Chapter Twenty-Two

Reunited

Planning my mum's funeral was one of the hardest things I've had to do in my entire life.

I honestly, didn't want to do it. Doing it; planning the funeral, would make this whole thing way too real. Way too real.

I was taken away from my thoughts by the sound of my doorbell.

I wiped the tears I didn't know I had shed, and walked out of my room towards the door. I opened the door and saw someone I never expected standing on my front porch.

"Daddy" I whispered.

"Hey baby"

I pulled him in for a hug and we both ended up in tears.

"I'm so so sorry about what happened baby girl" he said to me.

"I know daddy. I know"

Chris must've heard me crying and the next thing I knew, he was standing by my side.

"Oh, uh dad this is Chris"

"Pleasure, sir" Chris said, holding out his hand for my dad to shake.

"Pleasure's mine Chris. You caught me at a bad time" dad said smiling and wiping his few stray tears.

"Now, I'm not around often enough to say this to my Nicole's boyfriends but, I am now so, if you hurt my baby girl, I'm gonna have to break one of those bones in you" he said, laughing a little towards the end.

"That's fair sir" Chris replied.

"You....You're here because of mum aren't you?" I asked, sighing.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I left you both in the first place. It was the one thing I regret most in my life. It haunts me everyday and I knew that if I came back, you both would hate me for what I did" he said.

"Daddy, no matter how hard I try, I could never hate my family. Never" I said glancing at Chris.

"Now, come in. Please" I told him.

"I was going to check into a hotel-"

"Nonsense. You'll stay here with us" I said reaching for his bags.

Chris smacked my hand away and took them himself.

"Thank you young man. I'm beginning to like this one Nicki" he smirked at me.

"My pleasure, sir." Chris smiled, waltzing up the stairs.

My dad was never really the kind to hate my boyfriends. He wasn't that type of father surprisingly.

I'd seen him when I was in the first years of the divorce and then as I began to understand what exactly he did to us, I didn't want to see him anymore. But I was more than glad to see him now.

Dad never really said anything about Chris and I sleeping in my room together; to which I was surprised. If he wasn't going to stop it, I would've at least thought he would've made fun of it. Or called out some smart ass comment like "don't have too much fun in there!" to which Chris probably would've replied with some comment lined with humorous sarcasm. And it would end with my embarrassment and their laughter.

The three of us talked and caught up almost all night. And damn. Chris had something about him that made my entire family fall at his feet. I was so incredibly lucky.

"Well, I'm off to bed. Night dad. Night Chris." I said placing a kiss on each of their cheeks.

"Night Nicki" I heard my dad call.

"Night darlin" Chris's voice soon followed.

I got ready for bed, brushed my teeth etc and climbed into my nice warm bed. I heard Chris and my dad making small talk for about ten minutes before they both turned in. I felt the covers being lifted and the next thing I knew, Chris was lying beside me.

He moved himself closer to me and my back was against his chest. He slung his arm around my waist and pulled me back into his chest.

"I missed you" he whispered.

"I missed you too" I replied, a tear rolling down my cheek.

I turned around onto my right side so that I was facing him. He placed a kiss on my forehead.

"You missed" I smirked.

He laughed at my childlike comment and smiled at me.

"God I love your laugh" I said before he cut me off with a kiss that was passionate and loving. I honestly missed this.

"I love you too"

And I fell asleep in his arms once again.

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Hey my lovely readers!

Okay so I really love this chapter. And her dad's back. YAY!!

Keep commenting and voting your feedback means a lot to me :)

Happy reading!

Eagle_Eye_13 xx