You Always Have Me

Part 16

It took Stevie about a week to convince Jeremy to let her visit him. It wasn't that he didn't want to see her, he simply didn't want her to run in to Nicole. Not telling Stevie about her right away was stupid and Jeremy knew that, but he wasn't sure how to make Stevie see this was completely fine. 

Lindsey was of course the one driving Stevie with Lily and Beth to Jeremy's mother's home. She hoped he'd stay for the weekend and then they all together would come home, but Lindsey didn't want to, saying it would be too awkward. Stevie knew it wouldn't be a pleasant experience for him, but the truth was, she wanted to have someone on her side. Evelyn clearly didn't like her, so maybe the woman had turned Jeremy's brother and mother against her as well.

"So, I'm coming Sunday afternoon?" Lindsey checked, once they arrived.

"Yeah, if anything changes, I'll let you know."

"Alright, don't hesitate." 

"I won't." Giving him a small smile, Stevie leaned over and kissed him on the cheek goodbye, before getting out of the car, Beth and Lily anxious to go inside. "Right, missy. You put this on and hold onto your teddy." Stevie held up Lily's small backpack. "Beth, you've got your things?"

"Yes." Beth nodded, lifting up her bag, showing it to Stevie.

"Okay, then." She waved to Lindsey, indicating that they had everything and he was free to leave. 

Beth rang the doorbell and in a few moments, Evelyn showed up, opening the door wider to let the three in. She barely acknowledged Stevie after greeting Beth, then looked down at Lily. 

"Is it her?"

"Aunt Evelyn..." Beth looked at her pointedly. "This is not her, this is Lily."

Stevie wanted to have her daughter as far away from Evelyn as possible, but wanting to avoid any problems, she faked a smile, saying. "Say hi, sweetie."

"Hi." Lily eyed the woman suspiciously, hiding a little behind Stevie. 

"Where's Dad?" Beth change the subject, feeling the tension. 

"He's in his room, where else. I'll show you." Evelyn turned to lead the way, while Beth faced Stevie, shaking her head at how cold her Aunt sounded. "You've got guests." Pushing the door, Evelyn told Jeremy, who turned his head to the sound of her voice.

"Oh, hey guys!" Smiling big, he showed his girls to come over and sit beside him. 

"Hi, Dad. How are you doing?" 

"I'm okay, better tell me how are you?" 

Evelyn couldn't stand being in the same room as Stevie, watching her with Jeremy as they greeted each other with a kiss, so she left.

Spending some time catching up, Beth knew that Stevie and her father probably wanted some time alone, so she took Lily by the hand to bring her upstairs to meet grandma. Once it being just the two of them, Stevie's smile faded as she turned to Jeremy.

"Everything is so weird."

"What do you mean?"

"Evelyn hates me."

"She doesn't hate you, she's just... that's how she is." Jeremy shrugged his shoulders, reaching to take Stevie's hand. 

"Why didn't you tell your family we adopted?"

Swallowing uneasily, Jeremy wasn't sure what to say. "I, um... I don't know, to be honest. Everything happened so fast."

"That's bullshit and you know it. I'm going to ask you one question; did you want Lily to be a part of our family as much as I did?"

Sighing... "Steph, you just came here, can we talk about that a bit later? I've missed you."

"Oh my God, you didn't..." Freeing her hand from his grip, Stevie stood up, making some space. "I can't believe this. We talked about it so many times and you seemed to be just as passionate about this as me! Why the hell? For what? I could have just bought another dog, that would have filled up the void, or something!"

"Stevie, please, calm down."

"No, Jeremy, I won't. This is just not okay. No wonder Lily's calling Lindsey her Daddy if she doesn't see one in you." Feeling she shouldn't have said it, she didn't try and fix it, because it was the truth. 

"I bet he loves this right now. He can so easily breeze into your life once again. I'm gone, so he can be there for you and for Lily. It's perfect really."

"Don't go there. Don't badmouth Lindsey, he's been doing nothing but help me more than he should and I'm thankful for that. He's my friend, that's what friends do."

"Does he warm up the bed for you, too?"

"Where is this coming from? I came to visit you, to see how you're doing, to bring you your daughters, only that I find out you didn't even want one of them and now you're accusing me of cheating on you. What happened to you?" Stevie asked, genuinely hurt. "You're like a completely different man from a week ago."

Jeremy didn't get to reply, when they heard a knock on the door and he asked whoever was out there to come in. Sure enough, in came Nicole. "I'm sorry, I brought you medicine."

"Thank you, Nicole."

"I don't think we've met." Stevie said, putting the argument she was having with Jeremy behind for now. "I'm Stevie." She introduced herself.

"As you've heard, I'm Nicole." She smiled, as the two shook hands.

Stevie would have never suspected anything if not for Beth, who just happened to be passing by... "Mom?"

Nicole turned around swiftly. "Beth, hi."

"Wait a minute." Stevie frowned. "You're Beth's mother, Jeremy's ex fiancée?"

"Yes, it's me." Nicole nodded.

"You said you had a new patient to take care of, Mom." Beth was just as confused as Stevie. "It was..."

"Your father, yes."

Feeling her eyes brim with tears, Stevie fought them back hard, looking away. "Please, leave."

"But, I-"

"I said, get out." Beth, now more or less knowing what Evelyn was up to, grabbed her mother by the hand and dragged her out of the room.

"Steph..." Jeremy said, once the door closed. "I know I should have told you."

"No. You should have not let this woman in! And here you were saying I was sleeping with Lindsey a minute ago! How the hell do I know what's going on here with you and her?!"

"Oh, come on! How do you imagine me being able to cheat on you, when I can't fucking feel half of my body? She's here to help me, that's all!"

Closing her eyes, letting the tears fall, Stevie hugged herself around the middle. "Wasn't there someone else? Why did it have to be her? A beautiful woman, someone you had an emotional connection to, someone you had a child with..."

"Stevie, this is nonsense. I'm not here to fall back in love with Nicole, I'm here to get better."

"I... I can't understand this, I can't." Stevie shrugged, unable to look at Jeremy. 

"It wasn't me, Evelyn asked her for help."

"Oh, of course. Now it makes a lot of sense."

"What are you saying?"

Shaking her head, Stevie let out a deep breath. "I can't be here. Beth, I'm sure will stay, but I'm taking Lily and we're going home."

"Steph, no. Please, I'm sorry." Jeremy tried. "Don't leave, we can sort this out!" 

"I don't know what, but something has gone horribly wrong and I'm sorry it happened." She said, wiping away her tears, not listening to his pleas, as she left the room.

Meanwhile, Evelyn had heard most of the argument, which left a Cheshire cat like smile on her face.