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The first step to forgiveness started with contacting his father.
* * *
“I have a surprise for you,” Nick said after he put a basket of garlic bread on the table and took his place across from Becca.
“Dinner and a surprise?” she asked.
Nick had already surprised her by calling her this morning and asking if he could cook dinner for her tonight. Apparently, spaghetti and homemade meatballs was his specialty, and he wanted to make it for her.
Here they sat, in his tiny studio apartment, a single white taper candle lit between them, with delicious food on the table and the smell of garlic and Italian seasoning hanging in the air.
“How would you like to meet my father?” Nick asked.
“What? When? I’d love to meet him. Did you call him?”
Nick nodded and smiled.
“And?” she demanded. “Tell me everything.”
Nick braced his elbows on the table and laced his fingers together. “The more I thought about it, the more I realized you were right. I owed it to him to tell him about the babies.”
She waited a moment for him to continue, but when he didn’t, she said, “How did that go?”
A look of tenderness passed over Nick’s face. It was an expression she hadn’t seen before, and she was a little mesmerized.
“Better than I expected,” he said. “It was a little strained at first. I mean, it’s been sixteen years since we last talked. I can’t believe he still has the same phone number. But he does. He said it was good to hear from me. That he thought about me often and wondered where I was.”
Becca had to wonder why the man hadn’t tried to get in touch with his son. Surely he didn’t blame Nick for what happened to Caiden. But people had their own quirks and ways of dealing with heartbreak.
“I asked him to come. Told him I’d send him a ticket. He wants to meet you. The only thing is, he’s flying in the day we are supposed to tour the Dallas hospital.”
Becca held up her hands. “That’s okay. We can reschedule.”
Nick shook his head. “No need. He lands in the evening. We can go to the airport after the tour and pick him up. Would you be up to having dinner with us?”
“Of course, I’d love to. Thank you.”
Becca’s first thought was Nick is introducing me to his father. But then the voice of reason set in. He hadn’t seen the man in sixteen years.
“But are you sure you don’t want to meet with him first? So the two of you can have some time alone to catch up? I could meet you for dessert or maybe lunch the next day? Is he staying with you?”
Nick glanced around the room. “No. I’m pretty picky about who I share a bed with. I made a reservation for him at the Celebration Inn.”
She thought about how he’d been right there with her to break the news about the babies to her parents. Even though Nick had already told his father, she wondered if maybe he wanted her there for a little reinforcement during the first meeting.
She reached out and took his hand. “Nick, I’m so happy for you. It has to be a good sign that he’s willing to come and see you.”
Nick shrugged. “At least it’s a step in the right direction.”
* * *
On the day of the hospital tour when Becca’s phone rang she thought Nick was calling to say that he’d arrived and was waiting outside her office to pick her up for the drive to the hospital.
She picked up her phone with one hand and answered the call as she closed out of the computer file that she’d been working on with the other.
“Becca, it’s Nick. I’m sorry to do this at the last minute, but can you meet me at Southwestern Medical Center? I had a hectic morning. We were pretty busy, and then a reporter showed up wanting to interview me for an article about aortic dissection. I should have asked her to reschedule, but I didn’t and it ended up going a lot longer than I expected. If I pick you up, we’ll be late.”
Becca closed the folder on her desk and glanced at her watch. “No problem. I’ll meet you there at four. Unless you want to reschedule, or you know, I could just have the babies at Celebration Memorial. That would be easier on everyone. Lots of healthy twins are born there every day, Nick.”
“Unless an emergency happened, and they couldn’t give you the treatment that you’d need.”
She loved the way he got all protective and puffed up when it came to making sure she got the very best OB care possible, but was this specialty hospital really necessary?
