Rachel stood there in disbelief. She seemed to be frozen on the spot with a confused look in her eyes.
"Baby..." Nick started saying but she put a finger on her mouth, making him stop talking.
Rachel felt extremely frustrated now. Now her husband, who she started loving again, cheated on her with another woman. And that was not all, he had a baby with her.
"Nickolas" she managed to get out.
Nick closed his eyes and sat down on the chair, with his arms crossed looking down.
"God, why can't I remember now!" she thought to herself.
"Rachel, before you say anything, I want to tell you that I don't think that baby is mine"
"How-how do you know for sure?" she asked bitterly. She had too much on her now.
"The timing doesn't match" he lied.
Rachel sighed loudly and went inside the house again. Nick followed her. Rachel turned around and faced him.
"I need to be alone now" she said cooly and went into their room.
Nick sighed loudly and sat on the couch until Colin went up to him.
"Hey, daddy"
"What's up?" he smiled lightly.
"Why was mommy crying?"
He sighed and looked down.
"Did you do something to make her mad?" he asked innocently.
He nodded his head and looked at him. "Go with her... don't leave her alone?"
"Why don't you go daddy?"
"Because she doesn't want me there"
"Daddy, talk to her"
"I can't Colin... can you go play now?"
Colin nodded his head and ran to his play room to play with his sister.
Nick stood there in the living room running through his thoughts again. He then decided to call AJ and let him know about everything that happened.
"Talk to me" AJ chimed over the phone.
"We got a big problem, man" Nick said without even saying hi. Cooly
"What's up?"
"Patricia was here"
"WHAT?!?" AJ shouted through the phone.
"Yeah"
"But... she's dead"
"She's not... she came to the house and threatened me... plus she told me something else"
"What?"
"Supposedly, I have a baby with her" Nick answered, looking down to the floor.
"WHAT?!" AJ shouted again.
"I don't believe that... but Rachel is really really affected by everything"
"Rachel heard?"
"Yeah, she heard the part about the baby"
"Nick, talk to her... remember that she doesn't know a thing about what's happening"
"I know, but she doesn't want to talk to me"
AJ sighed. "Look, I'm going to go to your house now, kay?"
"Fine" Nick finally said after a few seconds of being silent and hung up the phone. He was determined to talk to Rachel about everything that happened. He went upstairs and knocked softly on the door.
"Rach?" he said. He was extremely apprehensive to hear what Rachel had to say.
No answer.
He opened the door in a whim and entered the room. He noticed that nobody was there. He sighed and walked to the bathroom and saw that the door was closed and locked. He knocked softly.
"Rach, open up"
"Nick, go away" Rachel answered, her voice muffled.
"Baby, please, I want to talk to you"
"Go away!" she shouted again. "Leave me alone"
Nick sighed and laid down on their bed, closing his eyes.
"When everything was supposed to be okay, someone screwed it up all over again. Maybe it wasn't worth it...maybe 'us' wasn't worth it anymore" Nick thought as a tear ran down his cheek. He loved her with all his heart but he couldn't bear seeing her so sad. Yes. He made a mistake by having an affair with Patricia but he was sure of one thing. He never did anything to hurt Rachel. And he also thought that the baby that Patricia was allegedly telling that it was his, wasn't his at all. He curved up in a ball and stood there, not noticing that Rachel had come out of the bathroom and was now looking at him.
"Nick" she whispered.
Nick sat up and looked at her, his face all covered in tears. Rachel's was too.
"Baby, I didn't mean to" he cried.
"Nick, I just wanted to tell you that - her voice broke - I -I just want to get out of here"
Nick looked down and covered his face with a pillow so that she wouldn't notice that he was crying his eyes out.
"I'm sorry... but it's frustrating not to know if your husband was cheating on you while you thought that he was loving you with all his heart"
"Rachel, don't do this please"
"I'm sorry... I just want some time for myself"
"Rach... please"
"No Nick... I'm not telling you that I don't love you, I just want some time alone"
"Then, I'll get out of the house" he said, taking the pillow away from his eyes and looking deep into hers.
She sighed. "I can't let you do that"
"Why not? It's your house too... I want you to stay here... I'll get out of here for a while"
"Are you sure about it?"
"Yeah... I'm sure... I'll be at AJ's or at Brian's house if you need me"
Kay" she agreed.
Nick stood up from the bed and started preparing a suitcase with everything he needed. Rachel stood there watching him pack. Definitely, he was leaving with a little piece of her heart in him but she couldn't let him know that. She had to be strong and willing to try and remember everything that happened with Patricia and Nick. Somehow, she had to know and she was determined to find out.
"I'm all set" Nick finally said.
"Okay" she answered, leading him to the door.
"I'll- I'll see ya then later... I'm going to come and visit the kids every once in a while" he said, his voice breaking again.
Rachel closed her eyes and nodded. If she said one single word she knew she would start crying. She saw Nick turn around and get into his car. Then he left. She went inside and the first face she saw was Colin's.
"Where did daddy go?" Colin asked, his blue eyes looking at her green ones.
Rachel started crying, leading him to the couch and hugging him tight.
"Why are you crying, momma?"
"Daddy is going to be away for a few days"
He nodded innocently. "Okay, mommy... but he's not going to forget us, right?"
"No baby... he's going to come around and visit you"
"Okay" he agreed.
"Now go play with your sister"
He nodded and went to play with Alyssa while Rachel stood in the living room crying softly. She noticed a picture that was proudly displayed in one of the tables and looked at it closely. "How can he be unfaithful? How can he?" she said as she started crying again as the doorbell rang. She got up from the seat slowly and opened the door. It was AJ. When she saw him, she started crying again and he hugged her tight.
"Shh... it's going to be okay"
"No it's not AJ... he was unfaithful to me and the best thing is that I don't remember a thing!" she answered sarcastically.
"That's why I'm here"
Rachel looked up to him and led him to the living room. He sat down and stared at Rachel with a nervous look. He explained everything that happened between Nick, Patricia and him including the last incident which left Patricia in recovery for two years.
"AJ... I don' t know what to believe"
"You got to believe him! It was a mistake Rachel... he never did anything to hurt you intentionally... trust me... he loved you more than his own life"
"I don't want Patricia to get involved with our life... I really don't want to" she looked down. AJ embraced her and started stroking her hair.
"She won't... I won't let her" AJ said looking deep into her eyes.
A couple of minutes later, Nick appeared in the living room again.
"Hey guys... Rach, I forgot to look for some things upstairs... can I go?"
"Sure Nick" she smiled lightly.
"I gotta go now" AJ said to Rachel.
"Alright" she smiled and put her arm around him.
"Thanks for being here, okay?"
"No prob Rach" AJ smiled as he went out the door. When he was going out, he was encountered with what he dreaded the most.
"Hi, we're looking for a guy named Nickolas Carter?" the police officer said.
Rachel's eyes widened as she gripped AJ's hand.
"Why are you looking for him?" AJ asked.
"We have an order against him"
"Is Patricia Moore behind all this?"
"We can't tell you that sir?"
"What are the charges?" AJ asked again. "Please, let Nick stay inside" he thought.
"Allegedly, he threw someone out of a window... and the person is still in a very delicate condition"
AJ took a deep breath. "He's innocent... Nick's innocent".
Rachel looked at him and her jaw dropped open.
"He still has to be taken to the police station... and he also has to wait until trial time" the officer informed.
"He's innocent, damn it!" AJ shouted.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because-" he sighed. "I did it... I threw Patricia Moore out of that window" AJ finally said.