Chapter 15

Ric heard Maya’s words but his brain couldn’t process the information she was laying on him. I have a daughter? With Maya? His knees suddenly took on a life, or perhaps lack there of their own and began to wobble. He took slow and careful steps toward the couch as he struggled to make sense of the words that danced around his psyche. We have a daughter. Her name is Camille. She’s in ....Atlanta.... but will be moving in with Tony and me soon.

            “Ric, son, are you okay?” He heard his mother’s voice and looked up at her. He tried to answer but the words wouldn’t come forth. He simply nodded and covered his face with his large hands, shaking his head from side to side momentarily. He felt someone sit next to him on the couch and without looking up he knew it was Maya. Her sweet scent was one he’d never been able to forget. Maya always smelled as if she’d bathed in cinnamon. Inhaling her essence intoxicated him and even after all these years, Ric was still drunk off his love for Maya.

            “Ric, I know saying I’m sorry isn’t enough,” Maya began. He heard the tremble in her voice and knew she was crying. Ric removed his hands from his face and turned to face her. Big tears rolled down her cheeks and it took every ounce of restraint he had not to kiss them away. God, I still love this woman! Time had done little to ease the pain of losing her and the life they could have had together.

            “I wanted to tell you that I was pregnant. I was going to tell you when you came home for the holidays but-“ she couldn’t complete the sentence but they all knew the story. He’d come home with Sonya and announced that she and he were engaged.

            “I didn’t want you to think I was using the baby to trap you into staying with me. It was obvious that you were in love with Sonya and as hard as it was to lose you I loved you enough to let you go because I only wanted you to be happy.” Maya had no idea how far from true her statement was. Ric hadn’t been in love with Sonya at all. His guilty conscience was the reason he chose Sonya, that and the fact that she was carrying his child as well. Had he known Maya was pregnant, Ric would’ve chosen her as his wife if she could’ve forgiven his indiscretion. She was the woman he loved, not Sonya. No matter how much he loved Sonya now, Maya was the woman he was still in love with.

            “But what about your happiness Maya? You couldn’t have been happy going through the pregnancy alone and feeling like giving our daughter up was your only option.” Ric pulled a sobbing Maya into his arms. It was where she belonged and where she should have been for the past thirteen years. “You should’ve told me. I would’ve been there for you. I would’ve been there for our daughter, Maya.”

            “You must hate me!” Maya felt like that eighteen year-old young woman all over again. The pain of losing Ric and giving up her daughter came back anew and crushed her heart like a ton of bricks but in his arms she felt comforted and loved. How many nights had she dreamed of his strong embrace? How many days had she longed to be this close to him?

            “No, I don’t hate you. I could never hate you, Maya. Never.”