Accidentally Perfect (16 page)

“Hi.”  They say in unison.

“Hi, ladies.
 
My you
are very pretty.  You look just like your mommy. You are like little dolls of her. 
So cute.”

“Thank you,” Addie says.

“Does Nafin still call yous Nat the Bat?” That question gets me a looks that says she is going to punish me at a later date.

“No, he does not because Nathan knows now that I’m older I can cause him severe pain.”

“Like how?”
  Addie asks. 

“Let’s just keep to the fact that I no longer call her that.  She’s all grown up and too pretty to be a bat or to live in a bat’s cave.”  The girls laugh with that.

“Nafin says yous know lots of stuff about pwincesses. Hes says yous gonna teach us to be the bests pwincesses we can be.”

“Oh, did he?
  He should know
. H
e had to dress up as a prince a time or two when I was little.  Do you know how many times he dressed up as the Beast?  He always played the perfect Beast for me.”  She gave me a wink. 
Must have been payback for my Nat the Bat story.

“Nathan used to play dress up
with  you?” 

“Oh yes, all the time.
  Whenever he wasn’t playing with his friends or playing
army,
he would play with me.  He would play dress up and Barbies, he would play house and tea party.”

“Okay, okay Nat, that’s enough.”  Laney was laughing at her new found knowledge. 

“I knew we liked him for a reason.” 

“Yeah, he’s gonna be super fun, our newf daddy is gonna play withf us, and make tea withf us, and he’s gonna tell us pwincess
stories. 
All the stories in the whold wife world.”
  Amanda waves her hands around getting her point across. 

“I’ll try little one, I’ll always try.”

“Yay, yous can and then wes can havf Auntie Nat over and she can play dress ups too. Hers and mommy, mes and Bear can all be pwincesses and then Nafin and daddy can be the pwinces.”

I was taken aback by the fact that they just called my sister their aunt.  I think my sister was too because I could see the
effects
it had on her by the tear that rolled down her cheek.  “I would love that girls, and you won’t find a better prince than Nathan.  They don’t make them like him anymore.”  She looked at Laney with her last comment.

“Excuse me, girls.”  The nurse comes in holding two small trays.  “It’s time for your breakfast.  I need you back in your own beds so you can eat it all gone.”  Laney grabbed Amanda from my lap and placed her back into bed.  I slid out of Addie’s bed and stretched my back as the nurse put the tray of food in front of her.  “I’ve got the girls Mrs. Whitmore, why don’t you head down to the cafe and get some coffee and food.” 

“Thank you so much.”  Laney turns to the girls.  “We will be right back.  Please finish your plates for me babies.”

“Okay, momma.”
 

“You got it. 
Bye Nafin, bye
Auntie Bat, I mean Auntie Nat.”  Her face grew red with the
slip-up.

We walked out of the room and headed down to the third-floor
cafe.  “So what did father say to you?”  I put my arm around Laney’s shoulders bringing her close while we walk towards the cafe.  

“Well I’m sure you don’t want to hear the exact words father used, basically that you made a big mistake and married some woman with a magic vag, and now she and her devil mother are going to take all of the family money and there isn’t a damn thing he can do about it.”

“Damn him.”

“Wow Nathan, you weren’t kidding, your father is a piece of work.  That man doesn’t even know me.”

“Don’t worry about it sweet girl.  He has no bearing on any decisions that I make in my life.  He is just a bleep on the screen.”

We enter the cafe, and I grab a few coffees and Danishes
while the girls take a seat.  I can’t wait to be able to eat a decent meal.  Waiting for the drinks I watch as the two most important women in my life get to know each other.  Natalie throws her head back and laughs while Laney reaches out and touches her arm with a smile on her face.  They look as though they are
lifelong
friends. “What are you gals discussing?” I sit down next to Laney.  

“Oh, Laney is telling me how she thought you drugged her to get her to marry you.”

“I am Nathaniel Joseph Whitmore, there is no drugging
needed to get a woman to marry me.  I should be offended.”  I give the girls a wink.

“Oh yes, stud.”  She nudges my shoulder, “Women drop to their knees when you walk by hailing the sex gods, thanking them for the specimen that is Nathaniel Joseph Whitmore.  I should be so lucky to have snatched you up.  I should be worshiping at the altar of Aphrodite herself and sacrifice my first born for the precious gift she has bestowed upon me and my life. 
The gift that is
the
Nathaniel Joseph Whitmore, a.k.a. Mr. Sex God.”

“No baby, not Mr. Sex God, I’m Your Sex God.”

“Oh my gosh
you guys, seriously.  
Laney,
you handle this stud muffin so well.  I’m so thankful that he found you.  You both have my support one hundred percent.”

“Thanks,
sis, but you of all people should know that I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks.  I do what I
want
when I want, but hearing your approval means a lot to me.”  Laney puts her head on my shoulder. 

“Well, you will always have a supporter in me, Nate.  Father is another issue.  Not to mention the media and whoever decides to come out of the woodwork.  Have you heard from Diane since the news broke?”

I could feel Laney tense next to me.  Her warm body now sits
rigid
next to me.  There is no reason why she should be reacting like this.  But of course it’s only natural when you don’t know the story behind a name.  “I turned my phone off after I spoke with
father
.  I haven’t turned it on and even if she were to call there is no reason for it.  She and I have been over for months now.  She has no business in my life or making a presence in it.”

“I know that Nate, but that doesn’t mean she won’t try to stir the pot.”

“Can you tell me who Diane is,
please?”  Her voice was short.

“Diane is someone who I was involved with after I came back when my mother got sick.  I didn’t have the time for her because I was caring for my mother.  That didn’t stop her though.  For the next few
years,
we would see each other on and off.  I didn’t want to make the commitment that she wanted.  I had this feeling that there was more to her than what she was telling me.  So I had her investigated.  I don’t understand why she wouldn’t think I
would
since I do own a security firm.  Maybe she thought that she had me snowed, but needless to say I got enough dirt on her, and my father.  Evidently my bed wasn’t the only Riley bed she was occupying.  She was warming my father’s bed when she wasn’t fucking me.”  I heard Laney gasp.  “It seems my father thought she could get me to marry
her; then she could leave me and take what my mother left me and handed
it over to my father.  It didn’t work.  I didn’t play into her hand.  The breakup was anything but pleasant.  Even with the videos, surveillance and photos she denied it.  She tried to turn it around on me and blame me.  She said that I doctored it all because I wasn’t a man who could stand by his responsibilities.  That I was walking in the perfect footsteps of my father.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah, but since they have been off, she still insists on going to every charity function my family throws.  She still thinks she has some sort of say in my brother’s life.  It’s pathetic really.  She is a sad
sad
woman, who has fallen flat on her face more than once.  You would think she would learn by now.”

“She’s in my past.  There is no reason why she should step foot in my present, let alone my future.  There was never any love when it came to her.  Not one time did I tell her that I loved her, that I saw a future with
her.
  Not.
Once.
  If she says anything else, then she’s a bitch liar.”

“I need to get back to the girls.  Natalie, it was nice chatting with you.  I’ll be seeing you.”

“It was so nice meeting you,
Laney.  I look forward to getting to know you.  I’m so happy that I have a sister now.  No offense Nate, but you suck at girl talk.”

“No offense taken.  Knowing that I can’t do the girl talk is a sure way to keep my man card securely in my back pocket.”  I turn to Laney and put my hands on her shoulders. 
“Listen,
sweet girl, I need to discuss some things with my sister and I don’t want to hold you up seeing the girls.  I’m going to head to my house with Nat, get cleaned up and then I’ll head back. 
Alright?”

“Yeah, no, go.  I’m fine here with the girls.  You go and take care of whatever you need to take care of.  I’ll see you in a little while.  I know Brad will be here shortly
anyway
if he isn’t already here.” 

“Alright, love, I’ll be back shortly.  I Love you, Laney.”

“I love you, Nathan.”  I watch Laney walk away and go into the girl
’
s room. 

“Alright, sis.”
  I turn to her once Laney was safely inside the room.  “I need your help with turning a few of the rooms in my house from bleak to purple, frilly and pink.  Come home with
me, so I can show you what I want and what rooms.”

“You’re changing up your penthouse?”

“Yes. Those girls are all coming home with me.  They may think it’s only until Addie is okay with getting around, but I know for a fact that once I get my family inside my home they aren’t going to want to leave.”

I enter the girls’ room,
and they are both sitting in their beds watching television.  “How are you gals doing?”

“I’m good mommy;
my leg is a little sore.  It’s starting to
itch, and I want to scratch it, but I don’t want to get any owies.”

I walk over to Addie and look at her leg.  I see the reddening, swollen skin that is around her pins where the brace is attached.  I know they want the specialist to have easy access to the pins and the growth plate to make sure everything is as he wants it, but I’m not sure if the pain she’s going through is worth it. Seeing my baby’s thigh and knee encased in metal bars with pins drilled into her skin physically makes me sick.   I don’t want to see my baby suffer, I can feel the anger rush through my body as I see her.  I hope the specialist that Nathan found will give us great news. “
Alright, baby. Hopefully after the doctor that Nathan found, will see the emergency room doctors did their job right,
and they can do ahead and put a cast on your leg.  We just need to make sure that everything looks good so we can make you good as new.”

“Is Bug gonna be okay momma?”  I look over to Amanda.  She has such worry on her face.

“Yes baby, Bug is gonna be good as new and chasing you around before we know it.”

“Good cuz Nafin and Auntie Nat and daddy can't play wif us if Bug is broken.”

“I’m not broken Bear;
I’m just hurt.  I’ll be able to play as soon as I can.  Don’t you worry about
me?
  I’m gonna be alright.  Good as new.” I smile at her reassurance to her sister.

“So I take it you girls are excited to get to know Nathan’s sister?  She seems like a really nice lady.”

“Oh momma, she is gonna be the bestest
auntie ever!  I’m so excited, aren’t
yous excited Bug?”

“Yes, I think it’s
super neat.  We are going to have so much fun together.  She knows all about
princesses,
and I think it’s so funny that Nathan used to play dress up.  That is so funny.”  She gives a little laugh.  “Even daddy doesn’t play dress up with us.”

“Momma, do yous thinks daddy wilf now that Nafin wilf?”