Because Nathan was finished with the client’s house on Wednesday, he had been able to use his crew to help Manny finish the renovations of the Maples’ house that was now Casa de Romeo’s. They worked really hard, and had continued working long hours on the house while Nathan and his family had gone away for the few days to Vegas. When they did the final move late Sunday night, the house was perfect! It was pretty much what Nathan would want for a family home. Donna had also put in some ideas of what she would like to see in the house since she was going to be living with them as a family member. At the time, Nathan didn’t know he was going to pop the question so soon or return married.
The house suited both Donna and Nathan. She never made any comments about the house once belonging to Jillian and her family, either. She was really strong and very supportive of him. He couldn’t have asked for a better wife or mother to his child.
Josh didn’t get a nightmare their first night at the house while sleeping in his old room and bed. Donna had put him to bed, and they had kept to the routine she had implemented while she was at Nathan’s penthouse apartment.
Nathan was taking a couple days off to help Donna unpack the house and get himself organized before he started working on the Murdochs’ house. She had taken Josh over to Stan’s house for a therapy session.
Coming into his new office, Nathan started unpacking boxes and putting his drafting stuff away, along with the books. After half an hour of unpacking, he came upon the diary. Needing a break, he grabbed a cup of coffee, and relaxed in the leather love seat. Opening up the diary to the last entry, he read on:
Oh Nathan, our little man is walking. Oh my goodness. He fumbles a few times, and it’s really cute till he hurts himself. And most babies cry when they hurt themselves, but not this little guy...he’s a toughie. He just gets right back up and keeps plugging on. I’m so proud of him, and you would be too.
He’s already getting into trouble with his crawling and stuff. It should be fun. Anyhow, I just wanted to let you know that he’s walking, and I’m trying to catch it on video. I got some recorded video that I’ve taken over time, stashed away. It’s in the silver My Little Pony box. Mom thinks I keep Valentines cards in it. I used to when I was young. I guess I sorta do; there’s some on the top to keep my mom thinking that I’m not saving stuff for you.
I tell her that I don’t talk to you or write you. Well, I don’t say I have anything to do with you. I pretty much don’t say anything because the odd comment I do make earns me a dirty look or “Oh, he’d be a terrible father. Where is he? He’s in jail. So...blah blah blah.”
Maybe I’m crazy for writing you these diary entries, but I just want you to stay a part of his life, at least till I can run into you.
Ha, I’m seventeen now. It’s really weird celebrating your birthday and turning seventeen when you have a baby.
I wanted to go out with my friends and drink and stuff. But I’m a mom now and I can’t do that, my mother tells me. So I just had a family dinner, and it was okay. It wasn’t what I thought I’d be doing for my seventeenth birthday.
I’m so angry. I wonder what we would have done if you and I had still been together, and we had our son. I think we would have found a babysitter, and I’m sure you would have done something nice for me, right? At least in my heart, I think you would.
Running a hand through his hair, wow! He’d missed a lot. Smiling to himself, Nathan thought she did care about his involvement or lack thereof. Jillian had videotaped moments of Josh’s firsts. Nathan’s crew packed up her belongings and put the boxes in the garage. Nathan would go take a look after Josh was in bed. Donna would probably love to watch these home videos as well.
He was no longer angry with Jillian. Now he was thinking of how stupid they had been. Getting pregnant when she was so young was foolish. If anything, Nathan was now mad at himself for not protecting his first girlfriend. She had celebrated her seventeenth birthday as a young mother, and he hated that he had done that to her. If anything, it was him who deserved to apologize for taking her youth away. A trip to the cemetery might be a good idea this weekend, he gravely thought.
“I’m so sorry, Jillian, that I took your youth away. We should have been more careful. Granted, I wouldn’t trade Josh in for the world,” Nathan said earnestly while looking up to the heavens.
Closing his eyes for a brief moment, Nathan then returned to the diary:
Okay, so not only can he walk, but he can run. And, oh man, he’s causing so much trouble. My mother is just... Oh, she’s having a rough time with him. I think it’s funny because he’s more and more like you every day. And Mom hates it. She doesn’t say it, but blames it on him being a little kid. Deep down, I know it’s you that she’s blaming. He’s got some teeth, Nathan. Oh my goodness. He’s going to be a big boy. He’s trying to talk, too. His babbles are starting to turn into words. Momma. Dadda. That kind of thing.
We were at the dinner table and Josh looked at me and said, “Dadda.”
I said, “No. Momma.”
Then he said, “Dadda.”
And I smiled at Josh before picking him up. My mom and dad just glared at me. I knew I probably shouldn’t have been teaching him the word Dadda, at least while I was still living at home. But I did because I wanted Josh to know. My mom and dad don’t know I have some pictures of you hidden. I do. I have a lot of things hidden from them. I can’t wait till I turn eighteen and have money. The government gives you money if you’re not on your own feet. You can collect welfare. I don’t care how it looks; I’m going to collect welfare and live on my own till you get out of prison. As soon as you get out of prison, I’m going to tell you. Sorry I lied. I have our son. Let’s do what we planned and move out. My parents are driving me crazy.
I swear my mother thinks Josh is her child sometimes. It’s not like I get to go out. All I do is home school, and take care of our son. She’s driving me crazy. Anyway, his first word in public was Dadda. He hasn’t said Momma yet, but say’s Dadda a lot.
While reading that entry, Nathan found himself laughing out loud. God, he wished he could have been there to hear Josh say Dadda. He could only image how much that would have bugged the Maples. His heart felt larger and fuller with the knowledge that ‘Dadda’ was the first parental name his son said.
Hearing a knock at the door, he looked up. “Come in.”
Donna opened the door and peeked in. “Hey, just letting you know we’re back, and I’m going to put Josh down for his nap.” She eyed him up.
He smiled at her. “Okay. I’m just unpacking and was reading.”
“Oh, well... I’ll leave you alone.”
“I’ll be out shortly.” Donna was about to close his office door when he added, “Josh’s first word was Dadda.”
She stopped and turned back to look at him before warmly smiling at him. “That’s awesome!”
Yeah. His heart swelled with pride. He would do his best to be a damn good father to Joshua.
She closed the door, leaving him to his thoughts. Jillian had been considering moving out at eighteen. He had been out of prison by then. But never did Nathan think to drop by her place; granted, she’d moved. Had she found him, perhaps they would be married.
For some odd reason, he didn’t like that idea. He’d rather be married to Donna.
However, would he be willing to share his son with another man? Bothered by his thoughts, Nathan quickly turned his attention back to the diary:
Our little guy is talking so much now, and I know it’s been a while since I wrote last. He’s keeping me busy with his running around. I try to take him to the park to keep him out of Mom’s hair and to socialize with other children. He’s a bit shy at first, but after a bit, he gets into it. He loves the swings. He just loves them, and he loves this crazy marry-go-round thing. It has cages around it, and its goes around and around. Josh just loves it.
Of course, he says Momma now along with other words. It was pretty cool hearing him say Momma for the first time. For his second birthday, of course, I talked to him and told him we only say Dadda to Mommy because Grandma doesn’t like hearing that. But I had to tell my parents that it was going to come up because he sees kids with their fathers. When we are at the park, Josh sees kids with their dads, and he wants to know where his is. It’s only normal.
It will be soon we’ll be seeing you. I’m sure.
Nathan flipped through the remaining pages in the diary; they were blank. It seemed she had stopped or had gotten so busy with life that she was no longer writing him. Was it because she no longer loved him and was moving on? But then Jillian stated in her last entry that she would be seeing him soon. What was it that she was up to?
He felt guilty that he had moved on. Granted, she had passed away. Nathan didn’t know what he would have done had Jillian found him and made amends like she had mentioned in the diary.
Fate had a funny way of working out. There was no point in wondering whether he would have married Jillian instead of Donna, because life happened the way it was outlined. Maybe in another time they had been destined to be a family, but for now, his family would be with Donna and Josh.
*****
Nathan came into work tired. It was Wednesday and he hadn’t gotten much sleep. Josh had once again had another nightmare.
Monday night he had come running into Jillian’s old room, which had been converted into a guest room, crying for her.
After Donna took him to see Stan during the day, it was discovered that Josh was remembering more of the accident. The therapist told her the nightmares would end soon. They were to make Josh comfortable and fill his days with laughter and games to help him forget the accident.
Except last night, Josh woke up screaming. Both of them had run to his room. Nathan had ended up sleeping with Josh on his toddler bed. He figured they would head to the cemetery after work so Josh could speak to his mother. He also wanted to have a few words with Jillian himself.
If he didn’t have a solid crew working for him he wouldn’t have gotten through half the day or been able to be kidnapped when his brother-in-law showed up at the end of the day. He was just about to load up his truck to take supplies to his newest job site when Damon strolled over toward him.
Because Nathan was at work, he had taken his wedding ring off so he wouldn’t damage it or cut off his finger. He fingered his ring finger out of habit, upon seeing Damon. Wearing a ring was still foreign to him, nonetheless something he loved.
He met Damon halfway. “Are you looking for Donna?” he asked, wondering why Damon would show up at his office.
“No. I was hoping to run into you,” Damon curtly said while sternly looking him over.
“Oh, well... I’m kind of in my work clothes.” He wasn’t sure why Damon couldn’t wait to talk to him until they showed up for Kelly’s birthday party in a couple days, but he wasn’t going to start fights.
“That’s fine.”
He looked at Damon, who was dressed in a designer suit minus the jacket, with his sleeves rolled up and top buttons undone. “Let’s go for a drive,” Damon suggested.
“I sorta have work to do,” Nathan carefully mentioned.
“I’m sure your crew will be fine without you for a little bit,” Damon voice was clipped, and the lines in his forehead suggested he come.
He followed Damon to his beloved Lamborghini. Once buckled in, Damon took off, digging up dirt as they left. For a period of time, they just drove. Nothing was spoken while Damon drove on the windy road along the water’s edge till he reached a beach, where he parked and silenced the engine.
Damon got out of the car, and Nathan followed. He didn’t want to get worried that his brother-in-law had driven him far away so he could beat him up or worse...
“You probably know I dropped by your place the other day.”
Nathan could hear the coldness in Damon’s voice. “Yes. Thank you for dropping off the book.”
“Ha,” Damon said with a disgusted sound. “Donna was telling me you two have gotten closer.”
Seeing the angered lines on Damon’s face, Nathan knew he’d have to be careful with what he said. “We have a lot in common—”
“I don’t care what you have in common! If you hurt my sister, you won’t be going back to jail...” Damon warned him with a deathly stare.
Swallowing, it would seem the roles had reversed. There was no way Nathan would ever hurt Donna; if anything, he would protect her with his life. “I would never hurt your sister,” he protested. He wanted to add that it was because he loved her and they were married, but decided against it.
With that comment, Damon relaxed his shoulders, and softened his facial expression. “So...yes to both you and my sister attending the BBQ?”
“Yeah, we’ll be there,” Nathan casually said. Even though it would be more than two of them, since Josh will be in attendance. It was going to be eventful, to say the least.
Damon was heading back toward his car. “I’m not sure I agree with you and Donna dating, but if it makes her happy...” he then looked at Nathan.
“She is happy, I promise.”
Damon stopped near the driver’s side and looked at him casually. “So, you want to drive the car?”
He looked at his brother-in-law and saw the anger and protectiveness was gone from his face. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, what the hell...give her a whirl,” Damon said, throwing Nathan the keys to his baby.
“Alright.” Nathan changed direction and headed for the driver’s side, and then slid into the driver’s seat. It felt good sitting behind the wheel. Once he turned the engine over and felt the purr run through his body, it was an adrenaline rush. Looking over to Damon sitting in the passenger seat, and still seeing that he was not looking murderously at him, he put the car into gear, and they took off.
He got the car up to high speeds, but not as high as Damon had them when they were driving to the beach to have ‘their talk’.
“Chicken,” Damon kidded.
Nathan briefly looked over at him. “It’s your car. I’m not stupid enough to take it up to those kinds of speeds my first time behind her wheel.” He’d also just gotten his son back. Why would Damon jeopardize making his child fatherless?
And he wasn’t sure he would want to now. Nathan had more at stake than he did when he was young and foolish. Having just lost his parents and unborn baby, speeding off had seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Now he had a wife and possibly a baby on the way, and if not...he would give Donna one, if she wanted it.
With a chuckle, Damon only said, “I’m not going to test you on it. I’ll take your word for it.”
He drove back to his work site and said farewell to Damon. Walking to his truck to head home, he felt content about the talk they had had. Maybe they might have, just maybe started a new friendship...
Hopefully, that friendship didn’t die when Damon found out he and Donna were married.
Nathan got home; walking into the house, he was greeted by a frazzled wife. “Oh my God I was so fricken scared. I didn’t know if I should call the police or your sister...” Donna rattled on.
He looked at his wife and saw her frightened. “What are you talking about?” he gently asked.
“Your truck was parked at the office, but you weren’t there. I was looking forward to talking to you, and you weren’t there. Your keys were still in the truck, and you weren’t on site. Even your crew wasn’t sure where you took off to. It scared the crap out of me, okay?” Donna said, on the edge of tears.
Nathan put his hands on her shoulders, and felt her shiver with fear. “Aww, that is the first dutiful thing that my loving wife has done for me...” he teased.
This earned him a harsh glare. “Oh, shut up.” Donna then playfully slapped Nathan before he caught her wrists and brought her into a deep kiss. “But I really was scared.”
“I’m sorry, but don’t blame me. It was your brother. He kidnapped me,” Nathan raised his brow expressively.
“My brother...”
“Yeah, we’re dating,” Nathan sarcastically said as he headed for their room to shower.
“What?”
“Yeah! We’re dating, hey.” He walked into the master bedroom to change for his shower.
“Well, you know Damon stopped by the day we moved out. I told you... Don’t you remember?” Donna followed Nathan into their room.
“Well, he stopped by to make sure I do not harm you in any physical way possible,” he said, bare-chested with his pants zipper undone. He looked at Donna meaningfully. “Maybe you should tell him.”
“Do I really have to?” She now looked very fearful.
“Do you really have...to do...what?” Nathan slowly egged her on.
“Tell my family why I came back early by three weeks, and why I am not working anymore.” She stared at him before continuing, “But do I really have to tell him... You know?” Donna fidgeted while Nathan walked into the washroom.
“Your secret’s safe with me, my wife. My loving angelic wife, you don’t have to tell Damon. I’ll take it to our graves,” Nathan said, turning the water on in the shower. “We’ll tell them at the party that you quit and wanted to be a full-time parent to Josh, since they will be learning about him that day.”
“Oh, I love you so much more,” Donna hugged Nathan tightly before kissing him.
He wanted to haul her into the shower, but Donna insisted she needed to make dinner, so he took his shower alone.
When they were at the table, Nathan looked at Donna as Josh was eating quietly. He could tell she wanted to ask him something, but perhaps was refraining because Josh was too young to be hearing grown-up conversations. Instead, they both made conversation with Josh to get him to open up more about his day and the therapy session with their neighbor.
Once their night was freed up and Josh was sound asleep, Nathan and Donna cuddled in front of the new fireplace.
“So what else did my brother want?” she asked while running her hands through his hair.
“Besides warning me not to harm you or else... He also wanted to know if you and I both would be at our niece’s party.” He caressed Donna’s arm, inching closer to her left breast.
“And what did you say?” She quickly unhooked her bra and made herself more comfortable in Nathan’s lap.
“I said, yeah, we’ll be there plus one,” he teased.
Donna stopped rubbing the swell in his pants and quickly stared at him in shock. “No, you didn’t!”
“I wanted to.”
“Maybe you should have,” Donna said while relaxing back onto his chest.
“Right, and then they will think you’re pregnant,” Nathan pointed out, even though they would need to inform their sibling of their marital status.
“Oh my God, I haven’t even thought about that!”
Nathan looked down on her endearingly. “What do you mean?”
“I haven’t even thought about the pregnancy test I bought,” Donna’s face was now red and guilty.
“Well, do you want take it or skip a period?” he asked, gazing intently into his wife’s eyes.
She never answered him because Donna unzipped his pants and started to arouse Nathan. First, she brought his erection out behind the material of his pants. Then Donna started to stroke him smoothly with a tight grip.
The pressure was so intense that he grabbed a fistful of her hair. When she loosened her grip, placing her hand under his balls, he then started massaging her head. No sooner had Nathan been massaging her head and entwining his fingers into Donna’s long silky locks, that he felt her hot breath on his shaft.
And shortly after, he felt her moist lips wrapped gently over his length. She started bringing him in and out of her mouth gingerly. He couldn’t help but release the odd moan when Donna tightened her lips around his shaft.
He had lost focus and didn’t realize they were in the living room. He had stopped playing with his wife’s hair. She was making it hard for him to control his need for release. Before he could do anything about what she was doing to him, he felt her latch on like a leech and suck backwards on him to the tip of his head.
It would be soon...
“You had better stop that...unless...” Nathan huskily said.
Donna pulled off him and licked her lips while raising her right eyebrow seductively. Swallowing, Nathan quickly got up from the couch and hoisted his pants back up, then bent down to collect a very wild, alluring Donna. She giggled and kicked her shoes off as he led them to their bedroom to finish her pleasurable attack.