HAPPILY EVER AFTER …FINALLY
PART 4

Nikita was speechless at first and then her own anger rose to the fore. “Pass her off as your child! Michael she is your child!”

“That child can be no older than 7. It is impossible for her to be my child!”

“Michael,” Nikita tried to speak calmly, “Michelle turned 9 three months ago. She is very small for her age. As you will remember my mother was petite. So is Michelle. She is also very bright for her age so has advanced a grade ahead of her friends. No, Michael I can’t believe you would think I would try to pass her off as your child if she wasn’t. Just watch her. She has a lot of your mannerisms. I am also surprised you didn’t see the birthmark you both share on her hip while you were drying her off!”

It was Michael’s turn to be speechless. Nikita exploded. “All this time I thought you were mad because I hadn’t told you about her and you have been thinking she isn’t your child! How could you Michael? No man has touched me since our last time together. I found out I was pregnant three months after you left with Adam. I had a normal pregnancy but then had trouble delivering her and had to have a C-Section…”

“That explains the scar on your bikini line I noticed earlier. I wondered what had caused it.” Michael interrupted. He looked at her and asked the question she had thought would be foremost in his mind, “Why didn’t you tell me about her?”

Nikita looked guilty. “I … I was so afraid you would want to take her away and raise her. I needed her! She was all that kept me sane after you left. She was a part of us that I could see and touch and love …” Nikita could not finish as she fought the tears.

Michael all his anger forgotten, walked over to her and pulled her into his arms.

Nikita met his eyes and almost wailed, “I have felt so guilty for keeping her from you but I couldn’t give her up!” she finished and the pleading look in her eyes almost broke his heart.

He hugged her tighter and shushed her, “It’s ok, I’m still in shock to know I have a nine year-old daughter but I can understand how you felt. I wanted to die when Adam was taken from me.” he said.

She pulled away from where she had buried her face in his neck and asked, “So you can forgive me? You won’t leave us?”

“Never! I’ll never be apart from you again and we will raise our daughter together.”

Michael sat down pulling her into his lap. “We have a daughter,” he said wonderingly. “You took pictures?”

“Of course! I knew the day would come when you would want to see how she grew up. Wait just a minute,” she said as she got off his lap and ran to the shelves on the wall to retrieve a large photo album.

She sat back down in his lap with the heavy photo album and opened it up. She had made a story of Michelle's life. There was a separate page for each month of the first twelve. In it she had placed pictures and in her very neat handwriting had written down the things that happened that month - 'she recognized me and smiled today; her first tooth is coming out; she had an ear infection and had to get a shot, etc. Nikita had meticulously recorded the first twelve months of Michelle's life.

"Impressive," Michael told her.

"I did it for you. I wanted you to see how she grew up and know all the stages she went through." She paused and looked at him guiltily, "I hoped it would make up for your not being here to see her grow in person."

Michael hugged her and sighed, "I hurt over the fact that I had a daughter and didn't know until a few hours ago but I can also understand your feelings. I love Adam so much and when he was taken from me, it almost killed me. To actually carry a child for nine months and have to give it up, must be the most horrific feeling of all."

Nikita had sat in his lap with her head lowered during his unusually long remarks. He now lifted her head up by her chin, seeing the tears that she was trying to hold back. "I can understand why you did it. So from this point on, we only look to the future not back at the past. I will know my daughter for the rest of my life and will love her and care for her just like I do Adam."

Nikita smiled through her tears, "You really will forgive me?" she asked as though she needed the words to be able to breathe and relax.

"Yes, I could not live without the two of you in my life anymore. You do not know the number of times I almost gave up and came back dragging Adam along with me. It was only the thought of how I treated his mother that kept me from doing so. I owed it to them both to give him a safe and happy childhood. I have now so I am not leaving again."

"Oh Michael!" Nikita cried and buried her face into his shoulder. I will always feel guilt about my choice but I would not have survived without Michelle!"

Michael realized she needed to cry and let her do so. He sat quietly holding her and murmuring in French soothing words until she calmed down.

She then leaned back to look at him and said, "I have another album of the next 8 years of her life. I think you will find it all very informative. She is a wonderful child. I have told her that you were on a long mission and that we hoped you would come back one day. We will tell her the truth later when she is old enough to understand. She will be excited to know she has an older brother. She has bugged me for years to give her a sibling."

"Maybe we will do just that," Michael replied quietly.

Nikita looked stunned. "What is it?" he asked.

"I've had no reason to take birth control since you've been gone and so I haven't. I may very well be pregnant now!"

(c) 2000 vthomas@carolina.rr.com