As Long as There is Love-Chapter 12
While Nina was registering the twins for dance class, Justin waited in the lobby. He didn’t want the inquisitive look he was receiving to turn up in a tabloid.
“Excuse me?”
“Yes?” Justin lowered his cap.
“Are you waiting for someone?”
“Yes, I’m waiting for my daughters…” Justin said without thinking. Maybe he didn’t have to think about it anymore. He had thought about it too much already and Ronnie had bashed it into his head enough.
It was about time he had acknowledged them as his daughters rather than just the twins.
“Oh okay, well they should be out in a little while.” The receptionist returned to her desk.
Suddenly, his daughter came bursting through the doors. Yet, he couldn’t tell which one was running up to him and which one was clutching onto Nina’s hand.
“We start on Santaday.”
“Saturday, Short Stuff.” Nina corrected.
“Yeah, Sa-ta-day.” Nikki grinned.
“That’s great Short Stuff.” Justin was surprised at how easily the nickname rolled off his tongue. So was Nina.
“Oh these are you’re daughters?” The receptionist was back again, “They’re adorable.” She looked towards Nina then back at Justin, “You have a beautiful family sir”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You told her we were you family?” Nina asked when the receptionist was gone.
Justin shrugged, “You are my family. Neece and Nikki make us all a family.”
Nina wished he wouldn’t talk so loud. She didn’t want the twins to start asking questions.
“What brought on this new attitude?” Nina crossed her arms.
“A lot of thinking and I heard you call me a coward. Um, can we leave please?”
“Why, ya don’t want anyone to see you out with us?” Nina inquired while Justin guided them towards the door.
“Can y’all wait in the car?” Justin bent down eyelevel with the twins. They did as asked. “Why you gotta make me out to be a bad guy? I’m doing the best I can. You have to give me some credit too. I could’ve taken longer to do something about this. You took five years to tell me about the twins and no one is criticizing you. At least not yet.”
“Excuse you?”
“All I’m saying is that if you really wanted me to know you should have kept calling but you gave up, gave up on me, on us. And if you didn’t, we wouldn’t be having this talk, my kids would know who I am, and we would still be together.” His last words came out much louder than he wanted, causing people to stop on the street and stare at them.
Nina looked around nervously with embarrassment, “You need to calm down. Maybe this was a bad idea.”
Justin heard her but he kept going, “No what you did was bad. You had no right to take those five years from me.”
“You can not blame me for what happened. And if you want to talk about taking something from someone, how ‘bout you taking my virginity for starters.”
“That’s low Nina. You know that moment was new for both of us.”
Nina ignored him. “I’m not finished…and taking my dream of being the next Lisa Leslie while I was laying up in some rinky dink hospital getting my two babies whom I love very much, cut out of me.”
Justin saw those forbidden tears well up in her eyes again and felt like an asshole. “You couldn’t have them naturally?”
Nina shook her head. “They were so small, and they would have been choked by the birth canal if they were born naturally.”
“I guess I should be thanking you then for making a smart decision.”
“Actually, Ronnie made the decision. I was in no shape to make it myself.”
“Was it bad?” He looked at her with the eyes of an innocent naïve child.
“Oh no. I didn’t feel a thing.” She joked, “The only memory I have of the whole thing is this scar above my waist line.” When Nina raised her shirt, Justin almost reached to touch the fading scar.
“Wow. I don’t think I could have handled seeing them cut you open. I’m not a fan of blood.”
“Well, look on the bright side; you didn’t have to handle it because you weren’t there.” With that said, Nina walked away leaving him standing in front of the dance school.
~*~*~*~
“Okay so tell me how I can tell Neece and Nikki apart?” Justin asked at the stoplight.
“Why?”
“What do you mean why? I need to know how to tell them apart. I mean how would it look if I didn’t know the differences between my own children?”
“Please say that a little louder so the twins can ask us a bunch of questions.”
Justin looked in the rearview mirror, “Girl calm down, they’re fast asleep. Now…”
“Well Nikki is a little bit taller than Neece.” Nina pointed out.
“Something I can easily recognize.”
Nina rolled her eyes. “Nikki is the daintier one of the two. She likes to wear pretty dresses. But Neece, I haven’t been able to put her in a dress without a fight since she was two years old. She prefers jeans and tennis shoes.”
“I can see that. And…”
“She likes videogames and sports too. I haven’t seen her play with her Barbie’s in a while.”
“Oh she’s gonna be a basketball phenomenon like her mother, huh?” Justin joked.
“Who knows?” Nina shrugged.
“Alright. What else?”
“Well, Neece’s face is chubbier and rounder than Nikki’s uh…that’s all I can think of.”
“Thank you. That helps a lot.”
“You know it’s weird. I spent so many years trying to make myself hate you, but then you just come here and turn my life upside down, and do something I believe ya wouldn’t do…be in the twins’ life. I guess I have to thank you now?” Nina tried to hide her smile.
“And you said that we couldn’t be friends” Justin pulled into her driveway, “I’ll help you take them inside.” He came around one side and waited for Nina to come around the other. “Can you unbuckle their seatbelts?”
Justin reached inside and grabbed Nikki while Nina held Neece, “You got her? You need help?”
“I got her.” Nina pushed Neece up on her shoulder as she and Justin walked to the house together.
“Alright you can pass her over to me.” She made space for Nikki on her other shoulder.
“Come on now Nina as small as you are? I can’t let you carry both of them.”
Letting him have his way, Nina simply opened the door and walked inside. She saw Travis coming from the kitchen with a beer in his hand. “What did I tell ya ‘bout that?”
“Bout what?”
“Never mind. Just get Nikki.”
Justin handed his daughter over to her uncle.
“You want a beer man?’
Justin declined the offer, “Nah, I have to drive home.”
“Right.”
Nina cleared her throat in order to break up their friendly conversation.
“Uh I’ll be going home to my fiancée now.” He gazed at Nina, “I’ll call you.” He waved at Travis.
“Fine.” Nina closed the door behind him.
“He’s married? Damn, they never said shit about her on TV.”
“I know.” It did seem weird.