Nine Crimes

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Reunion

Nine Crimes Chapter Twenty-Eight

The days after Natalie and Taylor both leave seem to pass quicker than I would have liked and before I know it it is already the twelfth of November. Two weeks have passed exactly since they both left. No one has seemed to have heard from either of them or if they have they haven't told me.

Kate and I still aren't on good terms but we have become good at putting up a front for the children when she brings them by. Heck I even let her bring Abraham by because it is partly my fault his dad is gone. He needs someone and it might as well be me he has.

Hearing a knock on the door I finish doing my dishes knowing it's Kate. It's about time for her to bring the kids by. I just hope I have made the apartment look spotless. I try to make sure it meets her standards otherwise she may rip the kids away from me and right now I need something that won't leave me.

Opening the door though, it's not Kate I come face to face with. It's Natalie who is standing at my door.

"N...Natalie?" I ask wanting to make sure I'm not imagining things. Reaching out I put a hand on her cheek a smile forming on my lips when I feel skin. She isn't a figment of my imagination.

Natalie nods her head, "I convinced Kate to tell me where you live," she says as she raises an eyebrow. "Can I come in?"

Moving my hand away from her cheek I move aside so she can come into the apartment. Once she is in I shut the door behind her. "I didn't think you were coming back," I tell her honestly as I watch her take off the jacket she has on, putting it on the coat rack I have in my living room.

"I wasn't going too," Natalie says as she walks over to the couch, sitting down on it. "But mom convinced me I needed to. That hiding out at my brother's in Georgia with all five kids wasn't the ideal thing to do for the rest of my life."

I laugh at what she says, sitting down beside her on the couch, "She probably has a point," I smirk as I chew on my lip. "Taylor left too," I tell her but I figure she probably has already heard.

Natalie nods her head again, "I know. He has called me a few times," she shrugs as she brushes some hair away from her face. "We have both gotten divorce lawyers and are working things out so we can be divorced quickly. He still won't tell me where he is but maybe that's for the best right now."

"Maybe it is," I agree knowing that if she knew where he was one or the other would be trying to work things out and ruin their divorce plans even though divorce is probably the best for them. "W..why are you here? I mean not in Tulsa but at my apartment."

At that question Natalie goes silent for awhile, "I'm not even sure why I am here Zac," she tells me honestly. "I just knew I needed to see you because you seemed like the most logical choice to come and see once I got back home."

I smirk more at her words, "Maybe because you love me," I whisper before leaning in to kiss her cheek softly. I just want to make sure again that she is real and not a figment of my imagination. That I'm not dreaming her like I have done since she has been gone.

Natalie smiles as my lips touch her cheek, "You know I love you," she whispers before turning her head on me, our lips touching each other. "You read it in my letter," she mutters before kissing me.

Kissing her back I close my eyes, letting my arm go around her. I do know she loves me and I know she has came back home. She has came back to me. I'm her home just like she is mine. It's something neither of us can deny anymore, not when there is no reason to deny it now.