Chapter Ten #2
I insist on going down and handling her family so that Aurora can stay with Leah.
I step out of the elevator on the lobby floor, walk down the hall, and turn the corner to the front reception area of the hospital.
I spot Aurora’s family immediately, congregated in a small group.
There aren’t as many Kingstons here as I thought.
Still, they feel like an army, much like my family.
I glance around, looking for someone I recognize from Leah’s birthday party. Melly catches my gaze first.
“Nick!” Melly rushes over and surprises me by greeting me with a warm hug. “Is Leah okay?” she asks, stepping back. “I feel so guilty! I fell asleep early and left my phone in another room so I missed Aurora’s call.”
“She’s better, or so Aurora tells me. The cough still sounds pretty scary.” I shudder just thinking of the sound coming from Leah’s little chest.
Melly nods. “Croup can test any parent, as you’ll learn.” She pats my arm.
“Who else is here?” I ask.
“Linc came but Jordan had to go see her mother. Chloe and Beck said they’d call Aurora tonight. Xander and Sasha are over there.” She gestures to the corner where Sasha, wearing a baseball cap low on her eyes, does her best not to be noticed.
Somehow, she’s been managing to live a normal life, and according to Harrison, she is happier than she’s ever been. “And of course, Dash and Cassidy are home with the baby.”
“Makes sense. The front desk didn’t want to let more than two people up at one time, so I offered to come down and give you all an update.” I smile at Melly. “Why don’t I give you my pass, for starters. Tell them you’re going up, and we’ll switch when you’re done.”
Melly’s eyes light up. “I just want to see Leah for myself. I won’t stay long.”
“Can we talk, first?” I didn’t plan to have a personal conversation, but I feel compelled to talk to this woman who’s become my daughter’s grandmother, despite the circumstances.
“Of course.” Melly grasps my arm and leads me to a private corner near a large, marble pillar. “What is it? Is Aurora all right?” Her concern is obvious in the tiny wrinkles beside her eyes.
And that is why I want to speak with her. “Aurora is tired but fine.” I draw a deep breath. “I just wanted to say thank you.”
“For what?” Melly is an attractive woman with dark, shoulder-length hair. Her makeup is flawless, but she is anything but the ice queen her look might imply.
“For being there when I couldn’t. For taking Aurora in and giving her a home,” I say.
While I was partying in college, Aurora was alone until Linc found her.
“It takes a special human being to take in her husband’s illegitimate, pregnant daughter,” I say.
“And I’m not trying to flatter you to win you over. I mean it.”
Melly links her hands together and meets my gaze.
“I knew my husband wasn’t a saint. But I did not know he was capable of turning his back on his own child.
” She draws a deep breath. “By the time Linc discovered Aurora, she was alone and pregnant. I didn’t see her as my husband’s illegitimate child.
I saw her as a young girl all alone in the world, about to give birth. ”
My stomach turns over. Despite already knowing the details, they hurt to hear. “All the more reason for me to stand by my statement. You’re a special person.” And because I have a stepmom with an equally big heart, I know what I’m talking about.
“Thank you,” Melly murmurs, her eyes suspiciously damp. “Now let’s talk about you. I know you didn’t abandon Aurora. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances.”
I nod.
“But you’re here now and I’m putting my faith in you. You owe me nothing, but you owe them everything,” she says, patting my shoulder.
I am aware. “Those abandonment issues she has… I can never tell when I’m making any progress. I’ll think we’ve come to an understanding, then something will happen…” Like an emergency phone call that takes me away. “And she retreats.”
“And that’s where your tenacity will have to come in,” Melly says with an assured grin.
Linc walks over and kisses his mother’s cheek. “Are you giving Nick a hard time? I thought that was my job.” His grin tells me he is only partially joking.
“Lincoln, behave!”
I chuckle at Melly’s scolding. That works better than any comeback I might have.
Ignoring Aurora’s overprotective brother, I meet Melly’s gaze. “What you just said to me? You’re right. And I will do whatever I can to make up for the time I missed.”
Financially and emotionally, I think. But I don’t intend to tell anyone but Aurora just how I intend to do that.
Melly smiles. “Good. Now I’m going up to see Aurora and Leah. Thank you, Nick.”
“My pleasure.”
“Weren’t you supposed to be in Florida?” Linc asks.
I narrow my gaze. “I flew in this morning.”
“Aurora called you?” Linc sounds surprised.
I nod. “I take it she didn’t contact you? ”
Linc shoves his hands into his front pockets of his slacks. “No. My mother let us all know. To be honest, I’m surprised she texted Mom, let alone you. It must mean you’ve made progress with those walls of hers.”
“I’m trying,” I admit. “Aurora told me that she asked Melly not to come to the hospital.”
Linc groans. “Frustrating woman,” he mutters. “As if that would keep us away.” A few seconds tick by in silence until Linc speaks again. “You seem to know Aurora pretty well for a man who hasn’t seen her in years.”
I refrain from rolling my eyes at the other man’s attempt at a dig. I understand Linc’s protectiveness. Admire it, even.
“All Aurora had to do was tell me her history. From there, it wasn’t difficult to figure out the way she thinks.” That, and I’ve made it my mission to understand her so I can learn how to reassure her, and ultimately, win her over.
“Yeah. Her parents really fucked with her head. Or should I say, the fact that they weren’t in her life did. I wish I’d never had to tell her the truth.”
I lean against the pillar. “The truth always comes out. Now that she knows, she can begin to put it behind her.” I shrug. “Assuming she learns she can trust the people who love her.”
“And do you? Love her, I mean?” Linc asks .
“Do you really think that’s any of your business?” But I take pity on the guy. “Aurora is all I can think about. She’s the only woman I’ve ever considered having a future with. We just…click.”
Linc taps his feet on the floor. “I screwed up things with Jordan badly. She was in my life for years and I was blind to what she meant to me. Let’s hope Aurora didn’t inherit those stubborn genes.”
I hope for the same thing.
***
Aurora
I sit on the small couch in Leah’s hospital room while Melly reads to my daughter from a short book she brought with her.
I’m grateful. Melly’s presence distracts Leah from thinking about her ordeal, and that distraction gives me a much-needed break.
I can sit and breathe for a few minutes.
Of course, my thoughts are on Nick, who is downstairs with my family, which makes me wonder if that ought to make me nervous.
Melly sits down beside me and sighs. “Poor baby. She’s so exhausted.”
We glance at Leah, who has fallen asleep, wheezy noises still coming from her chest. Thank God they aren’t as bad they were last night .
“You need to get some rest, too,” Melly says, running a hand over my tangled hair in that motherly fashion that I recognize. I do the same thing with Leah, even though I never experienced it as a child.
“Once we get home, I’ll sleep when she does,” I say.
“Or you can let Nick come home with you and look after Leah while you take care of yourself. You won’t be any good to that child if you crash and burn.” Melly’s Chanel flats tap against the hospital floor.
I bite down on the inside of my cheek. “I could, but I don’t want to put him out. He’s been traveling and working hard for the last couple of days—”
Melly puts her hand up, stopping me mid-sentence. “Are you trying to make that man so exasperated he walks away?”
I blink. “What? No? I’m just telling you the truth.”
“Are you? Or are you being a martyr, doing everything yourself, so you don’t have to risk your heart?”
This is as blunt as Melly has ever been with me, and I turn to face her in shock. “Why would you say that? I’m not a martyr.”
Melly takes my hands in hers. “Can we agree that I’m the closest thing to a mother that you’ve ever had?”
Tears fill my eyes as I nod.
“Then listen to me. I married a man I loved and he cheated on me. Repeatedly. Instead of divorcing him, I opted to keep my family together and ignore what he did behind my back.”
Even though Kenneth Kingston was my father, Melly has never spoken of him before.
Not even when she graciously took me—a pregnant stranger—into her home.
I just moved in and we formed our own relationship.
If it was odd that he was some sort of background spectre in our lives, gone but hovering between us, I never let herself think about him.
My heart pounds hard and my mouth grows dry as I wait for Melly to continue.
“When Linc told me about you, I was horrified that Kenneth had abandoned you. And when I discovered what your mother had done? I was furious on your behalf. I took you in because you deserved to have the opportunity to have a good life. What do you think others thought?” Melly asks.
I look around the hospital room, at the painted flowers on the bland walls, anywhere but at Melly. “You took your husband’s mistress’s pregnant daughter into your home. I’m sure they thought you’d lost your mind.” Some said as much.
I recall the baby shower Melly threw for me and the cruel words I overheard from some of Melly’s friends about the bastard child having her own bastard.
I shudder at the memory. I was new to town, new to the family and felt so out of place.
But I was so grateful, I never said a word about it to Melly.
The woman did way too much for me to ever complain or hurt her.
But I realize that Melly’s inner circle has grown smaller over the past couple of years.
“Aurora, look at me.”
I turn to meet Melly’s gaze and focus on the hands that now squeeze mine tighter.
“No matter what they said—and I was aware people would talk, by the way—I knew I’d be getting so much more out of my choice than they could understand. I got you, who I consider another daughter, and my first grandchild.”
“Oh, Melly.” I throw my arms around her and hug her tight. The other woman reciprocates. “I love you and I’m so grateful,” I say, telling my mother-by-chance the words for the first time.
“Honey, I love you too.” She pats my back before pulling away so she can meet my gaze.
“Don’t you see? I had to put myself out there and trust that you weren’t a con artist or someone out to take advantage of my family.
I heard about you and I just knew you were supposed to be ours.
You belong with us—with our whole big, nutty family.
” Melly’s eyes are glassy, her smile sweet.
“I can’t imagine what would have happened to me without you. Without all of you.” Of course, the Prescotts were kind to me, but they weren’t my family.
“What I’m getting at—and I know I’m taking the long way to make my point—is can you imagine your life, your future, without Nick in it? If he came around to be Leah’s daddy, but not the man in your life? All because you can’t move past the fact that the people in your past let you down?”
Big fat tears drip from my eyes, and I hold back a sob.
Melly wraps an arm around me and hugs me tight. “You’ve been strong for so long because you’ve had to be. But you’re not alone anymore. You have a huge family who loves you, and a man downstairs, who’s doing his best to prove that he does too.”
I sniff, wiping my damp face with my sleeve. I laugh at myself and rise to grab the tissues by a sink before I sit back down. “Nick travels a lot. Every time he leaves, I’m overcome with that lost, abandoned feeling I hate. It makes me feel weak and needy,” I admit.
Melly places a hand beneath my chin. “You’re none of those things.
You need to see reality through a new lens—not through the past. Nick travels, yes, but he always comes back.
It’s up to you whether or not you can open your heart and take the risk.
” She removes her hand. “Now I’m going to leave so that handsome man can come back up.
I’ll take the family home with me. Give us a ring when you and Leah are up to visitors, once you’re back home again.
” She gathers her purse and starts for the door.
“Melly?”
She turns back, hand on the doorframe. “Yes?”
“Thank you. For everything.”
Melly smiles and blows a kiss. Then she’s gone.
I stand for a while, staring at nothing, thinking about the things Melly said.
We never broached such sensitive, difficult subjects before, but our talk was long overdue.
And Melly made good points about whether or not I can give up a relationship with Nick just to protect my heart.
Can I imagine a future with Nick as Leah’s father and nothing more?
With a sigh, I walk over to Leah and stand by her bed, watching my daughter sleep. She is so sweet and innocent, and she’ll grow up surrounded by love. No matter what issues she might have—because everyone has some—abandonment will never be one of them.
I lean down and kiss Leah’s forehead. “I love you, and I’ll always be here.”
“So will I, if you let me.”
I spin around at the sound of Nick’s voice. He steps into the room and joins me at the bed.
“Is everything okay?” he asks, coming up beside me and placing his big hand on my back.
I look into his familiar bedroom eyes and everything I feel comes rushing at me with the force of a tidal wave.
This is it. The moment I have to decide if I’m going to run from that wave…or ride it. “Nick,” I whisper.
“What is it?”
I reach for him when someone knocks.
“Guess who’s going home today?” the nurse calls out in a loud, sing-song voice, walking in and waving papers.
Leah pops up from her bed and rubs her eyes. “I can go home?”
The nurse smiles. “Yes. As soon as your mom signs these papers and I take out the IV.”
Nick glances at me. “Whatever you were about to say? I want to hear.”
I swallow hard and manage a nod. I wish the woman hadn’t interrupted. I could have told him how I feel, and what I want. Now I have to wait, nervous and ready to jump out of my skin, until the next time Nick and I are alone.