"When's Daddy coming back?" Noa asked the next morning as she ate her cereal, milk dripping down her chin.
"I don't know, punkin."
"I miss him. Why can't we live with him?"
Elizabeth missed him too. More than she wanted to admit. She felt a bit bad pushing him away. She had been protecting her heart from getting hurt again but pushing away the man that she still loved…it was hurtful.
She texted him before they left that morning. "I'm sorry I pushed u away."
"I understand," was his response. "I'll be patient as long as u need to trust me again."
It took everything she had to not tell him to come back. That she loved him. That she wanted him to live with them and be part of the family now. Not sometime down the road.
"I miss u…" she typed and sent before she chickened out.
"I miss u 2, Beth."
Lucas sat at LAX waiting on his flight to Omaha, the closest city to his parent's home in Brownville. He was missing them and wanted to be in person to tell them about Noa.
He logged into his online banking app and made sure that the first child support payment came out of his account. It had.
Then he logged into his laptop and searched for homes in Hope Valley. He was thinking of 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. That would be enough for him, for a room for Noa, and when, not if, Elizabeth and Noa moved in with him, they would have enough room to grow their family.
"Do you enjoy cooking?" he texted Elizabeth.
"Yes I do. Very much. I plan on making Thanksgiving dinner in a couple weeks."
"For you and your parents and Noa?"
"My parents r going to b traveling. So just me and Noa."
"Why don't u both come out to NYC and we can have Thanksgiving together?"
She didn't want to tell him that she would rather not spend the money on plane tickets right now. Money was just enough for everything but not enough to splurge on cross the country plane trips.
"My treat on the tickets."
"U don't have 2 do that."
"Will u come if I do?"
"Can I get back 2 u on that?"
"Sure."
He added a large kitchen to his search for houses. He also wanted a nice backyard so he could get a dog or two and a garage. He knew he was being very specific but if he was going to purchase a house, it needed to be a long term, perfect home for him and a family.
…..
"Elizabeth! How was your weekend?" Rosemary Coulter asked from across the teacher's lounge. She was the drama teacher and a good friend of Elizabeth's.
"Hi, Rosie. It was…interesting."
Rosie sat down with her lunch and smiled. "How so?"
"Well, Noa's Dad showed up in town."
"That guy from Cambridge?"
"Lucas," Elizabeth nodded, taking a bite of her salad.
"Wow."
"Yeah. I didn't realize how much I still loved him or missed him until he showed up after five years," she admitted.
"So where does he live?"
"New York City."
"Are you going to move there then?"
"Nope. He offered to come here. He is fully embracing the fatherhood role. Like everything and Noa loves him." She even noticed that he had sent money and it was already in her account as of that morning. She was going to save it for Noa's college fund.
"You sound like you aren't sure about what to do."
"I'm not. It took me so long to get over him."
"But you aren't over him. You said you still love him and miss him."
"I do but my heart…it took at least a year to recover. I don't want that to happen again."
"Who says it will?"
"You sound like Faith."
"I'm good with that."
"He wants us to fly out to him for Thanksgiving."
"That will be an amazing trip, Elizabeth. You're going, right?"
"I don't know."
"You are thinking too much about what you're afraid of. Just take a leap of faith."
"Yeah. I mean, I've never been to New York and Noa would love to visit him. She's never been on an airplane."
"So you should go. Don't hesitate. Text him to say yes."
"Bossy," Elizabeth winked, picking up her phone.
"That's why you love me."
"Noa and I will come 2 u for Thanksgiving," she typed out and sent.
"Great! I can't wait to see you both! We will FaceTime soon!"
She smiled at his exclamation points. He was excited. She just wasn't quite there yet.
…..
Lucas couldn't wipe the smile from his face all the way to Brownville. All the way from the airport in Omaha to their home. The Uber driver probably thought he was nuts. Who cared? He was going to see Beth and Noa in just a couple weeks.
"Mom?" he called, knocking, and then walking into their house. They never locked it. It definitely wasn't New York City.
"Lucas? Oh my goodness!" Helen said, hurrying to hug him. "Its been so long."
She was right. He hadn't come to their house since the previous Christmas. "I know. I'm sorry. I'll try to come more often."
Martin walked in and quietly shook his hand. "Good to see you son."
"You too, Dad." He looked at his parents and imagined what their reaction to his news was going to be. Helen had never made a secret of the fact that she wanted grandchildren.
"I have news."
"Well, come in and have some lunch. I just made chicken salad," Helen told him.
He sat down at their table and ate chicken salad on croissants. It reminded him of the food at the French café in London.
…..
Fourth Date, London
He and Elizabeth took a two hour road trip to London for their fourth date. They left early in the morning and stopped at a café just outside the city for brunch.
He took her hand as they walked from the car to the café, giving her a smile. "I love you, Beth," he told her.
"I love you too, Lucas."
It was a simple exchange but for both of them, it was monumental. They had been dating for a little less than a month and had only had three dates but they were both very sure of their deepening feelings. It was overwhelming in a good way but also exhilarating.
He let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She reached up and intertwined their fingers. "I'm glad we came here today," she mentioned as they sat down inside the quaint little café.
"Me too. It smells amazing."
"I meant because we are here together," she told him, shaking her head and grinning.
"Me too. But it does smell amazing."
She slipped her feet in between his, just needing to be touching him in as many places as possible.
"So after you graduate," she started. "You'll be going back to Nebraska with your parents?"
"No. I don't plan on living in a small town. I've hoping to apply for a few jobs in New York City."
She nodded. That was so far from Los Angeles where her parents lived. Where she planned to go.
"Hey," he said, squeezing her hand. He saw her mood change. "What is it?"
"I'm going back to LA."
"I figured you were."
"That's all the way across the country from you."
"True. Don't worry, Beth. That's months from now. We still have so much time together."
The waiter took their order and it was honestly the best chicken salad croissant either of them had ever had. It was also the day their friendship and love grew deeper and stronger than ever.
…..
"This is really good, Mom," Lucas said as he finished his first croissant and reached for a second one.
"Thank you, dear. Now tell us your news."
"Well, back when I was studying abroad in Cambridge, I met someone."
"Elizabeth, wasn't it?" Helen asked.
"Yes and we fell in love. We were supposed to meet in Chicago at the end of summer but I got in that car accident and since my phone was stolen, we lost track of each other."
Helen nodded and Martin listened quietly, as he so often did.
"Well, I just saw her again on my trip to LA. I saw her and she introduced me to our daughter."
"Daughter? You didn't know you had a daughter?" Helen asked.
"No. She went to Chicago and was going to tell me that weekend but I wasn't there."
Helen raised her eyebrows and sipped her tea.
"What, Mom?"
"I mean, how do you know she's your child? I'm sure a lot has happened since you left England."
"I know Elizabeth, Mom. We were so close and…I know I am."
"How do you know?"
He pulled out his phone and showed her at least a dozen pictures of Noa. But the one that made it super obvious was a selfie he took of himself with Noa on his lap. She was a four year old girl who looked just like him. Same grin. Same dimples. Same eyes. Even their hair was the same color.
"I know she's mine because Elizabeth said she is. But if I had any doubts, this would convince me."
"You can't argue the resemblance, dear," Martin told Helen.
"What's her name?" Helen asked, her eyes softening a bit.
"Noa. And she's amazing. Very smart and very outgoing. Beautiful." Much like Elizabeth, he thought to himself.
"You still love her, son?" Martin asked.
"You know, when I first saw her again, I realized that after so much time apart, I don't really know everything about her anymore. Not like I did. But, she's so strong and independent and she's been raising Noa right. And, yes. I'm still in love with her, Dad. And our daughter? It was immediate."
"So what are you going to do? You live on opposite sides of the country," Helen pointed out.
"Yes, it will take some time, but I'm moving to Hope Valley. It's south of LA and it's a nice little town. I've already been looking for houses."
"What does Elizabeth do?"
"She's a teacher. Just like she always wanted to be. I can only imagine how brilliant she is with a whole classroom full of kids."
"So we have a granddaughter," Helen muttered, her eyes filling with tears.
"Yes and as soon as we can make it work, you'll meet her and love her, just like me."
…..
"Hi, Daddy!" Aria said with a shy wave when he FaceTimed her a few nights later.
"Hi, sweet pea. How are you?"
"Good! When are you coming to visit? I miss you."
"I miss you too. We will see each other soon, sweetie."
"Promise?"
"I do."
Noa leaned back against Elizabeth's chest as they lay in her little bed. "Okay."
"What did you learn in school today?" Lucas asked.
"Ummmmm…I counted all the way to 25!"
"You did? Great job! You're so smart."
"I know."
Elizabeth smiled. "Say thank you, punkin."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, sweet pea."
Noa yawned and snuggled closer to Elizabeth. "I'm sleepy. Night, Daddy."
"Night, honey. Love you."
"Love you. To the moooooon and back, Daddy! That's so much," she told him.
"Thank you, Noa. You sleep good, okay?"
Elizabeth kissed the top of her head, tucked her in and left the room with her laptop in hand.
She felt nervous to talk to him alone. She wasn't sure why except she had been more forthcoming with her feelings of missing him.
She stared at the handsome man on her screen. Seeing him there but not close enough to be in person made her miss him more.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Lucas asked, able to sense her emotions from across the country.
"I miss you. Watching you and Noa…it's bringing back all these huge feelings. I don't know what to do with them."
"I get it."
"You do?"
"I visited my parents in Brownville after I left LA. Mom served chicken salad on croissants."
"Like we had at Pierre's in London."
"Yeah. That was a good day."
"The first time we said 'I love you' to each other." It was such a wonderful day. She felt so free and wanted.
"Yeah and thinking about that day made all those feelings rush back to me too. So I do get it."
"So what do we do from here?"
"We take it a day at a time. Plan our Thanksgiving dinner. By the way, I like chicken. Just throwing it out there. Oh and pack warm clothes. I'm planning some fun touristy things for the three of us."
She giggled, feeling a lot more comfortable.
"I love you, Luke."
He nodded and smiled. "And I love you."
"Will you call me tomorrow?"
"Promise."
He pressed his fingertips to his lips and touched the screen. "Night, Beth."
"Night, Luke."