Chapter 28

Kristin sat there stunned at what Kevin had just told her. Her mind was reeling.

Kevin's words replayed in her mind over and over again. Still not quite believing what he had told her.

Kristin grabbed the phone, thinking of who to call. She decided on one of her best friends, Leighanne.

"B-Rok's honey here!" Leighanne answered cheerfully.

Kristin smiled. "Girl, do you always answer the phone like that."

"No, just to you, cause I know you have a thing for my man."

"Believe what you want, Leigh."

"You're just jealous cause I got the better cousin."

"All right, fine I am."

Leighanne laughed. "And the truth shall set you free!"

"Don't I know it."

"What's that mean girl? What's up with you?"

Kristin sighed. "Do you have time to talk?"

"Shooting resumes tomorrow, so I have today off. Which means I can spend as much time as I want on the phone, so start talking."

"Kevin and I got into a huge fight, and I'm not sure if we're still together."

"What happened? What was the fight about?"

"Have you talked to Brian lately?"

"Yeah, just yesterday."

"Did he say anything about Kev?"

"No, why?"

"Well you're not going to believe what he had to tell me. Hell, I still don't believe it."

"What is it?"

"Kevin. . .he has a. . ."

"Has a what?"

"A daughter."

"What!? A daughter!"

"Yeah."

"Well what did he say? What's his explanation?"

"He said that she's 14 years old, which means that he wasn't with me at the time. He got some girl in high school pregnant. And now his daughter is living with him."

"Whoa! And he never told you about this before?"

"No. Never."

"Why all of the sudden did he tell you now?"

"Cause she's living with him now and I'll be coming home soon."

"What about her mom? Is she there with him also?"

"No, just his daughter. God, that's so weird to say that. I can't believe it."

"Wow, neither can I. So what was your reaction?"

"Obviously I was furious with him. How could he keep something so important from me? And I mean, we've been together for 7 years now, why not tell me before. That way, this wouldn't have been such a huge shock to me."

"Did you give him an ultimatum?"

"No, not really. I just told him that since he had found her then he may have lost me."

"Kris, that's not fair to say."

"Why not?"

"I know that Kev should have said something before. But think about what you're telling him. You're saying that he has to choose between his daughter and his future wife. You can't ask Kevin to do that."

"But what about me? He didn't ask me if I wanted a child, or if this was okay with me. He just went ahead and did it. What if I'm not ready to be a mom? Is it selfish of me to just want to have Kevin to myself? I've been waiting 7 long years to be with him, and just when I think this is it, this happens to us."

"I see your point sweetie. And I believe that you and Kevin deserve to be together more than anything, but you two are making decisions without talking to each other. And your decisions are effecting each other greatly."

"I don't know what to do Leigh. I'm so angry and frustrated with him. I feel betrayed."

"Why?"

"I guess cause he didn't tell me about her or any of this. I figured we knew everything about each other and that we could tell each other anything."

"So what are you most angry about? That he didn't tell you about his daughter or that she's now staying with him?"

"Both. I don't like that he kept this from me. And I really don't like that now there's a child staying with him, and when I come home she'll still be there. I don't want to deal with a child right now, especially if she's not mine."

"You said she's 14?"

"Yeah."

"Well it's not like you have to change her diapers or anything, or deal with temper tantrums. She's old enough to take care of herself."

"I know. But I don't want her there."

"Did you tell Kevin that?"

"Yeah, he said that she lives there with him and he wasn't reconsidering it."

"So are you willing to give up your whole relationship with Kevin because of this?"

"I don't know Leigh. Right now I told him that I just needed some time to think about this."

"Just make sure to consider everything. Okay? Because I know that if you two call off this engagement, then both of you will be heart broken. And I don't want to see either of you hurting."

"I know, but my whole world has just been turned upside down."

"I'm just asking you to think this over carefully."

"I will, don't worry."

"Good."

"Well I better let you go Leigh. I'm going to try and catch up on some sleep."

"Okay, Kris. I'm going to catch up on some shopping."

"Have fun, and I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Kris, talk to you soon."

Kristin hung up the phone and then laid down on the hotel bed. She stared at the ceiling, still thinking about everything Kevin had said and what she wanted to do.

Orlando, Florida

"Food's ready!" I yelled from the kitchen. Then my Uncle Brian and Nick came flying into the kitchen. I laughed as they fought over which chair to sit in.

"Lily, Brian says that you want to sit next to him, when I really know that you want to sit next to me, so can you tell him to get out of my seat," Nick whined. "He won't get up!"

"Nick, quit your whining," Howie said as he walked in along with my dad and Uncle Alex.

"Come on Lily, he won't get up," Nick said as he tried to push Brian out of his chair.

"Cause I know she wants to sit next to me," Brian said.

I laughed at them as they continued to argue.

Then Uncle Alex came up to me and took my hand.

"You two can quit your arguing cause she's sitting next to me and D," Alex said as he led me over to a chair. He pulled the chair out for me and I sat down.

"Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome," he said as he sat next to me.

Both my Uncle Brian and Nick began to pout.

"Sorry," I said as my Uncle Howie sat next to me.

"Fine, but next time you're sitting next to us," Brian said.

"All right," I said.

Then we all began to eat while my four uncles kept us entertained. My dad just stayed out of the conversations, always watching me.

Once we had finished eating, we went into the living room.

"Now what should we do?" I asked.

"Video games!" Nick and Brian exclaimed.

"No!" yelled my dad, Alex, and Howie.

I laughed.

"Anything but video games," Alex said.

"I have an idea," I said.

"What's that?" Howie asked.

"Umm. . .can you guys sing a song for me?" I asked.

"Sure," my dad said.

"What song?" Nick asked.

"I don't know. Whichever song you guys want to do," I said.

"Okay," Brian said.

Then they stood close together and talked over which song they were doing. Then they all looked at me.

"You are my fire, the one desire," Brian began singing.

I sat there amazed by my Uncle Brian's beautiful voice. I watched as he put all of his emotion into the words he was singing. Then Nick began to sing. After Nick, the chorus began and all of them were singing. I was surprised to hear that all of them had such wonderful voices, especially when they blended together.

"Cause I want it that way," Alex finished.

Then they just stood there staring at me, waiting for my reaction.

Now I understood why my dad's career was so important to him. I could see that he put everything into his singing.

"Wow," I said. "You guys were fantastic. You having such amazing voices."

"Thank you Lily," Nick said.

"Now I see why you're career is so important to you," I said, looking at my dad. "I understand now, why you forgot about me."

The guys just stared at me.

"Lily, I never forgot," my dad said.

"No, you just neglected to remember," I said angrily.

"I'll admit that I did stop searching for you after a while, but I never forgot about you," my dad said.

"Why did you stop searching for me?" I aske.

My dad looked away from me to stare out the window.

"Maybe we should leave now," Howie suggested.

"No, that's okay. You guys don't have to leave because of me," I said. "I know the answer to that question."

I got up and gave each one of my uncles a hug. "Night guys."

"Night Lily," they said.

Then I went up to my room.

"Uh Kev, we're going to go now," A.J. said. "Okay?"

Kevin waved his hand, signaling that he had heard him.

The guys then quietly left Kevin's house.

Kevin looked towards the stairs, where Lily had just walked up a second ago.

He felt terrible for not answering her question, but what was he supposed to do? Tell her yeah, that she was right? Never for an instant had he stopped thinking about her, but he did stop searching for her because of his career. At the time, that was more important to him and he couldn't continue searching. Because what if he did find her? He wouldn't have been able to take care of her. He was still dealing with the death of his father and then trying to get back on his feet in Orlando. Then soon after he auditioned for the Backstreet Boys, and everything after that went by in a blur.

The reason he had begun to search now was because he finally had time to. He knew that if he found her, he could provide for her now. He could give her the home that she needed and the love and attention. But he knew that Lily didn't see it that way. All she saw was that he had forgotten about her for his fame and money, and then only as an after thought did he try and find her. Now he just had to prove how wrong she was.