Nick stepped closer to Rachel once again. The cool breeze was hitting her so her hair was all messed up on her face. Gently, Nick raised his hand and started getting her hair away from her face. Rachel closed her eyes and smiled at him, enjoying every single moment she had with him.
"Do you want to go back to the house?" Nick said, looking at his watch. They had been there for at least 2 hours.
"No" she simply replied. She smiled at him once again and hugged him. She wanted to spend some quality time with him, the time that they wasted while she was gone.
"How can you be like this all of a sudden?" Nick asked her.
"Be like what?" she asked, still bewildered at his comment.
"Like this... like you were before" he said, a little more softer than before.
"I was like this then?"
He nodded and smiled.
"I don't know Nick... I just go with the flow I guess... I don't know how I'm being right now... my mind tells me one thing and then my heart tells me another"
"What do you mean?"
"My heart is telling me to fall in love with you all over again but my mind keeps telling me to get away from you"
Nick sighed and rubbed his hands on her shoulders. "Look, I wouldn't do anything to hurt you and I love you, but, I want you to be comfortable... if it doesn't feel right, then don't do it until you remember what we went through" he ran his hands through his hair and continued. "I want to take things slowly for your sake. If it was me, I would have kissed you all over by now" he chuckled.
Rachel smiled and looked down. "I feel bad though"
"Don't feel like that... I'm fine with the way things are right now. I'm with you, and that's all that matters"
"I feel bad cause I know that you were part of my past... and I know that we must have done things that we are not doing now... and it frustrates me so much that I just can't remember them"
"Don't be so hard on yourself... I understand your situation and I'm not willing to rush into things when I know that I'm going to be making you feel uncomfortable by doing them"
"Thank you" she smiled warmly.
"You don't have to thank me" he smiled back caressing her cheek.
Rachel sat down on the sand once again and prompted Nick to sit next to her. Instead, he sat behind her and leaned her against him, hugging her from behind. She closed her eyes and grasped Nick's hands tighter.
Flashback
I don't want you to think I don't love you... I just need some time for myself" Rachel said to herself, rehearsing what she was going to tell Nick whenever she decided to call him.
" Then everything happened. The loud thud and the crash. Glass was flying everywhere and everything was so hot. She put her hand up to her head and when it came down, it was covered in blood.
"Aww, shit" she cursed, slowly getting out from the back door and going inside the woods. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to remember her way home but couldn't. She shrugged and continued walking. Then everything went black again. The next time she opened her eyes, she saw two figures in a white room.
"Come on sweetie... wake up" a voice had said.
"Where am I?" she asked, trying to open her eyes.
"You had an accident... you are in the hospital" the female voice replied.
"Who are you?" Rachel asked again.
"We're your parents"
"Oh..." was all she could say.
A couple of days after that first encounter with her parents, Rachel started asking them questions about her past. She wanted to know everything about what kind of girl she was, what kind of attitudes she had, what school did she went to, what kind of friends she had. Everything.
"Do I have a boyfriend" Rachel asked, grinning.
Her parents looked at each other in a state of confusion, not knowing what to say.
"No" her mom replied. She looked at the ring she wore on her left hand.
"Then, who gave me this?" she asked, pointing at the gorgeous and expensive-looking ring.
"I gave that to you... that was my wedding ring... your dad and I got new rings and I gave that one to you" her mom, Maria lied.
"Okay" Rachel smiled, still marveled at the ring.
"You're pregnant" her father uttered.
"I'm what?" she asked.
"Pregnant"
"Who's the father" Rachel immediately inquired.
"He left you. He doesn't want to do anything with you"
Flashback ends.
Rachel opened her eyes and looked at Nick.
"Nick, did you tell my parents that you didn't want anything to do with me?"
Nick looked at her, puzzled.
"Answer me" she demanded.
"Well, I did tell them one time... but that was when we were having that f-"
"No, I don't want to hear it anymore" Rachel, stubbornly answered.
"What's wrong now?" Nick asked, getting slightly annoyed.
"Nothing I just need to be alone" she replied.
"Fine" he shrugged and got up from behind her, heading to the house. Sometimes he thought she was bipolar or something. One moment she was all nice and cuddly with him and the other moment she would be all bitchy.
Rachel, on the other hand needed time to think about everything that she was going through. Who was she now going to believe? Nick was being a true gentleman to her but, on the other hand, her parents were her parents. She couldn't just ignore what they said. She sighed and got up from the sand; walking to the pier. She stood a little bit more than half hour there and then returned to the house. When she entered, everything was dark except the light coming from the kids' room. She went there and when she got to the room, she saw Nick sitting on the rocking chair with Alyssa in his arms, the rocking chair facing the window. She was tempted on entering but she decided against it. She stood on the doorstep listening to Nick's words.
"You know sweetie? I love your mommy very much. She and I were just perfect. We would go everywhere together. She's my soulmate and, I want you to know that I’m never going to leave you or your mommy alone, ever. I’m going to be here for you and see you grow for always now... do you understand that?" he chuckled to himself. " Maybe you think that I'm a little crazy or something cause you don't even understand what I'm saying, I just needed someone to tell this to"
"Why didn't you tell this to me?" Rachel finally spoke.
Nick stopped dead on his tracks and stopped the rocking chair.
"How long did you hear?"
"Long enough to realize that you care about her so much" she smiled.
"Well, I guess that's daddy's job" he said, looking at Alyssa.
"...and that you care about me so much"
"I guess that's my job too" he smiled at her.
"I'm sorry about my little outburst. I'm just so confused now...I wish I could get my memory back someday"
"You will, honey... you will soon"
"I hope so" she nodded.
"You will, trust me" he said, standing up from her chair and putting Alyssa on her crib. He went towards her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, pulling her for a hug.
She felt so safe in his arms right now she didn't want to let him go.
"Thank you Nick"
"Anytime" he grinned and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Smart move Nick.. You shouldn't have done that" he thought to himself.
"Can you answer the door?" Rachel asked, snapping Nick out of his thoughts. "I"m going to go play with Colin"
"Yeah, sure"
He gave her a quick kiss and jogged downstairs. When he went towards the door and opened it, he stopped dead on his tracks.