AN: Happy New Year! I’m so sorry everybody. Thank you for all of your reviews. I'm happy to see that I actually have some! I finally updated, and I’m determined to continue this story! I just need to stop being lazy. :) In case you didn’t notice, I fixed the error from the previous chapter. I accidentally put Caitlin as Jude’s ex because I changed her name while I was writing. Well, here is chapter two for all of you. Enjoy it.

Building a Family

Chapter Two

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“Does your child make a mess on a daily basis? Never mind. Of course he does! He’s an infant. I will not clean it up because I abhor sloppy people. Do you understand? I will force your child to clean his own mess up. I refuse to change the diaper, and I refuse to feed the boy. The only task that I will do is watching your youngster,” said the middle-aged British woman.

Her sandy-blonde hair was put in the tightest bun, and she sat with the most proper posture on Jude’s black leather armchair. Not even a piece of lint clung to her grey pin-striped suit.

“Uh… yeah, I underst-“

“You mean yes, and you should not use the word ‘uh’. Actually, that should not even be considered as a word,” interrupted the woman. Jude tried to not roll his eyes at her words. He couldn’t believe that she was correcting his grammar when she was supposed to be interviewed by him.

“Yes, I understand. Well Mrs. Crompton, that will be all for today. Thank you for coming in today. I will call you if you get the job,” said Jude.

“I am sure that will occur very soon. I will expect it your call. Goodbye Mr. O’Connell,” said Mrs. Crompton as she left the household.

Exhausted from the past eleven interviews, Jude collapsed on his couch, pressing his face against the couch pillow. Jace was lucky that he was asleep at the moment. He didn’t have to suffer from interviewing bizarre people.

The first person was a homosexual that couldn’t even hide his “turn-on” for Jude. It’s not that Jude had anything against homosexual people; it’s just that he found it disturbing when the man had his eyes intensely on Jude’s pants, rather than his face. The second person was a redheaded teenager who seemed normal at first. Jude was about to hire her until she accidentally mentioned how she planned to have raunchy sex with her boyfriend while Jude was at work. The third person used to be in jail for burglary. Enough said.

Jude wished he didn’t have to look for a babysitter, but he had to support Jace somehow. He couldn’t work and watch him at the same time, but he didn’t want his family to come and take care of Jace for him either.

The doorbell suddenly rang.

“Fantastic,” Jude muttered to himself. He didn’t want to get up after being in a comfortable position on the couch, but his next interviewee was waiting at the door. It took all of his willpower to get off the couch and answer it.

The door creaked as Jude opened it, only to reveal an ordinary-looking brunette dressed in white pants, a teal-striped polo, and loud lime green Pumas. She seemed to be staring at him for a few seconds. Was there something in his teeth or something? The brunette then gave Jude a warm smile and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her right ear.

“Hi. My name is Victoria Hawthorne. I’m here for the interview. Is… there a Mr. Jude O’Connell here?” she asked, holding her hand out to Jude to shake. Jude straightened his posture and cleared his throat.

“Ah yes, actually I’m Jude O’Connell. We spoke on the phone,” he said in a professional business-like voice, shaking her hand while giving her one of the many fake smiles he had to give that day.

Vicky’s eyes widened at the sight of the attractive man in front of her. Her body felt so numb once his eyes stared straight into her own. Hell, she was practically foaming at the mouth. His handshake was very firm, yet his skin felt incredibly smooth. Plus, he was extremely tall, most likely about six foot two. She could almost see his sweet beautiful muscles, begging to be touched through his plain white T-shirt. And his hair—oh, his hair!—was a dark chocolate brown and full of curly luscious locks.

There was no fucking way he was the father. He was obviously feeding her BS. Most fathers did not look that sexy, especially Vicky’s dad. Now her dad was far from being sexy, but that was another story. To be honest, when Vicky first saw Jude, she thought he was one of the sons or something. He looked so young! But if he was the father, there had to be a mother in that house somewhere. Drat.

“So you’re the one I talked to on the phone. I’m sorry! Forgive my mistake,” she said with a weak smile. ” I have to say, you look… way younger than I expected. I was kind of thinking that I would meet some old dude in his late 40s with his boxers in a knot. Oh, no offense.”

Jude let out a light chuckle. “Yeah, I tend to get that a lot, especially today. But let us get this interview started now, shall we? Miss Hawthorne, please come in and have a seat.”

Vicky chewed on her bottom lip as she walked into his apartment. It was small and plain, but somewhat adorable with the little baby toys scattered around the cream-colored carpet. The walls were bare, but the black leather furniture stood out from its white surroundings.

Jude kicked some of Jace’s toys out of the way while he led her to the living room.

“I’m sorry about the mess. My son… likes to throw his toys.”

“Oh, it’s alright,” smiled Vicky.

She hesitantly sat down on his couch, picking at the dirt underneath her fingernails. Noticing, Jude cleared his throat to grab her attention. Vicky immediately kept her hands by her sides.

“Miss Hawthorne, you’re eighteen years old. Do you have any previous experiences with babysitting?” he asked.

“Well… I have a little experience with watching kids, but it’s my job to watch all my little cousins at all my family gatherings, so I am able to make meals and clean up after them,” said Vicky, leaving out the parts about her being unable to change a diaper and put babies to sleep.

“…I see, and what were your previous occupations?”

Vicky bit her lip while she tried to remember all of her jobs.

“I worked at the Juniper Library voluntarily, when I was 16. I also worked at Penguin Polarland as the mascot that same year. Then the year after that I worked at Lovin’ Muffins down South Light Boulevard. I just had a job at Birdie’s as of two weeks ago. Now here I am.”

“Those are a lot of jobs you’d had. What went wrong with them?” asked Jude.

Vicky suddenly took notice of his lips and stared at how pink and rosy they were, wishing she could just kiss them.

“Miss Hawthorne?”

Vicky snapped out of her little day dream and blinked several times.

“Oh! I’m sorry. I just didn’t find them challenging enough,” she fibbed. Truth was, she was late several times, but he didn’t have to know that.

“And if I contacted your previous employers, would they speak highly of you, Miss Hawthorne?” he inquired.

“I believe that they would,” Vicky said hesitantly.

“Why should I hire you, Miss Hawthorne?” asked Jude in a tired voice. He asked the same questions for every single person he interviewed, but it grew boring to repeat it several times.

“Hmm… I’ve got a great sense of humor, so I’ll be able to make your kid laugh all the time. I know how to put out fires, and I have a black belt in karate. Oh! I have tons of ideas for kid activities with your son like telling him stories, building a fort, finger painting, etc.”

“That’s interesting. You’re the first to mention what you plan to do with Jace. What would you do if he refused to eat his food?” asked Jude.

I’d yell at the little nimrod, Vicky thought. “Oh, I would tell him that he can’t play with his toys until he finishes his food.”

“That’s interesting because it just might work,” Jude chuckled. “Okay Miss Hawthorne, you have to answer honestly when I ask you this. Do you smoke?”

“No I don’t.”

“Do any drugs?”

“Far from it.”

“Have you ever been in jail?”

“Not that I know of, sir.”

“Are you planning on bringing any boyfriends over and corrupt my son’s purely innocent mind by doing the act of what men and women do together?”

“…I’m single, sir.”

“Okay well, that’s the end of our interview,” said Jude, leaning over the coffee table to shake hands with Vicky. “Thank you for coming today; It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Miss Hawthorne. I’ll call you if you receive the job,” Jude said with a genuine smile. She seemed to be the least troublesome person out of all the people he interviewed. However, Jude was a bit skeptical. Victoria seemed a little inexperienced at babysitting, and that could be a problem.

“It was wonderful meeting you too,” replied Vicky, returning the handshake eagerly.

Walking out of the apartments, she began to worry about how she presented herself during the interview.

“I probably came off as some irresponsible little teenager!” she muttered to herself.

Vicky suddenly became very interested in this job. Sure, she wasn’t too keen on the idea of being alone with a kid, but at least she could ogle at his father once in a while.

After all the interviews ended, Jude decided to visit his little boy wonder.

He tried to walk quietly into his bedroom, but he feared the creaking door ruined Jace’s quiet nap. Jude’s legs moved toward the wooden crib next to his bed in the corner. Luckily, Jace was still sleeping peacefully with his little lips slightly parted. Jude smiled at how adorable his son looked holding the little stuffed duck Chelsea gave to him. In fact, Jace looked just like her. He had her hair color, her pink full lips, and her cute little button nose.

Jude suddenly frowned when he thought of Chelsea, tightening his grip on the edge of Jace’s crib.

God, why couldn’t he just forget about her? After all, she broke his heart. Why couldn’t he just forget about how her silky golden waves felt between his fingers or the way her rosy red lips curled into a smile between their heated make-out sessions? Jude just didn’t understand how Chelsea could drop everything they had together, just like that.

“Sweetheart, where are you?” called Jude after just coming home from working at her father’s construction company. He searched almost every room in the old Victorian house. They were both staying at her parents’ house after Chelsea gave birth to Jace.

Jude found her with mascara running down her cheeks in their bedroom. She was standing in front of the mirror, lifting her pink tank-top and staring at her post-baby body while tears were streaming down her face.

“Chelsea, what’s going on? Where’s Jace?” whispered Jude, cupping her wet cheeks with his hands. He wiped her tears away with his thumbs and gave her left cheek a sweet kiss. “Why are you crying, baby?” Jude hated to see her cry. She didn’t deserve to be sad.

“I’m so sorry, Jude!” cried Chelsea, more tears running down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry! I can’t do this anymore. I just can’t…” Jude held her closely to his chest and rubbed her back.

“Can’t what? What do you mean, sweetheart?” he said. Chelsea looked at him, almost as if she felt sorry for him.

“I… I want a divorce, Jude.”

Jude stared at her with the most bewildered expression. Surely, he misheard her words. She couldn’t have said what he thought she said. Perhaps she wanted a horse?

“I’m sorry. What was that?” he asked.

“I want a divorce!” shrieked Chelsea, throwing Jude’s arms away from her. “I don’t love you anymore, Jude. I just… lost feelings for you, but I kept up with this charade for Jace’s sake. I pretended I was just peachy with everything, but I’m not, Jude! I’m not, okay? I’ve been stuck in this house, taking care of the baby. I thought I could do it for Jace, but I feel miserable being here. I miss ballet, but now that I’ve had a baby, my dream to be an international ballet dancer is practically gone. My body is hideous, and I haven’t even danced for almost a year. I can’t handle that. So I’m giving you and Jace up, and I’m chasing after my dreams.”

Jude felt frozen and stiff. He felt as if he had been punched in the gut repeatedly. Why did she wait until now to tell him this? Why the hell did she agree to marry him in the first place?

“Is… is there anything I could do to change your mind?” Jude asked hoarsely, staring at his feet. Tears were pricking at the corner of his eyes.

“…No. No, you can’t do anything,” she sobbed, “by the way, Jace is with my parents. Please… please give them my love, Jude.”

Chelsea reached into their open closet and pulled out two black suitcases, but Jude still refused to look up. If he did, he would definitely break down into pieces.

“I’m going now, Jude. I’m staying at Bonnie’s house. I’ll give you the divorce papers later,” she whispered.

Jude opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He was just too speechless.

“Goodbye,” said Chelsea, taking a part of him along with her.

Jude felt tears streaming down his cheeks, driving him back into reality. He watched Jace breathe in a rhythmic pattern as he slept. Jude suddenly felt determined to forget all about that woman. No more tears, no more pain, no more strolling down Memory Lane, no more Chelsea.

She was his past, now it was time to move onto the present.