To Be Young And In Love In New York City

Chapter 21: "The Wrong Girl"

Jesse felt like his whole world had collapsed.

And it only took Jessica two sentences to do so.

Adopted.

The word was ringing in his ears.

Breathing became harder. He could feel his throat closing up, and his heart was beating so hard he could hear it in his ears. The floor swayed under his feet, his vision blurring. He felt River let go of his collar and immediately wished he hadn't; he didn't know how much longer he could stand without someone holding onto him.

"What?" He heard River say from beside him. It wasn't an angry "what". It was a startled "what". River couldn't believe his ears and neither could he.

For a moment, he wondered if it was all just a dream. Maybe it was just a nightmare. Maybe, after years of being ignored, his brain decided to show him the worst case scenario in the form of a dream.

Wake up, Jesse, wake up!

But he wasn't waking up.

He could feel a huge weight settling in his chest.

It was real. Everything that was happening? It was real.

Oh, Lord.

Fainting didn't seem like such a bad idea.

Jessica sniffed loudly. "We-we adopted him after Fiona died and-"

"Start from the beginning, Jess," Carl spoke for the first time that night.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You do it, Carl."

Carl sighed. He kept his eyes on the ground, unable to meet Jesse's eyes. "So, it started when Jessica was pregnant with our second child 21 years ago. A few weeks after we found out, Ernesto told us that Fiona was also expecting their first child. Ernesto and I barely ever talked, I never liked him, but for some reason I was the first person he told the news to. I remember that day, he called me in the afternoon all excited, telling me that he was finally going to be a dad after Fiona's several miscarriages. I congratulated him but never talked to him after that until the day Jessica was set to give birth. We ran into him at the hospital and he told us that Fiona was going to have a premature delivery."

He took a deep breath and lifted his head, locking eyes with River. "That day, two people lost their lives. Our baby and Fiona. Both of them had died during the process of the delivery. Our baby died right after he was born and as for Fiona- she suffered immense blood loss during the pregnancy, killing her right after Jesse was born. Ernesto came crying to us, saying he didn't know what to do. He had lost his wife and there was no way he could raise a child all alone, especially without Fiona contributing to the family's income. I realized that if the press found out about our dead child.......the last thing we wanted was to be in news for that reason. We had important projects coming up and we knew that the public knowing that part of our personal lives would only cause a distraction. So, we offered to adopt Jesse and make it seem like he was our son all along."

"And Uncle Ernesto agreed?" River asked incredulously.

Carl nodded. "It's not like he had much of a choice. His income was very, very meagre and he knew well enough that it would not be sufficient to pay all the bills and buy necessities for Jesse. The last thing he wanted was to keep Jesse from having a proper life, so, he gave him up and we took him. It worked as an advantage to both of us: his child could have a proper life and we would be kept out of the news."

"Is that why Uncle Ernesto continues working for you even though you treat him like shit? Because he thinks he owes you?"

Carl shook his head. "No. I gave him that job because I knew the income he got from his previous job would still not be enough to let him survive. He agreed and took up the job, knowing that working as my assistant meant that he would get to come to our house every now and then, and that would mean he could get to see Jesse, even for a few moments."