I didn’t care about anything else except for this time alone and my daughter.
***
Nico
When I got off the phone with my mom, she was anxious for me to come over, was even going to have lunch for us when we got there. I just wondered how much lunch was going to get eaten after I dropped my bomb.
Like always, Mom greeted us at the door with hugs and kisses as if she hadn’t just seen us last night. She practically pushed us into the dining room. She had food laid out all over the table. There was going to be no way I could tell her during all of this, so I resigned myself to eat and then tell her after.
Halfway through the meal my father joined us, Mom set about making him a plate and it reminded me of when I was a kid and we all had dinner around the table. Dad was talking about his day when Mom interrupted him.
“Darling, Nico joined us today because he has some news.”
Dad put his fork down and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Is that right? Well, come on son, what’s your news?”
“Well, Mom, Dad. I wanted to wait until after we ate before I told you.”
“He doesn’t want to get stabbed,” Luke said, eating another forkful of food.
“Stabbed? I don’t understand,” Mom said concerned.
“Don’t pay any attention to Luke, Mom, he’s being a jerk.” I took a deep breath before I spoke again. “I just found out that I’m a dad.”
“Ahhhhhh!” Mom screamed and began to make the sign of the cross and recite the Lord’s Prayer. “Oh Marc, that horrible Anise trapped our boy.”
“Ma, no. Anise isn’t pregnant.”
“What?” she screeched.
“Son, before you give your mother a heart attack, perhaps you should explain.”
“Well, I met a girl at a bar. She was beautiful, the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. We danced and well, things happened. The next day I woke up at home with just snippets of the previous night’s memories. Last night I saw her, and more of that night started coming back and well, I went to her and asked her about that night. It seems that she had the same problem. She was missing part of that night as well. More of it started coming back and I don’t think it’s good. I think someone drugged us.”
“Drugged you?”
“Yeah, part of the night came back. I woke up as two men were over me pressing a cloth to my face. Thinking back to the next morning, I woke up sick with a nasty headache. I just chalked it up to being drunk.”
“So this girl, she has your baby?”
“Yeah, Mrs. P. She looks just like Nic.”
“She? You have a daughter?”
“Yeah, I have a daughter. Her name is Layla.”
“Are you sure this isn’t a ploy to get into the family, Nico? You know how people are.”
“Yeah, well. I said that, and I hurt her feelings. We took a DNA test this morning. However, like Luke said, I could take a million tests. I looked at her and she looks just like me. She has my hair and my eyes.”
“Who is she, the girl who has your daughter?”
“Well, it’s a funny story. I think you may know her, or at least know of her.”
“We know her?
“Yeah, she’s one of Jonathan Thomas’ daughters.”
“Little Christianna?” Dad said.
“Yeah, Christianna. Her daughter is mine.”
“Your father, he has a soft spot for her,” Mom said with a smile.
“Huh?”
“Well, your dad grew up with Jonathan when they were kids. Back then he was Jonathan Thomasorio.”
“Don’t you repeat that, but yes, Jonathan and I grew up together. When his grandfather came over to the U.S. he changed his Italian last name Thomasorio to Thomas in order to fit in. The name Thomasorio is one you don’t want to hear. The Thomasorio family has been known to make rivers literally run red with blood. Even with Jonathan knowing that, he never forgot about us. He kept his friends his friends and helped us out a lot, which is why I was there the day Christianna was born.”
“How did I not know this?”
“Because it isn’t something we’ve talked about. There was a lot that surrounded Christianna’s birth, Jonathan changed a lot. He started delving more into the political field. He wanted to just be a lawyer, but things happened.”
“What happened?”
“If I tell you this, you can’t tell this story in its entirety unless it’s told to you. Either of you.”
“We won’t,” Luke and I said together.
“Evelyn, that’s Jonathan’s wife. Well, it had been years since she had a kid, she was having pains, she was in and out of the hospital. They never found anything wrong with her. So one night, they were at the house and she started to have pains. They thought she had a heart attack so they called an ambulance. When the ambulance got to the house they hooked her up and were on their way down the driveway when the ambulance stopped.” Dad took a deep breath before he continued. Evelyn doubled over in pain and then there was fluid including blood all over the gurney. The paramedics were stunned, they started to remove her pants to find a baby in the leg.”
“No fucking way,” Luke said.
“Language!” Mom responded.
“Sorry.”
“Go on, Dad.”
“There lay like a miracle a newborn baby, gasping for air. They went to work on the baby when she took one last breath in that ambulance. She was clinically dead for twenty-two minutes before she was revived. Jonathan went after the doctors and the hospitals, misdiagnosis could have led to his child being stillborn or worse, Evelyn could have died. Luckily for everyone they both survived, Christianna excelled better than anyone could have predicted.”
“Wow, that’s amazing,” Luke said.
“Does she know this story?” I asked, needing to know.
“I think she does to a point. She may know everything, she may not. I mean, who’d want to know that they died?”
Dad was right, would she have wanted to know that? Would they tell her? I don’t know if I could handle that. I could barely handle this story. If she wasn’t here I wouldn’t be sitting here having this discussion. I’d probably be sitting here discussing Anise.
The horror.
We joined Dad in his office after his story about Christianna. I couldn’t get her or my daughter off my mind. I didn’t need a DNA test to tell me, I knew. After everything that she’d been through I wouldn’t doubt her for a second. Dad’s office phone rang. When he looked down at the screen, he smiled from ear to ear.
“Well, hey there, Grandpa.”
Luke and I shot each other questioning looks.
“Oh yeah, I just heard myself…” He laughed. “Thank you, now we’re really family.”
And that was the moment I knew Dad was talking to Jonathan Thomas.
“Yeah, he came over first thing. Told us he was a dad. Mm hmm…Took responsibility already. Good, I would expect that…That sounds great, I’ll have Marilyn call next week.”
When they hung up, Dad turned to me and smiled.
“I’m a grandpa and thank God it isn’t with Anise.”
“Me too.”
“I think this calls for a toast.” Dad stood, taking three glasses out of the cabinet behind him and pouring whiskey in each of them. “To Fatherhood, may every day for you be a blessing.”
“To Fatherhood,” we said, clinking glasses.
“Now, what are you going to do about Christianna?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you going to marry her?”
“Marry her? I don’t know. Right now, I just want to get to know my daughter, get to know her mother. I just found out that I’m a dad, give me some time to get used to it.”
“She may not even like you like that. I mean after last night,” Luke said. I was seconds from punching him in the face.
“What happened last night?”
There was no way I could word this in a way that didn’t come off as bad as it was, so I d
ecided I wouldn’t say anything.
“What didn’t happen last night?” Luke laughed.
“Luke, shut the fuck up.”
“No, Luke, you go right on and tell me.”
“You see, at the end of the night after he ran into the beautiful girl that makes him goofy, he started to remember part of their night together. He thought she had set him up, you know, to get dirt on the family. So we broke into her place and Nic pulled a gun on her.”
“You pulled a gun on her? With a baby in the house?”
“I didn’t know there was a baby until later, but that’s neither here nor there. I apologized, I didn’t hurt either of them.”
“Yeah, because you’re her baby daddy.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Okay, Daddy. Wait, no.”
“Teach you to try and be a smart ass.”
Luke’s phone started to ring, he excused himself to answer it.
“So son, do you like this girl?”
“I do.”
“I understand, you’ll figure it out. No matter what you decide, you make sure you don’t hurt either of them.”
“I promise, I won’t.
Luke walked back in and nervously looked around. “Nic, we’ve got a problem.”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“The tail we had on Christianna and Layla lost her, they never saw her leave her parents.”
“Damn it.”
“How’d he not see where she went? Who’s on her house?”
“Jeffery is back on her house and she hasn’t returned.”
“Boys, calm down. I’ll call Jonathan and see if he knows where she is.”
I paced back and forth in the living room waiting for Dad to come back, all sorts of different scenarios running through my head. I just hoped nothing happened to them. I’ve never had to worry about anyone before in my life, this feeling was new to me. I found myself needing to protect them, putting them in their own protective bubble. I knew I couldn’t do that, but I did keep one of my men on her to keep situations like this from happening.
When Dad walked back in the room, his face was calm. “I just spoke to Evelyn, she said Christianna and Layla just went out of town for a few days. She said and I quote, “I just wanted a day or two with Layla before I have to share her.”
“Is she in a safe place?”
“Yes, son. You can call one of your guys to put on her to keep yourself calm. Just give her a couple of days before you go out there.”
“Okay, where is she?”
Dad slipped me a piece of paper with an address on it. “They have a house at the beach. I already asked them, it’s gated, it also has an alarm system, and they have plenty of food, so they won’t need to leave.”
“Call someone and get them out there.”
“On it,” Luke acknowledged before leaving the room
“Refreshing to see.”
“What’s that?”
“You, caring for your family. Keeping them safe.”
“I’m doing what I think should be done.”
Chapter Five
Christianna
It had been two days since I got to the house, Layla loved it. Something about the salt air calmed her. She slept better than she ever had at home, I think it had a lot to do with all the swimming we did during the day. Layla is a water baby, she took to the water like a duck. The inflatable floating toy seat that Mom had purchased was a joy. She splashed and pushed her way around the water, laughing away.
She even managed to keep her sun hat on the whole time, which was great. Me, I had started to tan from being out in the sun the whole time. Her suntan lotion held up really well, I would have to remember to get some for myself.
Today I was going to take her to the beach. It was just a little walk across the boardwalk, there weren’t very many people out here, just the families of the home owners. The more touristy part was at the other end. I’d take her down there one evening to see the flashing lights. I think she’d enjoy that.
I was in the middle of making breakfast for Layla, who was in her high chair chomping down on a biter biscuit, when the doorbell rang. I dried off my hands and went to see who was out there. Looking through the peephole, there he stood. Nicholas/Mason, whomever, in all his glory.
Unlocking the bolts and knob, I opened the door.
“Hi,” he said. I even caught as his eyes looked me over. I hope he enjoyed my tank and short combo.”
“Hello.”
“I have the results,” he said, holding up an envelope.
“Oh, okay. Would you like to come in? I was about to feed Layla breakfast.”
“Yeah, thank you.”
Stepping away from the door, I let him walk inside, engaging the locks after I shut it.
“She’s this way.” I walked down the hallway and turned the corner.
The instant she saw him round the corner, she got all excited, flailing her arms.
“Someone is happy to see you.”
“I’m very happy to see her.” I watched as he walked over to Layla, he crouched down beside her and started talking to her. She even handed him her biscuit and he even pretended to take a bite.
Holding the bowl of baby cereal and peaches, I walked over to the two of them. “Would you like to feed her?”
“Oh yeah, I’d like that. Any particular way to do it?”
“Just the way you’d feed yourself, she’s a very good eater.”
“Here.” He handed me the envelope as he took the bowl from my hand.
“Did you look at it?” I asked, motioning with the envelope.
He nodded. “She’s my daughter. I’m sorry I doubted you.”
“It’s okay, I mean it wasn’t the best of circumstances. I understand why you were apprehensive.”
“Now that we know, things will change for both of us.” He began to feed Layla and she ate it up. “You aren’t alone in this. I want to pay you for the past seven months. Along with any money you paid out while you were pregnant. I want to reimburse you.”
“I don’t want your money.”
He nodded. “I thought you’d say that, so I’d like to put the money that I rightfully owe you into an account for Layla.”
“I don’t want that. If you want to do that I can’t stop you, she’s your daughter.”
“Okay, now that that’s settled, I have one other request.”
“And what’s that?”
“I want to be added to her birth certificate, I want her to have my last name.”
He was taking a proactive approach, he wanted to do all of this right.
“Okay.”
It was the only thing I could say, I couldn’t fight him on this. I wouldn’t fight him on this. He was officially her father and there was nothing I could say about it. I was just glad that she finally had the man who was the other half of her.
“What should I call you?” I questioned, knowing I knew him as his middle name.
“You can call me whatever you feel comfortable with. Nicholas is my name, but everyone calls me Nico with the exception of Luke, who calls me Nic. Although no one calls me Nicholas, I guess it’s too much for them to say.”
“Nicholas it is then,” I said with a smile. “Coming from someone with a long name, I appreciate when the whole thing is used.”
“Okay, Christianna. I’ll remember that.”
Nodding at him, I went back to what I was going to do before. I started to clean up the little mess I had made and get something for breakfast. “Would you like something to eat?” I asked.
“I ate before I came here, but thank you.”
I pulled some yogurt from the fridge, adding some granola, then mixing them together. I stood back and watched Nicholas feeding Layla. For someone new to this, he was enjoying himself. I finished up my breakfast at the same time he finished feeding Layla.
“What do you have planned for today?” Nicholas asked, as I was wiping Layla’s face.
“Well, every
morning, Layla and I go swimming for a little bit so it tires her out. She goes down for an afternoon nap, then I get some writing done while I wait. I was thinking I’d like to take her to the beach when it isn’t so hot and the sand isn’t so scalding. I think she’d like it. Then maybe down the boardwalk, she likes flashing lights.
Pulling Layla from her high chair, I placed her on my hip. “I’m going to take her upstairs and change.”
“All right, I’m going to go and check into my hotel. Is it okay if I come back after I’m done?”
His statement cut through me; he was here, he came all this way to see his daughter. He shouldn’t have to go. “Why don’t you stay here?”
“What?”
“I mean, you came all the way out here for Layla. You shouldn’t have to stay in a hotel so far from home. Besides, there’s plenty of room here and you can start getting used to her routine.”
“You’re sure?”
I nodded, smiling. “I’m sure.”
“Well, I’m not alone.”
“You’re not?”
“No, Luke and Bobby are with me.”
“Oh, sure. They’re both more than welcome to stay here too. I mean there are eight bedrooms, they can find plenty of places to go. There are four bedrooms on this floor and four upstairs, and there’s a huge game room in the basement. As long as they don’t take the two bedrooms on the right side up at the top of the stairs, those are Layla’s and mine. Layla’s has little animals on it with ‘do not disturb’ written across the door. If the door’s closed, that means she’s sleeping.”
“All right, I’ll let them know. I’ll go outside and get my things. I need to make a few calls.”
“Did you bring a suit?”
“I think so…I’m not sure, but I did bring shorts.”
“Good, then you can come in with us.”
“You got it,” he said with a smile. I went upstairs.
I changed into my black bikini and dressed Layla in her little pink one piece with matching hat. I slipped on a pair of shorts and grabbed two towels before heading back downstairs.
There was no movement out front, nor were there any sounds in the house. I guessed he was still working everything out with his friends. Carrying Layla out back, I tested the water with my foot, making sure it was warm enough. Layla started to get excited when she saw her floaty, I scooted out of my shorts and went to the pool stairs.
Can't Walk Away (The Thomas Family Chronicles #1) Page 6
