A/n- Thanks for all the reviews I really do appreciate them! I am still thinking about the way I want to take this story so if you want to give me your 2 cents I would LOVE it! So on last note before I start this chapter, this is a NALEY centered chapter,(but don't worry the kids will be back soon) and no it's not a fluff, this chapter is the beginning of a long road for them, let me be Mark Shawann for just a second and keep the faith!
888888
Loyalty; (noun) - State of being loyal, Feeling of duty, a feeling of devotion, duty, attachment to somebody or something
His loyalty was one of my favorite qualities about him, he had great hair, amazing eyes and muscles that made my knees go weak but his loyalty to his family, was what made me fall in love with him.
"Where are we going Nathan?" I asked we had been in the car for almost an hour and we had been trying to keep things calm between us.
"You'll see." He said without looking at me, but I looked at him, so many questions had been roaming my mind for almost a month now, I had wanted to ambush him with all of them but the fact that his mistake was in the from of a 16 year old, my questions had taken a backseat. I knew that our little getaway was really so that we could work this entire situation out, but I was unsettled at the thought of the fight that would inevitably start, I thought it might just be easier to keep all my feelings bottled inside.
Just as I closed my eyes, we pulled into the driveway of a beautiful wood cabin in the middle of the woods. It was a beautiful house; I gazed up at it as we walked towards the front door.
"This is amazing Nathan."
"Supposedly Brooke knows the owner, she suggested it." He said as he made our way in, we made our selves comfortable, taking a little tour of the house and putting our luggage in the bedroom. After we got settled we both sat down in the living room, the silence was oddly comfortable.
"I wonder if the kids are okay." Nathan asked as I picked up my cell phone checking for any texts from them.
"I'm sure they are Deb loves to spoil them, and now that she's got a granddaughter…" I said trailing off as I saw smile at the mention of Celeste.
"I bet." He said as he closed his eyes and sighed.
"What's wrong?" I asked knowing that as soon as we started talking about what had happened between him and Grace I wouldn't care at all how he was feeling.
"Celeste got a check from her mom's estate, 35 millions dollars." He said as I gasped a little.
"Wow well what'd she say?"
"She was devastated, her mother died. She said she hated her and growing up was hell but that didn't make her death any less hard." I felt so bad for Celeste, that unfortunate innocent girl shouldn't have ever been granted this life; she was such an awesome kid she deserved the worlds best parents and a picture perfect life.
"That's so sad." I said as Nathan looked up at me. "So are we gonna talk about it now?" I said as Nathan noticeably got uncomfortable.
"I guess we have to."
"Yeah, so go I want to know everything." I said seriously I knew that most of the details I could have lived without knowing, but I could have lived without knowing my husband cheated on me.
"The team, went to new York city to play a game, we got there the morning of the game like we always go, one of the guys on the team was dating this girl and she came to our hotel room along with her friend, grace, we hung out that morning, I had a good time, it was a break from the screaming baby and our hectic life, then we played the game that night and won so we went out to celebrate and Grace showed up at the party. I got way too drunk and we had sex." I flinched at that word; I wanted to throw up at the thought of Nathan with another woman.
"There is no excuse for why I did it, I felt terrible." He said looking at the ground.
"Why didn't you tell me once you got home?!" I asked trying to find the logic in that.
"Come on, we had James I didn't want to ruin anything, I thought it would end there, I didn't think that she would get pregnant!" He said.
"Dammit Nathan, I have put up with it all of it, forgiving you every single time."
"Haley I never cheated on you, it was one time and one time only!"
"Yeah and if you had told me after it happened at least you have had that honesty thing going for you, but no you kept this hidden for 16 years! That's practically our whole marriage! Our whole marriage you kept a secret, you lied!" I said now raging.
"I didn't want to break our family up, it was something that happened on a stupid drunken night, and it wasn't worth losing my family over."
"Well if that's true then why did you do it in the first place?" I asked as Nathan sat in silence. "What kind of example are you setting for our sons?! You're telling them that it's okay to cheat on someone you love, that as long as you're drunk it's all excusable. That's not the kind of men I want my sons to be."
"Well I'm sorry I don't I don't reach your standards but people make mistakes, it was one lapse in judgment." He said as I sighed.
"Yeah well you should have been more responsible." I said as I sat down on the opposite couch.
"You know that when I told Brooke and Peyton about this they both thought I should leave you. They said I had put up with too much from you, but you know what I said to them?" I asked as Nathan looked at me his eyes piercing me.
"What?"
"That they were right, but then Celeste came and I didn't think it was fair for her to come and live within a broken family but the more I thought about it, it's not fair that she didn't know her father for 16 years, and that we would never be a broken family, because even if we separate, you will still be a good dad and we still will do this parenting thing together."
"Haley, what are you saying?"
"I want a separation." As I uttered the words that had been sitting in my mouth for almost a month, only one thing comforted me, Nathan Scott was the most loyal person I knew. He would respectfully move out, he would fix our marriage on my terms and continue to be a wonderful dad, coming to every game and not missing out on a single bedtime story.
