CHAPTER 34

He had no idea where he was going to start rectifying all the mistakes he had made.

There was his daughter and missing six years of her life and then there was Nadine.

Nadine, the only woman he had ever loved, the woman he still loved, the mother of his child and the woman he had to have her forgiveness, by any means possible, even if he didn't deserve it.

He didn't know what he was going to do. To imagine all these while, he had been staging an heart shattering revenge when he had been the culprit not a victim.

He had even threatened to drag her to court over custody. Who was he kidding? He was the jerk she called him.

Just like he staged a grand revenge, he was going to stage a grand courtship. He was going to make her fall in love with him again and remain in love with him forever. But he didn't even know how he was going to go about it. She was certainly pissed at him at that moment.

His doorbell rang suddenly, jeering him out of his deep thought.

When he opened the door, the sight that greeted him almost made him take a step back.

What the hell was Katrina doing at his front door?

"How the hell did you know where to find me?," he asked without preambles. Only few of his staff knew his whereabouts and Katrina was definitely not one of them.

She was the last clingy one of her species he broke up with. He couldn't even remember the reason he deemed her worthy to date in the first place. She was too tall for his liking, more of bones than flesh, she successfully picked at whatever dish was placed in front of her, she had a boring blond shade compared to Nadine's vibrant flaming hair.

And her blue eyes with her excessively long lashes that blinked dollar signs back at him was a turn off. Unlike Nadine's green eyes that...

He needed to focus on getting rid of Katrina not think about Nadine incessantly, he chastised himself.

"Hello, nice to see you too," she said batting her long eyelashes.

"What are you doing here?," he asked coolly, not feeling the least bit happy to see her.

"Aren't you going to let me in?," she asked darting out her tongue to lick her blood red lips. The action repulsed him. He couldn't believe he ever went out with someone like her while Nadine was just....

He sighed, stopping the thought.

Nadine, get out of my head he thought to himself.

"Why? I came to see you of course. You know you aren't the only one with connections. I just had to pull some strings and voilà!, I found you. Didn't you miss me?"

"No. And why are you here to see me?"

"Because I missed you. Don't be a stranger, invite me in."

"Never. You should take your leave."

"Fine. Maybe you are having a bad day and I'm not really in a mood to argue so I'll stay in an hotel in town, call me when you need me but don't take too much time doing that darling," she said blowing him a kiss and moving towards her car.

The fact that she didn't even put up any resistance goes to show how lucky his day was going to be. Dealing with a headstrong Katrina could make a lesser man cry in frustration.

He sighed in relieve as her pink convertible zoomed off, happy she hadn't stayed long enough to delay his appointment with his newfound daughter.

She was right there behind the counter in the store, giggling helplessly at something Sheila was whispering to her. Then she saw him and stopped momentarily before a bright smile lit up her whole face like the sunset.

The smile lit up his gloomy mood, just the medicine for a bad day.

"Hello ladies," he greeted a beaming Nichole and a stony faced Sheila. She sure knew how to hold a grudge. He couldn't believe she was the chatty easygoing friend he used to know.

"Hi daddy," Nichole said, dragging out the word 'daddy'. A few people were already gazing at them with rapt attention from the moment he entered the store. Nichole obviously wanted them to know she had a father now so he was more than happy to play along.

"Daddy misses his little girl. Want to hangout with me for a bit?," he said loud enough for all to hear.

"I'll grab my jacket in a second," she said and ran off in case he changed his mind.

"She didn't ask you about it. I should have done that, I'm sorry," he observed.

"Makes no difference. She would have done whatever she wanted to do anyway," she replied tonelessly and went about typing off on the computer, cutting off the chitchats.

He felt so uncomfortable, he was about to make an apology for the assumptions he had about her part in Nadine's deceit, which never happened. Apologizing wasn't an easy feat for him, it wasn't something he ever did.

He realized he was going to ditch his ego and do a lot of apologizing if he wanted Nadine back.

"Sheila, I really need to talk to you..."

"But I don't want to talk to you."

"You'll be talking to me. I want to know all that happened after I left," he blurted instead of an apology. After all, he was really interested in all that happened.

"Why do you care? You should have waited around instead of running with your tails between your legs if you really cared," she said furiously

They were the center of attention of everyone in the store and she just referred to him as a coward.

"I'm not a coward and I didn't do any running....."

"I'm ready daddy!," Nichole cut him short, twirling in her red jacket. Someone cleared their throat from one of the shelves but he didn't turn to check.

He still wasn't used to the melting feeling he got when she called him 'daddy'.

"You look beautiful honey." She blushed shyly.

"I'll see you later," he said meaningfully, turning to face Sheila. She gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

He sure wasn't done with her. He had been called a lot of things in his life from handsome to domineering but never a coward.

Nichole slipped her hand in his and they walked hand in hand, with everyone's eyes on them, out of the store to run into Caroline and her little bully.

"I see the introductions have been made already," she smirked.

"Yes, and you should do a better job of raising your child. You should know better than to fill a kid's ears with your rubbish," he delivered icily and marched off while her mouth was still opened in shock.

He looked down to see Nichole smiling up at him. He picked her up in his arms without thinking and it felt so right when she placed her head on his shoulder.

They presented a very peaceful picture as the big man strolled down the street with a daughter with a head of hair as dark as his rested on his shoulder.

"I love you honey and I'll protect you from here on," he whispered close to her ears.

"I love you too daddy," his little girl whispered back.

..........

"Are you alright?," Sheila asked Nadine worriedly over the phone.

"I'm fine, really. But I'm so shocked all these happened years ago and Nicholas didn't even give me a chance to explain" she replied tonelessly.

"But I'm not even surprised Caroline had a role to play in it. Who knows? It was all planned by her."

"It still doesn't excuse the way Nicholas handled the situation," she said, still finding it difficult to wrap her head around everything.

"What did he have to say about it?"

"Nothing."

And that in itself had hurt like crazy. He had said nothing when she asked him how he truly felt about her and that was all the answer she needed.

She had not seen him or heard a word from him since their encounter about a week before. She had been neglecting going to his place to do her job but she didn't care in the least. If he was going to live in a pig sty, then so be it. And if he was too macho to make his own meals, he was welcomed to starve.

The man didn't deserve a minute of her consideration after all he made her go through just because of a stupid conversation he overheard.

He had hurt her and despite that, her heart still ached for him. But she was never having anything to do with him ever again because she had come to the conclusion they weren't good for each other.

The only thing they were ever going to have in common was Nichole and it was going to stay that way forever.

"The jerk," Sheila echoed her exact thoughts about Nick furiously.

She heard the doorbell ringing and went to open the door, ending the call with a promise to call back later.

"Hi," the hulking blond with warm brown eyes standing at her front door greeted her with a smile on his face. His tanned skin and toned muscles testified to a life outdoors. If her heart didn't belong to another already, she would have given him in a blink.

The man was a looker and definitely a flirt with the accessing look he was giving her. And she had never seen him in town.

"Hello," she replied with a smile.

"I'm Christian Norman, I'm on a vacation in Folks and I'll be needing a room. Are you the hostess?"

"You bet. Welcome to My Inn," she said cheerfully, happy to welcome her first guest in a long time.

"I'll need a room for about two weeks," he said as he followed her towards the lounge.

His timing was just perfect, she needed the distraction from Nicholas.