Bittersweet Irish Cream Ch. 18

But then later in the evening Jack watched Tim and Mallory Reedlin present his son with a St Francis of Assisi keepsake box, and inside was a more elaborate 24 carat gold crucifix, unlike the simple one Connor passed down to Freddie.

EJ immediately put it on so that he and Freddie could be similar and ran back to his friends. Jack turned to Ethan and said, "How much do you think that's worth?"

Ethan shook his head. "At least a grand. Probably two."

"Jeeeeeesus," Jack said quietly. "They just had to upstage us, didn't they?"

"I don't care," Ethan replied. He turned to Jack and wrapped his arms around him.

Jack hugged him back but asked, "What was that for?"

"I'm just really happy right now. First best thing I ever did was coming to Rockville ten years ago this month. Second best thing I ever did was fall in love with you."

Jack gave him a kiss. "I love you too, E."

Before Ethan could respond, he heard someone clear their throat and Tim's voice behind him. "Ethan. Jack." They let go and turned around to face him and Mallory standing there, still holding onto baby Jamie.

"We want to thank you again, for how well you have taken care of our grandson. And also how you tried to take care of Trish. You've always been there for her, even when she was at her most difficult, and we couldn't be more grateful to you for that."

Ethan smiled at them. "I appreciate you saying that, Tim." He stuck his hand out to shake Tim's hand and Tim shook his hand back.

Then Tim said, "So we're ready to take our grandson off your hands now."

Ethan froze holding onto Tim's hand as his smile faded. "What?"

Mallory spoke. "We're going to take him home, Ethan, and raise our grandson. We've spent the last two weeks getting ready for him. You have your family, a beautiful family here. You don't need it complicated with Trish's problems."

"That's right," Tim said. "We'll take it from here, son."

Jack didn't know what to do. His heart sank at the thought of Jamie no longer being with them but he knew he had to leave the decision up to his husband. Thankfully he did not have to wait long.

Ethan let go of Tim's hand and said, "You're not taking him."

"Ethan-" Mallory started.

But Ethan cut her off and said loudly and angrily, "You're NOT taking him."

Becky, who happened to be standing close by, overheard and ran to get Suzanne. Mallory said, "Ethan, listen to reasoning-"

"No." He stepped forward with his hands out. "Give me my son."

Tim stepped between them. "He's not your son, Ethan. He's our grandson. We're his flesh and blood and you are not."

Ethan was boiling over with anger. "With all due respect Tim, if you don't get out of my way, we're going to have a serious problem. Now give me my son."

Suzanne came around followed by Marie, Henrietta, Mina, June and Becky. "What's going on here?" she asked calmly as the women circled them so they could not pass. Henry and Alan followed them.

Mallory looked at them, then back at her husband, alarmed. "I... We..."

"They're trying to take Jamie from us, Ma," Ethan responded. "Over my dead body," he added, and glared at Tim.

"Huh." She looked at the woman. "Mallory, dear, that's not how we do things at all. You don't just show up and demand that they up-end their whole lives without a warning. If this is what you wanted, then you should have discussed it with Ethan and Jack beforehand. You don't spend one day with him and think you can just take him. Why, Jamie doesn't even know you."

"He's two months old and he will get to know us!" Tim growled.

"You have no rights here, Tim," Alan growled back. "You were invited here as a guest and you have officially overstayed your welcome. Leave, now!"

"You can't stop us from taking our grandson!" he yelled.

EJ came over. "Hey, why is everyone over here?" He looked at all the angry faces. "What's going on?"

No one spoke for a moment. Jack came from behind Ethan and walked over to Mallory. He gently took the baby from Mallory's arms, who made a small resistance, then let him go. He walked back over to Ethan and put Jamie in Ethan's arms, then stood beside him in defiance.

Ethan held Jamie close against his chest. EJ asked again, "What's going on?"

Jack turned to him. "Nothing, son. Just a little family disagreement that's resolved for now. Say goodbye to your grandparents, they're leaving."

Mallory burst into tears. Tim gave Jack a cold stare then turned to EJ. "We're so proud of you, EJ." He squeezed his shoulder gently.

Mallory gave EJ a tight hug. "We'll see you soon."

Tim turned to Jack and Ethan and pointed his finger at Ethan's face. "He belongs with us. You know it's the right thing to do. So if you won't make the right decision, we'll make it for you."

He turned around and stormed out of the establishment. Mallory came closer to Ethan and touched Jamie's head, still in tears. Suzanne said quietly, "It's time to go, Mallory." Mallory stepped back followed her husband out of the establishment.

The family began talking among themselves about the incident and EJ caught the gist of it. He came closer to his parents. "They want to take Jamie from us?"

Ethan did not respond, instead he stood with his eyes closed, continuing to hold the baby. Jack said, "Yes, they want to take him. How do you feel about that?"

"No," EJ said right away. "He stays with us, right Dad?" He looked at his birth father.

Ethan finally opened his eyes and said to his first born son, "No one is taking your brother from us. No one." He moved away from them to sit in a quieter corner with Jamie.

Jack said to EJ, "It will be fine. The party is almost over so grab the others to say thank you to your friends and guests."

"Okay Pop. But is Dad okay?" EJ asked. "He looks... I don't know... sad?"

They both turned to watch Ethan hold Jamie close to him, whispering in his ear. "Your dad is fine," Jack said to their eldest son. "Go on, he'll be fine."

~~~

After Jack and Ethan did the nighttime routine and all the children were in bed, Jack came into the bedroom. Ethan was laying on his side staring at the sleeping baby lying in the middle of the bed. Jack gently laid on the other side of Jamie so as to not wake him.

After a stretch of silence, Ethan said, "I know what you're going to say, Jack. I'm sorry I didn't check in with you but it all happened so fast. Should I have given him up?"

"Of course not. Jamie's your son," said Jack.

Ethan's eyes welled up with tears. Jack noticed and reached over to rub the nape of his neck. "He's been your son since the moment you decided to bring him home. Now he's our son. And you love him, Ethan. Like he was your flesh and blood. We're not giving him up to anybody."

A tear fell from the corner of his eye down the bridge of his nose onto the pillow. "I know we talked about having more children, but it wasn't supposed to be like this. It was-"

"Shhh..." Jack shushed him. "It happened exactly the way God wanted it to happen. You weren't ready when you had EJ. Neither of us was ready when Claire walked into our lives. The only kid we actually planned together was Susie, and even that wasn't really the plan in the beginning. Why would this unplanned baby be any different for us, huh babe?"

Ethan looked up at him. "God, I love you so much." He reached back and took Jack's hand from behind him, kissed the palm of his hand and said again, "I love you so much." Ethan fell to his back and placed Jack's hand on the center of his chest. Jack could feel how fast his heart was beating.

"I'm scared we're going to lose him," he said softly as another tear rolled down the side of his face.

Jack slid his hand off Ethan and stood up. He picked the baby off the bed and rocked and cooed him so he would not wake up as he traveled to the other side of the room to place him in the crib. He turned the light off and laid on top of Ethan, his head in the center of his chest where his hand was moments ago.

"We're not going to lose him, Ethan. We're going to fight for our son. And whatever they throw at us, we'll be ready for it." He heard Ethan sniffle in the dark as Ethan rubbed Jack's back, nothing more needing to be said between them.

~~~~~~

Two days later as everyone was up getting ready for the school day, Ethan's cell phone rang while he was still in the bedroom. He thought it was weird that the front desk would be calling his cell phone from upstairs. As he went to answer it, there was also a loud knock on the door. Jack, who was closest to the door, opened it.

"Livy?" Ethan answered.

"Oh God, Ethan!" Livy yelled. "The police are here looking for you. They're already on their way down to your apartment!"

Ethan heard yelling out front and came into the main area, still holding onto his phone, to witness four police officers with their guns drawn. Jack was standing to the side with his hands up and his daughters both afraid and wrapped around his waist. EJ was still sitting at the table with his hands up, frozen in fear.

"What the fuck!" Ethan yelled.

"Drop your weapon!" someone yelled.

"It's a cell phone, dumb ass!" Ethan yelled back but he dropped it and raised his hands high up. Two officers rushed upon him and pushed him against the wall. "Yo, what the fuck!"

"Dad!" EJ yelled out, afraid for him. He stood up.

Jack said, "Don't move EJ, stay right where you are!"

"But my dad!"

"Sit down!" Jack yelled at him. EJ obeyed immediately, surprised because Jack rarely yelled at him.

One of the officers said, "Ethan Starling, we have a warrant for your arrest for kidnapping and child endangerment." Then he was read his rights.

Ethan scoffed out a sarcastic laugh. "You gotta be fucking kidding me." They all watched as Ethan was led away in handcuffs without his coat in the January cold by two officers.

A female officer went into the bedroom, wrapped Jamie in a thick blanket and took him from his crib. EJ stood up again as she began to walk past him with his brother, but Jack gave him a stern look and EJ sat back down.

Jack was boiling mad. But he said to the officer as calmly as he could, "There was no kidnapping. He's our son."

She turned to him. "We got a report that the child was kidnapped from the Reedlins after their daughter went missing in November."

"That's a bullshit lie. Ethan is the legal father and if you give us a chance, we can prove it."

"How?"

He turned to Ethan Junior. "EJ, come here." Jack motioned for EJ to come to him. "Take your sisters to your room and close the door. Don't come out."

The girls both cried, "Nooo!"

"Don't leave us!"

"Please Papa, no!"

The officer lost patience and left the apartment with Jamie. "Wait!" he called out, then pried the girls from around him and bent down to them.

"Listen, I know you're scared, but I promise you, it's going to be okay. I'm okay. Your dad is okay. We're okay. I promise you, we're okay." He wiped the tears from their eyes and looked up at EJ, who was also trying not to cry.

Jack stood up and pulled him close. "I know you're scared too. But I'm going to handle it. Just please do what I'm asking you to do, and take care of your sisters."

"Okay, Pop." He nodded at Jack in confidence, although he didn't feel confident. But he knew that his parents needed him to be brave.

EJ turned to JC and Susie. "Hey, yall. It's okay. Let's go play a game." He took both of his sister's hands and walked them over to the room.

Jack walked with them, gave his son one last nod and closed the door behind them. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down, then went over to the mail tray on the kitchen counter. Once he found what he was looking for, he ran up the stairs and out the door, also without a coat.

There were two police cars and Ethan was in one of them, but his eyes went straight for the silver Mercedes. The officer was handing the baby over to Mallory as Tim stood by. Jack thought he had calmed down but seeing the Reedlins looking satisfied while his children were scared and crying their eyes out was too much.

He ran right up to Tim and yelled, "You sonofaBITCH!"

Tim turned around right at the moment that Jack's fist came forward, and he was hit in the face. Jack got three punches in before two officers pulled Jack back and threw him on the ground.

Tim started screaming, "I want him arrested for assault!"

"Make sure you arrest him for perjury first. That's Ethan's son!" Jack yelled.

The female officer said, "I told you, you need proof of that."

"Back pocket! There's the proof!" Jack yelled again.

Jack stayed still on the cold ground as he was being handcuffed and she pulled out the birth certificate. She looked confused at what she was reading, then went over to the Reedlins. Jack could not hear what they were saying at first but one of the officers left Jack and went over to them as well.

Then he heard Tim raise his voice. "I don't care what that piece of paper says, Ethan is not the biological father!"

"Can you prove that, sir?" the female officer asked.

Tim pointed at Jack. "He's married to a man for Christ's sake! Last I checked, two men can't have a baby together."

"So you don't know if some kind of arrangement was made?" the other officer asked.

"Listen, my daughter didn't make any arrangement. They stole that baby from her. Who knows what Ethan did to her after he took her baby."

The female officer raised her hands up. "Okay this is starting to sound like a bizarre Lifetime movie." She pointed to the officer and said, "Make sure they don't go anywhere with the infant." She went over to the car and asked the third officer to open up the back door.

She asked Ethan, "Is the boy your biological son?"

"I'm his father," he said without looking at her.

She let a moment pass. "But you're not his biological father?"

Ethan said, "Timothy Jamison Starling was born at 5:49pm on November 4, 2017 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. I was there for the birth. His mother, Patricia Anne Reedlin named me his legal guardian before she disappeared from the hospital on November 6, 2017. Every nurse on the 5th floor can vouch for that.

"The last person to hear from her was a man named Carlos Hernandez, phone number 718-555-2526 when she called him in December to ask him to pick up her car from us. No one has heard from her since."

He turned to the officer. "They didn't even know she was pregnant, had a baby and went missing until two weeks ago when I told them about their own daughter and their grandson. They haven't seen her in over two years. Now, unless they have any additional information on their accusation of kidnapping and child endangerment to counter what I just told you, I suggest you take these cuffs off me and give me back my son, goddamn it."

The officer sighed deeply. She turned to the cop standing next to him. "Take the cuffs off."

The officer led Ethan out of the car and unlocked the handcuffs. She walked back over to the Reedlins with Ethan behind her. Jack watched them from on the ground as Ethan and the two officers approached them.

Ethan smirked nastily. "Did my husband do that to your face, you lying, conniving sack of shit?"

Tim said, "Before this day is over you're going to lose Jack and Jamie!"

"Asshole!" He lunched forward and pushed Tim. Tim pushed him back, and they began to scuffle. The officers got between them, pulling them apart. "I should kill you for this!" Ethan screamed.

"Ah! He just threatened me!" Tim cried. "You all heard it! I want him handcuffed again!"

"Fuck you! You'll never take Jamie from us!" Ethan yelled back.

He went over to Mallory to take the baby from her and her eyes were wide with fear at Ethan's anger. But an officer got in between them.

"Hey! Hey!" he yelled. "Step back." Ethan was fuming but he did. The officer turned to Mallory. "I need you to hand the baby back to me, please."

"No!" she cried, and tried to turn away. Jamie started crying.

Ethan reached for Jamie again and the officer pushed him back. "I mean it. Stay back."

"My son is crying! He doesn't even know her!" Ethan yelled at the officer.

"I hear you, and we'll get to the bottom of this. But for now, stay back."

The officer turned back to Mallory and took the baby from her arms. She began to cry and went over to her husband. Tim held her against his chest and scowled at Ethan.

The lone female officer yelled, "Everyone inside!"

The fourth officer with Jack lifted him up but kept on the handcuffs. They followed the female officer who was obviously in charge back inside of the Inn and stood in the entryway, with Livy watching from the counter.

Jamie was still crying loudly as all the back and forth, and being in strangers arms, was confusing for him. So Livy came from around the counter and said sweetly, "Hi! Do you mind if I hold him while you all sort this out?"

The female officer hesitated, then nodded at the other officer. He handed Livy the baby and she immediately began to shush and coo at him to calm him down. She led him further away toward the dining room but in eyesight of what was going on.

They all watched as the officers made calls, one to the hospital to confirm Ethan's statement and one to Carlos. Both Nurse Elyse and Carlos attested to the fact that Trish did indeed put Ethan's name on the birth certificate and left Jamie in his care.

Some of the guests came from upstairs to see what the commotion was. But Stacy, who arrived fifteen minutes later because of a frantic call from Livy, reassured the guests and kept everything moving by monitoring the front desk while Livy held Jamie.

After about an hour of investigating, the female officer held up the birth certificate. "This is a legal document. This was not forged, and Ethan, you are the legal father." She gave it to Ethan and turned to the Reedlins. "You are going to have to take this up in family court."

Mallory burst into tears again. Tim said coldly to Ethan, "Just wait until my lawyers get through with you. I will get my grandson from you. And I will bury you afterwards in legal fees."

Ethan got in Tim's face and said, "Get the FUCK out of my home and never come back."

Tim grimaced at him, then turned to the officer. "I still want him arrested for assault." He pointed at Jack.

The female officer sighed and rolled her eyes, over this whole family drama. The officer next to Jack said, "If we're arresting him, then we're arresting you too, for making a false statement to the Greenwich Police Department." He held his cuffs out. "Sounds fair?"

Tim glared at the cop, then turned to Mallory. "Let's go."

The officer turned around and took the cuffs off Jack. Jack walked over to Livy and took the baby, who had fallen asleep, from her hands as the Reedlins were heading out. But at the door Mallory turned around to plead to Ethan.

"Ethan, I'm sorry. We didn't-"

But Jack spoke angrily before Ethan did as he cradled his baby boy. "Save it. You let that asshole husband of yours bring the police with their guns out to our home. My children are downstairs scared out of their minds, including your grandson. They will never get the image of their father being handcuffed and pulled away by the cops out of their heads. You have scarred them for life. So with all due respect, Mallory, fuck off and get out."

A fresh set of tears fell from Mallory's eyes as she left the Inn too. The female officer held out a card to them.

"I'm Sergeant Lamont. We apologize for any distress this has caused your family. Please call me if anything else comes up or if you are being harassed by the Reedlins. You are well within your rights to file a complaint or put a restraining order out. We can go down to Providence now if you wish to do so."

"Thank you," Ethan said and took it. "We will probably do that. If so, we'll be down at the station tomorrow. But today, we just need to be a family."