"Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy."
––Warren Wiersbe
Camila POV
Shawn and I waited until the kids were in the house before we started freaking out.
,,What the fuck are you doing here!?" I said pissed off looking at the one and only Nick Geller. If I had to name a person I hate from the bottom of my heart until the end of my days then Nick has the privilege to be that person.
,,I want my daughter back." He said and both Shawn and I started laughing.
,,Your daughter? She's not your daughter and she was never really your daughter." I said and crossed my arms over my chest wanting to seem intimidating.
,,I am her biological father so she is my daughter and I want her back." Nick said and I looked at Shawn who was standing right next to me also with his arms crossed over his chest.
,,You did nothing for that child. You only made her and left her without looking back. You don't deserve to be called a father. You don't deserve Riley as your daughter." Shawn said and pointed his index finger at Nick.
,,But you deserve to be her father or what?" Nick asked raising his voice.
,,He does because he is Riley's dad and he will always be." I said to Nick pushing him away from Shawn.
,,You two played enough mother and father, now give me my daughter back." Nick said and started walking more aggressively in my direction, but this time Shawn pushed him away.
,,Sorry not sorry, but she isn't even your daughter in official documents. I adopted her years ago. Already forgot that?" I asked, but Nick only smirked.
,,I'm going to sue you two and take my daughter back if that's what it takes. I mean who do think they will believe when I say that you two forced me to give you Riley?"
,,A fucking idiot will believe that I wanted to adopt a baby when I just finished college and just got a job." I said.
,,And what about when I tell them that you told my daughter that I am dead?" Nick asked and I couldn't describe the way my anger was growing inside of me.
,,You call her your daughter one more time and I'm calling the cops on you for getting on private property." I said and heard how the front door behind me and Shawn opened.
,,Mom? Why aren’t you coming in? And who is he?" Riley asked when I turned around.
,,He is no one and we are coming in a second. Can you help Ami and Nate brush their teeth until then?" I said smiling at her trying to hide my anger behind my smile.
,,But-"
,,Riley, please." Shawn said interrupting her.
,,No. She should stay and get to know her real dad. Not her fake one." Nick said and Shawn and I gave him a killer look. I swear that if Riley wasn't there both of us would have killed him right there.
,,Why does he keep saying he is my father? Nick is dead." Riley said and I felt so frustrated by the whole situation.
I wanted to push Riley in the house and keep her out of the conversation, but now it was too late 'cause if I would do that now she would start to get suspicious. Another thing she sadly has from me. Why can't she just be like Nina and keep herself out of every complicated situation?
,,Well you see-"
,,Shut the fuck up!" I said angrily to Nick and interrupting him. I then turned again to Riley and asked: ,,What do you mean with "keep saying"?"
,,He was here when I got home today and told me he's my father. I don't want to believe him, but why does he look like Nick?" Riley asked.
,,Because I am, sweetheart. I am Nick. I am your father." Nick said and I could see the way Riley looked so confused at him.
I felt how Shawn moved away from me and when I looked at him I saw how he started pulling Nick away from me and Riley.
,,They aren't telling you the truth Riley! They lied to you all this years! I am alive and I am your dad!" Nick yelled while Shawn kept walking away while pulling Nick after him.
,,Mom?" Riley asked and I saw the way she looked with hurt and confused at me.
,,Tell her the truth Camila!" Nick yelled.
,,Shut the fuck up and go away or I'm calling the cops!" Shawn said angrily at Nick and then started walking back to us. ,,Get in the house." Shawn said to me and Riley.
I took Riley's hand in mine and pulled her in the house after me. Shawn walked in a few seconds later and I knew that this is where our problem is going to start. Riley will start asking us question whose answers she won't like.
,,You should go to bed. You have school tomorrow." Shawn said serious, but I could see through his eyes that he was just trying to avoid the conversation he knew will follow.
,,Are you kidding me? I'm not going anywhere before you two are telling me what just happened. Who is that man!? And tell me the truth." Riley said and when I looked at her I couldn't read the emotion through her eyes. It was like she was pushing us away from her. She didn't even know the truth and she was pushing us away....What will she do when she'll find out that we lied all these years!?
We just thought that telling her Nick died would hurt her less than knowing the cold truth. Knowing that Nick left her by choice not like Nina. But maybe she will understand why we did that...
I looked at Shawn and he looked at me, both trying to figure out what to say and how to say it.
,,Say something!" Riley said loudly.
,,Please don't raise your voice and try to calm down." I said not wanting her to be mad when she finds out the truth.
She took a deep breath and went to sit on the couch in the living room. I looked at the stairs to see if Ami and Nate were around and when I thought they weren’t, I looked at Shawn and nodded. We both knew that meant we should tell her everything.
,,Maybe we should tell you everything from the beginning." I said and took a deep breath while Shawn and I sat down on the couch too.
,,Nina, your mom and my sister has been dating your dad, Nick, for a while. The relationship wasn't the best. Nick treated Nina so bad even if she deserved the world. I used to wonder why they didn't break up, but they just loved each other. In a crazy and toxic way, but they did love each other." I said and took a break to look at Shawn.
He nodded at me and put his hand on my leg to comfort me, so I could keep on telling the truth.
,,Nina got pregnant at some point. With you. I was so happy to find that out. I thought that our family would finally be bigger than just me and Nina, but well... it was more complicated then just that." I said remembering that time. It was so weird to think about back then, now that I had a huge family around me. Shawn and the kids, but also Mary, Carlos, Nora, Alex, Caroline, Karen, Manny, Aaliyah, Zack, their baby and also all our friends.
,,Well I was happy to find out that Nina was pregnant, but not Nick... When Nina told him about the pregnancy, he broke up with her and left her and...you. Nina was devastated.....and I will hate Nick for doing that to her till the end of my days." I said and started playing with my hands a little before I looked up and looked right in Riley's eyes seeing Nina through them.
,,I had to finish my last year in college so I couldn't go to Nina and help her during the pregnancy, so she had to go alone through that and I still feel so bad for leaving her alone because if I would have thought once about someone else besides myself than maybe your mom would still be alive. I should have postponed my last semester and take care of Nina and you, but I didn't.... I finished my year and Nina went alone through her pregnancy while Nick was doing all kind of shit meanwhile." I said and made once again a break to take a deep breath. Riley didn't say anything and just waited for the end.
,,During the end half of the pregnancy, I ended college and went to visit Nina a few times, but I had to be in New York because I had to find a job to pay my bills. When Nina gave birth to you, she told me I shouldn't worry about coming to her and focus on my stuff and that's what I did. Later on, she told me she would come and visit me with you for a few weeks. I was so excited to see you for the first time and see Nina again after a long time..." At the end of the sentence tears started forming in my eyes because after all these years, I still couldn't talk about this without crying.
,,I didn't see Nina again. You and her got in a car accident where she died. I- I didn't want to accept her death and I didn't know what to do. When I saw you, I cried so much because of two reasons. One because I saw you for the first time in my life and two because I knew you were my responsibility now." I said and wiped my tears away while I let out a shaky chuckle. Shawn was stroking my back all this time and that really helped a little.
,,At Nina's funeral, Nick didn’t even bother to show up. I didn't hear anything from him in days and some day I found Nina's phone and saw a message from Nick." I said and let out a laugh, but not because what I said was funny. No. It was because what I said was the most stupid thing I ever experienced.
,,Anyways, I then contacted him over Nina's phone and he told me he doesn't want you. To hear that was the worst thing ever because I just didn't know how to live with a baby. You have to imagine this: I was 24 and just ended college. I just got a job thanks to Shawn and was almost paying my bills. A kid was the last thing I needed. Your father was a 30 year-old man who said he wasn't ready for a baby. But I was?" I asked and didn't expect an answer, but Riley shook her head.
,,After a while, I adopted you and Nick told me he doesn't want to have anything to do with you. I was mad. I was MAD, so I told him that if he doesn't want to have anything to do with you now, then he should never come near us again. He said okay. He didn't bother. When you started asking about him, Shawn and I tried to contact him and ask him what to tell you about him, but he ignored us. So we just did what he said years ago. We told you nothing. We told you he was dead, so you didn't have to suffer thinking that your biological father left you by choice when your mother didn't want to leave us, but did. That's why Shawn and I tried to be your mom and dad figures as best as we could. I'm sorry if we failed. I'm sorry for not telling you the truth, but that's just what we thought it was best at the moment." I said and took Shawn's hand in my while we were waiting for a reaction.
,,You lied to me." Riley said and I saw tears forming in her eyes.
,,We are sorry. We aren't perfect and we tried our best. Nick was okay in the end with what we told you too. Mary, his own mother, was okay with it too. We just thought that telling you that would keep you safe." Shawn said and reached for Riley's hand, but she took her hand away and then just stood up from the couch.
,,I- Goodnight." It's all Riley said before she ran upstairs.
Maybe I didn't have the right to fell hurt after lying to her like that, but I felt like someone just stabbed me through the heart. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her, but I apparently did. Maybe I am a bad mom. Maybe I was a bad mom all this time and didn't notice, which makes it even worse.
,,What did we do?" I asked and looked at Shawn to see the same look on his face I knew I had too.
,,We fucked up..."
-----------
Guys, take a deep breath and remember that it's gonna be okay.....at some point....