Hannah. I'm sorry if this is at a bad time, or if you had other plans, but I think you need to see something." Jacob took a deep breath and put his index finger to his mouth. I started. I made that exact motion when I was thinking. So did my dad.

Jacob took a deep breath and handed me an envelope. Jasper rested his hand on my waist, kissing my hair. I opened the envelope slowly and carefully, glancing up at the two men every second or so. 

There was a small stack of papers inside. I read the first one on the top. It was an adoption certificate for Jacob. The next piece of paper was a record of his adoption.

September 5th, 1990

At 10:00 pm today, a young woman by the name of Charlotte Love came by the orphanage. She gave one of the babies in her arms, the boy, to us, and kept the girl. She informed us that they were fraternal twins. She told us the boy's name, Jacob Charles Love, and left. When asked the reason for the adoption, she said she "wouldn't know what to do with a boy".

Paper after paper in the envelope described Jacob's place in the orphanage and the terms under which he was adopted into another family...

Tears coursed down my face as I slipped the papers back into the envelope. I walked forward and hugged Jacob, my tears soaking his shirt as his wet mine.

***

Jacob and I, our dad, Jasper and the kids were all sitting around the table.

"...and now I'm about 5 months pregnant with twins," I continued my description of the family. I patted my stomach happily. "And Neil here isn't our baby, my friend..." tears filled my eyes. "My friend got pregnant 2 years and 9 months ago now, and left Neil with us... she moved to New York a few months ago."

Jacob frowned, a dent appearing between his eyebrows like mine did. "What was her name?" he asked, looking at me seriously.

"Annabelle... Annabelle Jamieson," I said slowly. "Do you know her?"

Jacob went pale, his mouth popping open a little. His eyes shifted to Neil. My brain was working slowly, because my pregnancy was affecting my logic. Suddenly, the gears clicked into place.

Annabelle slept with a guy who looked a lot like me. "Know her?" Jacob squeaked. "I tried to call her a thousand times! She gave me her phone number... at that party... and I tried to...."

Jacob was shaking his head. My dad looked confused. Jasper's eyes widened.

"Um, Dad... so you know Annabelle?" I said. He nodded, still looking confused. He gave me a pitying smile, because he knew how painful it was for me to talk about my ex-best friend. "Neil is Jacob and Annabelle's son."

My heart pounded. Jacob put his head in his hands. I noted the way his fingers pressed into the cavity around his eyes. That's what I did when I was trying not to cry. 

"You have to understand, guys... I called her a thousand times, but she never called back... I didn't mean to... I didn't want to... she grabbed me and started kissing me, what else was I supposed to do?" Jacob looked so lost, and he didn't want us to think less of him because of this. "You have to forgive me, if I knew, I'd help... If only she'd told me..."

"Jacob, there's nothing to forgive. It's not your fault," I said, reaching across the table and taking his hand in mine.

"Do you know how I could get in touch with her?" he asked me, looking broken. "With Annabelle, I mean."