"Go over to her!" Shane whispers, giving me a nudge. "Not yet, I want her to sit down first. . if I go up to her now, she will probably leave the café" I whisper back to him with my eyes focused on Nastasia and Carmen. They're looking for a place to sit. Zaira isn't with her . . but maybe she's at Carmen's place. That I hope. . . I wait for them to order something and then I will go over there . . .
Destiny keeps calling me . . . as much as I want to pick up, I can't . . not right now. . . 'cause then she'll ask where I am and all that . . . I'll call her after I took care of this. . which I'm gonna do right now. The waiter just brought them their cappuccinos. I take one last sip from my tea and get up. "Good luck, Mike" I force a smile in his direction. "Thanks, I need it"
I clear my throat and walk over to them. I'm a little nervous because I know what I'm getting myself into right now. When it comes to Zaira, Nastasia won't hold back . . she opens her mouth wide open and lets me know what she thinks . . she's the type of woman to get their claws out. I stop next to their table. . . Nastasia looks up at me . . . and then gives Carmen a look.
"Look who we have here" Carmen says, folding her arms. Nastasia turns back to me, giving me a fake smile. "Michael . . what a pleasure to see you here" She says, obviously lying. "May I speak to you in private for a minute?" I ask with a serious tone in my voice. She shrugs. "I don't know . . depends on what you wanna talk about. . ."
"You know what I wanna talk about, Nastasia . . ."
"No I don't . . . but if it's about Zaira you can turn right back around and walk away, 'cause I ain't talking to you about ma little girl" She says, with a whole lot of attitude.
"She's MY little girl too, in case you forgot. . . . why didn't you tell me you were coming to New York?" She slowly gets up, looking deep into my eyes. "Since when do I have to tell you what I'm doin' and where I'm going?!"
"Well . . maybe because I haven't seen Zaira in over 6 months and I have you thank for that! . . .you keep making up excuses that I can't come visit you guys in Washington, and now you're here and you don't even call me! . . Where is Zaira? . . did she come with you?"
"I'm not making up excuses, ok? we're busy! . . and yes, Zaira came with me but you will not see her! . . we didn't come here for YOU, we came here to visit Carmen!"
"I WILL see her! . . whether you want it or not! . . just because you're living with her, doesn't mean I have no right to see her! . . she's my daughter too, why are you doing this to me? . . you know I wanna be part of her life! . . why are you shutting me out?? . . don't let it out on Zaira, it's not her fault!"
"Zaira doesn't even wanna see you, Michael . . ."
"That's where you're wrong! . . I talked on the phone with her recently and she told me how much she misses me!! . . so cut all the hate crap and start thinking about how your behavior affects her! . . she needs her father in her life!"
"Well, MICHAEL . . you had your chance! . . you could've moved to Washington with us but NO, you had your precious career going . . becoming a teacher was all you cared about! . . Zaira and I were never a priority in your life . . ."
"You know I struggled, Nastasia! . . I always wanted to become a teacher, and you know that! . . sorry for wanting to do something with my life so I can support myself and my family! . . I always loved Zaira! I ALWAYS wanted to be part of her life, but you started to shut me out of her life more and more . . . I used to see her every weekend . . and later on it became every other weekend . . and now it's been 6 months, Nastasia . . . 6 months! . . her birthday is coming up and I will not miss out on it!! . . ."
"Michael . . . we have everything planned for Zaira's birthday already . . and according to her birthday-friends-list, you're not on it! . . you can come visit us before we leave for Spain in May"
"No! . . you can't do this! . . I will be at that birthday party, wherever it will be, ok?! . . and I will not let you fly back to Washington before I haven't my seen my little girl!"
"Michael . . I'm here to enjoy my night out with Carmen, I didn't come here to argue with you about Zaira! . . now can you please just walk alway and leave us alone?"
"I'm not going anywhere until you promise me that I will see Zaira today!"
"I ain't promising you anything . . ."
"Yes you will, because if you don't I will get the police invovled! . . I have a right to see my daughter! . . I have a right to spend alone time with her! . . . daddy daughter time!"
"She's got a father figure in her life . . and that Is Greg, my boyfriend! . . . Zaira likes him . . and you know why? . . because he's there! . . he lives in Washington with us . . . he sees her every single day!"
"I'm trying to see Zaira as much as I can but you're shutting me out!!"
"She's not missing out on anything, Michael . . she's got her daddy-daughter moments with Greg, while you're busy being a substitute teacher here in New York!"
"What does my profession have to do with anything?!! . . I'm not in college anymore! I graduated 7 years ago!!! when will you finally stop throwing that in my face?! . . . I want you to tell me where Zaira is right now, I'm on my way to see her"
"NO! you're not seeing her tonight!! she's with Greg at Carmen's place!"
"What about my place?! . . she can stay with me while you guys are here!! . . this is exactly why my mother always hated you! . . she knew you were bad the first day I met you!"
"Me? . . bad? . . your mother is a freak! . . I hate her twice as much as she hates me!"
"Carmen, give me your address . . I wanna see my little girl!"
Nastasia gets up and pushes me hard. "Michael, I said NO!!"
"NO? . . and why? . . huh? . . why, Nastasia? . . are you afraid that she will be so happy to see me that she wants me to stay??"
"No!! . . because we didn't come here for YOU, we came for Carmen!!"
"You're out of your mind, woman . . . I don't care . . whether you want me to see her or not, I'm gonna find out where Carmen lives . . . enjoy your cold cappuccino!" I say, walking out of the café. Shane follows me outside. The bad thing is that Carmen moved . . . I have no idea where she's living now. This has got to be a bad joke . . . . my daughter is here and I'm not allowed to see her . . . . Nastasia is out of her damn mind, how can she do this to me? . . how?
From all the stress I totally forgot about Destiny . . . she called me like a million times. But I can't call her back now . . . I'm still shaky and angry from the agrument with Nastasia . . . not a good time to be talking to her. . . . Shane and I get in the car and drive away. I guess we could call the police and ask them for the address . . . . if I tell them why I need it, I'm sure they will give it to me . . . .
_____________
We just called the police and got Carmen's address. My heart is pounding in my chest from nervouness and happiness. I'm about to see my girl . . . not happy about the fact that she's with Nastasia's boyfriend right now but what can I do? . . . can't forbid Nastasia's boyfriend to be with my daugther . . . but I hate it . . . I hate the thought of it . . . thinking about another man playing my role in Zaira's life is ripping me apart. I may not be the best father in the world, but I love my daughter unconditionally.
Shane and I just parked in front of Carmen's house. My heart is racing like crazy . . . he's trying to calm me down but it's not working . . . being sick and nervous is not a good mix . . . I might throw up at any time. I take off my jacket and get ouf ot he car . . I'm sweating again . . . thank you lord . . . not the best time to be sick right now but I guess you can't control that either.
Shane decides to wait in the car. . . I close the car door and walk up the doorstep. I have tears in my eyes right now. . . this is just crazy . . . I can't believe I'm about to see my princess. I knock on the door and wait . . . a few seconds later the door opens . . . a tall guy with brown short hair and green eyes is standing in front of me . . he's about my size . . . I guess that's Greg.
"Hello?"
"Hi . . I'm Michael . . you must be Greg . . . I'm here to see my daughter"
". . . Hi Michael . . I've heard some things about you . . ."
"Only good things, I hope"
"No, not really . . ."
"May I come in?"
"Sure . . . . . why not . . . . ."
I walk inside the house. I hear music coming from the very back of the hallway. My heart is now at a point where it's about to leap right out of my chest. . . I walk down the hallway . . the light is coming from the last room on the left . . . I open the door with my hand shaking like crazy and look inside . . . Zaira is sitting on the bed, writing something in her pink diary . . . . .
I walk inside the room . . . Zaira slowly looks up from the book. . . totally shocked at first . . her mouth falls open . . . a few seconds later her eyes fill up with tears. She gets up from the bed and runs into my arms. . . I pick her up and squeeze her. . . she wraps her legs around my hips, hugging me so tightly, I can't almost breathe. .
"Daddy!! . . . I missed you so muuuuuuch"
She whispers, crying on my shoulder. . .
~ to be continued ~