Serendipitous Saturation ✔ [Completed]

Chapter 3 - Hesitation

As he drove her home they glanced at each other every now and then with an array of exchanges of small smiles and blushes. He pulled up his car in her driveway and she turned around in her seat as she unfastened her seatbelt. "Want to come in...uh...for tea?"

He looked over at her, this beautiful and sexy woman, all soft curves, smart, funny and utterly beguiling in his eyes. A woman who'd awakened an appetite he never imagined feeding ever again. A blind man could read her intentions with the shy seductiveness in her tone.

"How about I just walk you to your door tonight?" he smiled. He wasn't ready to have sex with her. Well, that wasn't entirely true, certain parts of his anatomy were more than willing - eager, in fact - but mentally he wasn't there. She had no idea who he really was yet, never mind breaking the news to her about Aadhya. He'd been careful to show her only the charming side to his nature. Although, if all he'd wanted was a one night stand, he doubted he'd have been able to resist the temptation of the invitation.

"Wow, such a gentleman," she said with a shrug and a smile.

"Not always," he smirked.

As they reached her door he kissed her again, slowly and tenderly. It was even better than the first time with the gentle breeze in the air that ruffled her chestnut waves pleasingly and the receptiveness he received. It was unhurried and sweet and without the pressure of it being their first kiss. She melted into it, seemingly aware she needed to allow him to set the pace. For now. He somehow doubted she was normally this patient in everyday life. He supposed they were both showing only their best sides (or what they imagined their best sides were to people who had just met) on this date too.

"I'll call you tomorrow," he said softly as he withdrew his lips.

"I look forward to it," she smiled.

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Throwing his keys into the bowl by the front door he closed it behind him. He walked down the corridor and chuckled quietly as he saw his mother asleep in the leather armchair by the fireplace with a crossword puzzle in her lap and her mouth gaping open as she snored in a rhythmic monotone.

Without waking her he went into the kitchen to boil the kettle then made his way up the stairs to his daughter's bedroom. He opened the door carefully, the star nightlight beside her bed casting her face in a golden hue. He walked inside and knelt beside the bed, brushing her fair hair away from her forehead to plant a gentle kiss. She stirred slightly, cuddling Henry the white rabbit, her favourite stuffed animal currently, tighter to her chest. She was such a beautiful gift in his life. Still sometimes he thought he didn't deserve to have been given the chance to be her father after how their relationship had begun.

The first weeks of her life had been like living in a never ending nightmare. Grief stricken at the loss of his wife through childbirth, he'd abandoned Aadhya, barely looking at the helpless infant in the crib as she'd wailed incessantly. She was too much of a reminder of the woman he'd lost and he'd blamed her death on the baby at first. The life he had meticulously planned for his family came tumbling down around him. The joyous expectation of being a father was terminated sharply when he knew Maira would not take her place beside him as a mother.

He shifted the blame onto himself, of the choices he'd made, of the people he'd swindled as a psychic. He'd never believed in karma until that day but it was hard not to see Maira's death as a way of balancing the scales of justice again. He'd relied on nurses and then hired a nanny to take care of Aadhya, hardly touching or holding her as he wallowed in self pity, afraid he'd taint his daughter with the darkness inside him if he did.

Only the unexpected return of his mother into his life had brought him to his senses to appreciate what he had gained and not what he had lost the day Maira died. With the assistance of her dogged nature, he'd decided he could make the changes necessary to live his life differently. To become worthy of being a father and to honour his wife in being the best one he could be.