Lois Ross and blu3crush: This one is all for you guys! Especially blu3crush, thanks for the support!
"Nick, look now is not the time or place."
"Sara, don't you dare give me that bull crap. What the hell is going on?" I open my mouth, trying to find an explanation, but all that comes out is a hell of a lot of vomit. It misses me and hits Nick. I silently thank god for the distraction and bolt, running for the car. I finally reach the parking lot and get into my truck, and rest my head on the steering wheel.
"Great, Sara. Great job. For three whole years you hid your daughter from some of the best CSI's in the country and then slipped to a possible murderer. Smooth, Sidle." I start the car and peel out of the parking lot, headed home. I feel tears making there way down my cheeks and I let them roll down. I ignore the constant ringing of my cell phone as I park in front of my apartment. I sit in my car for a few minutes, thinking.
"Why didn't I tell Nick?" I wonder aloud.
"You didn't want him to know, Sara." I answer myself.
"He would be a great father."
"How do you know that? Maybe he would want nothing to do with you or Hannah Marie."
"Or maybe he would be a wonderful dad."
"If you had told him during the pregnancy, he might have wanted you to abort Hannah Marie."
"You don't know that, Sara."
"Oh, shut up."
"Hey, your the one talking to yourself."
"Technically, your talking to yourself too."
"I'm losing my mind." I say, getting out of the car. I walk through the doors and hit the buttons on the elevator. I soar up to floor nine and head to number 903. I let myself in.
"Annie, you can go, thanks." I tell my babysitter. She nods and walks out. I open my freezer and grab a pint of mint chocolate ice cream and a spoon. Mint chocolate is Nick's favorite. Hannah Marie's too. I settle onto the couch, turning the volume down on the TV so Hannah Marie wouldn't wake. I flip through the channels until Dateline fills the screen. I dig into the ice cream as I watch the story on the TV unfold. I watch for a few minutes, but then Hannah Marie's cries fill the apartment. I sprint into her room. Almost everything in the room is pink, except for the posters of horses that decorate the walls. Hannah Marie wanted to be a cowgirl. She was so much like her father, even if she had never met him. I sit cent to her in bed, pulling her to my chest.
"Mommy!" She says, wrapping her tiny hands around my waist.
"Hi, baby, Did you have a nightmare, sweetheart?" She nods against my chest. "You know what's the cure for nightmares? Ice cream and movies." She looks at me and smiles. I carry her in a fire mens hold into the living room. I sit her on the couch and grab another spoon. "What movie do you want to watch, sweetie?"
"Cinderella!" I smile. Hannah Marie has probably seen the movie 6 dozen times, but she never gets sick of it.
"Okay, pumpkin." I pop it in the DVD player and put the ice cream in her lab. This may be bad parenting, letting your child watch movies at 10 o'clock at night but I don't care.
"Mommy?"
"Yes, baby?"
"Why don't I have a daddy?" Her question takes me by surprise.
Umm…well…" A knock on the door interrupts me. I get up and open it to reveal Nick. He looks at me, then behind me at Hannah Marie. The only though going through my head is: crap. This is the perfect storm. And everything is about to self-destruct.
