“Why are you here?”
The dark-skinned woman smiled wider at the question. Sleek black hair. Large brown eyes. And Melodie’s radiant smile.
“What? I can’t come see my daughter?”
Nia seemed happy. Confident. She was unfazed by River’s shock. Or the presence of an unknown man within her ex-husband’s house.
“I’m surprised that you weren’t expecting me considering all the emails.”
Emails?
“Well, are you going to invite me in or do I need to grab Melodie myself?”
River flinched at the word grab. The idea of anyone taking his child away seemed to shake him to the core. He scanned her face for a moment, hesitating, before finally stepping aside.
Melodie was already staring at her, unblinking. Nia slowly walked up to the child, bringing her heels inside and ignoring the pile of shoes next to the door. The light strands of her wig billowed with every step as she glided across the living room. Nia watched her like she was seeing a ghost. To the child that didn’t remember what her mother looked like, that was basically the same thing. Nia was only a few steps back when she knelt in front of her.
“Hi Melodie,” she said softly, her image one of steller calm. “I’m your mom. My name’s Nia.”
Melodie stared at her silently, her body completely still. Then her eyes began to water. Nia sighed at the sight of the tears falling down her daughters cheeks. For the first time since she’d arrived, her perfect expression cracked and genuine emotion peeked through.
“I know you must have a lot of questions,” she chuckled. The sound felt strange among all the silence, but Nia didn’t look frazzled. “But now that I’m here, I want to answer them all.”
“Nia,” River cut in. His tone was possessive. His ex-wife rose from her crouch looked to her ex-husband, making Hunter realize how much she’d inched closer to Melodie. Nia had gotten too close.
As the parents got into a stare down, Hunter watched Melodie. She was unmoving, just taking in the strange woman claiming to be her mother. Her eyes jumped over Nia’s form continuously, never pausing, never taking a break.
Hunter couldn’t tell if she was happy to see Nia or not. He didn’t know what River told her about her mother. He had no idea what it would feel like to see her missing parent after so long. Hunter desperately wished he could read her mind. But Melodie was retreating into her shell and it would be a miracle if she spoke again today.
“Why are you here?” River pressed for the second time. Nia rolled her eyes, sighing in the pitying way Melodie did whenever she had to explain something to her father. Hunter felt conflicted. Melodie was so much like her.
“You asked me to come so I came.”
Recognition flickered across River’s face but he didn’t react. Melodie reached for Hunter’s leg, holding his thigh with both arms. Hunter put a comforting hand on the top of her head, playing with the short curls above her ear. The fidgeting kept him from saying something he’d regret.
Hunter wanted answers. Was his boyfriend communicating with his ex behind Hunter’s back?
There was silence. Hunter clenched his jaw.
“River, what is she talking about?”
At Hunter’s question, River looked at him. He looked at Hunter like he just remembered he existed. Like, among Nia’s miraculous return, Hunter had been completely forgotten.
He’d never looked at Hunter like that before.
Then, his fears became a reality when River’s eyes hardened, any semblance of vulnerability falling behind this new mask with ease.
“I’m sorry, Hunter. I think it’s time for you to go.”
Hunter’s eyes went from his boyfriend to the ex-wife, panicked. Melodie reached for his hand. Hunter squeezed back.
“River,” he pleaded, eyes watering. “It’s been almost a year.”
Hunter didn’t say everything out loud, but River knew what he meant. He knew Hunter meant nearly a year of them doing this together. Spending lunches together. Dates together. Taking care of Melodie together. Being a family together. But River didn’t show a sign of understanding. He didn’t show a sign of anything. Nothing got through the wall he hid his feelings behind.
River stepped to the side, holding the door open. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Don’t come over. Don’t take Melodie to school. Don’t bring dinner unannounced. Wait for me to let you back in. It had taken him months to get past River’s wall the first time. Hunter worried how long he’d have to wait again.
He was mortified to put on his shoes and coat in total silence, the entire Conyers family staring as he went.
Nia watched their exchange with crossed arms and the slightest hint of curiosity. Hunter thought she should care more. She should care to know if her ex-husband moved on. Maybe it proved how little she cared about her old family. But minutes later, it was Hunter who got kicked out and Nia who’d been let back in.
He stood out there in the chilly night air and shivered. Not because of the cold. He could barely feel it. It was from the thought that he might never be allowed back inside again.
—————
24 hours later, Hunter was standing back on River’s doorstep. He didn’t have food or presents or even the bag with a spare change of clothes. He wasn’t that hopeful. He just needed to see River. He needed to see that he and Melodie were okay.
Hunter tried to call in the morning to see how things went. River answered after two rings, but he wouldn’t say a thing.
“Everything’s fine,” he said after Hunter asked. There were no details, no specifics of what Nia wanted. The call was short and Hunter hung up with more questions than answers. That’s why he was here tonight. To finally get those answers.
River was the one who swung open the door. His longer hair was damp and clung to his face and neck like a second skin. His eyes were hollow and sunken-in like he’d gone years without sleep. Lazily, they rose up Hunter’s body to find his eyes.
“Hey, are you guys okay?” he asked. “How did yesterday go?”
Hunter stretched out an arm, reaching for the other man’s wrist. River let him, watching Hunter’s hand clasp around the skin. Hunter waited for a response.
Then, River looked up at him and slipped his hand out of the other man’s grasp.
“It was fine. I told you over the phone.”
“But you’re still-” Hunter cut his words short, watching River cross his arms across his chest, blocking himself off from Hunter. “Is Melodie okay? And what did Nia mean by emails?”
River rocked back one step and Hunter felt a wave of panic. Everything they’d built. Everything they’d created, it was all disappearing in an instant. Hunter took a step closer.
“You have to give me something,” the younger man pressed.
“Hunter . . . ” River’s sigh was heavy–downright patronizing. Hunter’s hands felt cold. “This is my problem. You really don’t have to concern yourself.”
Hunter tried to think of something–anything–to convince River otherwise. But he and Nia shared years of history and a child together. Hunter had no right to know more.
“I’ll call you later, okay?”
The only thing Hunter could say was yes. River gave him a half-hearted kiss on the cheek and just like that, he left. Hunter would give him space. He would give River time.
Hunter slid into his car, unaware of how River watched him, wetness hanging off of his dark lashes.
—————
The Night Before
Hunter didn’t want to leave. River could tell. His hackles had been raised from the moment Nia stepped through the door, and all of his protective instincts were used for River’s daughter. He clutched Melodie’s hand back as fiercely as she held his.
Hunter acted like a shield for Melodie, a familiar presence she could focus on instead of the stranger commanding the room. But he couldn’t be here.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Dejected, Hunter gave Melodie a tight hug, put on his shoes, and left.
With Hunter gone, River could focus. He walked around Nia, holding Melodie’s hand and guiding her to the couch. When Nia moved to join them, he held a hand out and gestured to the single seat. If they were going to have this conversation, Melodie would need some space.
For the next hour, they talked. Melodie was the quietest she’d ever been, using single glances to her father to communicate anything she wanted said. So Nia talked. She talked about life in cities Melodie had never heard of. She talked about seeing animals and plants Melodie had never seen before. She spoke of a life so far removed from the one River and Melodie shared. Melodie listened to it all. River couldn’t tell how she was feeling, he barely knew how he felt to see Nia after all this time. But when he finally sent the little girl off to bed, she gave Nia a hug.
River didn’t want Nia to touch her. Alarm bells rang off in his mind. When he looked at Nia, all he saw was her handing him those divorce papers and leaving. His body didn’t want someone like that anywhere near his child. But Nia gently returned the affection, watching Melodie scamper off to bed.
“I remember when we bought this house,” she sighed, eyes tracing over the cream walls and antique chandelier. “We were so excited to have Melodie grow up here. Does she still have the clouds in her room?”
“Nia, tell me what’s going on,” River demanded, cutting right past her attempts at sentimentality. “I need the truth.”
Nia leaned forward, eyes trained on River carefully. He’d seen this look a million times because it was her favorite one. She was constantly analyzing places and the people in it. She spent most of their relationship staring at him that same way, looking for something she could never find.
“I want my daughter back,” she stated. Nia began picking her nails, a rare sign of timidity in the ever confident woman. His body tensed. “I made a mistake not being in her life and I want to fix that.”
“Cut the shit,” he spat, facing the woman with bared teeth. “You’ve been away for five years. The only reason why she knows what you look like is because I kept your photos. Now you suddenly realized you made a mistake?”
Nia rocked out of her seat, sighing disappointedly like speaking to River was tiring. Most of the things he’d done earned him that reaction. This conversation felt just like old times.
“Believe me or don’t, River. But I am here to repair my relationship with my child.”
She reached into the glossy leather purse hanging off of her, her slender hand re-emerging with a manila folder.
“That’s why I brought you this,” Nia said, holding it out in front of her ex-husband. “It’s the paperwork to give me joint custody over Melodie.”
River didn’t even attempt to read it. Reaching out, he pressed his fingertips on the front of it, pushing it down and away from his face.
“Honestly speaking, Nia, I just don’t trust you anymore,” he replied. Nia’s eyes hardened and River wished he could take satisfaction in seeing it. “But Melodie deserves to get everything she’s ever wanted and right now, she wants you.”
He rose off the couch, standing taller than Nia. If she thought some silly intimidation tactics could faze him, she had another thing coming.
“You can come again in a few days to see her,” he announced. Nia’s mouth turned up into a smile, undoubtedly surprised by his acceptance. “And me.”
She raised a single brow.
“To keep her comfortable.”
So you don’t take her away.
Is what he wanted to say. He didn’t add on that other part because he didn’t want to start a fight, accusing her of things she’d never admit to. River thought he knew her when they got married, but she proved him wrong. He wouldn’t give her the chance to do so again.
Monday was agreed on and Nia promptly left. In a way, he got what he wanted. Against all odds, she came back and was willing to do the one thing he never thought she would: be a mom again. Still, his mind whirled.
Melodie was 7 years old, too young to have to figure out how to be okay with her long lost mother returning. River wanted to scream. He wanted to yell loud enough that all the stress would finally be relieved. He wanted to call Hunter.
Not to say ‘hi’ or to flirt. He wanted to speak to someone who would care about this as much as he does and be supportive in any way that they could. But just because River wanted to, doesn’t mean that he should. So he stamped that want down, switching off the lights and heading off to sleep.
———————————
It’s only been two chapters since Nia arrived and she’s already making waves.
What do you guys think of her?
And what are your thoughts on River’s game plan? Would you do the same if your ex-spouse popped up demanding to re-enter your kid’s life?
P.S. Can you tell I was watching suits when I wrote this?
Anyway,
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