An Unplanned Life (Unplanned Series) (11 page)

Chapter
24

Nicole

I picked up Ella and hugged her tightly. “It looks like it’s me and you this morning, baby girl!” I kissed her on the cheek and lifted up her shirt, giving her kisses on her belly. I could never get enough of her deep belly laughs. “Mommy missed you so much.” She wrapped her arms around my neck and opened her mouth widely, placing it on my face. I carried Ella into the kitchen with me to answer the phone. I smiled when I saw the name Jack O’Maley displayed on the caller ID.

“Good
morning!” I answered through Ella’s screeching.

“Good
morning, Nicole,” Annette, Jack’s wife, responded. “I hear someone is wide awake,” she joked, referring to Ella.

“Oh, yes
. She’s always wide awake.”

“Where’s the birthday boy?”

“Oh, and he and Ryan went fishing already.”

“Well, we were just calling to see if you guys wanted to come over later for a barbeque.”

“Yeah, that sounds great.”

We decided on
four p.m. and said our goodbyes. Ella and I spent the rest of the morning in front of the TV, watching
Little Bear
. I looked up at the clock, realizing that it was close to noon already. “Hey, little piggy, it’s your lunch time.” I got up to bring her into the kitchen and made a pit stop to the knocking on my front door. I looked out the window to find my dad’s car. “Hey, I thought you were supposed be home, preparing for your dinner guests,” I joked as I opened the door.

“I escaped
.” He laughed. “Here, your mail lady handed this to me on the way in,” he said, handing me a pile of mail. I threw it on the counter, not looking at any of it.

“What brings you back?” I asked as I placed Ella in her high chair.

“I wanted to give this to Ryan.” I looked down at the baseball glove in his hand. “He said that he’s thinking about trying out catching next season and I wanted him to have your brother’s catcher’s mitt.”

I immediately felt the familiar burn in my eyes
that I did whenever my brother was mentioned. “I wish he could have met him, Dad.”

I saw my dad’s eyes begin to fill up with tears
. “Me too; he’s so much like Justin at that age, it’s scary. He’s a great kid, Nicole.” My dad’s eyes began to glass over once again.

“I know.
”

“I’m just so sorry for the way I treate
d—”

“Dad, it’s okay. We’re okay now.” I said
, feeling myself becoming emotional as well.

“Nicole, I just have to tell you
, I’m so proud of you. You are such a great mom and a great wife. You’ve given me two beautiful grandchildren. I really had such a great time with Ryan last night. He and Ella were the best medicine for helping us cope with the loss of your brother. I hate myself for the way I acted to you. You didn’t deserve that.”

I could no longer stop the tears as my dad hugged me tightly.
Ella began to babble as she banged on her high chair. I wiped the tears away and began to laugh. “Hell hath no fury like a hungry Ella.” My dad laughed and sat down next to her, keeping her occupied while I heated up her lunch. “I’ll feed her,” my dad said as he took the food from my hand.

“Boy,
Mom must be doing some heavy duty cleaning that you’re trying to get out of,” I joked.

I started to go through the mail that I had placed on the counte
r; bills and junk mail. I carefully looked over the last envelope in my hand. It was addressed to Dailan and Nicole O’Maley from the law offices of Preston Jacobs. My hands were shaking as I ripped it open.

Dear Mr. & Mrs. O’Maley:

Please be advised that I represent Jonathan Caldwell regarding pending litigation. It would be in your best interest to contact my office immediately to discuss this matter further.

Sincerely,

Preston J. Jacobs, Esq.

My heart sank to my knees
. That bastard! There was no way in hell I would let him do this. Ryan had been through so much already I refused to have him go through anymore.
My hands were shaking as I read the letter over again.

My dad turned around. “Nicole, hand me a nap-”
He stopped himself, obviously seeing the look on my face. “What’s wrong?” I handed him the letter; my hands were still shaking.

“That son of a bitch.
How does he even know about Ryan?”

I went
on to explain to my dad about how I had run into him and his mother at the coffee shop last week and how he had showed up at my house. “Was Dailan here, when he showed up?”

“No
, thank God. He would have killed him.”

“That’s what that little snot nose bastard needs
: a good ass kicking. You know, he ended up dropping out of college; too much partying. He’s got a cushy job working for his dad’s company in the Denver office.”

“No, I didn’t know that. I don’t really care
. I don’t want to know anything about him. I hate him so much.” I felt my voice cracking with emotion.

My dad stood up and hugged me tightly. “I know I wasn’t there for you when I should have been. But I promise I will be here for you now. He’s not going to get his hands on him
, Nicole. You know that Dailan would never let that happen.”

“I know, but what if it’s out of our hands
? Ryan has been through so much and he’s taken it all in stride. I don’t think he would be able to handle anymore.” I looked over at Ella, who was falling asleep in her high chair. I excused myself while I took her upstairs and put her down for a nap. When I came back, my dad was getting ready to leave. I walked him to the door and he hugged me once again. “Nicole, why don’t you go take a nap yourself; you look exhausted. Stop worrying yourself over this. Everything is going to be okay.” Maybe that was what I had yearned to hear from my dad all those years ago; but somehow, just being in his arms and hearing him comfort me now was all that I had needed for the moment.

Chapter 25

Nicole

The past…

I had two more weeks left of school before my at home tutoring began. I was fortunate enough to have the adoption agency cover the expenses. This would allow me to graduate with my class in June and resume my life back to normal starting in the fall. I was looking forward to getting away from the stares at my now expanding belly and the whispers behind my back; although the atmosphere at home wasn't much better. My sister's wedding was three weeks away. I was no longer the maid of honor; thankfully, I wasn't even in it. I guess she didn't want to draw the attention of her pregnant teenage sister to her guests. I was secretly hoping that I would be in the hospital giving birth, so I didn't have to be a part of it at all.

My mom's part time job had now turned full time with every single penny going to my sister's wedding fund. While my sister complained about how hard it was to find a
 full time job, she continued to work part time at the trendy little boutique that she had been working at all throughout college. Still spending everything she made, shopping there. It made me sick how she felt as if it was my parents’ obligation to pay for her wedding while she contributed nothing. But they were just as much at fault for allowing it to happen. I was beginning to become a little more optimistic about the future. I couldn't wait to be starting college. I had talked to Darius, the owner of the diner that I had worked at waitressing before I had gotten pregnant. He said that he would give me as many hours as possible over the summer to help me save up for car insurance. With that and my scholarship, I was fairly certain that I would be okay. Although spending another four years at home didn't exactly thrill me, but there was no way that I could afford to live on campus, so I would just have to serve my time. My dad was wrong; I did have it all figured out - at least I hoped that I did.

 
 I had told my mom about my scholarship and she seemed like she was happy. She congratulated me and told me how proud she was of me. I wasn't sure if she had told my dad or not. He didn't say anything to me if she did. Not that I expected him to. Our conversations over the past months were very brief and only when necessary. I couldn't believe how much our relationship had changed since I had become pregnant. My dad was always super strict, but still, we were always very close. He had now become a stranger to me and I knew that our relationship would be forever changed because of this.

I basically would come home from school and hide out in my bedroom. The less my parents saw me, the better off things were. It was getting harder to sleep at night with my growing belly. Not to mention, every time I would lie down and try to relax, the baby would decide that it was time to do what felt like jumping jacks inside of me. At those times, I would rub my belly and recite one of my favorite children's books,
Love you Forever
. I had discovered it while babysitting for the little girl up the street last summer. She would have me read it to her over and over again. Now I used that familiar line from that book to my baby, to get him to quiet down. "I’ll love you forever; I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be." It always seemed to work. I wondered if he liked that book as much as I did, or maybe he just liked the sound of my voice. A voice that he would never hear again, once he was born. I had finally gotten him to settle down when I realized I could no longer ignore my extreme thirst. I looked over at the clock. 12:11; everyone should be in bed by now. I sneaked down to the kitchen to get a drink of water. I stood in the darkness, staring out the kitchen window as I ran the water, waiting for it to get cold. I was so deep in thought that I jumped when the kitchen light turned on, dropping the glass in the sink and shattering it into pieces. I turned around to find my dad standing in the doorway. I quickly began to pick up the pieces of the broken glass from the sink. Being around my dad these days put me totally on edge. He was quiet, getting the iced tea from the refrigerator and pouring himself a glass. I just wanted to clean up the mess I had made, get my glass of water, and hibernate back to my room. I was almost done when I felt a stabbing pain as one of the jagged pieces of glass stuck into my hand. I looked down to find blood gushing all over the place. I bit my lip to ease the burning as I ran my hand under the running water. My dad looked over at the blood in the sink.

“Did you cut yourself?” he finally asked.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” I said, trying to play it off as the blood continued to flow.

He took me off guard when he removed my hand from the water and wrapped
a dishtowel around it tightly. “Keep pressure on this for a minute. I’ll be right back.” I held onto the towel, ignoring the throbbing pain. He came back and placed the first aid kit on the counter. “You really cut yourself good,” he said as he removed the towel. He held my hand under the running water once again. “This is going to burn a little. Count to ten.” This was something he would always say to me when I was younger just before he would pour peroxide over a cut. He applied the antibiotic cream and carefully wrapped it in a bandage. He held my hand in his for a little while longer.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“You’re welcome.” His lips began to form something that resembled a smile; something that I hadn’t seen from him since I had become pregnant.

I thought back to all of the times when I was younger and
I would skin my knees and elbows and how my dad was always there to mend my “boo boos.” I smiled inwardly, thinking that maybe there was still a little tiny ounce of that little girl and the dad that she once adored left in both of us. I found it ironic that something so painful would make my heart feel so good; at least for the moment, anyway.

Chapter 26

Nicole

He was coming up the stairs; I could hear him. I was trying to get into Ryan’s room to get to him, but I was frozen. I tried to scream, but nothing would come out. He was sitting over top of Ryan, ready to take him away. I needed to get to Ryan, but I couldn’t move.

“No!” I screamed as I pushed him with all my might.

“Geez, this is what happens when a guy tries to kiss his wife.”

Relief swept over me when I sat up and saw that it was Dailan sitting alongside of me on the bed
.

“I’m sorry
. I was dreaming.” It all seemed so real that I could actually feel the hairs standing up on my arms. “What time is it?” I asked.

“
Three o’clock,” Dailan answered.

“Wow, I
fell asleep for two hours? Ella slept for two hours?” I asked, even more amazed by that fact.

“Yup, she just got up a little while ago
. She’s downstairs with Ryan.”

I
pulled him close and kissed him. “Hey, I told Annette that we would go to their barbeque.” He rolled his eyes as if he didn’t want to go. “I’m sorry; I thought you would want to go.”

“That’s fine.”

“Dailan, did you see that letter that came in the mail from that lawyer?”

“Yeah.”

“And, are you going to call him?”

“Nope.”

I couldn’t believe how calm he seemed over it all. “But, Dailan, it said potential litigation. He’s going to try and get visitation rights to Ryan.”

“Let him try
, Nicole. He’s not gonna get shit and he knows it.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Nicole, please just trust me on this, okay?” he said as he gently rubbed his thumb along the side of my face.

“Okay,” I whispered. He kissed me on the forehead.
“Dailan O’Maley, you are sunburned! If Ryan is that burnt, I will kill you!”

I went downstairs to find Ryan lying on the floor
, playing with Ella. I checked him over from top to bottom – no sunburn.

“I don’t have
sunburn; he kept making me put sunblock on!” Ryan said as he pointed to Dailan.

“Why didn’t you put
some on yourself too, Dailan?”

“Because, he’s a –” Ryan paused briefly
. “What’s that word called when someone yells at you for doing the same thing they’re doing?”

“Hypocrite,” I said as I raised my eyebrow, impressed with Ryan’s vocabulary.

“Yeah, but I’m a hypocrite that can still kick your butt.” Dailan dropped to the floor and wrestled Ryan to the ground. Ryan tried to break free, but he was overcome with laughter. I quickly scooped up Ella. She was squealing in delight like she wanted to join in on it.

Did you guys catch anything?” I asked Ryan.

“Nope. Uncle D said he did but it got away,” Ryan answered, once he was finally able to contain his laughter.

“It did,” Dailan laughed.

***

We arrived at Jack
’s and Annette’s about a half hour late. Luckily, they were used to Dailan’s tardiness and their other guests were there on time. Ryan loved spending any time at Jack’s house, but especially in the summer. Jack had a beautiful in-ground pool, which Ryan wasted no time jumping into. “Happy birthday, old man,” Jack said as he walked away from his smoking grill to shake Dailan’s hand and give me a hug.

“Well, then
, that makes you ancient, Dad,” Dailan said.

Jack immediately took Ella from my arms and gave her a kiss. “Where’s my boy?” he asked.

“Where do you think?” I turned around and watched as Ryan swam from one end of the pool to the other.

“Oh, there you guys are!” Annette exclaimed as she
gave both Dailan and me a hug. “Happy birthday, Dailan!” She took Ella from Jack and planted kisses all over her. “Do you mind if I go and show off this little cutie pie to my guests?” she asked.

“Sure, go right ahead,” I answered.

Dailan and I sat down and watched Ryan in the pool. Jack followed, sitting down next to us.

“So, what’s going on with you
, Dailan? I haven’t heard from you all week.”

“Yeah, I’ve been really busy at work.”

Jack nodded. “Well, don’t let that take priority over the things that matter most.”

I loved my father
-in-law. He was always able to express to Dailan exactly what I was feeling.

"So, did you break the news to your mother?"
I asked Dailan.

 
He nodded. 

“What news?” Jack asked.

“We’re not going to Ireland this summer," I answered. “And…was she upset?"

He shook his head, unable to look at me.

 "Really?"

 
"No, because she's going to come here for a week instead." 

Shit, shit, shit.
"Oh, when?" I was trying my best to hide my disappointment.

 
"In three weeks." He got up and pushed Ryan back into the pool, trying to create a distraction from the bomb that he had just dropped on me. 

Dailan's father looked at me and smiled. "Good luck, Nicole." I commiserated with him a lot the last time Dailan's mother had paid us a visit and he was completely sympathetic to everything I said, after being married to her.

 I ran my hand through my hair. "It's only a week. I can survive that, right?"

 
"Sure." He grinned. "But better you than me!" 

"Gee, thanks!"