With Love Comes Pain, but What About Forgiveness?

“Happy birthday, to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Marie, happy birthday, to you.” Everyone joined in on singing happy birthday to Marie. We were in the Jonas’ kitchen area, Joe and I decided to have Marie’s first birthday party here, so that it wasn’t anything to extravagant.

The both of us were standing behind Marie as she began to giggle, she then reached for the birthday cake and grabbed a handful as the rest of us laughed, “Yum,” she shouted. ‘Yum’ was one the few words that she knows already, along with’ Mama’, ‘Dada’, ‘baba’, ‘uh-oh’, and ‘no’.

“Marie, please don’t make a mess,” I said as I began to pick her up, just as I said that she wiped the brown chocolate frosting on her bright pink dress that we bought yesterday, “Well, that was a lost cause, you’re such a little stinker.”

“Well, at least she didn’t mess up the entire birthday cake,” Kevin said he took her out of my arms, “Isn’t that right my little buttercup?” He lifted her up in the air, then brought her down and planted kisses all over her face which made her giggle.

“Talk about spoiled,” Joe said as he laughed and placed his arm around my waist, “I think she’s going to be the center of attention until you and Dani decide to have a baby, Kev.”

“I think you’re right,” Kevin said as he began to dance around the kitchen area with Marie in his arms, “Marie is everyone’s little sunshine, aren’t you? Yes you are.” He cooed her as everyone laughed at him.

“The older she gets the more I see Nicholas in her,” Denise said smoothly, I don’t think she meant anything by it but it definitely made Joe and I stiffen, “It’s insane how strong Jonas’ genes are, I mean look at her Paul, that’s how Nicholas looked when he was one, right?”

Paul looked at Marie, “I definitely see the resemblance,” he said as nodded his head, “I looked a lot like my father’s brother as well, I guess you’re right, honey, it must be a Jonas thing.”

My curiosity got the best of me and I couldn’t help but glance at Nick as the conversation went on, he had lost all of the color in his face and he rested against wall with his arms crossed. I began to wonder if he suspected anything, I studied his face but we weren’t connecting eyes so it was hard to read him, instead of looking at me he stared at Marie.

“Who wants cake?” Danielle announced obliviously, her voice broke my concentration on Nick and it also broke Nick’s concentration on Marie, “I’ll be happy to serve it for everyone.” Thank you, Danielle.

That night, Joe and I were lying in bed and I rested on his chest, “Today was a close call, huh,” Joe said as he laughed lightly as he ran his hand up and down my back slowly, “I thought all hell was going to break loose in the middle of her party.”

I ran my hand up his chest and nodded, “So did I, it was nerve wrecking,” I told him honestly as I pressed my lips against his chest lightly, “I think Nick knows, I just have a feeling in the pit of my stomach, it’s the way he looked at her today that made me realize it.”

“I don’t think he suspects anything,” he said to me as he sighed, “I mean, my dad said it himself today that it’s possible for babies to resemble their uncles, Nick probably thinks that’s what it is now, just a coincidence, you know?” He went on, “It doesn’t matter anyway, even if he did suspect something, he wouldn’t dare tell anyone because then his secret would be out that he didn’t wait until marriage and my parents will give him hell about it, even if he’s twenty one years old.”

I took a deep breath, “I hope not, it would be horrible if everything unraveled, I mean, your family would disown me, hell, my parents would probably disown me, and not to mention if it got to the media,” I said in a worried tone, “Thousands of your fans will want me dead.”

Joe laughed, “That’s true, I never thought about it that way,” he said as I swatted his chest lightly, “It doesn’t matter if anyone disowned you anyway, what matters is that I forgave you, right? We’ve moved on and I think it made our marriage a lot stronger, so who cares what everyone else thinks, all that matters is what I think.”

My arms wrapped around his body and I gave him a tight squeeze, “You’re right,” I told him as I sighed deeply, “I love you and I know that no matter what happens you’re going to stand by my side, right?”

He pressed his lips against my head, “That’s right,” he said sincerely as his arms tightened around me as well, “I love you too, now, get some rest and stop worrying about all of this, we’ll worry about it if the time comes, good night, baby.”

I reached up and pressed my lips against his softly, “Alright,” I told him as I laughed lightly, “Thank you for making me feel better, good night.” I kissed him again quickly before I rested my head back comfortably on his toned chest.

He responded with a simple ‘mhmm’, before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. It didn’t take long for me to follow his actions.

As the two of us were in a deep peaceful sleep, my phone that was thankfully on silent received at text message. A text message that I would end up dreading in the morning, the sender was none other Nick.

I’ve been thinking about what my mom said today and she’s right, Marie does look like me, a lot actually. Is there even a slight possibility that she’s mine? I need to know the truth. I deserve to know. – Nick