Natalie |Beyond Heights|

|Seven|

Natalie

*****

My eyes roamed from Logan to Miles, before walking outside onto the deck with Lucas. Logan gave me a discreet thumbs up and Miles gave me a smile that made my heart beat erratically. He is so handsome and he doesn't act like he knows it. That's an attractive quality in a person. Every young single woman in Savannah must want to be Mrs. Miles Pennington.

Where that assumption just came from, I don't know.

I followed my father out of the French doors that led to the back deck. He strategically brought a buffer along. He was holding Evelyn in his arms, as he sat in a cushioned chair. I deposited myself in a chair next to them. We faced away from the house for privacy.

Evelyn patted her pop pop's shoulder while pointing at me. "Auntie read book." She was pleased to inform him.

"Yes, that's your auntie Natalie. She read a book to you? That's so nice." He animatedly replied to her. His eyes showed nothing but love for this little girl, his granddaughter. He seemed to soften in her presence.

He turned his attention to me. "I hear you are a children's book author and illustrator. And you're on the New York Times Best Seller List. That's quite an accomplishment, I'm proud of you." I was flustered by his admiration.

"Thank you, that's my day job." I joked. "I wrote a series about a little girl named Liliana and her many adventures. It caught a publishers notice and the rest is history. I love my job. Actually, Evelyn has all of the books in the series. I was shocked when I got here and saw them."

"That must have been surreal to see your books in her collection, as her auntie." He looked at me, with pride? I wasn't expecting that.

"I met Miles Pennington, last year at a race he and my brother were both in. We had dinner afterwards and I told him I wrote children's books. He told me he had a three month old niece. He googled my name and ordered the books for her," I sighed thinking about how sweet that was of him.

"What a coincidence." My father remarked, tilting his head to observe me.

"Yes, it's all so hard to believe. My agent called me yesterday and wants me to do a book signing while I'm here in Savannah." I shared with him.

It's weird, because I'm more relaxed around my father than I thought I would be. He doesn't seem like a stranger. It's kind of like what Miles had said during our walk.

"I would love to come to your book signing, just let me know the day. I realize this is a lot for everyone to process. I don't expect you to be all warm and fuzzy. Take your time, I totally understand."

"I just want to get to know you and Nicole. I'm not trying to take your father's place. He raised you and he did an amazing job. I see the love and protectiveness he has for you," he started getting watery eyes.

"My father is a wonderful man. You couldn't have given me a better family. I've always been daddy's little girl. My parents and my brother gave me nothing but love, all of my life," I choked back tears and my voice was breaking up.

"I'm truly happy to hear that, Natalie. I hope that you can one day forgive me for not being the father, I should have been to you and Nicole. I hope we can at least be friends. Unfortunately we can't press rewind, but we can move forward." I could tell he meant it.

He grabbed a paper napkin from the table and wiped at the tears that kept forming in his hazel eyes, so much like mine.

Evelyn kept hugging him and then bending her little face to look into his eyes. "Pop pop, it's okay. You have a boo boo?"