Chapter 96
Alaia
“These are your grandchildren, Dad, Noah, and Alana,” Nick smiled, and Dominic looked emotional. “And this is Alaia, my wife, the love of my life p>
“Now… you have… a family,” Dominic spoke slowly and hoarsely, which was understandable. His eyes welled up, and so did mine. “My grandchildren,” he smiled faintly and stretched his hand towards my little ones.
Nick and I brought them closer to him on the bed. Dominic made an effort to move his arm and touch both of their heads. He maintained a warm smile on his lips.
“They’re precious… a little gentleman,” he caressed Noah’s cheek and paused, “a beautiful… princess,” he touched one of my daughter’s curls. I was overwhelmed with emotion.
“I wouldn’t expect… less from you, son… your wife is beautiful,” he made me take his hand.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Garnett,” I put my other hand over his.
“Just… Dominic,” he spoke and moved his head a little. I imagined his small movements were due to the years of physical therapy Nick had provided since he had been under his care.
We talked a bit more with Dominic, and I found him to be a pleasant person with an easy smile, an elegant man of knowledge, who for now didn’t want to be separated from his grandchildren.
“Will you teach… grandpa… about this new… world?” Dominic questioned my children word by word as they showed him their toys.
My children looked at each other.
“Yes,” they said at the same time and nodded very surely, making everyone, including the nurse, laugh.
“Despite everything… it has been… a wonderful… awakening,” his eyes reflected the joy of being awake, of seeing his son and his grandchildren. Will arrived shortly after and greeted his uncle affectionately, with a tear or two.
“Grace? Caitlyn?” Dominic asked Nick after the children found a place beside him to fall asleep.
Nick exhaled and put his hands in his pockets before speaking.
“Since Killian made us believe you had died, our relationship cracked. My mother stopped being the loving woman we knew and locked herself in a world where we ceased to exist.
There was no space for us in her life p>
Dominic closed his eyes heavily.
“I’ve called her. She’s at the Malibu house. She’ll come as soon as she gets to the city. I spoke to her therapist to contact her. Caty has been traveling for a long time. I made several calls and wrote several emails months ago since I found out about the children, but I haven’t received a response. She makes a withdrawal every month and sends postcards with photos of herself. She has decided to disconnect from us p>
“I want… to see them. Everything… must be… fixed now,” Dominic said, and my love nodded.
“I’ll send someone for her if necessary p>
We went down for dinner after the children woke up, and I felt the tension in Nick’s body.
Will played with the children to distract them.
“Everything will be fine, darling,” I caressed Nick’s cheek as he wrapped me in his arms.
“I just hope he can handle it and that keeping the secret doesn’t create more problems for us,” he sighed, and we heard a couple of cars at the entrance.
We all looked in that direction.
Sophia opened the door, and we saw a girl of about 18 enter, dressed in a traveler’s style, and drop her bag on the floor.
“Nick,” she spoke, approached him, and hugged him, “I read your emails two days ago. I took the first flight I could find. How is it that I have nieces and nephews and I’m just finding out?” She reproached him, hitting his arms.
“You’re the one who disappeared. Have you lost your phone?” Nick looked at her.
“Yes, I left it in some city in China, and I felt better without having it, without receiving calls and reproaches from our mother. But I realize it was a terrible idea. Where are they?” she finally managed to look at me.
“This is my wife, Alaia Russell,” Nick introduced me, and Caitlyn’s eyes widened.
“But I thought the plastic one was your wife,” she said, not understanding.
“Alaia is my only wife,” he took me by the waist, “she’s the mother of your niece and nephew p>
“I have no idea what’s going on, but for some reason, I like it. I like you,” she hugged me affectionately, and I reciprocated.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” she let go of me and walked behind me.
“They’re, they’re, they’re the cutest kids I’ve ever seen,” she approached my children and got down to their level. Her eyes turned red, and our children looked between us and their aunt, so I approached them.
“My treasures, this is your Aunt Caitlyn,” I introduced them, and my children looked at her
while she tried to get close to them and managed to get them to answer her questions until he could hug them, and we saw a few tears roll down her cheeks.
Nick and I watched them, delighted.
The emotions calmed down, Caitlyn and Will greeted each other and began to talk.
We felt more movement at the entrance and finally saw Grace, who entered along with Nick’s nanny, who greeted us silently.
“Here I am,” Grace spoke, raising her chin. “What’s the rush for your call?” She walked and looked around the house.
“Mother, you must stop this,” Nick rubbed his forehead.
“Stop what? I wasn’t the one who started it. You decided to leave me aside, to leave me out of your life,” there seemed to be hidden pain in her tone.
“And you denied me seeing the children, my son’s children, the blood of my blood,” I avoided snorting; it was her actions that made me make that decision.
“Well, speak. I have to return to…” her words were interrupted when we heard the children returning from the kitchen with Caitlyn.
She looked at them, and her feet moved towards them in slow steps. My children stopped and looked at us and at her.
Grace leaned down and just observed them in silence, closing her fingers to contain her movements, as if she wanted to caress them. She blinked, disguising her tears, which left me perplexed. This wasn’t the same Grace we had just seen.
“They have so much of you,” she spoke in a low tone, and I looked at Nick, who took me by the waist. “I’m their grandmother,” she introduced herself and swallowed a lump. “May I?” she looked at me and raised her hand to caress Noah’s face.
I debated mentally, which made me take a while to give her an answer.
“I understand,” she stood up, lowering her gaze and her hand. “You probably won’t greet me either, Caty,” she stated and briefly looked at her daughter but returned her attention to my children.
“Oh, please, Mom. Did you even miss me?” Caty crossed her arms.
God, this family has a lot to work out. I hope Dominic is the light they need to unite again.
“You know I did,” Grace assured without interest.
“No, Mom, I don’t know. You’ve never told us. You’ve never told us that you love us since you decided to leave us in our nanny’s hands p>
“You’re ungrateful,” she pointed at her, and Caty snorted.
“I think that’s enough,” Nick spoke in a louder tone, and they focused on him. “The reason I asked you to come, Mom, and I’m grateful you arrived just at this moment, Caty, is in one of the rooms of this house,” he told them, and they looked at each other, confused. “I need you to come with me,” Nick took my hand, and they followed us. Caty brought the children by the hand.
We entered the room, and they did so after us.
“What…?” Caty was about to ask, but her eyes recognized the man in the bed.
“What… what… what does this mean, Nick?!” Grace’s hands trembled, and in a moment, she lost consciousness. Fortunately, Will managed to hold her.
“Dad, Daddy!” City came out of shock and ran to hug Dominic, who cried along with his daughter.
I dried my tears for the tenth time that day, and we turned our attention back to Grace, who was being attended to by the nurse and managed to come to her senses after inhaling something the girl had put under her nose. She looked at the man in the bed and then at Nick.
“No, no, no, this isn’t real,” she messed up her hair desperately.
“It’s real, Mom,” Nick affirmed in a soft tone, and she quickly stood up.
“How could you hide from me that your father wasn’t dead?!” she shouted at him. “How could you do this to me?!” she spoke out of control and cried uncontrollably.
“Aunt, stop,” Will held her.
“Mom,” Nick began to speak.
“That… no longer… matters… Grace,” Dominic spoke with his daughter hugging him, and Grace received a wave of calm because her body relaxed, and she looked at him.
“Dominic, my love,” she sobbed, clinging to Will.
“Come,” he moved his hand towards her, and Grace didn’t wait. She walked to the bed, drying her tears, and settled on the bed next to him. The two women couldn’t stop crying, and I noticed that Nick was rubbing his eyes. I hugged him tighter.
“Thank heavens, you’re here,” he left a short kiss on my lips and turned back to watch the emotional family reunion.