“We thought you knew, dear. Alexis said—” The lady started but her husband cut her off.
“I knew that girl was trouble. Show her the baby.”
The lady handed the baby over to Sophie and she stared down at him reluctantly. There was no doubting that he was Maxwell’s baby—what with his striking jet-black hair and vivid blue eyes. He gurgled up at her as she held him awkwardly in her arms. She adjusted him so that she could study his features better. He stared back at her with a small smile and his little face captivated her.
“He’s adorable, isn’t he?” The lady beamed at her. “We have his things here. It’s not much but he does love his elephant teddy-bear.”
“Oh.” Sophie looked at her in dismay. “You’re leaving him?”
“Well, Alexis said that his father would look after him now.” She spoke reluctantly.
“And Maxwell is the father?” Sophie’s voice is tense.
“Yes.” The lady exchanged a look with her husband and he frowned. “I’m sorry, dear but we have to go.”
“Can’t you wait, please? I’m really confused here.” Sophie stared at them in deep confusion and upset.
“We have to get back to Penn Station or we’ll miss our train. Alexis said it would be okay. She said Max knew and it was all going to be okay.”
Sophie decided that this wasn’t the time to let them know about her last encounter with Alexis. She didn’t want them to know just how complicated the situation was. They obviously loved Jacob. She wanted them to feel comforted in their decision; she could see how overwrought they were. “Well, don’t you worry. Max should be home soon and we’ll take care of it.” Sophie smiled at them reassuringly. She blinked quickly to stop the tears from falling out of her eyes. She thought about how ironic life was; there she was just minutes ago, feeling sorry for herself because she was lonely and now here she was with a new addition pretty much dumped in her lap. She walked the couple to the door and kept a warm smile on her face but inside she felt like her world was never going to be right again.
They say that God never gives you more than you can handle but Sophie was starting to think that that wasn’t true. She was close to breaking down uncontrollably into sobs but she was scared that she would upset the baby. She held the baby as she would a wounded baby fox, carefully and at a distance. She tried not to look at him too closely; he was the symbol of Max and Alexis’s relationship. A relationship she was trying hard to forget; however, it seemed like she couldn’t get away from it. She sat on the couch and stared at the wall vacantly when she heard someone knocking on the door. She stood up and walked there mechanically, in complete contrast to her joyful leaps earlier. “Hello?” She opened the door with a blank look on her face and saw Ella standing there with a concerned and nervous look on her face.
“Ella,” her voice cracked with excitement and the stress of the last hour.
“Oh Sophie. What’s wrong?” Ella took in her friend’s appearance and noticed her bleak eyes, unkempt hair and worry lines. She looked like she had aged a few years in a few weeks. She wondered if Sophie knew about Alexis; she could kill her brother for taking Sophie down this road and then she saw the baby. “You had the baby already?” He voice dripped with shock and her eyes bulged out.
Sophie looked at her and then back down at the baby and started laughing. “Oh Ella, no. No, I didn’t have the baby already.” She couldn’t stop laughing and tears fell out of her eyes. “I just barely got pregnant.” She continued laughing and ushered Ella into the apartment. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She giggled.
“No problem.” Ella grinned. “I guess I didn’t think about that rationally.”
“It’s okay.” Sophie sighed and smiled at her friend. “It’s just really good to see you El!”
“I’ve been an idiot. Sorry, Sophie.” Ella hugged her friend and stepped back quickly so that she wouldn’t smother the baby. “But who is this baby, Soph?”
Sophie sighed and looked at Ella in extreme sadness. “He’s Max’s son, Ella. He had a baby with Alexis.”
“Oh my God.” Ella looked at her in shock and ran her hands through her new pixie cut. “I can’t believe it. Oh my God.” She looked down at the baby that was sleeping in Sophie’s arms and lightly stroked the warm fuzz on his head. “I guess that is why I just saw Alexis and Max leaving?”
“What?” Sophie looked up at her sharply.
“Oh shit.” Ella sighed. “I guess not then.”
“I haven’t seen Max since this morning.” Sophie’s voice held a tinge of anger. “And you just saw him leaving with Alexis?”
“Maybe an hour and a half ago.” Ella confessed. “I went to Crumbs and got us some cupcakes instead of coming right up, I wasn’t sure if I should tell you.”
“Oh Ella.” Sophie looked at her friend reproachfully.
“I know, I know. I was likely going to tell you. I promise.” Ella crossed her fingers behind her back. “So how did you get the baby?”
“I’d rather find out why Max is with Alexis.” Sophie’s voice was angry as she handed the baby to Ella. “His name is Jacob.” She sighed as Ella cooed at the baby. And then she paused, was this a good time for her to ask Ella about the pregnancy test that she had seen? She bit her lip and walked to her phone. She knew she was being selfish but she couldn’t deal with one more thing that evening, not one more thing. She picked up her phone and saw several missed calls and a voicemail from Max and just stared at the phone. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. As long as she didn’t speak to Max and she didn’t listen to the voicemails she could pretend that everything was a mistake. That Jacob wasn’t really his kid. That Ella really hadn’t seen him with Alexis. What if he wanted to tell her he was going to leave her for Alexis. That he needed to be with her and the baby. What if he tried to take her baby away from her? She wouldn’t know what to do with her life. She couldn’t survive. She looked across the room at Ella playing with the baby and she frowned. It looked as if Ella had already fallen in love with her nephew. Jacob was her blood, no matter who his mother was. Sophie knew that at the end of the day blood came before water.
She placed the phone back in her bag and walked back to Ella. “I’m just going to go out for a bit. Will you be okay with the baby?” She saw Ella look at her in concern but she didn’t want to talk anymore at that moment. “I’ll be back.” She hurried to the door and left the apartment. She wasn’t sure where she was going but she just knew that she had to get out of there; she needed some fresh air and to think. She needed to decide whether or not she wanted to marry Maxwell anymore.