A strangled sob coming from the doorway caused Nick, Nicole, James, and even Elizabeth to all whip their heads around to see where it came from. There stood Kayleigh, her hand covering her mouth, her knees shaking, and tears streaming down her face. Her eyes were wide, just staring at Nick.
“Hey Kayles,” he said, softly, tears burning his eyelids.
She shook her head frantically. “No, no, no. This can’t be happening.”
“Maybe we should take Elizabeth somewhere,” James suggested quietly. “Maybe to the beach?”
Nicole nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Come on, Lizzy.” Elizabeth tore her questioning eyes away from her mother and followed Nicole and James out to the beach.
“Kayles?” Nick questioned, wanting to know what was going through her head. The look on her face was scaring him. A second later, Kayleigh ran into his arms, crying hysterically.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” she kept repeating over and over again. Nick rubbed her back, his own tears mixing with hers as they stood, wrapped in each other’s arms, both sobbing.
“Shh,” he whispered. “Shh. It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.” He slowly walked them both over to the couch and sat down, pulling her into his arms. There they sat for half an hour, holding on to each other as they were each other’s lifeline. Finally, they broke apart and all Kayleigh could do was stare into his eyes, the same eyes that her daughter had.
“How did you find me?” Kayleigh asked. “Did Brian tell you?”
Nick shook his head. “Nicole called me. Please, don’t be mad at her. She just did what she thought was right.” He took a deep breath, trying to gain the courage to ask his next question. “Why Kayleigh? Why did you leave me like that?”
Kayleigh abruptly stood up. “I can’t do this right now.”
“Please Kayles,” Nick pleaded. “Just tell me. Why did you do this? Why did you take my daughter away?”
Kayleigh just continued to stare out of the window, not knowing what to say to him. She honestly thought what she had done was the right thing. “I had to,” she finally answered. “I thought I was doing the right thing, Nick. I was so scared. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Did it ever occur to you to just tell me?” Nick snapped. He immediately felt bad, seeing the new tears that were streaming down her face.
“I’m sorry,” Kayleigh whispered. “I don’t know what else to say. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m just trying to understand, Kayles,” he told her, quietly. “I’m just trying to understand why you thought it was okay for me to miss three years of my daughter’s life and three years of your life. God, I loved you, Kayles. I loved you so much.”
“Then why the hell didn’t you ever say anything?!” Kayleigh exploded, not being able to keep it inside anymore. “If you claim that you loved me so much, why didn’t you tell me? Do you know that that’s all I ever wanted to hear?”
“Don’t turn this around on me, Kayleigh!” Nick barked. “From what I hear you felt the same way before I ever did! Why didn’t you ever tell me? Why is this all of the sudden my fault?!”
“Because you had nothing to lose, Nick!” Kayleigh cried. “You had the perfect girlfriend, the perfect life. I had nothing. If I lost you, I would’ve had nothing left. Don’t you understand that?”
“You never would’ve lost me, Kayleigh,” Nick growled. “And now, because you felt that you couldn’t tell me, I’m the one who lost everything.”
Kayleigh sat in silence with tears pouring down her cheeks. She felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. That probably would’ve hurt a lot less than the anger and hatred dripping off of Nick’s tongue. “I’m sorry,” she finally managed to whisper. “I never meant to hurt anyone. Especially you.”
“I’m just trying to understand why you took my daughter away from me,” Nick explained. “Why I had to miss three years of her life.”
“What do you want me to say, Nick?” Kayleigh quietly asked. “I can’t change the past. I wish to God that I could but I can’t.”
“I just want a chance to know my daughter,” Nick replied, kneeling down in front of her. He reached out and brushed a strand of blond hair behind her ear. “I just want a chance to know you again.”
Later that evening:
“Hi Nick!” Elizabeth cheerfully announced as she, literally, bounced back into the room with James and Nicole behind her.
“Hey princess,” Nick greeted warmly as he picked her up. “Did you have fun at the beach?”
Elizabeth grinned. “Yup! I went in the water and Uncle Jimmy built me a sand castle.”
Nick smiled at her cuteness. “Cool!”
Elizabeth looked around the room. “Where’s my mommy?”
“She’s upstairs taking a nap,” Nick answered, setting her back down on her feet. As soon as she was down, she took off up the stairs.
“Don’t wake her up, sweetheart!” Nicole called after her. She turned to Nick who was still staring at the staircase. “You okay?”
Nick sighed and flopped down on the couch. “I’m not sure what to feel right now.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Nicole asked. They were interrupted by James, informing them that he was going to pick up some pizza.
“I’ve missed so much,” Nick told her. “I’m trying not to blame her but I can’t help it. If she had just told me…” He trailed off, tears pooling in his eyes, and took a deep breath. “Will you tell me about her? About both of them?”
“Well,” Nicole began. “I’ve known Kayleigh Anderson for three years. I just met Kayleigh Madison yesterday.” She paused, making sure Nick understood what she meant. He nodded and Nicole continued. “I had an ad in the paper about a roommate and she was the first to respond. I think she had been out here for two months at that point. Anyway, after meeting her, I knew she’d be the perfect roommate. She was a lot like me. The only thing that was weird was that she never talked about her past. Where she came from, her family, nothing. If I ever asked her about it, she would basically just clam up. So after awhile, I just let it go.”
“What about when Elizabeth was born?” Nick questioned.
Nicole laughed. “Now that was an experience. She was about two weeks early. Kayleigh went into labor at about two o’clock in the morning. Thank god James was here because I don’t know what I would’ve done. We brought her to the hospital and my parents met us there. They’ve always treated Kayleigh as their own daughter since it seemed like she didn’t have any family. Anyway, she was in labor for ten hours, Nick.”
“Ten hours?!” Nick exclaimed, his eyes wide.
“Oh yeah,” Nicole responded. “We were all taking turns with her but I was the one in there when Elizabeth was actually born. It was crazy. By the end, Kayleigh was hysterically crying, saying that she was too weak. I mean, my heart was breaking for her. It was to the point where she almost made me never want to have kids.” At that point, they both started laughing.
“I wish I could’ve been here,” Nick said, after they’d calmed down. “She shouldn’t have had to go through that alone.”
“She wasn’t alone, Nick,” Nicole replied. “We were all here for her. I know it’s not the same but she’s had a family here. Elizabeth too. She’s had a good life.”
“I want to take them home,” Nick admitted. “I want us to be a family.” Nicole knew the second she had called Nick and told him where Kayleigh was, that she was going to lose them. But Nick deserved to have a chance to be a father. And Kayleigh deserved to finally have someone that loved her. And Nicole knew that Nick did.