“Wake up, Mommy!” Melody called up bright and early the next morning. “Daddy’s here.”
It sounded so ordinary, but it wasn’t. Far from it in fact. “Slow down. What did you just say?” June felt the blood drain from her face, felt her heart beat harder and faster than anything she had ever felt before. “Nick?” she said as her fingertips touched the glass window in her bedroom. The news of his return grabbed June’s whole world and crashed it to the ground. She closed her eyes and exhaled a long, drawn out breath. Part of it was a form of relief while the other part was anger. It unsettled and confused her. Why is he here?
Her heart raced in time with her thoughts as she studied him. He looked as unsure of the moment as she was. Melody rushed out the front door and hugged her dad so long that it almost took his breath away. June could see his love for her, shining through his regret. Her anger subsided somewhat, made her question everything again. Maybe they could put their hurt feelings aside, for Melody. Something in her didn’t one hundred percent agree with that. As much as she wanted to pretend everything was the same, the facts still remained. This time, she wasn’t going to ignore the truth. She was going to run toward it with all of her might and whatever happened, happened.
Slowly, she got to her feet and caught a glimpse of herself in the dresser mirror. Something had changed in her eyes. Maybe it was from the love of her friends and family the night before. She was glowing. June made her way downstairs, cautiously, dressed in her long, white, nightgown that flowed behind her as she walked.
When she opened the front door, he stood, and she did the same. June could tell, long before he began to speak, she could see it in his dark brown eyes. His pained smile begged her to understand.
“Nick?” she said, finding her voice. “What are you doing here?”
Nick looked unsteady, dressed in ragged sweatpants and a t-shirt. “Is there someplace we can speak in private?”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. First, I need to know why you’re here.”
“Please,” he said. “I don’t want to do this in front of Melody.”
June nodded. “Sweet girl, go inside. I’ll be there in just a minute.”
Melody frowned and stomped her feet. “No Mommy!”
June leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Please,” she pleaded. “Go get dressed and we’ll go see Grandpa soon. Okay?”
For a few seconds, Melody continued to stand there with no movement before finally deciding to walk into the house.
June crossed her arms. “So, what’s going on?”
He sat down in the rocking chair behind her. “I miss y’all.”
June squinted. “Why…why now?”
“This is hard for me,” he said, “but if you would just put yourself in my shoes, you’d understand.”
“Hard for you!?” Wearily, she moved to the chair beside him and sat down. “Did you ever really love me?”
He stopped rocking. “Yes, and still do,” he said, turning to look at her for the first time. His voice was tattered. “Leaving you two was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
“If we meant so much to you, then why did you go?” She seemed to sense what was coming next and wasn’t sure she could handle it. The thought of him leaving her for another woman was excruciating.
He was about to respond when Tom drove up and parked the truck at the end of the driveway. He climbed out of the driver’s seat, clenched his jaw at the sight of Nick. There was a sudden wildness in his eyes, the showing of the whites.
“Kind of funny how your ex-boyfriend is hanging around our house all the time.”
“Our house?”
He sensed the space between them in her tone.
“You think I don’t know about Tom and you? People talk.”
“I have nothing to hide like you. Tom and I are just friends, and you know it. But keep telling yourself lies to make yourself feel better. Lord knows you’re good at that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nick shouted.
Tom stepped forward. “I think you’d better leave.”
“No!” Melody yelled from the open window in the living room. “Stay, Daddy…Please…”
Tom backed away and slowly walked toward the barn, turning back a few times to let Nick know he was there if June needed him.
June sat up a little more stiffly and shook her head. “You’re not going to do this to us.” She had waited so many days, hours, minutes, for this very moment. It took everything she had not to give in to the love that she shared for Nick. Time and space wasn’t enough to change her heart—but it was enough to change her mind. “I can’t do this, us, we are—”
“June…please don’t.” Nick reached for her hand. “What did I do to make you hate me so much?”
The feel of his fingers around hers sent a tingle through her body. Breathe…you have to breathe.
“Talk to me.” He moved closer, his eyes never leaving hers. “I just want to know what happened between us.” He kept his voice low, so Melody couldn’t hear him. “June…it’s me.”
“Let me guess, she threw you out.”
It took him a minute to process what she’d said. “What are you talking about?” His stare cut through her.
She didn’t waver, didn’t look away. “I think you know what I’m talking about.”
He felt they were speaking entirely two different languages and the translation was impossible to understand.
“That night at the bar, Alice told me she was pregnant!” she spewed and as the words left her tongue, she felt like a hot air balloon falling high from the sky. “There, I said it. Are you happy now?”
He started laughing.
“What the heck is so funny?”
“You are.” Suddenly, everything fell into place. “You think Alice and I are—”
“What was I supposed to think? Staying out late, missing dinners with us, and then when I go to find you…you were in Asheville with her, singing. It all added up, Nick.”
He gave her hand a quick squeeze before withdrawing. “June…Alice is married. Her husband was there that night. If you would have stuck around, I would have introduced you. But instead”—he rubbed his chin—“you left in haste. And I would never do that to you by the way, never.”
She looked at him for a long time, fighting tears. His eyes stayed locked on hers. “All this time…I’ve wasted…” Her voice trembled. “Nick?”
He hesitated. “Yes.”
She closed her eyes. Hearing the truth brought her back to the beginning, their forever love. “I’m sorry.”
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