Chapter Eighteen: Change The Past
"Hey, the man at table eight would like another cup of coffee," said another waitress.
Haley didn't enjoy her now job. It was full of demands, spills on her clothing, fake smiles and bad smells. However, it paid enough for Nati to go to daycare and to keep them both in a small but nice apartment.
The man leered at her while she poured him his coffee. This was another problem: she was attractive and only twenty-four, and hardly lacking in opportunities. But Nathan had ruined it for her. She couldn't look at a man without thinking of him. To her, the chain around her neck was like a branding on her skin, one which she wished she didn't want but couldn't bear to take off.
Anticipation ran through her body as her cell phone vibrated at her hip. The name that flashed on the screen revealed it to be Taylor. Haley wished she could talk to Taylor or Peyton or even Lucas, tell them everything. But she couldn't. They'd tell Nathan. And she couldn't trust him again. He'd failed her once. It had been more than enough.
She walked along the beach when she went home that night. It was one of the perks of her sudden move to California-it was always warm, and it was always beautiful.
"Mama!" cried a baby's voice from inside the door. Haley hurriedly unlocked it and braced herself as her daughter came running.
She deftly scooped Nati up into her arms and hugged her tightly, her cheek against Nati's soft one. She remembered the small baby she'd been only months ago, lying all day on the rug or in her crib.
"Hey Carrie. How was she?" asked Haley, greeting her daughter's babysitter.
"Good. Your phone was ringing a lot," said Carrie. She was under strict instructions to never answer the phone.
"Thanks, I'll look into that," said Haley. She paid the babysitter and sent her on her way.
Haley was relieved when Nati began to yawn and she could put her to bed. Every day Nati seemed to remind Haley of her father more. In everything from her smile to her eyes, she made Haley's heart ache every day.
Remembering the babysitter's reminder, Haley went to the phone and checked the callers. The same number had called seven times in the space of four hours. The number was familiar-it was her own. The number of the apartment she'd shared with her two best friends. Someone was on to her. How was that remotely possible? It had been six months, and she'd been careful at every step not to drop clues. She'd paid for her airfare with cash. After the plane had landed in LA, she'd taken a bus for hours so no one could follow her. She hadn't so much as emailed anyone from her old life.
The next morning started of as all mornings did. Haley got up Natalya, made them their breakfasts while the baby played with her toys. Eventually Haley strapped her daughter into her highchair, made herself some coffee and sat down with it and her newspaper.
"Mama?" asked the baby in confusion, as Haley spat out a whole mouthful of her coffee. Haley coughed several times to regain her breath as she stared down at the paper.
Announcement of Birth
Damian Davis Scott, born on June 21st 2005 to Mr. And Mrs. Nathan Scott, 6 pounds eight ounces. First child of Nathan Scott, CEO of Scott Athletic Agency (SAA) and his wife, Brooke. Welcomed by grandparents Karen and Dan Scott, Uncle Lucas Scott and various friends and relations throughout the country.
Haley's heart thudded when she saw the announcement. It was really over. Nathan really had another child now. Before the official birth of Damian, it could always be hoped that it was somehow a fluke and could make Nathan magically come back to her. Now it never could. He was bound to someone else. Two people who would eternally shape his life, for better or for worse.
Natalya, unused to being completely ignored, began to sob loudly. Immediately she struck Haley out of her reverie. She ran to her daughter, took her out of her highchair and held her tightly.
"Shh, baby. It's okay. It's alright now. You have a little brother, you know? Yeah. Yeah. But your Daddy loves you too, remember? Shh, it's okay," soothed Haley. Her heart aching, she bent to pick up Natalya's favoured comfort: the stuffed dinosaur she'd received from her father. Back in the days that now seemed so easy-the days in which Haley hadn't admitted her love, Nathan and her having sex daily. The days she would kill to have back, so she could have changed her future, to a future free of heartache. But in the end, she knew nothing could have prevented this. There was no way an affair with a married man could turn into a marriage, or even eternal love. Real life didn't, and never would, work like that.
In the long years that followed, Haley never could decide if it was a good thing that her gaze hadn't stayed on the newspaper a moment longer to notice the first name on the death's column.