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Granted, he knew he had no right to ask her to stay. He didn’t have a leg to stand on in that vein.
Other than the fact that he was in love with her.
But he couldn’t play that card, either. Too much had passed between them. Too much that was neither good nor fair to her.
His only course of action was to let her get her life back on track. To follow-through with what she’d originally set out to do before he’d intercepted her on that airplane. Hell…before she’d even met him, in the hospital in Mexico City.
Naturally, he wondered if there was potentially some way to sway her into giving him another chance. To give them another chance.
Unfortunately, Damen believed he’d trespassed on her so greatly, there was no way to right their capsized ship.
So he’d showered, dressed and was on his way to breakfast when he’d crossed paths with Mads and Nikki in their tear-jerking moment. Damen had been deeply moved by his niece’s appeal to Nikki…as Nikki had been.
He’d been equally touched by Nikki’s compassion. She couldn’t turn Mads down. Regardless of how it once again derailed her plans.
All of this was a lot to process. And maybe one more day together only worsened the pain of impending separation, only prolonged the inevitable.
Therefore, Damen decided he’d continue with his plans for the coming afternoon. He was needed on the ops campus and that was where he’d go after breakfast.
As Mads served her first unicorn pancake to Nikki, their special guest, Damen poured coffee for himself and sipped. Nikki, of course, made a big production over Mads’ creation and that warmed Damen’s heart. Made him fall even a little more in love with her.
Then he set aside his cup and helped his niece with her next serving, for her Nana.
“Are you missing a plane this morning, dear?” Damen’s mother asked Nikki.
She reached for the butter and delicately skated the blade of the accompanying knife over the whipped mixture, then spread it across her vibrantly colored pancake.
She told Mrs. Castillo, “I was planning on eating breakfast in first class on my way to Switzerland, yes. But…this is lovelier. Damen found the perfect present for Mads.”
“Mm, he always does.”
Nikki’s gaze slid to the buffet table, where Damen and Mads were working together to achieve another masterpiece pancake.
Nikki’s heart twisted. Once again, this was a scene that was supposed to have come to fruition for her, with Conner. Only, the kid was supposed to be theirs. A boy or a girl, it never would have mattered—they would have been thrilled either way. And if they’d been even further blessed, he or she would have been the first to kick off their family unit.
And this was precisely how they all would have spent their weekend mornings together, and most certainly the holidays.
Perhaps that was one of the reasons Nikki had let Mads sway her. In addition to not having the heart to let the little girl down, to walk out on her when she’d pleaded with Nikki to spend Christmas Eve with them and share in their family traditions, Nikki had also considered that having even a small taste of everything she’d always wanted, had dreamed of achieving with her husband, and had never experienced was the greatest temptation of all.
An irresistible one.
Meaning that rebooking her flight and really and truly leaving on Christmas morning was going to be yet another excruciating instance to endure.
But it’d be worth it, she told herself. To collect this precious memory, tuck it away and carry it with her.
It’d be worth it… She was sure of it.
Especially seeing how much Damen and Mads adored each other and how great they were together, how he made her giggle and she made him smile.
It was agonizing to witness in some respects; all of them she’d recounted previously. But also incredibly beautiful.
Nikki dabbed her eyes with her napkin and then poured syrup on her pancake. She waited until Mrs. Castillo had her own plate in front of her and they both dug in, the older woman clearly sensing Nikki needed a reprieve to collect herself.
Problem was… Nikki wasn’t sure she was ever going to recover from this.
44
Breakfast lasted for quite some time and Nikki found that she didn’t mind. Though she certainly did overeat.
