chapter twenty-nine
chapter list
chapter thirty-one
Chapter Thirty
"Nikki, what's wrong? You look like Hell froze over."
"Thanks. I'm fine. Let's get Hailey. Nurse Cobb said she can go home now."
Nick and Kevin looked at each other but followed the way to Hailey's room.
Almost an hour later, we were at home. Nick had come with to make sure Hailey was ok and not angry with him.
"Nikki, AJ's on the phone. He wants to speak to you." I took the phone from Kevin.
"Hey AJ."
"Hi, Nikki. Are you going to be home in an hour?"
"Yes, why?"
"You'll see. I have a surprise for you. I'll be there as soon as I can. Oh, and I'm bringing Howie and Brian."
"Wait, what-" I was interrupted by the dial tone.
"What did he want?"
"I have no clue, Nick. He'll be here soon though. I guess we'll find out then." He looked confused, but I missed his smile when I turned away.
"Kev, do you know anything about this?"
"Don't worry about it. You know how AJ can be." As I walked over to Hailey, I missed it as Kevin looked at Nick and smiled.
Hailey was acting perfectly normal and was very proud of her cast. She alread had the three of us, her doctor, and some of the nurses sign it and was anxious to have Brian, AJ, and Howie sign too.
~<3~<3~<3~
"Anybody home?"
"Hey, Bri. Come on in." He came in and gave me a hug.
"How's your baby doing? Kevin called and told me about it."
"She's a little sore, but besides that, completely normal."
"That's great. How are the other babies?" I smiled at the thought and rubbed my stomach.
"Wonderful." Howie walked in behind Brian and they both sat down. "Where's AJ?"
"I'm over here." He stood in the doorway.
"Well, why don't you come in?"
"I have a surprise for you." He was grinning from ear to ear. "I've been planning this for weeks. The other guys knew about it too." I looked at Kevin. He smiled. "Are you ready?"
"I hope so." AJ walked into the room, but he wasn't alone.
"Oh my God!" I screamed and ran to my sister. The last time I had seen her, she was 15 years old. Now, here she was 18, an adult. She was the same height, 5'3". She was thin, but athletically built. She had dark brown hair, not quite to her ears. Her hazel eyes were bright green.
"How have you been?"
"I'm great. I start college next month. I'm going to Florida State, thanks to you." I knew she was referring to the money I had secretly added to her college fund.
"You're going to be living here?"
"Yep, Mandi got in too. She's coming down in 2 weeks."
"I can't believe this." I turned to AJ and gave him a huge hug.
"So what about you? What have you been up to?"
"Well, where do I start?" I went into detail telling her everything from Nick to England to Hailey to Kevin.
"My sister is married, has a kid, and has two babies on the way. I don't believe it. I'm an aunt. My brother-in-law is a Backstreet Boy." Everyone laughed at the last comment.
"It's getting pretty late. Do you want to stay here tonight?" Brian and Howie had already left.
"No, AJ reserved a hotel room for me."
"But you can stay here for free. We have extra rooms."
"Thanks, Kevin, but all of my stuff is already at the hotel."
"Yeah. I'm heading that way. I'll give her a ride." I looked at AJ.
"You better watch it McLean. This is my baby sister."
"Give me some credit. I just met her today."
"Ok. I'll see you both tomorrow then. Goodnight." I turned to Nick. "What about you, Nick? It's pretty late. Would you like to stay?"
"Yes. I'd like to. I'm not ready to leave Hailey yet."
"Sure." I smiled but didn't have a clue what to do about Hailey, Nick, and AJ.
~<3~<3~<3~
I woke up the next morning to find Nick and Hailey watching TV.
"I don't believe it." He looked at Hailey. "Mommy is up before noon." She giggled.
"Nick, I really need to speak to you alone. Would you mind, Kevin?" He walked in and picked up Hailey.
"Come here, sweetie. You and I will go watch TV in Mommy and me's room."
"What's wrong, Nikki? You look like you could cry." He stood up and lead me to sit on the couch. He sat next to me and held me hand. I lost it and started bawling the second I looked into his eyes. He held me and rocked me, waiting patiently for what I had to say.
"Nick, I'm going to say this very bluntly to get it over with. You're not Hailey's father."
"Of course I am. Look at her. She looks just like me."
"That's why I thought she was. Yesterday at the hospital...the blood types don't match. You can't be the father."
His face didn't show anger but confusion. I didn't completely know how to read it. He seemed to be deep in thought.
"I am her father, Nikki. I've loved her since I saw her." His voice was full of emotion. "It's been almost a year. She has to be mine. Who else could be her father? The way her birthday falls, you and I were together when she was conceived. You didn't cheat on me, did you?"
"No. I wouldn't do that. We were sparated. It only happened once." He still didn't look angry, but now it was complete sadness.
"It was that one time, at the party." I nodded. "It was my fault we had broken up. If we hadn't, Hailey wold be my daughter." He put his face in my hands and cried. It was my turn to hold and rock him.
"I should have had her tested. I shouldn't have assumed anything."
"Oh, come on, Nikki. Look at her. Why would anyone have thought she was anyone else's daughter? Does her father have her blonde hair? Her blue eyes?" I shook my head. "Does he know yet?"
"He looks nothing like her. I never would have thought he was her father. The nurse said it was a recessive gene. Someone further back in our families had blonde hair and blue eyes. As for your other question, no. I wanted to tell you first."
"Is he going to be around for Hailey? Is it someone around here? If it's not, I'd gladly become her adoptive father or whatever you want. You just can't take her away from me completely. I love her too much."
"I won't do that. I still want to you be active in her life. I do need to tell her father though. He lives in Orlando, so I know he'll be around. He'll be good to her. He's a good person."
"Do I know him?"
I hesitated. "Yes."
"Do I know him well?"
I hesitated again and looked down. "Yes."
"Is it one of the guys? It's not Howie, AJ, Brian, or Kevin is it? You said the father has dark hair and doesn't have blue eyes, so it can't be Brian. It couldn't be one of them."
I nodded.
"Nikki, which one is it?"
"AJ." Nick seemed to be deep in thought.
"You were living together during our separation. It makes sense now, but what are we going to do now?"
chapter twenty-nine
chapter list
chapter thirty-one
