Second Chance with Love (16 page)

"Who is he?" Hilda's mother followed them with her gaze. "I feel I've met him somewhere."

"Aaron's father." Hilda couldn't look at her mother as she said the words. She waited for the silence to draw out.

Then Hilda's mother spoke. "From what I see, when Aaron grows up, he'll be a handsome man like his father." She smiled.

Hilda glanced at her mother, catching a glimpse of her smile, and it melted Hilda's heart, creating a warm flow of joy inside her. Her mother's apparent approval of Nathan set her at ease, and their stroll to the reservoir become more leisurely. Hilda wondered why it had mattered whether her mother approved of Nathan if she was going to disregard him in the end?

Nathan carried Aaron on his shoulders towards two men who held fishing rods. Hilda couldn't believe how easily Aaron and Nathan bonded. Did Aaron's need for a father mean she had to ignore her fears and doubts about Nathan being a part of their lives? Hilda wondered.

Taking the thoughts from Hilda's mind, her mother said, "so are you going to let him back into your life?"

Hilda started at hearing the words. "I don't know if I can take the risk." Hilda said.

"And Aaron doesn't know that Nathan is his father?"

"No. Not yet."

"Well, are you going to tell him?"

"I really don't know, Mother."

"I remember you always gave people second chances. You used to stay around that group of girls when you were all apart of the student council. And they used to pick on you. You always helped them, even when they were cruel to you." Hilda's mother stopped by a large rock. "That was pretty nice of you."

Hilda watched her mother lean against a rock and cross her ankles, while the water of the nearby stream rolled by in mini-wavelets that stretched to a mesmerizing flow. Hilda breathed in the fresh air.

"It was more out of weakness." Hilda looked at her mother's ankle.

"Nonsense, Hilda. You have always had that type of strength, to respond with kindness."

"Nathan is different."

"How so?"

"He never hurt me directly. I just knew we were going in two different directions. We wanted two different lives. He made it clear that he wanted more than I could give."

"But look, Hilda," her mother pointed to Nathan and Aaron who stood by the lake, "you gave him a son."

"But maybe that's not enough. I never seemed to be good enough. Nothing was good enough."

"And that's why you left him?"

Hilda nodded.

"He sounds ghastly." Hilda's mother said. "Should I just assume you don't have feelings for him, then?"

"Well no--”

"He did save your life, right? Maybe you and Aaron mean more to him than you realize."

Hilda looked at Nathan as he ruffled Aaron's hair.

The air grew sultry and the sun gave the flat reservoir a mirror-like sheen, the only hint that it was a lake and not a mirror came from the occasional ripples that coursed the smooth surface.

Hilda's mother touched her hair, causing Hilda to flinch. When turning to face her mother, only to see her mother was not looking at her, but staring at the lake, Hilda realized that all four of them were a family, were reunited. But first, Hilda needed to know the truth of what happened to her father. Hilda could not bring herself to ask her mother. Not just when they had come back together.

In what seemed like silent communication, Hilda's mother approached Nathan, and in unison they smiled briskly and switched positions. Hilda's mother bent to speak to Aaron. Nathan was next to Hilda now, cell in hand, and wearing a broad smile.

"You checked your cell?"

"No, why?"

"I just got news. Melanie's just gave birth to a baby boy."

Instantly, they hugged. Hilda felt Nathan's large powerful arms close around her, and while she embraced him she caught a whiff of his cologne, which brought back unwanted memories. Memories of how it felt to be held by him. Quickly Hilda pushed him away.

"Nate, no." Hilda retreated. The fact she said his name they way she used to, spelled trouble. In that instant, pressed against his body, she felt the pull of lust.

"Sorry, I got carried away." Nathan put his hand out to halt her from running.

"No, don't blame yourself. We need to control ourselves better, that's all." Hilda tugged down her wrinkled clothes. The look she witnessed in Nathan's eyes was of utter despondence.

"Okay." Nathan looked away. "We should get to the hospital."

"Yes. We should." Hilda agreed.

Chapter 24

Scott eyes were filled with tears. Nathan hugged his friend who couldn't stop grinning. Hilda, Aaron, and Nathan had to wait outside as Scott told them everything. He told them about Melanie going into labor and his panic. About her giving birth to a healthy baby girl, 7 pounds, 20 inches. Nathan thanked God for an uncomplicated delivery. Having never seen Scott so happy, Nathan reflected on what he thought was success and how pursuing what he thought was success had caused him to miss Aaron's birth. Aaron's birth was one of the most important moments of Nathan's life.

Nathan walked to Hilda and Aaron. Some instinct made him want to stand with them.

"We'll visit her tomorrow when she's fully rested." Hilda said. Nathan smiled in response.

"That's fine with me. I'm just glad everything went well."

"Yeah." Hilda seemed distant, and she curled Aaron's hair in her hand. "Nathan, you really want to be apart of Aaron's life, don't you?"

Nathan, nodded.
I want to be apart of your life again, as well
, Nathan thought. But he dared not give words to his thoughts, feeling the fragility of the moment.

Hilda bent to one knee and kissed Aaron. "Sweetie. Nathan is more than mommie's friend. Nathan is your father."

At this Aaron inclined his head to his shoes and looked embarrassed.

"He's my daddy?" He asked in a low voice.

"Uh-huh." said Hilda. "And he loves you very much."

Nathan thought he caught a flicker in Aaron's eyes, as the child studied the man who he now knew was his father. Nathan could no longer hold back, and he lifted Aaron and kissed his head as he embraced him.

"I will never leave you again." Nathan couldn't help his body from shaking. Everything he loved would take all his faith in God, because now he knew to find a way into Aaron's life was going to harder than anything he had ever achieved.

"You're crying?" Aaron noticed as Nathan held him up in his arms.

"So I am." Nathan wiped a hand over his face and was surprised at the moist palm he drew away to look at. "I never noticed."

"Why?"

"Why am I crying?"

Aaron touched Nathan's face in response.

"I am happy. I have everything I've always wanted." Nathan peered at Hilda who held her elbows while she folded her arms. Her pain was transparent. She was delicate and exquisitely fragile. Nathan realized that all that kept her going for so many years without him in her life, was her faith in the Lord and her love for her son.

"Aaron, you've had quite an adventurous day. But we have to get you home now." Hilda reached out and took hold of Aaron. Nathan still had Aaron in his arms.

They were intimately close. Aaron was their bond. Their love. A gift from God.

"Marry me, Hilda." The moment the world left Nathan, he knew they came from his heart.

Hilda gasped, and her eyes began to well with suppressed tears. "No." She said. The words stabbed Nathan with a piercing pain that wounded him worse than the bullet he took to save the two he most wanted in his life.

Nathan needed an explanation, but when he opened his mouth speak, the word why retreated back inside him.

Hilda took Aaron from Nathan. And the warmth Nathan felt slowly left his body vacant and cold.

"So where do we go from here, Hilda?" Nathan managed to forcibly expel the question.

"I need time to think. Thanks for helping me."

“Sure, anytime." Offered Nathan, while finding it hard to look at Hilda and Aaron. "So, you ready to head home, now?"

"I called a taxi. We've troubled you enough, already." Hilda's back was to Nathan as she spoke.

Nathan closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. How long? How far? Would she run?

The effort to remain calm caused a titanic struggle within Nathan. One voice within him screamed that Hilda belonged to him, she was the first girl he had ever made love to and he was the first guy to take her to bed. So, it was only right that they get married. The other voice cried out for God to give him strength to be patient with her. He loved her, it was the least he could do.

Nathan, uncertain he trusted himself to stand by and watch as Hilda entered the taxi with Aaron, centered his raging emotions by whispering the serenity prayer,
Lord grant me the serenity...

He allowed himself to believe he would see them again and that she would accept his proposal. He regarded their departure with a sense of alarm and despair; he stood at the entrance of the hospital, half in, half out, Hilda's father's letter in his possession, a situation dimly reminiscent of the first time she left.

As Nathan sped through the city, he felt a hint of the ecstasy and freedom he once felt when he bought his first sports car. Back when he dated Hilda and thought he was infatuated with her, their secret meetings and dates where thrills he compared to the rush he felt when he raced in his car.

And just as with his car and other possessions, Hilda was the same. Gaining the world left him unaware of an actual life, with Hilda as a life, the possibility of children, and so he had no cares, because he was always on top of the world. But now God bestowed him with a beautiful son that promised to bring tears of joy to his eyes, and everything he saw the miracle. And he never knew the gift that was Hilda, the most beautiful woman he'd ever lain eyes on, being the one for him. Suddenly, he realized he never ever told her that he loved her.
Does she have any idea what she means to me?

Later that evening, Nathan sat across from Clive. They were at a bar where they sometimes came to discuss project, changes in schedule or just to unload problems. That evening they watched the game. The quiet ambient relaxation had attracted Nathan and had him returning over the years. It was perfect for Nathan's clients and business associates.

"Hey man. You look like you have a lot on your mind." Clive sipped a beer and studied Nathan as he always did, with a glint of admiration in his eyes.

"Nothing I'm going to burden you with today, man." Nathan had a glass of orange juice in front of him. "We'll make it back in the second half." Nathan picked up his glass and pointed to the TV screen before he sipped it. They discussed they game for a while, and eventually Clive addressed Nathan on how something seemed to weigh down the other man.

"Come on man, you're not even with it today, what's up?"

"Time for me to hang it up."

Clive raised an eyebrow, "What, off home, now?" He seemed to cough at the panic in his voice.

"Clive, you're on your way to the top of the company. In a few years, you'll be sitting in my seat." Nathan saw the glazed look in Clive's eyes. From the first day the younger man joined the company he'd admired Nathan.

"Ahh man, come on, it's great enough just working under you, Nate." Clive's half-smile was meant to project modesty, humility. That's how Nathan read it. But Nathan knew better, he knew the line of work they were in was competitive and cutthroat from top-to-bottom, and that Clive was ambitious and as driven as he was at that age.

"I've just found something that means a whole lot more to me than I ever thought possible."

"What?"

"Love." There was a time when Nathan would have hesitated before exposing himself so openly. He never allowed himself to be vulnerable.

"You kidding me?"

"God has given me a second to make wrongs right. I'm not going to ignore the opportunity."

There was a brief silence where both men stared at each other.

"Ha! I ain't buying it." Clive laughed. "You almost got me. What are you trying to do to me?"

"Clive, man. I have a six year old son and a woman that I love." Nathan announced the words with a build of emotion in his voice.

Clive cursed. "Whoa, when did all this happen? You kept it all a secrete pretty well. I don't know what else to say. Congratulations! I'm shocked." Clive pulled on his hair, a habit he learned from his mentor and boss Nathan.

"Believe me. I'm still getting used to the reality, that I missed out on so much of their lives, and for what?"

"What do you mean? With your résumé you're the most successful venture capitalist the company's ever had. Come off it man, you can't be telling me you're regretting it now?"

"How's Jo?" Nathan looked somberly at Clive, who rolled his eyes and frowned before he caught himself, seemingly forgetting Nathan's status for an instant.

"She's fine. Look, I don't mean to be rude or nothing, but I smell flagrancy here. Masquerading as this this man who values family over success. Might this be your way to get me off your tail?"