Nicole went to shower afterwards and Alexander followed her into the bathroom. They had steamy shower sex and he had to pull out because they had used up the only condom available. They then went back to bed and cuddled up in silence.
She laid on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. Some minutes passed before she moved to ask her questions.
"What happened to you?" She asked - she really wanted to know now more than ever. She hadn't bothered to ask before because she felt it was none of her business.
He kept silent like he wouldn't answer, but then he spoke up, "After my wife left me with Violet, I realised I had to become someone better for her."
"How did you meet your wife?" She implored.
"Freshman year in college. She was taking my major; she was beautiful, determined, smart and I liked her. At first, I just wanted to be a playboy, but then I fell in love with her. We dated all through college. After graduation, she became pregnant. She said I had to marry her or her parents would be disappointed in her for getting pregnant outside the bonds of marriage."
He exhaled and continued, "I knew her parents were very religious and she had always talked about making them proud so I felt guilty for getting her pregnant. I told her I would and I did; I was just twenty-four and she was twenty two."
Nicole scowled, "She manipulated you."
He chuckled dryly, "Well, I loved her and had the money so, it didn't feel like manipulation to me. We married and she gave birth to Violet. When my baby girl was two, her mother suddenly started acting out of it. She would keep late nights and complained literally about everything."
His voice became sad and Nicole could see that what had happened, had hurt him a lot. "I tried to become whatever she wanted me to be but still, she wasn't satisfied. She started smoking a lot and I didn't like it, it wasn't good for her and our child. So, we had a big fight and she just got up, left with her things and never came back."
"It's been four years." Nicole said lowly.
Alexander nodded.
She felt sad for him. "When did you find out Violet wasn't like other kids?" She asked.
"When she turned three. She had not started talking or making any kind of sound and she didn't answer her name when I called her so, I got worried and took her to the hospital. There, she was diagnosed chronically deaf; the doctor said she could completely lose her hearing with time. Left with no choice, I enrolled her into a school for the deaf so she could learn ASL and be like normal kids."
Nicole smiled, "How did you come to learn ASL?"
He chuckled and looked at her, "Well, I took courses, watched videos...I was determined to learn the little I could so I could at least communicate with her."
She felt so sorry he had to go through all that. She shifted towards him and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back and they both shared a pain filled embrace.
Saturday came and Nicholas was buried. Alexander had come to the burial and left immediately after. Nicole was currently in Georgia and Seth's home and her dad was around - he had come for the burial surprisingly. Her dad was a nonchalant parent who didn't give two fucks about his children. Nicole was twenty-one when he made them leave his house to go survive on their own; her mother had died when she was twenty. Despite the fact that he also stayed in Brooklyn, he didn't come see them or ask about their wellbeing.
The siblings hardly talked about their father and Nicholas had hated him the most. Dad used to emotionally abuse mom and was part of the reason why she had died. He knew mom loved him and manipulated her in anyway he could - he always made her feel she was not and would never be enough and she always stressed about it. Nicole and Georgia still hadn't forgiven him to this day but they didn't bother about him like Nicholas did.
She sat across him cross-legged and he stared right at her. He had aged, she could tell from the wrinkles on his face. Georgia and her husband were inside while the kids played on the floor beside him.
"Dad, I don't appreciate you staring...if you have something to say, say it." She told him bluntly.
"I can see you have some questions so, I am waiting for you to ask them." He said calmly.
She scoffed, "Georgia called you. She's actually the one I have questions for."
He paused, then pointed towards her. "Look at you, so big and beautiful now." He told her with a smile.
She glared at him, " Stop the bullshit, dad. You want questions? Fine. Why did you abandon us?"
He sighed, "I didn't abandon you guys. I was ashamed of what I did to your mother..."
"So you ran away cowardly instead of taking responsibility." She interjected sarcastically. "Then you should have just kept running. Why did you choose to come?" She asked in annoyance.
"My only son died prematurely and was to be buried...of course I would be here." He answered.
She seethed, "Same son that you abandoned, huh? Were you there when he went through the pain? Were you there when he felt like dying and giving up? No you weren't, so you can't come here and claim to suddenly care about 'your only son''.
He sighed deeply but didn't reply. He just turned away from her with a forlorn look on his face. She was angry and didn't find it worth taking it out on him so, she stood up and went outside.
How dare he come back like he never left? Nicholas died and suddenly he wants to be a father? Fuck him.
She needed a drink but she held herself back. She wouldn't drink today; Nicholas had hated her taking alcohol and she would respect that. She smiled as she remembered all the times he used to tease her for being an alcoholic and she would tell him that she wasn't; she just appreciated good beer.
A hand touched her shoulder and she turned to see Georgia standing behind her.
"You overheard us." She pointed out.
Georgia stood beside her. "The walls are not sound proof." She stated.
Nicole shook her head angrily, "I can't believe he had the audacity to come here. He didn't call, text or even come check on us for eight years...we had to go through life entirely on our own after mom died. He was never there!"
"I hate him too but no matter how we look at it, Nicholas was his son and he had every right to know his son had died." Georgia reasoned.
Nicole knew she was right. Her father might have been a manipulative man but he had been really devastated and withdrawn when mom died. It was confusing because all he did when she was alive, was play emotional games on her.
"I don't give a fuck if he's hurting. He should have known abandoning his kids would turn and bite him in the ass at the end." She pursed her lips in annoyance.
"Do you know why I called him?" Georgia asked quietly.
Nicole scoffed, "Because you're Georgia, the perfect daughter?" She said sarcastically.
"Nope. It's because right now, it doesn't matter. I called because he deserved to know that his son died. If he decided not to come, that would have been on him not us...moreover, mom would have also wanted us to call him." Georgia answered, ignoring her sarcasm.
"I'm going home...I need to think." Nicole told her and moved past Georgia to go pick up her bag and leave. When she got inside, her father still sat quietly and looked at her as she picked up her bag. She turned to go but stopped and turned back to look at him.
"Nicholas would be glad you came." She told him and without waiting for his response, walked out of the house.
Deep down, she didn't know if that was true but she now acknowledged that he was hurting and she wouldn't do anything to make that pain worse, for his sake.