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Chapter 87 - Chapter 86: A Measure Of Regret

The Home Office, The Rawsone Residence, Denver, Colorado...

Julia Rawsone appeared to be on edge as she awaited her husband's possibly next phone call following the random one she'd gotten in the middle of the night. Ever since he disappeared she worried for him. Colin and Maureen had been a big help in the aftermath of Hadrian's disappearance courtesy of Lonnie. It had taken them three months to get her husband home and the last time he'd been nearly killed as a result of some incident due to the little weirdo Alexei Bortnik. Julia paced the floor of her husband's home office unsure of what to do about everything as her parents were beginning to ask questions. She heard a knock at the front door and found herself even more anxious and worried when she rushed down the stairs past the slumbering Colin Winters toward the front door expecting it to be Hadrian returned safe and sound, only to be disappointed that it was her parents who had been on the other end. Jasper thought it odd that his daughter had been in such distress despite her assurances that everything was well over the phone.

"Dad, mom?" she said surprised to see them.

"What's going on here?" asked Jasper suspicious as ever especially when he saw the man sleeping on the sofa of his daughter's living room had not been his son-in-law.

"Dad...this is Colin Winters formerly Colin Rawsone," said Julia attempting to explain to her enraged father.

"So what's he doing here?" asked Jasper getting defensive.

"He's Hadrian's father." continued Julia.

Jasper narrowed his eyes at Colin. He had known Hadrian Rawsone since he was a sixteen-year-old boy and never once had he mentioned this man nor the fact that he had a father in all the time they'd known him. The longer he mulled it over the more Jasper Renwald found that he'd been none too thrilled to meet the man who had abandoned a young Hadrian Rawsone for life with another woman when he came to see his daughter along with his wife.

He had been about to get rough with the older Rawsone when his wife Ann and Julia came to the man's defense.

"What is this deadbeat doing here?" asked Jasper narrowing his eyes at Colin. "No real man walks out on his son for a floozy and then tries to waltz back into his life now that he's an adult."

"Dad," said Julia upset. "Don't we're going through enough as it is, he's just waiting for Hadrian to get back."

Ann looked at her daughter with keen interest.

"Julie you don't look so good," she observed.

"I think I might be coming down with something, couldn't keep anything down for the past few days," she replied.

The commotion had caused Julia's stomach to churn and she felt the urge to vomit all over the floor but held it in and raced off toward the nearest bathroom. Ann followed after her, having more concern for her daughter than she'd been curious to know about Colin Winters being inside her home.

With the women gone Jasper turned his attention toward Colin.

"Start talking, you," he demanded.

Colin sighed holding up his hands.

"I only want to find my son," he said. "We haven't seen nor heard from him in days and suddenly last night Julia got a call from him...he sounded confused and distressed but he didn't get a chance to say more before the line went dead."

"D-Do you think he's been kidnapped again?" asked Jasper considering the possibility.

"Looks that way," replied Colin. "That boy's already been through enough."

"No kidding," replied Jasper. "I'm sure you abandoning him didn't do him any favors."

"Look I'm here now," said Colin.

"Too little too late," replied Jasper. "Won't be surprised once he returns to toss you out of his life again."

Colin sighed as he headed back toward the sofa. He had already been beating himself up about his past and possibly a future relationship with his eldest son on his own. He didn't need Jasper adding to the madness.

Jasper sighed as he looked around the house. He went off to set himself to the task of making it a bit more presentable given Julia's condition.

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The Bathroom, The Rawsone Residence, Denver, Colorado...

Ann Renwald stood outside the bathroom door as Julia vomited into the toilet anxious and terrified about what would happen to her husband should he not come home. He'd been shot before and there was no telling what the deranged Alexei Bortnik would do to him if he got him out of the state.

As Julia worried about her husband's fate and condition, she had the presence of mind to examine her own. This was the third time she'd been sick like this and her suspicion had been that this was no mere stomach virus that had her unable to keep anything down.

"Not now," she said as her intuition began to get the better of her already weary mind. "This is the last thing I need right now."

Julia sighed as she pulled herself together and flushed the toilet before washing her hands in the sink and digging through the medicine cabinet for the leftover pregnancy test she'd stashed there a few days prior to when the symptoms first started to occur. She recalled having sex with Gary, and Hadrian prior to her time with her husband when he'd been under the influence of his alternative personality, but she wasn't sure which man had been the father of her possible unborn child.

Julia closed her eyes briefly hoping that she'd been wrong as she proceeded to open the test and use it while her mother stood outside the door.

Ann Renwald heard her daughter burst into tears as she stood outside the door. She entered the bathroom where she spotted the pregnancy test and quickly wrapped her arms around her sobbing daughter.

"Julia?" she said confused.

"Mom this is the last thing I need right now...Hadrian is missing and he's sick Mom...really sick and he doesn't know... he's supposed to be here... he's supposed to know." she sobbed. "I don't even know if it's his...what have I done?"

That last bit caught Ann by surprise.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"I've been having an affair with Gary for months," admitted Julia letting it all out as she continued to sob in her mother's arms. "Hadrian...I don't know what to say to him...or if he knows and that's why he isn't here...I just don't know anymore...Mom...he probably hates me...how could I be so stupid?....he didn't deserve this."

Ann had been taken aback by the admission of an affair, although she suspected as much when she saw Gary at the party.

"Is there a possibility that this child belongs to your husband?" asked Ann bracing herself for the news. She had loved Hadrian as a son and Jasper had too, she would hate for the family to be broken up over this affair.

"Yes but...that doesn't mean it is," admitted Julia.

"When did it start?" asked Ann wanting to get to the bottom of this.

"After we lost the baby," replied Julia. "I was angry and upset that he didn't grieve like I was and I wanted to hurt him...so I chose to be with Gary knowing how much it would hurt him to know it and ...then he got kidnapped and shot and now he's sick...Mom...and lost somewhere because of his former psych ward patient."

"This is quite a fine mess you've made of things Julia Renwald," said Ann unsure what to say. "If Hadrian decides to leave you, it would be your own damn fault for hurting him in the first place."

"I know," replied Julia. "I know..."

"First thing's first, we are going to keep you healthy for the baby," said Ann in a stern tone. "You are not to see this Gary Sanders unless he turns out to be the father and you know how best to proceed with Hadrian depending on what he wishes after all of this."

Julia could do little but nod as she clung to her mother.

"It's all my fault," she said sobbing. "I wanted to hurt him and now that I have done something that could do just that it's..."

"Not what you were expecting?" asked Ann with a sigh. "Most idiotic decisions often aren't but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"He's never going to forgive me if this baby isn't his," said Julia coming to a realization.

"Who knows...perhaps he'll surprise you," replied Ann. "He's already taken Samantha as his own daughter who's to say he won't do the same with this child?"

"That was different," replied Julia. "We were kids and he wanted so badly to be a father, Jessica was a welcome bonus as far as he was concerned."

Julia sighed as she wiped away the tears from her eyes and turned her attention toward the pregnancy test.

"What does it say?" asked Ann curious.

More tears streamed down Julia's cheeks as she picked up the test and read the very clear indication as to where her future would go.

"It's positive," she replied meeting her mother's concerned gaze. "I'm pregnant."

Ann had not known what to say she embraced her wayward daughter who had seemed to truly regret her actions against her husband at that moment. Without a shadow of a doubt, Julia Rawsone was indeed pregnant, whether or not Doctor Hadrian Rawsone or his former best friend Gary Sanders had been the father remained to be determined.