The Aftermath (Book 1)

Chapter 11

Nikolai POV

"Chief Greco," I answered.

"Nikolai Greco?" A man asked.

"That is correct."

"My names is James Walters and I am a child support service social worker for Salt Lake City here in Utah. I am sorry to inform you that Ms. Amira Abadi passed away three weeks ago and I offer my condolences. Her will has been released and it states you as the father of her daughter Noelle Abadi. Miss Noelle has decided she does not want to be under the guardianship of her grandmother if she has a father. Ultimately, if you want her you will have to come here to sign the papers for us to legally release her into your custody. I am aware that I have told you many things and I do not want you to make a hasty decision. Therefore I will give you a call tomorrow morning or if you make a decision before then you can call me at this number anytime. Thank you for your time today Mr. Greco."

After I hung up the phone I sat at my desk in a shocked daze. When it started to lift I called Elaina.

"Hello", she answered.

"Hey, E. Do you have plans for lunch?"

"Not yet."

"You want to have lunch with me at the station? I will order your favorite."

"Okay. See you at noon."

We hung up and I dropped my head to my desk. How was I going to say this?

She walked in at 12:15 and we greeted each other with a brief kiss. She sat down, said grace and started eating her sushi.

"I want to throw Prince Charming a birthday party."

"He always has a party." I responded trying to figure out how to introduce the situation.

"Not thrown by me. It's always by his publicist and so public. He hates them. I want to throw him a more intimate party."

"Well talk to Felicity and do it. He will love it." I said with a smile.

She got up and sat next to me, "Whatever it is just tell me."

I sighed, "I really don't deserve you." We kissed again briefly before she stared at me patiently.

"Remember Amira?" I asked.

She scrunched her eyebrows together as she thought about it before shaking her head.

"The older woman I dated when I was in college."

Her face went from confusion to realization. "Yes."

"She used the eggs I helped fertilize all those years ago." I got up and picked up the documents I printed from James' email.

After she read through them she looked up with tears in her eyes. "Tell me you're going to get her."

We hugged for a while before breaking apart.

"I want to go get her but I wanted to know your stance on it."

"It's not her fault and she shouldn't be punished for adult choices."

"I just wish Amira would have told me. I'm going to see if Alexis will come with me to sort out the legality of it all. I'm thinking I should bring the twins too since they are close to her age."

"Do you think I should plan a welcome party for her? Or will that be too much?"

"When I pick her up I will gage her feelings and let you know. Eventually I think it will be a good idea even if we don't do it right away for her to get to know the family."

We worked out the little details and called Alexis who agreed to come after many, many, many questions. E left to get back to work and I finished up the plans by booking the plane tickets.

Then I spent the rest of the work day trying to figure out how to tell our kids.
                    ***********************

After dinner we all sat in the living room with the girls looking at me curiously.

"A long time ago before Mom and I met I helped another Mom have a baby. Her name is Noelle and she is thirteen. Her Mom died and she doesn't have any family so she is going to come live with us as your new sister."

Beth looked at Elaina, "You're going to be her new Mom?"

"If that's what she wants, understand she had a mother before me. We wouldn't want to make her feel sad or bad for not calling me Mom." E answered.

"Momma!" Lucky said hugging E.

"Nell-Bell?" I asked seeing her face, which looked very upset with me.

"Come help Mommy upstairs," E said as she led Beth and Lucky away.

"Did you cheat on Momma?" She asked.

I sat next to her, "Of course not. The situation is difficult to explain. It was a long time ago when I was in college. Her name was Amira and she was having a difficult time having a baby. I helped her freeze her choice to have a baby just in case she wanted to. She moved away and said she wasn't going to have the baby but she did and never told me."

"Like the parent trap?" Nyla asked.

"Something like that, yes."

"If you don't want to come with me to meet her you don't have too. I just thought it would be nice for her to have a friend." I said to Nell.

"I will come Dad. She lost her Mom and I would never want to lose Mom. She must be so hurt and confused." Nyla said hugging me.

"Thank you Sugar Bear." I said hugging her back.

Nell hugged me, "What if she doesn't like us? What if she hates Mom?"

I hugged them both. I didn't have the answers because this was either going to go very very bad or very very good. Either way we would all have to wait and see.