CHAPTER 31

The next day, they were on their way back to Folks.

It was a very long and uncomfortable flight for Nadine. She wasn't speaking to Nicholas at all and he was making no effort to speak to her either.

They were treating each other like total stranger.

They landed at the airport and she made her way to her car, leaving behind everything he bought for her and taking just her own luggage. He could do with them whatever he liked.

His invisible cleaning and cooking crew had probably done the parking while she slept the night before. She had slept hours after sobbing her heart out and woken up that morning to see her things packed.

"You are coming with me," she heard him say from behind her. Without breaking her stride, she continued towards her car, not turning around to give him a reply

"Nadine! Will you stop for a second to listen to what I've to say?," he shouted after her. His voice made a few heads turn in their direction. That didn't stop her either.

She got to her truck and opened the passenger door to drop in her luggage but the door was slammed closed almost immediately. She raised her gaze to his glowering one not understanding a single reason for his anger.

"What do you want from me?"

"What do I want from you? Are you seriously asking me that?"

"Yes I'm," she screamed at him.

"I want my daughter. You are coming with me to Folks and you'll be taking me to her immediately," he said with all the calmness he wasn't feeling.

"Just a reminder Nicholas Cole, but the world doesn't revolve around you. You can't tell me what to do and what not to. I do what I want and I don't want to come with you," she said jerking the door open angrily then added "And you don't have a daughter. You were just a sperm donor."

"Like hell I am. Know this, you can't keep me away from her now that I know. You'll be seeing me around and there's no stopping me," he ranted angrily "I'll be right behind you, trust me."

"Whatever you decide to do, I don't care," she replied vehemently. She probably looked funny with her eyes swollen right then but she was not concerned.Nicholas was a jerk she'll be having no relations with anytime in the future.

But one thing she couldn't get over was the fact that he didn't demand for a DNA test, he had believed instantly Nichole was his daughter. If he could believe that much, why not believe her when she said she loved him? It showed he had little faith in what they had together and she was never going to forgive him for that.

If he wanted a part in their daughter's live, she was fine with that and one thing she was going to make clear to him was that she won't be needing his money to raise Nichole. She was fine without his blasted money.

"You've no idea what I'm going to do Nadine," he said in a dangerous whisper.

He turned and marched off towards his own car. Nadine got into her car and drove straight to the inn.

She was grateful for the first time for her continuous lack of guest. She needed the time alone.

Certain Nicholas was going straight for the Sullivan's, she waited in agony for the result of father and daughter's first meeting.

............

Nicholas drove into Folks and made for the Sullivan's like the hounds of hell was at his heels, or wheel as was the case.

All these years, he had a little girl out there who he didn't know exists. He felt deprived and cheated, but it was all because of Nadine's deceit.

He was no better than his parents, even they had sheltered and provided for him but what had he done for his own child for seven years? Nothing.

He was his parents' son after all and he hated himself for that. If only he had waited around in town for a little while and if only Nadine had even contacted him after the child was born. The last thought left him burning with rage.

He couldn't beleiev he still felt something for her despite the rage burning in him. She had wickedly punished him and he couldn't forgive her. She was probably keeping his daughter from him for an appropriate time to extort money from him. She was going to be in for a huge disappointment

Yes, she had punished him whether it was intentional or not. And in the past weeks he had been in town, she had been hiding his daughter right under his nose.

But of course, he had denied the child before, she couldn't risk him doing it again. The last thought didn't appease him in the least, that was not him. He didn't run from his responsibilities.

He got to the Sullivan's and rang the doorbell and waited but didn't hear a sound from inside so he rang again and again.

The door was yanked open a moment later to admit a short fuming child.

The child at the elementary school, the same one at the store and probably the same child he saw at the restaurant Nadine worked.

"Nichole...," he said with a tremor in his voice, emotions clogging his voice and his eyes. There was no mistaking if she was his or not, she was a hundred percent his with her grey eyes and raven black curls. Her bow lips were exactly..like his grandmother's!

Then it hit him why he thought the little kid looked familiar. She was the spitting image of his grandmother at that age. He had seen the picture on the fireplace at his grandparents' house so many times it was etched in his memory. That was the reason he had a niggling feeling when he saw the little girl's photo at Nadine's inn.

He wanted to take her in his arms and hold onto her forever. The intensity of his own emotions shocked him. Until a moment ago, he couldn't even comprehend what it meant to be a father not to talk of loving a child. But right then, he felt like the love he felt for his child at first sight was going to suffocate him.

She was staring at him, her eyes as round of saucer like she had seen a ghost. Does she know who he's? Did Nadine show her pictures of him? Why didn't she let him know about it when he met her at the school?

Nichole stared in horror at the big man from the school framing the front door. She panicked, thinking he was there to report about her rude display of weeks ago then she slammed the door when she could finally move.

"Who was that honey?," Sheila asked her from the living room.

She didn't answer but ran for her room.

Nicholas stared blankly at the door in his face. What was that all about?, he asked himself as he rang the doorbell again.

This time, Sheila stood at the other side of the door, the smile on her face disappearing when she saw who the caller was.

"Hi," he said, uncertain about what to say to her. He was lost for words.

"What are you doing here?," she asked cuttingly.

"Nichole..," was all he managed to say with a pained look in his eyes but she understood him.

"I see she finally told you. How does it feel to know you've a grown daughter from a pregnancy you rejected all these years ago?," she asked in a voice that showed how revolted she truly felt about him.

"Sheila, it was....."

"Oh please, spare me the details. Left to me, I'll be so happy if you didn't know for the rest of your days, not like you care anyway but you had to know for Nichole's sake."

Nicholas still couldn't find the right words to say. His daughter was just in that house, just beyond his reach. He wanted Sheila to let him in to see her. He needed to feel her heartbeat, her warm skin, the texture of her hair, he wanted to hear her voice, he wanted to hear her call him daddy. Everything Sheila was saying didn't even register in his head. He just wanted to hold his daughter.

"Sheila.."

"Please don't. Just go, she doesn't even want to see you. I'm shocked you are here at all."

"That.. .,"

"That is the truth," she said cutting his statement short again.

"Will you let me speak?," he thundered. He didn't need her childish games right then. That seemed to stop her.

"OK," she said quietly.

"I need to see her," he whispered brokenly "I need to see my daughter."

"You are my daddy?," Nichole asked from behind Sheila. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her and she had come out of her room. Then she had overheard most of the conversation.

Sheila sighed and moved from the door to let him in. He remained standing where he was, staring at his little girl at the other side of the door. He felt so uncertain about what to do.

He was that little boy again, thirsting for the love and affection of his parents, doing all he could to impress them but going unnoticed. He had built a wall around his heart until he met Nadine and they had all crumbled.

Those walls had gone back up better and stronger after she had broken his heart. He had trusted nor loved anyone ever since her.

But in few seconds of meeting his daughter, he had fallen in love with the heart-shaped face kid he didn't even know existed and he was uncertain about how she felt about him.

What if she didn't want him like his parents? And who could blame her? It had been six whole years of neglect, even his parents didn't do that much before he started resenting them. He hadn't been there to help her while she was bullied and called names, not even while she was being formed in her mother's womb, all the crucial time she probably needed a father to carry her high on his shoulder like he always wanted his father to do for him. Who was he kidding?, he was the worst kind of father and he didn't deserve a second chance but he wanted so desperately to have one.

He was going to start by apologizing for all the years he wasn't there by her side.

"Nichole..," he managed to say before she ran headlong over the threshold into his arm, weeping and saying the word 'daddy' brokenly.