Chapter 62

Nathaniel’s POV.

“What’s her name? Where does she live? What does she look like? Who are her parents?” My dad asked his series of questions, which made me sigh loudly.

“I won’t share any information with you right now because you two will stalk her down and scare her away,” I glared at them both as I stirred my lemonade around. The lemonade was my mother’s secret recipe she never, ever, shared with anyone. Probably because she loves the praise she gets.

“Nathaniel, you know we’re not getting any younger here,” My mother sighed and shook her head.

“It’s about time you start looking for a lady to settle down with,” My father reminded me.

“I know and if you give me some time it will happen, it sure won’t happen with you two constantly nagging me about it,” I reminded them and took a sip of the lemonade.

“Okay tell us just a little something about this lady,” My mother asked sweetly, the tone she used to always get what she wanted but it only really works on her brother, father, and my father.

“Well, she’s around 28, she’s a businesswoman. Hm, she’s sweet and pretty and smart,” I told them, watching as their eyes and smiles grew bigger and bigger. I left out the part where she had a child… My child– their grandchild.

“Tell us more,” My father requested, but for now, this was enough.

“Hm, I think it’s enough for now, our lunch is getting cold,” I pointed out and took a nice amount of the potato salad made for us.

After lunch with my parents, I spent some time at my old office, checking everything out. Then I had dinner with my parents and right after I snuck away to call Selene and Roman. I was pleased to know they both missed me almost as much as I missed them. I really wished they were here with me tonight.

I missed tucking Roman into bed and reading those silly little stories to him. I sighed and went to bed myself. The next day followed and everything went as normal. I was currently in front of the cafe Yaden picked and there was a good fifteen minutes left for me to sit in the car before I could make my way in. This was planned; I had told Selene we could call right now so it worked out perfectly. Roman was fast asleep but Selene had stayed up late to get some work in order.

“Hey baby,” I smiled at the phone, she was busy combing her hair so she could go to bed.

“Hey, how’s your day?” She asked as she removed her cardigan and slipped under the covers of her bed.

“Barely started to be fair. I have this lunch with Yaden I told you about so I’m outside the cafe,” I laughed and turned the AC up a little more.

“I miss you, Roman misses you like crazy,” She admitted which put a smile on my face but also at the same time made me a little sad.

“I miss you both too, my parents keep asking about you but don’t worry I won’t say anything until we’re both ready,” I informed her and watched as she smiled a little.

“You think they’ll flip when they find out about Roman?” She asked, a little nervous.

“I think there’s a fat chance they either get you and him on the jet or they fly over there by themselves,” I admitted. These two would do anything and everything for a chance to have a grandchild.

“Think the no spoiling rule will work on them?” She asked biting down on her lip, she already knew the answer.

“Baby, we both know that won’t work on them at all, you’ll have to fight them but it will be a war lost,” I shrugged and laughed. We continued to talk longer and enjoyed it for about ten minutes before I realized she had passed out. I ended the call and let out a sigh. Damn, I really miss them. I stepped out of the car and made my way in.

“Hello, Nathaniel,” Yaden greeted me when he saw me. Of course, I was ten minutes early and Yaden must be 15 minutes early. Luckily, the table we reserved was free for us to use.

“Yaden, it’s been a while,” I admitted and sat down across from him.

“I suppose so, sir. How have you been?” Yaden wondered and slid me the menu.

“Great, you?” I asked. “Aside from your ex coming back,” I remembered and had to exclude that. It was much easier to catch up in person because over the phone we only talked about business.

“Well, aside from Astrid, good,” He shrugged. “The business is doing really great, we have tons of new-” He started rambling and I rolled my eyes.

“I asked about you, not the business,” I reminded him. We’re always talking about business so I already knew everything about it. “I know my business is doing well, Yaden,” I shrugged confidently.

“Oh… Well, I’m good too I suppose. Yasmine started this new school and she made friends so I’m happy about that. She also started ballet class. Never thought I’d be buying front-row tickets to those but here we are,” He talked about his daughter. Finally, I understood what he meant and I didn’t envy what he had for once.

“They sure make us do weird shit to put a smile on their faces,” I chuckled and he just smiled.

“They do…” He confirmed it late. “Other than Yasmin thriving and making me proud I also fixed the car,” Yaden informed me. He had been working on this old, classic Chevy for years now and the parts were difficult to find and it wasn’t the easiest to repair.

“You fixed it?” I was surprised, I honestly deemed it impossible.

“Yup. I found the time to do so and finally, it worked,” He grinned, proud of himself.

“Great job, man,” I said truthfully. We remained quiet for a minute then came the waitress and we placed our order. “Listen about that in court, I have everything on camera, it was difficult to get because it was deleted but still on the cloud. I had the people from the old office gather all of that along with the times Astrid came to the office to scream and yell. Other than that I worked with the notes from your lawyer and I’ve prepared my speech. I can send it to him to check. No need to worry, she won’t take Yasmin away from you,” I assured him.

“Thank you, Nathaniel, you have no idea how much it means to me,” He sighed and looked a little less tense than when I first entered the shop.

“Mhm,” I hummed. “Do you happen to know why she came back for her?” I couldn’t help but wonder. After almost 5 years she was just now coming back? She knew about her child and willingly abandoned her despite being begged not to. Yasmin was only a few weeks old but Astrid was still out the door.

“She fell in love two years ago, got married one year ago, and turns out she does want a family now. With that man but I don’t know, they’re having issues so she thought of the backup child she had a while back,” He spoke a bit bitterly. I guess it was understandable, it was awful what he was going through.

“That sounds utterly terrible,” I admitted and sighed.

“It doesn’t end there. Neither of them really have a job or proper house,” He shrugged.

“If that’s the case then why are you worried? Clearly, she’s unfit to be a mother,” I shrugged off too. He’d most certainly win this.

“Yes, but her sister is helping her out and I just want to be 100% sure, I know Astrid will take her as far away as possible if she gets the chance to,” He explained.

Yaden and I enjoyed our lunch. Yaden started to talk about his daughter and I could see the joy in his eyes. He had some tough years with his daughter but that seemed to be all worth it. For the first time in my life, I felt what he felt when it came to the undying love he had for his child. I kept thinking of Roman, he was a little younger than Yasmine but many cute behavioristic things of hers were almost the same like Roman's.

The lawyers Yaden had hired were five minutes early which was setting a good example. When they weren't looking I began to do some research on them to see how they performed in court. I didn't want Yaden to lose his child and I didn't want him to have a lousy lawyer who'd get the case lost. Normally it's harder for a mother to be denied custody but I had proof that that woman was crazy and on top of that she had abandoned her child all her life. I'm sure Yasmine didn't even know what her mother looked like.

Together we all went over everything that was supposed to happen in two days. Once that was over I was excited to get home because I’d get to call Roman and Selene later.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss them at all. I missed them so much that I now began to worry about what would happen. My companies are mainly here and whilst I can handle it in Australia and only travel for important meetings it still leaves me with my family. Everyone lives here and for Selene, her family lives there. I just knew once we had this conversation that my head would most definitely hurt.