CHAPTER 42
Things progressed smoothly between him and Nadine in the following week, maybe too smoothly.
She refused to move in with him despite all his pleading and her ever annoying guest seemed like he wasn't leaving town either so she had to cater to him.
Nicholas had given her a large rock without all the aplomb that came with a romantic proposal.
It had been during one of the many nights she had been spending at his place. She had been in the kitchen late at night to get a cup of warm milk to help her sleep well. Half awake, she had opened the refrigerator and had closed it and gasped when she saw him just standing behind the closed door, on his knees.
"Nicholas! You scared me and what are you doing?"
The hand he kept hidden behind him came forward to reveal the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her twenty six years; a platinum ring studded with heart cut diamonds sitting on a blue velvet box.
It simply took her breath away.
"Will you marry me Nadine Marie waters?"
Nadine had given a 'yes' without any hesitation and he had slipped the finger on her finger, standing up to carry her into his bedroom to seal their engagement.
She hadn't minded in the least, it had been private and romantic but she had been expecting something grand from someone of his taste. Then she reminded herself he wasn't marrying her for the right reasons and so she shouldn't expect the right things in their union. But a girl could dream.
The ring had stirred the population of Folks, and for the first time in a long time, a lot of people were smiling her way, not giving her unkind looks.
And Nichole seemed like she walked with a lot more bounce in her step, happy to finally get her wish for a family. And she was already fast friends with the daughter of the new head teacher that moved into town.
It was like everyone got a fresh start, even Sheila was trying to be happy and move on from her experience, although it wasn't an easy feat all on her own.
Nadine was almost certain she was pregnant again but she kept the news to herself, not even getting a pregnancy kit to confirm it, yet.
And Nicholas was having the time of his life until Caroline started planting seeds of doubt in his heart.
She had visited his place for the second time during his stay in Folks, with gifts congratulating him about his impending wedding to Nadine.
He had not bought her reason for coming but had played along with her charade. She had launched into details about things happening with a lot of people in town that he didn't care to know about.
Then she had started talking about Christian Norman. The topic had pricked his attention but he had not paid much mind to her until he heard her talk about Christian telling her father how much he loved Nadine.
That got his attention but his face remained passive, like the information meant nothing to him. He was absolutely sure Nadine didn't know the guy had something for her while he stayed under her roof.
He felt really agitated about it. Christian was supposed to be her friend from the way she talked about him.
But first, he needed to get Caroline out of his house. He looked down at his watch.
"Sorry Caroline, but I've an appointment I can't miss in the next few minutes. You can call again," he smiled with just his lips.
"That's OK. I've an appointment with my dad about now," she said as she stood up to go.
"See you around."
"OK. But don't tell Nadine I told you anything about her guest. I heard she felt really uncomfortable about it when she knew how he felt about her."
"Sure," he replied halfheartedly, still riling from the news that she knew about how Christian felt about her but had failed to mention it to him.
She probably had her reasons and it wasn't even a big deal to start with. He tried to forget all about the conversation as he led Caroline out. He didn't like the woman at all.
Immediately, he dialed Nadine's phone but she wasn't picking. It was her day off from the restaurant and she was most likely at the inn.
He had dissuaded her from continuing with her part-time job but she wasn't having any of it for now. Independent till the end, he thought smiling.
He rang her doorbell when he got to the door but no one answered for a long time. Maybe she was sleeping because her truck was parked, she had been doing a lot of that lately. He tried the doorknob and the door opened.
Her guest was probably home. He moved in to see a trail of clothes up the stairs from the lounge and Caroline's talk from earlier started replaying in his head. Her guest stayed on the ground floor and she stayed on the floor above him, that much he knew. But what he didn't understand was why a trail of clothes obviously removed in a hurry led all the way up to her room.
It couldn't be, not so early after what they just discovered together.
He put his hand to the doorknob to open the door but Christian beat him to it in just his boxers with Nadine taking off the sheets in the room behind him. He became cold all over.
"Holy cow!," Christian swore before Nicholas' fist connected with his perfect, symmetric nose. He went down with the blow, bleeding profusely. He was going to end up with a broken nose, Nicholas thought with satisfaction as he flexed his fingers.
"What are you doing?," Nadine screamed in horror, rushing to Christian as he moaned on the floor, holding his hand to his nose gingerly.
"What I should be doing to you if you weren't a woman," he answered savagely. He was seeing it but his brain wasn't accepting it. How could she cheat on him? He was just learning to trust and trying not to misunderstood but all evidence pointed to it.
He was so mad he wanted to punch the living daylight out of Christian. He moved towards him where Nadine was crouched beside him on the floor to do that but she blocked his path.
.........
"STOP!," she said blocking him with her body, with her arms stretched out to the sides.
She had an idea what the scene looked like but she expected Nicholas to trust her more after all they've tried to go through together in the past week.
"Move out of the way Nadine, I need to teach your lover a lesson!"
"HE IS NOT MY LOVER!," she said vehemently, trying hard to reach him through his clouded judgement and assumptions.
She expected more from him but she understood the little boy he had been more. His early life had been misguided and she couldn't blame him for always jumping into conclusion where women were concerned.
The little boy in him saw them all as his mother.
"Move Nadine," he said menacingly.
"NOT EVERY WOMAN IS YOUR MOTHER!," she shrieked at him. That stopped him long enough to really look at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you see? You are doing it again, trying to tear us apart based on your endless assumptions about me precipitated by what you knew of her. I'M NOT HER Nicholas and I'll never treat you the way she treated your father," she said brokenly on the verge of tears.
She had entered the house after an early run to the store to finally pick up a pregnancy kit and some groceries when she had seen the messy trial of clothes up the stairs.
Christian was a shameless whore and she was fine with it as long as he kept his business to the ground floor and his room. She hadn't understood why he had to take it to her floor.
She had followed the trial of clothes directly to her bedroom, just what she needed. Two shagging adults in her bed. She had opened the door without a thought to giving them any privacy. The sight of Christian humping while his partner made the most absurd sounds had made her want to slam the door closed again.
Christian had noticed her presence and stopped his motion immediately, jumping off the woman who turned out to be the young librarian. At least, he wasn't jumping from one partner to the other.
The lady scrambled off the bed and disappeared into the adjoining bathroom blushing furiously. Christian grinned at her, naked on the sheet. Her gaze dropped to his manhood; not bad, she thought before he covered himself with the sheet.
"Any explanations?," she asked sarcastically.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't find my keys and I didn't want you walking in on us making out in the lounge or living room." She refrained from pointing out she had done just that several nights.
"Just get the hell out of my room. The whole place reek of sex." He apologized again as he moved to put on his boxers with the sheets around him. She had just started removing the sheets when he opened the door and Nicholas had walked in.