Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
There was no telling exactly what she was up to this morning, but when I heard soft singing coming from the kitchen, I knew she was busy making breakfast. Shown off as I turned the corner from the hallway, her smiling face looked up at me.
There were pancakes stacked on the counter, bacon, and fresh fruit. She was in a good mood this morning, from the looks of it. “This looks delicious. What made you decide to cook breakfast this morning?”
“Well, I know that yesterday was a little bit of a harder day, or at least I heard bits and pieces, so I figured cooking breakfast would help to soothe everybody this morning.”
Guilt instantly flooded me as I remembered the argument that Neal and I’d had, as well as the other conversations. I wasn’t exactly sure how much she had heard, but she didn’t seem to want to pry into personal information.
“I really do appreciate it,” I muttered softly as I passed by her and sat at the large table where the food was spread upon it.
Lifting a filled coffee cup to my lips, I watched as Sara brought over the rest of the food that had been on the counter to the table. “A little bit of everything here this morning, and I did wonder if you guys planned on going out today.”
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.” I chuckled, setting my cup back down as I watched from the corner of my eye. Neal came down the hallway and beelined straight for me. “I was actually hoping, Sara, that you and the baby would join us out today. You’ve been inside since we got here, and I want you to enjoy this trip as well. You’re not just working. You’re helping out with the child, and you need to enjoy the vacation.”
Sara’s eyes widened slightly as her lips parted, and she seemed a bit hesitant to reply as if me asking her to enjoy herself was something she hadn’t been expecting. I, of course, wasn’t used to how things were supposed to have been done with situations like this that involved nannies, but when it came to me, I was not like the others.
“You really want me to go with you? I can keep the child here. It’s perfectly fine.”
Laughter escaped me as I shook my head, watching as Neal took his place beside me. “No, honestly, Neal and I would love for you and the baby to come out with us. Allegra is coming too. It’s going to be a wonderful outing. We’re going to go into town, to the market, have a look around, maybe do a little shopping.”
“Yes, Sara, you must come with us,” Neal added in. He, too, was eagerly eyeing up the food that was in front of us as I reached forward, grabbing a piece of bacon and popping it into my mouth.
The delicious taste of the freshly cooked meat was the most amazing thing that I could have ever bared witness to this morning. It had been so long since I had had bacon that I, for a moment, had almost thought I had forgotten what it tasted like. And for some reason, the foods in this country just tasted so much different than back home.
Sara was quiet for the rest of breakfast. She didn’t seem to know what to say, and as she sat across from us eating, and of course, watching the baby sleep in its swing, she tried to keep to herself.
Even when Allegra had come in, her hair a complete mess and her makeup pushed across her skin, having obviously fallen asleep before she could take it off, Sara still said nothing.
I wasn’t sure why it was that she seemed to be taken aback by the way I was offering her to have fun, but something about her just seemed off. As soon as the baby woke and started crying, Sara quickly got up and placed her dishes into the sink.
“Please don’t clean anything. I will do it before we leave,” she stated as she grabbed the child from the swing gently in her arms, and a smile on her face, and disappeared with him back down the hallway towards the room that they were staying in.
My brows furrowed as I watched her, an uneasy feeling settling over me as I tried to understand why it was that she was acting the way she was. Neal must have understood that there was an issue because the moment that she was gone, he gently touched my arm, catching my attention.
“What’s the matter?” he asked me. His brows narrowed as he glanced over at the hallway where Sara had disappeared and then turned back to me.
“I don’t know, just something seems off. She’s only wanting to stay inside with the baby, and I offered her to go into town to have fun with us. I thought she would be excited, but instead, she just seemed so troubled by it.”
He was quiet for a moment as he pondered what I’d said, bringing his coffee cup back to his lips one more time as he glanced towards the hallway again. “You know, I never did a background check on her, and James had always taken care of that stuff before, and he hired her. So I didn’t think I needed to. But if you’d like, I can look into her to see if there’s something we should be worried about.”
Soft laughter escaped me, and even Allegra, too, scoffed at the idea. “Neal, as much as I love your enthusiasm and protecting this family, I don’t need you to do that. James wouldn’t have hired anybody he thought would have been a danger to his grandson.”
Nodding his head, he didn’t bother to argue with me. He knew I was right in the end, or at least I had assumed he knew I was right. James was a lot of things, but one thing he wouldn’t ever do is put anybody in the path of endangering his family if it could be avoided.
“If that is what you wish for, princess, then so be it.”
“Oh, Jesus. At least you guys are back on better terms,” Allegra groaned as she rolled her eyes and stood from the table. “Let me go get ready if we’re going into town. God knows I need to do some shopping.”
The moment that Allegra walked away, Neal and I burst into laughter. Standing from the table myself, I smiled at Neal. “Let me go get ready, and then we can leave here within an hour.”
“Sounds good. I’ll finish up here, and then I’ll go get ready myself.”
I was pleased that everything was kind of back to normal, and even though the ache inside me never dimmed from the loss of Tally and James, I was trying my best to put a normal smile on my face and do things that would make me happy.
I couldn’t live my life in misery, mourning someone that was never coming back.
The only thing I could do was live my life and remember them, knowing that this is what they would want from me—knowing that no matter how hard the loss was. I would forever remember the good times I’d had with them.
Becca.
Venturing into town was just as happy as I could have expected it. The sights were beyond amazing, and even the stores were beautiful. Everywhere you turned, extremely happy people greeted us. They were welcoming. They didn’t judge us in any kind of manner, and honestly, that was nice to have for once.
I had been doing a lot of thinking since the moment that we landed in New Zealand. I loved it here. I loved the condo that we were staying in. I loved the land, and even late at night, when I would lay in bed, I would look at the properties that were nearby for sale.
An idea had popped into my mind the moment that I had decided when I got off the plane in New Zealand that I was going to do everything in my power to have an amazing trip.
The idea was… what if there was a possibility of moving here? I wasn’t quite sure what it would take to get a visa and permission to leave the country and everything else, but if it was something that could be a possibility, maybe getting out of the States and away from the life that I once had, and the memories that hurt me, would help me be able to move on.
The more and more time that I spent here, the more and more I considered it. This would definitely be a place where I wouldn’t mind raising a family, and the crime rate was so extremely low in this country.
New Zealand was like its own world. They were selective about who they let live here. They were selective about what animals, fruits, anything like that, people tried to bring in. They wouldn’t allow people to do anything that would tamper with the environment they currently had.
This meant that even though, yes, there were bad people here because there were bad people everywhere, the people that I feared the most, the ones that took, the two people I cared about the most away from me, wouldn’t be welcome here.
Maybe that idea was just simply me wanting to run away from the past and everything that it reminded me of, but on the other hand, I always wanted to start something new.
To start a life that I would be able to make my own.
So the moment that we sat down at the table at the small little cabana restaurant on the seaside, I struck up the courage to be able to speak to Neal and Allegra about my idea. I wasn’t expecting them to move with me, even though I had a feeling that Neal wouldn’t let me out of his sight.
However, part of me was hoping that I would have their blessing.
“Guys, I have something that I want to talk to you about.”
Both Neal and Allegra looked up at me from their menus and patiently waited for me to continue. Taking a deep breath. I collected my thoughts and carefully spoke about what was on my mind. “Would you ever consider living in New Zealand to be beneficial?”
“What?” Allegra laughed, looking around the area before staring at my drink. “Did they put something special in that drink for you?”
“No, I was simply considering the fact of what life would be like to actually live here permanently,” I replied as I rolled my eyes at her comment. Of course, she would be the one to be overdramatic about the idea of moving to New Zealand.
“You really like it here, don’t you?” Neal whispered, catching both Allegra and my attention from the conversation we had been having.
“Honestly, I really do. It’s beautiful here. It’s peaceful…. and I feel safe.”
Licking his bottom lip, Neal took a moment and sat quietly, his eyes casting back towards his menu as he nodded his head repeatedly. There wasn’t much to really say on the matter other than that they agreed, or they didn’t agree, and so, the longer that Neal sat in silence, the more nervous I became.
Which honestly didn’t make sense because I was a grown adult.
I could do whatever I wanted.
“Rebecca, you’re a grown woman, and you have a child on the way. If you love New Zealand, and you want to live here, then I will support whatever decision you make.”
Neal’s approval meant the world to me. I knew that he wouldn’t be able to move, but I was pleased to know that he had my back. “I really want this.”
“I know you do. I can see in your eyes that you love it here. I noticed it the moment that you stepped foot off that plane. To be honest, I need to tell you and Allegra something that I know for sure. Allegra is not going to be happy about it.”