Joe turned around and faced Nick. He raised an eyebrow towards him. “Alright boy, are you drunk? What is going on with you?”
Nick swallowed and broke out into a slight sweat. That seemed to be happening a lot to him today. He couldn’t wait to write this day off as done. He rubbed his hands down his face vigorously before he lifted his gaze and met Joe’s. “I love your daughter.”
Deb let out a whimper as she covered her mouth. Joe shot her a look and warned her to stop the waterworks before they started. He turned back to Nick. “You came out in the rain to tell me something I knew seven years ago?” He sat down in his recliner and grabbed the remote. “Boy that was obvious, even to a guy like me who doesn’t pay attention to much.”
“You pay attention to your daughter.” Nick said, knowing very well that Sam was the apple of his eye. “You always pay attention to her.” He said softly, respecting the relationship they had. It was really beautiful to watch them through the years. It was the other reason he came here. Joe was the first man, his Sam, had ever loved, and Nick only hoped that he would share her with him.
Joe looked at him and sat up straight in his chair. He shut the television off and suddenly was intrigued by why Nick was there and well… a little frightened. Something in his gut told him he had been dreading this conversation for a very long time. Probably from the day his daughter was born.
“Joe, I know that no one loves your daughter like you do.” Nick struggled. “But I want to.” He didn’t know how to put his feelings into words and he knew that anything he said to him would come out a jumbled mess but to hell with it, he thought. Here goes nothing.
“I want to be the man that takes care of her and loves her forever. I want to be the man you feel safe knowing your daughter’s with, the one that you trust with her future.” He glanced at Deb and saw the tears rolling down her face. He winked at her and she smiled, urging him to continue, encouraging him to ask what he wanted to ask. He blew out a shaky breath and returned his gaze to Joe. “I guess what I’m asking is will you share her with me, and give me permission to ask her to marry me?”
Joe released the breath he had been holding onto and looked down. He was completely silent for a moment before he rose to his full height.
Nick’s eyes widened slightly as Joe walked towards him slowly. He hadn’t said a word, and that worried him. It even crossed his mind that Joe was about to deck him. He straightened his shoulders and braced himself for the blow. He’d take it, he decided. Then he’d ask him again and again, until he got the answer he was looking for.
The blow never came instead Joe took a hold of Nick’s shoulders and pulled him into an embrace. Joe patted him firmly on the back, as men affectionately do to one another. “It would be my pleasure to share her with you.” He said hoarsely. “There is no one else I’d want to share her with.”
Nick smiled widely as he patted him on the back in return. They pulled apart and Joe patted him on the shoulder, unashamed of the tears that filled his eyes when it came to his daughter. “That means a lot to me, thank you.” He said sincerely as Joe smiled in return. “And I want you to know this has nothing to do with the baby, I was planning on asking her even before I found out.” Nick said and then immediately regretted it once he saw Joe’s face falter.
“What baby?” Deb asked as she moved to stand beside her husband. Her eyes widened. “Oh my God, Samantha’s pregnant?”
Nick looked at Deb and then back at Joe. He wanted to crawl into a hole, and damn him and his big mouth to hell. He smiled sheepishly at the Lanza’s before he shrugged his shoulders. “Surprise?” He offered.
Chapter Twenty Two
Sam blew her nose into a tissue as she paced her tiny living room. She grabbed the phone as she sniffled again.
“What if he doesn’t come back, Phillip?” She had called him to calm her nerves. Since Nick had left, she had been a mess.
“Samantha the only way Nick isn’t coming back is if he gets hit by a bus or something.” Phillip said, trying to assure her that he would be back for the millionth time, only nothing thus far had convinced her.
Sam stopped mid pace and her eyes shot to the sounds coming from the pounding rain on the other side of her door. They were in the middle of a vicious storm what if he was hurt or killed like Phillip said. “Oh my God! I have to go find him.” She said abruptly.
“No you don’t!” Phillip exclaimed.
“But you are right. What if something terrible happened to him? It’s bad out there!” She undid her robe and looked down at her Hello-Kitty pajamas. Did it really matter what she had on? She started shoving her feet into her rain boots tucking in the pajama pants.