Meant To Be Yours!

Chapter LIII

"Abdul, I'm nervous", "Babe, look at me. There is nothing to worry about. They reached out to you so basically, you have nothing to lose, ok?", Abdul encouraged me while kissing the back of my hand. We are on our way to Fatima's house where we'll be having dinner with my whole family as a way to reconcile and I am so nervous because I haven't seen them in years. This was the agreement I made with Chris after we spoke at the villa. So yeah. "Princess, wipe out Zahir's drool will ya", Abdul told Nat who did as instructed after giggling. Yes, she was enjoying big sister duties a bit too much. Claire took a video as she did. 

Speaking of Claire. She has been going out on dates with Jax and I think they are pretty much into each other more than they let out. Karim and I have made a bet on who will admit to the other first, mine being on Jax. The man is so obsessed, you would feel hurt just looking at him as he follows Claire around like a lost puppy. She even had him put Zahir to sleep twice. It's Jax we are talking about. He is uptight and conserved behaviour makes him the most feared one at work but when Claire is concerned he is just another hopeless man, willing to move mountains for the woman he loves.

"Here we are. Now, remember, you got this", Abdul said with a smile as he turned off the ignition. "I got this", I said back making his face crack with an encouraging smile. "Grand Pa!", Nathan shouted as we entered the house and he saw Hafeez standing next to a surprise-looking, Mason Edwards. My Father. "Hey, Nate. There you are. You're so tall", Hafeez said amused making him smile. "There are my cute grandkids", Fatima said and like kids being offered candy, Nathan and Natalia rushed to Fatima hugging the life out of her. "Mr. Edwards", Abdul greeted my Father. Respect decorated his face offering a handshake which he accepted. 

"Who's this little guy", his heavy voice finally broke through the air. Calm and collected, just as I remember hearing while growing up. "This is Zahir", Abdul said with pride making me smile. "Nice to meet you little fella", Father said. Zahir surprised him by opening his arm, asking to be held by him. "Oh. We seem to have a new favourite", Abdul said handing him over to my Father. The gesture made my eyes water. I wiped the tears away but I was late. "Nikki", I turned to see my Mother with the same emotion. I couldn't find words, I just rushed toward her and hugged her. "I'm so sorry my child. Please forgive me", she said in the middle of her sobs, making me hold her even tighter. "I'm so sorry for everything", she repeated and I was still unable to answer.

"There's no easy way to say this but... what I did was unforgivable and I just hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I know that without my decisions, none of this would have happened. Your brothers and mother wouldn't have abandoned you. They did it to stay on my good side. Ever since Hafeez put some sense into me, I've been trying to find a way to make it up to you and I came up empty. Honestly, I have no excuse. I won't blame you if you choose to ignore us, to ignore me. I am the worse Father. I don't even think I deserve to be called one. Nikki, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me and grant me a chance to be part of this. Part of your family. The family that I was supposed to be part of for a while now but allowed my rage to get in the way of it. I want to know my grandchildren. I want to know everything. Please", he said looking into my eyes. 

He was begging and that didn't break me. What did was the tears he had in his eyes. I've never seen Mason Edwards cry my whole life and this just showed me how we needed to fix this. I couldn't find any words so I just stood up from the sofa I was sitting on. I went to him. Pulled him into a hug. I felt his tears soak my shoulder. "I forgive you. I love you Dad", I said and felt him cry even harder. No one said a word until he calmed down and pulled from me, kissing my temple. The smell of his cologne took me back to when I was a child when I did something amazing and he'd hug me. Congratulating me. The memory made me smile. "Come here", Chris said hugging me, then finally Craig. "I'm so sorry kiddo", he said using the same nickname he always called me when I was younger. It felt good.

"Waoh... Uh... Let's go eat. I'm starving", Fatima said with a sniff. Trying to control her emotions too. She led the way to the dining room with Nathan holding her hand. We found Abni and Natalia busy helping Zahra arrange the table as we walked in. Zahra's eyes met mine, she was looking at me to get feedback, my smile making her smile too. Amira brought in the food as the rest of us settled on the massive dining table. Abdul explained the situation to the kids, they were happy to have more uncles and another set of grandparents. Mother looked overly excited especially when Craig told her, she looked like Natalia's twin. It was true. They have a lot of features in common. 

After dinner, we took some pictures of Fatima's collection. It was nice to finally have everyone together. "Thank you Hafeez", I said when I found him refilling his wine in the kitchen. Everyone else was in the garden. He turned and opened his arms for me. I hugged him. Feeling his warmth. "You deserve the world, Nikki. You're an amazing woman. Both as a mother and daughter. I knew that from the time I laid eyes on you", he said making me smile. "No old man. You're the best Father in the world", I said making him chuckle. "Don't go out there declaring that. We both know how competitive Mason can be", he joked making us both laugh. "You mean like the time when you two decided to have your own racing competition just to prove whose car is faster even though you both had the same model?", I reminded him. "You remember that? The idiot made me kill my poor engine", he said making us both laugh. "Hey now, you are the one who forgot to check your engine oil", Father said from the door making us both laugh even harder.