Free Fallin'

Chapter 5

DaphneJoy: Mama bear

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Milan is meeting her father for the first time and it has been a whirlwind of emotions for the both of us. I have not seen my ex boyfriend since he signed away his parental rights and Milan has never seen him before so there were a few tears that fell from her eyes as I showed her a picture of him for the first time.

Since he made his decision to sign away his parental rights, she has never seen a single image of him and I have never spoken about him to her. Milan is now at a stage where she has the connections to find him through social media or private investigators so I have no evidence of him at any of the houses. Her finding a picture could lead to her locating him within hours or days through the internet which would complicate things so I'm happy that she reached out to me first.

Nathanial and I agreed to meet at a diner that we used to frequent after football games. From my understanding, he is coming from out of town since he left Los Angeles shortly after high school and I don't think the paparazzi will find us since the diner is off some highway.

"Your silence is scaring me." I tell my daughter as she calmly takes a sip of her banana milkshake. "Can you tell me what's going through your mind?"

"Nothing really." She shrugs her shoulders. "I just don't want to get my hopes up since he doesn't want me in his life. This is our first and possibly last meeting so I'm trying not to get excited or sad about it."

Her words truly break my heart because this isn't something that I wanted. Nate made his decision regarding the pregnancy and I made mine with zero regrets but you forget that this little embryo will eventually become a person with a million questions.

"Daphne." I tense up at the sound of his voice and I take a deep breath before looking up at Nathanial Lee Jenkins who looks quite different from his highschool days.

"You've packed on the pounds." I joke and he laughs which slightly eases the tension. "What happened to staying fit through football?"

His smile falters, "Life had other plans."

Milan grips my hand over the table and he seems to take notice of the perfect human that we created. A string of emotions passes through his face before sadness settles in as Milan doesn't turn to acknowledge him.

"Nate." I clear my throat while standing up. "This is Milan."

I help my daughter to her feet and they both seem to gasp at the same time as they lock eyes for the very first time. It takes everything in me not to burst out crying at the first meeting but this moment isn't about me so I have to keep myself composed.

"It's.." Nate's voice breaks and he clears his throat. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Milan."

The next thing that Milan does surprises the both of us and I feel nothing but horror as she throws herself onto him.

"Dad."

"Milan." I go to pull her away but he shakes his head. "Milan Joy Tucci."

"It's alright." Nate slowly says as he wraps his arms around her before inhaling her scent. "I think we both need this."

"Well, Milan needs to not be confused." I say in a lower tone as my concern grows. "At the end of the day, I'm the one who will be left to pick up the pieces when you're gone."

Milan continues to hug her father for another minute before pulling away and I sigh while shaking my head because this is not what I expected.

"I guess we have a lot of catching up to do." 

The next two hours are pretty emotional as we catch up on eachother's lives and Nathanial tells my daughter about our past together. One thing that we have decided not to speak about was his reason for signing away his parental rights and I think that's for the best.

"You raised an amazing girl." Nate tells me as we watch our daughter head to the bathroom. "She's perfect."

"Yeah." I slowly nod my head. "My dad really helped out since I had to bust my ass working to provide for her."

Nate looks at me, "No regrets?"

"Not a single regret."

"Do you think she would be up for meeting again?" His question takes me by complete surprise. "Now that I've met her, I don't think I can live a life without knowing more."

"That's not fair." I fight back tears. "You don't get to suddenly want to be in her life when I struggled to get us to where we are today."

"I know and I'm sorry." Nate places his hands over mine. "I... I wasn't ready to be a dad and I had all these plans for my career which kind of but didn't really work out. I didn't want to be a deadbeat dad so I did what I thought was right because I knew that I could never be the father that either of you would have needed me to be."

"I understand." I turn my hands over so our palms are touching. "You really hurt me but I understand."

"How have you been?" He looks into my eyes and I feel my stomach clench. "It's been almost seventeen years since we last saw eachother."

"I never thought I would see you again." I bite down on my bottom lip. "I've been good though. Life has been challenging at times but I'm doing a lot better now and I own a freakin' home down here which still feels like a fairytale. What's been going on with you?"

"Life took a different route since I was injured during my first year of playing college football so my chances of being the next Tom Brady quickly flew out the window." My eyes widen in surprise. "I dropped out of college since I was depressed, moved to Texas and started my whole life again. Since football didn't work out, I had to major in something else when I made the decision to go back to college and now I own a successful business."

"I'm glad that it all worked out for you." I say while giving his hand a squeeze and he returns it which makes me laugh. "So tell me about the wife and kids?"

"Stalker alert." He winks at me as I playfully roll my eyes. "I got married about five years ago after two years of dating, I have a one year old and a four year old."

"Nice."

"What about you?" Nate licks his bottom lip. "Did you get married and have more children?"

I hold up my left hand, "Never been married and Milan is my only child."

"Damn, some sucker is missing out on a good time." He jokes and I laugh a little.

"I have a boyfriend, we're at that stage now where we're moving in together and talking about children." I fake a smile as I think of my relationship. "Never thought I would have another child but I've done it once so why not do it again."

"Well I am happy to hear." His smile falters as he looks down at our hands which are still touching. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."