chapter twenty-four
chapter list
chapter twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-Five
I woke up the next morning and looked at the clock. It was 11. Had Hailey actually let me sleep past 9? Kevin wasn’t in the bed next to me. I got up and look in Hailey’s room. She wasn’t there. I walked downstairs, into the loving room.
I smiled when I saw Kevin sleeping on the couch. Hailey was sitting in his lap, happily watching Saturday morning cartoons. I walked back upstairs to grab my camera and take a picture before she noticed me.
“Hi Mommy.” She waved and put her finger over her mouth. She pointed to Kevin and said, “Sleepy.”
I walked over and picked Hailey up. Kevin began to wake up. He jumped up when he realized she wasn’t in his lap.
“It’s ok, Kev. I have her. Why were you down here? You could have woke me up. I’m used to it.”
“She wakes you up everyday. It wouldn’t hurt me to do this once.”
“You both looked so cute.” He smiled and kissed me.
“Good morning. Do you want some breakfast?”
“It’s almost noon. Why don’t we go to lunch?”
~<3~<3~<3~
Kevin, Hailey, and I spent our day going to McDonalds, then the park, and then he dropped us off at Nick’s house. We walked in to find a very chipper Nick.
“Well, I guess someone had a good night.” He smiled widely. “Did you have a nice time with Cat?” Once again he just smiled. “She just left, didn’t she?” He nodded. “You are welcome to do that anytime you want. I was happy to have Nikki and Hailey over.”
“Mommy, I gotta potty.”
“Ok, honey. Let’s go.” I walked her down the hall to the bathroom.
“Nick, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“What is it, man?” He stopped what he was doing and sat on the couch next to Kevin.
“Nick, I want to ask Nikki to marry me.”
“Kev, you’ve barely been together.”
“I know that.”
“And she’s a mother now. That means a lot of things.”
“Yeah, but I love Hailey too. I want them both to live with me.” That was when Nick realized why Kevin was discussing this with him.
“Kev, I don’t know. I missed so much of Hailey’s life. I don’t want to be away from her.”
“You wouldn’t be far. We could get a house near yours. We could work out some kind of visitation. I really want this, but I know there’s no way that Nikki would leave Hailey. Please, Nick. I know you’ll want to think about this. We can work things out. Just give it some thought, and don’t mention it to Nikki. I don’t want her to know yet.”
“Ok, Kev. I’ll think about it, but I can’t make you any promises.”
~<3~<3~<3~
“Nikki, can I talk to you?”
“Sure, AJ. What is it?”
“I just…I wanted to say…Nikki, I’m sorry for the way I acted when we first found you.”
“AJ, it’s been months since that happened.”
“But it’s been bugging me the whole time. I feel bad about the way I treated you.”
“You had every right to be angry.”
“I didn’t, and I want you to forgive me.”
“I was never upset with you. There’s nothing to forgive.”
“Thank you.” He hugged me. “I missed my little sister.”
~<3~<3~<3~
“Kevin, I’ve been thinking about what you asked me.” Kevin looked at Nick hopefully. “I guess I would be ok with it as long as we planned out the visitation things. We’ll be on the road a lot of the time anyway, which means we’d all be together. I’ve never seen Nikki so happy. I think you should ask her.”
Kevin grabbed Nick and hugged him. “Kev, man, calm down. Loosen the grip. I…can’t…breathe.” Kevin released his death grip. “Damn. I think you broke a rib.”
“Thank you so much, Nick. You don’t know how much this means to me. Now, how do I ask her?”
”Hey, that’s your part. Do whatever comes naturally. Nikki’s not the type of girl to be impressed by the fancy things.”
“You’re right. It has to be special but not overboard. Thanks again.” He hugged Nick once more before Nick left the room.
‘How do I do this?’
~<3~<3~<3~
“Kevin Scott Richardson, tell me right now where we are going.” I’ve never been one for surprises and this was starting to annoy me.
“Don’t you dare touch that blindfold. You will be surprised and you will like it.” I began to pull at the blindfold. “Hey! Do I have to handcuff you?”
“You have handcuffs? And you’ve been keeping them a secret?” He laughed.
“Just don’t make me use them on you. Just ten more minutes, I promise.”
“Can we at least listen to music? A car ride with no scenery is very boring.” He turned on the radio and it was one of my favorite songs, one from the summer of 2000, Thong Song.
“Oh! I love Sisqo!”
“Hey!”
“You know what I mean. ‘She had dumps like a truck, truck, truck. Thighs like what, what, what. Baby move your butt, butt, butt.’” Kevin shook his head and kept driving.
“We’re here, but don’t look yet.” He got out of the car and walked around to open my door.
I could hear the sound of the water and smell the salty ocean. Before he let me out of the car, he slipped off my shoes. He helped me step out onto the sand. He took my blindfold off.
We were at one of my favorite places, a beautiful spot along the ocean. There was a beach that led up to a small cave. Kevin took a backpack out of the car and walked me, also barefoot, along the beach.
We walked silently for 20 minutes. He led me toward the cave. Once there, he took some things out of the backpack. He took out a blanket, a lantern and a radio. We laid on the blanket and he held me while listening to the music. He sang along with one of the songs.
They say that the road ain’t no place to start a family / but right down the line it’s been you and me / Lovin’ a music man ain’t always what it’s supposed to be / Oh girl, you stand by me / I’m forever yours / Faithfully
The song continued, but Kevin stopped and whispered into my ear, “Marry me.”
I thought I heard him wrong so I asked him to repeat himself.
“Will you marry me, Nikki?”
“Oh, God.” I was on the verge of tears.
Song used: Faithfully
Lyrics/music/sung by: Journey
chapter twenty-four
chapter list
chapter twenty-six
