More Than This by Dominique Wolf

CHAPTER 52:

Giovanni

I

had taken the off-ramp leading me down the road back into the city. The rain didn't stop once while on my way back. Instead, the intensity of it continued to pick up. It was a real storm out there and I was trying my hardest to focus on the road in front of me. I couldn't clearly make out the headlights that were in front of me so I kept my distance, careful not to get too close to another car right now.

“Fuck man!” I muttered and opened my eyes as wide as I could, trying to make out the road ahead of me.

This storm was ridiculous. The water wouldn't stop pouring and the thunder roared across the sky, often giving me unexpected jump frights. I slowly approached a red light as my phone started to ring. I reached down for it, glancing at a number I didn't recognise. I answered it over the hands-free kit.

“Hola?”

“Buenos dias, is this Mr. Giovanni Velázquez?” A polite female voice said on the other end of the line.

“Si, that's me.”

“Hola, Mr. Velázquez. This is Dr. Gonzalez calling, we met a couple of weeks ago.”

My stomach dropped. That was Casey's doctor which could only mean one thing - the paternity test results were ready. A rush of nerves came over me at the anticipation of the unknown.

“Mr. Velázquez?” she repeated.

“Lo siento,I'm here,” I choked, trying to pull myself together. “What can I do for you, Dr. Gonzalez?”

“We have the results of the paternity test you and Miss Fonseca had done. It's not usually customary to give information like this over the phone, but I decided I needed to call you off the record.”

I was surprised by this. I had only met her once, but I was pretty vocal about my reservations about being the father and she clearly picked up on that.

“It's Christmas now and that's a time to be with family so I hardly think it would be appropriate for me to expect you to come and meet me to chat about this,” she continued.

“Thank you. I'm dying to know what you have to tell me.”

“I tried to get a hold of Miss Fonseca, but she didn't answer so I left her a voicemail to contact me as soon as she can,” she explained.

God lady, just get to the point.

“I'm sorry to inform you Mr. Velázquez, but you are not the biological father of Miss Fonseca's baby.”

My head jerked as I tried to process what she had just told me. “I'm sorry, Dr. Gonzalez, but did you just say I am not the father?”

“Yes sir, the results came back and you are not the baby's biological father.”

I had never experienced true joy until that moment. The realization that everything that was wrong with my life could now be rectified. I was overcome with emotion. My first thought was to call Isabella and tell her.

“Mr. Velázquez?” she said again. “I know that this is probably a shock to you.”

“This is definitely a shock,” I repeated with a huge smile on my face. “You have no idea how this has just changed my life.”

“Lo siento,Mr. Velázquez. You should probably speak to Miss Fonseca further about this.”

I could hear in her voice that she felt bad for me, but she shouldn't. This was exactly what I needed to hear. She was right about needing to speak to Casey. I wasn't the father which meant that Casey had been lying this entire time. That bitch. Did she know that I wasn't the father? Did she do this on purpose? Or was this going to be just as much of a shock to her as it was to me?

“I will. Thank you for the call, doctor.”

“You are welcome,” she said. “Feliz Navidad.”

I returned her season's greetings before disconnecting the call. I was so distracted that the car behind me had to hoot to get me to move.

I'm not the father.

Oh my God, I am not the father.

That means everything I just went through with Isabella was for nothing. All the heartbreaks and watching her walk out of my life was for nothing. There was no reason why Isabella and I couldn't be together.

“Joder,” I repeated out loud, trying to process the information.

I couldn't focus on anything else but telling Isabella. I needed her to know. I reached for my phone again and dialed her number, this time bringing my phone up to my ear. I indicated to turn down the road and followed the flow of traffic as I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel. We reached another red light.

“Come on, pick up,” I muttered, listening to the sound of the ringing on the other end.

The traffic light turned green as I got her voicemail.

Hi, this is Isabella, leave a message.

“Isabella, it's me. I need you to call me back right now.” I put my car into first gear and stepped on the gas. “I have to tell you something. Everything is going to be fine with us, but I need you to ca-”.

Before I could continue, the sound of shrieking tires caught my attention. I turned towards the sound and watched as a car slid across the road and crashed into me, sending me into darkness.