Hesitantly he brought it up to his ear. "Hello?" He asked groggily, barely sounding like himself.
"Nick?" The sound of a female voice could be heard on the other line.
It took him a slpit second to recognize the voice. "Alyssa, what's wrong, are you hurt?" It came out panicked. He didn't know what she was doing calling so late, but whatever it was, it had to be serious.
"No, no. I'm okay, everythings all right." She whispered, regretting making the phone call at such a late hour. Honestly, she didn't didn't think he would be asleep, but apparently he was.
"Then what's wrong, why are you calling so late." He sat up in the bed, cradling the phone between his bare shoulder and his ear.
"I honestly don't know. I thought we could talk." She whispered.
Nick let out a silent laugh. Leave it to her to want to talk so late at night. He was suddenly glad she called and was anxious to hear what she had to say. Obviously it was in regards to his letter, what else could it be? "You wanted to talk huh? Well, what shall we talk about?"
"Nick, don't be sarcastic, I'm being serious here. I really think that you and I should talk."
"Like we did out on the beach almost two months ago?"
"Yes... I mean no. Oh hell I don't know."
He laughed at the curse word. It was rare that she cursed in normal conversations though when you get her riled up the woman cursed more than a sailor playing poker and losing! "Alyssa, calm down, I'm just picking."
"Okay." She paused, and he allowed her the few moments to think about what she wanted to say. "I got your letter." She whispered after what felt like an eternity.
"Good, you had me worried there." He was telling the truth. He honestly thought that she either didn't get it or was hating him so much that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.
"Listen Nick, about its contents, Ia don't know if we will be able to start over. We've had so much animosity between us for so many years, I personally think it will be damn near impossible for us to start over again."
A look of confusion crossed Nick's face. He hadn't expected that out of her. In a way he did, but he had thought that she would be ecstatic about the proposition for them to start over again, wasn't that what she wanted all along? "I understand Alyssa, but I've been doing a lot of thinking, especially about the past. I don't know what's going to happen. I can't even guarantee that the sun will rise tomorrow, but I really think that you and I should have another chance."
"Nick I..."
He cut her off before she could protest. "Alyssa, I've been exploring through the house the past week, and have come across things that captured what we had together, how happy we used to be. Now I personally don't know what the hell went wrong in our relationship and our marriage, but I want to try and fix it." He tried to explain.
"What did go wrong Nick?" She questioned, hoping she could possibly get an answer out of him once and for all.
"I have no idea. I wish I did. Then, maybe I could justify why the hell I was so distant, why the hell I didn't give a rats ass about you. I don't have that answer, but my guess would be all the time apart and all the hustle and bustle I had to endure travelling from city to city. I had no time to think of my family then, so you guys basically disappeared into oblivion."
"Do you know how hurtful that sounds? Do you have any idea?" She didn't yell, it was way to late to be doing that.
"Yes I do, but how else can I put it. If I sugar-coated it, then it wouldn't be true. But Alyssa, please, please don't judge me on that. I really want to try and start over. I want us to try and get to know each other again."
She was quiet for the longest time. Nick had thought she had hung up, but finally heard small sniffling noises. The woman was crying, and worse, it was because of him. He scolded himself, mentally replaying their entire conversation through his head to see if he had done or said something to inflict sadness upon her. "Alyssa, please don't cry." He whispered. "I'm sorry"
"Nick, I don't know what to do." She whispered.
"What do you mean?"
She sighed audibly. "Part of me wants to believe you, believe that you're sincere and that you truly want to start over. But then there's another part of me that thinks you'll regret it within a few days like before."
"Alyssa, I swear to you, on everything that is sacred, that I will not betray your trust again. I mean what I say."
She had to think again, this time biting her nails in the process, a habit she had long given up. Now it had come back to plague her again. "Fine Nick, we can try again." She whispered.
Nick broke out into a smile, it felt like back in early days, when he was younger. It was always nervous getting a girls' attention, keeping her interested and then asking her out. But when the results came in with a positive outcome, they were always a relief and always made the individual leap with joy. He felt as if he were back in those days, and she was with him.
Things were much simple then, he didn't have the web of guilt, sadness, and heartache wrapped around him then. At that time he was as free as anyone could be.
"Nick?"
"Huh, oh sorry." He was brought out of his wandering thoughts.
"Its all right." She whispered, then paused for a second. Neither party really knew what to say. "What now?" She asked.
That was a good question though. What were they now. They were married, obviously, but they were only bound by papers and nothing else. So were they dating, married, or what? He didn't have the answer and obviously neither did she. "I don't know Alyssa, I guess we'll just have to take it one day at a time."
A smile was evident as she agreed with him.
The two definately took their time. Over the next two weeks they casually dated, trying to get to know one another again. Alyssa was enjoying her life once more, now that she didn't have the nagging whispers of her head, telling her this was wrong. She'd managed to somehow convince every fiber of her body that she was doing the right thing. She was still working and making money. That was another thing that made her feel good, her one source of independence.
Alyssa had seen Tyler nearly everyday, though she still whished she could always have the kid near. When the two had finally reunited, both parties dashed in a full run and enveloped one another into an extremely tight bear hug, as Tyler would call it. There were tears of joy from Alyssa and huge smiles from Tyler. She whished from that moment on that things would be better and that she would soon be with her kid again. Though she and Tyler were apart more than she like, she settled for the arangement, seeing how Nick and Tyler were becoming closer in her time away. That was an accomplishment and something that made her heart burst with excitment.
Nick was also thoroughly happy with the outcome of their courtship. He honestly had doubts in the beginning as to whether or not the arrangement would work, but they drifted away with each passing day. He and Alyssa had been out nearly every night, usually to dinner, and sometimes to a movie when there wasn't much need for conversation. He had begun to open up to her again, like the early days when they were together. He thrived in having someone to talk to, someone to confide in and someone who would listen without interruption and then put her two cents into the equation.
Everone involved in the equation was happy and content with their progressive realtionship. Even Ms. Forrester, the Nanny, was excited to see the couple reunited. The older woman knew there was hope for the two. She liked Alyssa the minute she layed eyes on her, even though Alyssa was a little apprehenisve towards her at first. But the two women became friends quickly, both always talking about various ways to raise a child. These conversations were deathly boring for Nick, but he kept an attentative ear through the conversation.
Everything was perfect, as it would seem, but as many of the great theatrical tragedies and historical documents proclaimed, no one truly knows for sure what lurks in the future. And indeed their worse nightmare was lurking in the ripple of time that layed before them. All their actions had consequences and one cannot be sure as to what would really happen next. For the happy couple, their existance and their growing love for one another was all they knew. Soon though, that would be tested.
