Blackjack

Chapter 15

Chapter 15 

As I open the door with Addie clung tightly to me I think I may just be as nervous as her. My heart is pounding, I have thought about this moment a lot in the last 9 years. When she was a baby I dreamed and prayed for this moment. I prayed he would knock on the door one day wanting to be a part of our lives, raise our daughter together and be a family.  

“Hello Addie I'm Alex, your father.” Alex says nervous and excitedly. Addie says nothing just continues to cling to me. I look down at her and her up at me and give her a reassuring smile.  

“This is my father Greg, your grandfather.” Akex says after a few awkward silent moments. 

“Hello Addie” Greg says with a smile. He comes over and kneels down holding his hand out for her to shake. After a few quick moments she grabs his hand and shakes it with a smile.  

“It was very nice to meet you Addie, I'm going to give the 3 of you some time alone please find me to say goodbye before you leave.” He says as he leaves the room closing the door behind him.  Still holing Addies hand I guide her over to a couple chairs next to the bed and we sit down. All is silent for a few minutes.  

Alex’s POV 

We have been sitting here silently for a few minutes. I have so many things I want to say to her, but I don’t want to push her. I wish I could just scoop her up in a hug and never let go. I wish I had been there for her for the last 9 years. There for the both of them, Hayley shouldn’t have had to do it all alone. From this day forward I will make sure she doesn’t have to do this alone. I have missed Hayley from the moment I watched her get on that plane 10 years ago. I wished she would come back and we could be together again. I f****d around a lot with random girls to try and fill a void that she left but it never worked. Liam’s mom Becca was the first girlfriend I ever had after Hayley left. She certainly wasn’t a good choice, I met her at the club one night. We had a lot of fun and when I found out she was a drug addict I tried to help her by getting her clean. And she did get clean, a couple months after that we found out she was pregnant with Liam. I was so angry because she lied to me about being on birth control. I kicked her out of my house and told her I didn’t want to hear from her unless it was about the baby. I caught wind from some people around town that she was using again. One night followed her and she led me right to her dealer. After beating the s**t out of him for selling heroin to a pregnant woman and gave her two choices. Move in with me and stay in the spare room until he was born and give up her rights then leave town, or I would use my influence in this town to have her put in prison for fetal abuse and she would have to give him over then. She chose to not go to prison which I figured she would. She was only living there for about a month under strict supervision before she went into preterm labor. Liam was born 8 weeks early, and had to spent the next 2 months in the nicu getting strong. Once Becca recovered from the delivery, she signed over her rights and was discharged from the hospital. I haven’t seen her since.  

“So..what happened to you?” Addie asked bringing me back to reality. 

“Oh just a little bike accident no biggie” I reply 

“Oh, I'm sorry to hear that” replies Addie 

“Don’t worry about it kiddo I'll be fine soon thanks to your mom” I say with a smile on my face 

“Can I ask you some questions?” 

“Ask me anything you want sweetheart” I tell her 

“Well I met your father, where’s your mother?” 

“She’s at her house probably, we don’t talk much” She just give a small nod in acknowledgment 

“Do you have other family?” 

“I have a son” She looks at me with a smile, excited by the fact she has a little brother. 

“His name is Liam, he’s 2 months old” 

“Where’s his mom?” She asks nervously  

“I’m not sure, I take care of Liam” I say with a smile but wanting to be as vague about it as I can. 

She asks a few more questions about Liam before finally asking the big question that I had hoped she wouldn’t ask. 

“Why didn’t you ever come to see me in Texas?” The hurt evident in her eyes. I look to Hayley as I didn’t know what she had told her for the last 9 years and unsure of how she wanted to handle that question.  

Hayley’s POV 

I could see Alex starting to panic at Addie’s question, unsure how he should answer it so I decided to step in. I could only hope that she could handle the truth, I feel that being honest is best especially if I want her and Alex to have a good relationship. I don’t want her to be upset with her father and I want her to know that she can depend on him. I sat on the edge of the bed motioning for Addie to join me. 

“Addie your father never received all the letter’s I sent. Someone who was afraid of losing your father intervened in all my attempts to contact him.” 

“Who would do that? Why wouldn’t they want him to know about me?” Addie asks. I look at Alex giving him the opportunity to explain the situation. 

“Addie, my mom kept the letters from me. She didn’t want me to know about you only out of fear that I would leave California to be with you and your mom in Texas. Family is very important to my mom and she likes to keep hers close.” Alex informs her.  

“Well I'm sorry but that’s just not fair!” Addie yells clearly becoming upset. 

“I spent all these years wishing you were there, wondering why you didn’t want to be in my life. Wondering what I did wrong! I prayed and hoped at every school play every ballet recital every birthday that you would show up!” Addie yells crying now. I bring Addie close to me wrapping my arms around her to comfort her. 

Alex’s POV 

Her tears are killing me. My heart is broken to know that she was hurting all these years.  

“Addie, I wish I was there for all those things too. Unfortunately, I can’t change the past but I can promise to make it to as many school events ballet recitals sport events that I possibly can from here on out. I want to be in your life, I want to be the father you always needed and wanted. I’m not a perfect person but I have loved you from the moment I found out about you. I love you so very much Addie.” 

“I love you too Daddy” she says with tears streaming down her face. With tears in my eyes I bring her in for a hug. The feeling of holding my little girl in my arms brought me so much joy.