The Legends Daughter

A good man, an even better father

Roman returned her smile "Your dad sounds like a damn good man and an even better father."

Melanie's smile widened "He is the best, though I am a bit partial" she said with a small shrug.

Roman laughed and leaned forward placing his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands releasing a small sigh.

"Leati what's wrong?" she asked as she placed her hand lightly on his knee

He felt the warmth radiating from her soft small hand and closed his eyes to revel in her touch. The effect she had on him when she did something as simple as put her hand on his knee was insane, he just didn't understand it.

"Leati?" she asked again softly

He shook himself from his thought and turned to look at her. A gust of wind blew through the courtyard at that very moment and blew a few strands of hair in front of her face. He reached his hand up and placed the stray hairs with his index finger behind her ear, taking the opportunity to allow the tips of his fingers to caress her cheek softly. He noticed her face deepen a shade of red and smiled knowing that at least he had the same effect on her that she had on him. He exhaled slowly looking down at the cement before meeting her concerned gaze. He leaned all the way back resting his shoulders on the back of the bench while he placed his hands on his head and locked his fingers into place. He exhaled slowly.

"It's Evelyn after I spoke with JoJo last night she suggested that we give our relationship another try for JoJo's sake."

He thought that he saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes but as quickly as he thought he saw it, it faded.

"Oh"

"I don't know what to do"

"Well do you love her?"

"I do but only as the mother of my child I haven't been in love with her or had any sort of romantic feelings for her in a very long time, there was a lot of damage that was done in our relationship and I don't know if it can be repaired. Hell I don't know if I even want to repair it, but I would do anything for JoJo and that would include trying to make the relationship with her mom work one last time if it meant our daughter was happy, healthy and thriving." Melanie nodded her understanding.

"Do you mind me asking what exactly happened with your relationship with Evelyn?"

Roman gave her a sad grin. "A lot went wrong, not that it was all her fault, you know with this job you are on the road all the time and I know I didn't give her the time and attention she deserved. Especially when I was back home I made it all about JoJo, and sometimes Evelyn was upset that I didn't make time for her. She was lonely and I didn't pay attention and she ended up cheating on me." This time it was his turn to look into the distance as he massaged his hand before continuing. "After I found out about the indiscretion we worked it out and I thought things were getting better but then she cheated a second time, and a third time and each time we tried to work it out until the fourth time. By then I just couldn't do it anymore. We had tried counseling and that didn't work. I think I honestly checked out after the third time she cheated maybe even before then but I stayed."

"Because of JoJo" Melanie said more as a statement than a question

Roman nodded his head. "Then if that wasn't enough there is the fact that she changed, a lot since we first met."

"What do you mean?

"I mean I know people are going to change, people grow its just a fact of life but she became someone that became consumed by things, inanimate objects, money, maybe it was because she wasn't getting what she needed from me but either way she changed and I just didn't know or like the person she became anymore."

After a long silence it was Melanie's turn to sigh.

"Well, your reasoning is valid you want what's best for your daughter but in the process you have to do what's also best for you. It won't do you any good to revive a relationship that is not going to make you happy. If you want my advice, if you really want to give it a shot with Evelyn you have to start with counseling first before you make any huge changes. That and take her out on dates again get to know the things that she likes and doesn't like. Start from the bottom, get to know her all over again." She suggested.

Roman looked at Melanie for a little while before smiling. "Is that what you would want a man to do for you?"

She returned his smile "That is exactly what I would want a man to do for me if we were trying to find our way back to each other. Sometimes you have to start from the ground up, and if you both really want it, the both of you will work for it, but you have to put in a real effort no half assing it." She realized that her hand was still on his knee and she removed it slowly feeling a bit embarrassed that she allowed her hand to remain on his leg for so long.

Roman immediately felt the emptiness of her hand no longer being there and watched her as she turned her head and looked straight ahead before leaning her head slightly to the side as she deeply inhaled the smell of the flowers next to her. She soon felt his looming presence inch closer to her before feeling his hand on the side of her neck as he swept all of her hair behind her shoulder. She turned her head just enough to look at him, it felt like her stomach was doing back flips as he ran his knuckles along the back of her neck, She couldn't help but close her eyes at the contact before he slowly lowered his hand from her neck and moved it under her hair, and down the back of her shoulder as he slowly and methodically allowed his fingers to dance along her back, before grazing and caressing the back of her arm below her elbow. It was in this moment that he couldn't help but wonder what her hair would feel like if it were wound around his fingers. Their bare skin pressed flush against each other as his arms were firmly in place around her waist and her legs were wrapped tightly around his torso.

"Your hair was hiding your face" he whispered as he forced himself out of his fantasy and slowly wrapped his fingers around her small delicate wrist. Lifting her hand so that it sat perfectly in his own, he proceeded to rub circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. He breathed out her name in a soft husky tone "Melanie, don't close your eyes, I want you to look at me" he whispered, he patiently waited as she slowly forced herself to open her eyes. As soon as she opened her eyes they immediately locked with his. He licked his lips and smiled at her.

"Melanie, You are absolutely breathtaking"

Unable to find any words she nodded absentmindedly, she was completely entranced by his voice. She watched as his eyes instantly changed color to a much darker shade of grey. She felt her cheeks begin to burn so she looked down at the concrete. Roman reached over with his free hand and tilted her head up to look at him. "Why do you do that?"

"Why do I do what?"

"Hide your face?"

Melanie shrugged her shoulders as her cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red.

"You know you're really cute when you do that." He said as he smiled at her.

That one comment completely snapped Melanie out of her trance as rolled her eyes and snatched her hand away from him.

"What did I do wrong?!" he asked with confusion etched all over his face

"First lesson in trying to win a woman" she said as she held up her index finger "No woman wants a man to call her cute"

He looked at her and burst out laughing "Wait what?! What is wrong with being called cute?"

Melanie gave him an incredulous look before completely turning her body and bending her knee so that it was sitting under her so that she could look him in his face.

"You call a cat cute, a little girl in a tutu is cute, but no grown ass woman wants a man that she is attracted to, to call her cute."

He laughed a little harder but put his hands up in a gesture of surrender

"Consider that your free advice for the night" she said as she playfully rolled her eyes again at him before placing her hand behind her head to look up at the sky.