Three Wishes(54)

Laura nodded. “She will be. I know she will. You’ll make it better, Nathaniel. You can sort anything out, I know you can. You’ll sort this out too.”

At her words, he felt an odd stirring in his chest that he ignored.

And he hoped his mother was right.

Chapter Fifteen

Nate

“We’re early, we’re way too early. We’re supposed to be there at ten, it isn’t nine thirty yet.”

Laura Roberts was fretting.

They were walking up the seafront beside the Victorian pier. Nate had driven his Aston Martin, leading, with Laura and Victor in the Rolls following him.

Nate drove on his own. He had too much on his mind; he didn’t want company on the trip to Somerset especially not his parent’s company, not that day.

Laura was in a state and Victor was actually visibly nervous. Victor, Nate found upon arrival at his parent’s home that morning, was coming along as well. This intention was stated in a tone not to be denied.

Nate would have denied his father but he had no desire to waste the precious time to do so. Therefore Victor was along for the ride.

“We left too soon. We should walk on the seafront for half an hour, get a cup of tea. It’s rude to be early, Laura worried, preferring to focus on her rudeness at being early than the fact that she was about to face the woman whose life her two children had all but destroyed.

Nate didn’t care much that they were early nor did he care if it seemed rude. He wanted to meet his daughter and he wanted to see Lily. He’d lost eight years and if Lily’s demeanour the day before was anything to go by he was facing the battle of his life. He was set on starting straight away, he wasn’t about to wait half an hour nor have a cup of f**king tea which he never drank anyway.

They walked by the Royal Pier Hotel and the short street that led to Lily’s terrace was a few paces away. Nate suppressed the urge to lengthen his strides and leave his lagging parents behind.

“What’s that little girl going to think? How did Lily tell her about Nathaniel? How could she tell her? What kind of words can you use for something like that? How is she going to react?” Victor blustered, not expecting a response to any of his rapid fire questions then he finished with the dire prediction, “We’ll have to find a psychologist.”

Victor was beginning to sound like Laura, Nate thought with annoyance.

Then Nate couldn’t think at all for, when they were only two doors down from Lily’s house, he heard, “Daddeeeeeeeeeeeeee.”

Flying toward him, her arms wind-milling wildly, her black hair streaming out behind her, was a beautiful little girl, her face alight with delight, wearing a pretty, sky-blue sundress.

A beautiful little girl that looked exactly like Nate.

Nate stopped dead because she didn’t. She ran headlong into him, her head slamming painfully into his stomach, her arms flying around his h*ps to hold him in a fierce, tight hug.

At her touch, Nate felt something in his chest squeeze uncomfortably as one of his hands settled automatically on the soft, dark hair of her head, the other on her shoulder.

“Oh my God,” Laura breathed.

“Tash! What are you… oh.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Lily who’d come running out of the house after her daughter. She stopped at the sight of them and her lips stayed parted in surprise.

“Oh my God,” Victor breathed.

Lily wasn’t wearing a pretty anything. She was barefoot, her face free of makeup and she had on a pair of faded, battered, what appeared to be army trousers and skin-tight, lilac camisole that showed her thin shoulders and arms.

It also showed slight purple and yellow marks around her upper arms, bruises that looked like they were made by a set of hands, bruises that could only have been caused by Victor.

Regardless of this she somehow, to Nate, looked unconsciously, undeniably beautiful.

Before anyone could say another word, Natasha’s head went back. Nate’s hand dropped from it and she looked up at him, her dark eyes, his dark eyes, dancing merrily.

“I’ve been watching for you all morning. It seems like for… eh… ver! I thought you were never going to get here!”

Apparently, however Lily broke the news, she’d done it well.

Natasha’s head jerked around so she could look at her mother but she kept her arms firmly around Nate’s hips.

“Look, Mummy, Daddy’s here,” she told her mother unnecessarily.

At the sound of her calling him “Daddy”, Nate felt that uncomfortable squeeze matched by a slice through his gut.

Lily’s stunned gaze slid from the early arrived crowd and then her face melted into a smile as she looked at her daughter.

“I can see that, baby doll.”

Nate was staring at Lily’s soft smile, feeling her endearment to her daughter, his daughter, their daughter, wash over him when Natasha’s head came back around and she looked at Nate.

“Mummy told me last night you were coming,” she informed him.

“Did she?” Nate murmured.

Natasha nodded gaily. “Yes, she told me she found out you were alive and you wanted to meet me straight away.” Then she took her arms from around him, held them out at her sides and announced, “Here I am!”

Nate stared in fascination at the beautiful child he and Lily had created. She was, quite simply, not to be believed. Her eyes were sparkling, her heart was open and the sunny smile never left her gorgeous face. It was clear to anyone that she was happy to see him, beyond happy, she was thrilled.