“Ally, don’t—” He was cut off by the sound of a baby crying and my eyes snapped to his. He let out a groan, squeezing his eyes shut before he held up a finger to me. “I’ll be right back, please don’t leave.”
I gave one nod of my head, which seemed to please him and he headed back towards the extra bedroom. I dropped down on the couch when really my feet wanted to head right out the door. He seemed…different somehow. A little exhausted looking, but different in another way, too. The baby cry had really thrown me off, and I think that’s why I stayed.
Nick came back out, walked into the kitchen with a baby cradled in one arm, and began to make a bottle at the sink. I watched his every move, as he measured out the formula, and got the water to the temperature that he liked. The baby wasn’t full-blown crying anymore, but was letting out that sweet baby whimper as he got the bottle ready.
“So,” he started as he sat down in the recliner across from me and began feeding the baby her bottle. I at least could tell it was a girl since she was decked out in everything pink. It almost made me laugh, seeing Nick surrounded by all of that pink. Almost.
I really needed to pinch myself because I felt like I was in some sort of twilight zone or something.
“So,” I repeated back to him nervously, and wiped my sweaty hands on my knees.
“This is a little awkward, right?” He grabbed up a burp cloth that had been laying on the end table, and dabbed at the baby’s chin before setting her on his shoulder to burp her.
“Um…just a little. Care to explain?” I waved my hands at him and the baby, and he groaned loudly, raking his free hand through his hair.
“Ally, I just didn’t know how to…I meant to tell you...” He pursed his lips like he was trying to gather the right words, and he started again, pointing down to the baby. “This is my daughter.”
I had a pretty good feeling that’s what he was going to say, but it didn’t make actually hearing it any easier. I felt my throat close up just as my heart plummeted down into my stomach, and I stared back at him open-mouthed, not sure what exactly to say after hearing something like that. A million different thoughts were running through my head at what exactly that meant. Yeah, she was his daughter, but did that mean...
“Ally, I never cheated on you, I swear. And if you’re even questioning it, just figure out the timeline, it wouldn’t have been possible. Kara just didn’t tell me she was pregnant until after I met you.”
I sucked in a breath at the mention of Kara, and I snapped my head around, forgetting up until this point that I had been worried about a confrontation with her.
“Don’t worry, she’s not here. Hasn’t been for a while.”
I snapped my head back to his, and saw him smile gently at the baby as he continued to feed her. I could see the love he had for her just radiating off of him. “What do you mean? Where has she been?”
He shook his head. “No clue, I woke up one morning, and she was gone. She left a note, saying she couldn’t handle things anymore, and I was on my own. I got some papers delivered the next day for sole custody.”
“Wow.” I couldn’t imagine just leaving my child, whether it was with her dad or not. The one time that I had met Kara hadn’t been the best impression, but I couldn’t believe she would just leave her baby like that. She was a bitch with a capital B.
“Yeah, I guess if I thought about it, I could kind of see it coming, but if she was going to do it, I wish she would’ve signed custody over to me before Ariel was even born.”
My eyebrows shot up at the mention of his daughter’s name. Did he really…no, it must just be a coincidence. I had always loved the nickname he had given me, but naming his daughter Ariel because of me didn’t seem like a possibility.
“Well, I’m sorry you’ve been having to do this alone. You seem like you’re handling it pretty well.”
“Yeah, I think I’m getting the hang of it. I took a little bit of time off from work, but I’m going back soon so I’ll have to figure all of that out.” He pulled the empty bottle out of Ariel’s mouth, and ran a finger lightly over her cheek; she didn’t flinch once in her deep sleep. “Let me go lay her down.”
I stood up quickly. “I think I should really get going.”
“Stay, please?” he asked quietly. My eyes darted to the sleeping baby in his arms, and I nodded my head once. He was back before I even realized, and grabbed onto my hand to tug me down onto the couch to sit next to him. His touch sent all sorts of memories rushing through my head, and I quickly pulled my hand away.
“Ally—” he started, and I put up a hand to stop him.
“Just tell me one thing, Nick. Why didn’t you tell me that all of this was going on?”