Nikki tossed and turned in her bed still reeling from the news she had gotten from Anton. She hadn't cried this much since Thomas had been presumed dead. Now she knew that she had spent the last three years believing a lie. Three years of her life and more importantly her daughter's life had been wasted.
"Hello," a voice said as he answered the phone the next morning.
"Bruno, it's me," Nikki said.
"Hold on a sec, I'll go get Abby," he replied.
"No, wait I need to talk to you first," Nikki said.
"Are you ok, you sound strange," Bruno told her.
"Anton Mercer showed up at my door yesterday," she informed him.
"If that bastard did anything to hurt you, I swear I'll kill him," Bruno said sounding upset.
"Actually, he did hurt me but not in the way that you think, he had some news about Thomas," Nikki replied.
"After all this time, what could he have possibly had to say about your fiancée?" Bruno questioned.
"Anton came to tell me that Thomas is alive and he has been for the past three years," Nikki told him and waited for the news to register.
"You can't be serious," Bruno said.
"I didn't want to believe it either but Anton wasn't alone, he came with his new wife and she said that she knew Thomas, in fact, she's his boss, he's a teacher at her school, I even called my friend Haley and she confirmed what Anton and his wife told me, Thomas is alive," Nikki explained.
"I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through," Bruno told her.
"I feel cheated, I mean all this time I could have been married to Thomas and we could have been raising our daughter together, a daughter that he has no idea exists," Nikki said.
"What are you going to do now?" Bruno asked.
"Anton and his wife are leaving Italy in a couple of hours headed back to their hometown in California where Thomas lives and I've decided to go with them," Nikki replied.
"And you want me to send Abby?" Bruno questioned.
"No, that's why I'm calling, I think that it'd be best if she just stays with you, I can't just show up on Thomas' doorstep with Abby in tow, it'd be too much for her to handle and I need time to work things out with Thomas first," Nikki told him.
"She's not going to like this, she's already been asking me when we're going home," Bruno replied.
"I know this isn't fair for her to be away from me for so long but what else can I do?" Nikki asked.
"At least talk to her and explain, she needs to hear your voice," Bruno told her.
"Alright, put her on," Nikki said not knowing what she was going to tell her daughter.
"Mommy, when can I come home?" Abby asked immediately.
"Not for another week or so, I'm sorry," Nikki told her.
"But Mommy, I miss you, I want to come home," Abby said beginning to cry.
"Abby, you know how much mommy loves you and I would have you home with me right now but I can't," Nikki said forming tears of her own.
"But why, why can't I come home," Abby whined.
"Mommy has to go away on a little trip but I promise as soon as I get back, I'm going to bring you home," Nikki told her.
"I don't believe you, you don't love me anymore," Abby cried.
"Abby please don't say that, I do love you, now you keep being a good little girl for your Uncle Bruno and I promise I'll see you soon," Nikki said hanging up the phone.
"So Haley, what's this big news that you couldn't tell me over the phone?" Tommy said as he walked into Haley's Cyberspace and sat down at the counter.
"I think we should talk about this in the office," Haley said as she motioned for him to follow her.
"I guess I can assume you haven't heard from Anton since he left for Italy," Haley said once they were alone.
"No, I don't expect to hear from him until he comes back, why have you heard from him," Tommy replied.
"I haven't heard from Anton but I have heard from Nikki," Haley told him.
"What do you mean you've heard from Nikki?" Tommy questioned.
"She called me last night and wanted to know if Anton was telling the truth about your being alive," Haley informed him.
"Well what did she say when you told her it was true?" Tommy asked.
"I didn't have the chance she hung up before I could say anything else," Haley said.
"I don't care what Anton said now that she knows the truth I have to see her," Tommy declared.
"Tommy I think you need to give her some time to sort all this out, wait until you hear from Anton before deciding what you want to do," Haley told him.
"Maybe your right, but if Anton doesn't contact me soon I'm not making any promises," Tommy said as he left.
"I'm so glad that you've decided to come with us," Elsa Mercer said as they waited for the plane to be ready.
"Did you really think that I wouldn't?" Nikki asked her.
"No, I knew that you would, you and Tommy have lost so much time already, I knew you'd want to see him for yourself," Elsa told her.
"The plane is ready," Anton said as he joined them.
"Nikki, we're here," Elsa said many hours later as she woke Nikki.
"What time is it here?" Nikki asked.
"Somewhere around midnight, Reefside is a day behind Italy, so it might take you some awhile to adjust to the time change," Elsa told her.
"I've had a hotel room set up for you, my driver can take you there if you want," Anton replied.
"I think I can find my own transportation," Nikki told him.
"Please Nikki, there's no need for that just take one of our cars and the driver will take you anywhere you want to go," Anton said.
"I don't care how late it is, or about the time change, there's only one place I want to go," Nikki replied.
"I guess I should have known you'd want to go directly to see Tommy, I'll have your bags loaded into the car and give the driver instructions on where to take you," Anton told her.
"For what it's worth, I hope you and Tommy work everything out," Elsa told her.
"Thank you and I hope that one day I'll be able to forgive your husband," Nikki replied.
"Here we are," the driver said as he pulled up in front of a house that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
"Should I wait for you?" he asked as he unloaded her bags.
"No, I'll be fine," she said picking up her bags. She waited until the car was out of sight and then slowly made her way to the front door. She sat down the bags and stood frozen at the door. After several minutes she took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.
