Paul and Nora: Part 6

Paul still knew the way to the Henry's home.  He had visited it many times when he had been dating Jessie.  It was his ex-in-law's house after all.  He wondered if it was still decorated the same or had they changed it in the last 17 years.

He parked the car in front of the house.  Nora got out.  Paul sat still for a moment and took a few deep breaths before he got out.  When he did get out of the car, Nora was waiting for him.  She took him by the hand and squeezed it.  "You ready?" she asked.

"I think so," Paul answered.

"It's going to be fine," she said.  She squeezed his hand again and they walked to the front door.  Paul knocked.

A man opened the door, "Paul, welcome," he said holding out his hand.

Paul shook his hand, "Mr. Henry, it's nice to see you again."

"Anthony, please."  Anthony Henry opened the door wider for Paul and Nora to step in.  He led them into the living room where an older woman and a teenage girl stood.  Anthony turned to Nora, "I'm Anthony Henry," he shook her hand.

"I'm Nora Wright."

"How do you do?  This is my wife, Sandra and our grand-daughter, Alexa."

Paul and Nora looked at the nervous teen for a second before Paul stepped forward.  "Hello, Alexa," he held out his hand.

Alexa took it and they shook.  "It's nice to meet you,"

Alexa, Nora, and Sandra took turns shaking hands and greeting each other.  After everyone had said hello, there was an awkward moment of silence.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Anthony stepped forward.

"Thank you," Nora answered, "A glass of water, please."

"Certainly, sit down and make yourself comfortable.  Paul, can I get you anything?"  Anthony asked.

"Nothing right now, thank you," Paul answered.  He sat down next to Nora.  Alexa sat down too.  She and Paul were looking each other over.

"Your home is lovely," Nora said to Sandra.

"Thank you," Sandra replied.  Anthony arrived with Nora's glass of water.

They sat awkwardly for a few moments.

Nora spoke up first, "Well, Alexa, are you getting settled in here?"

"I am, thank you."

"Are you in school?" Nora asked.

"Yeah, I'm a senior at Newman High School," Alexa answered.

"At Newman? Our oldest son goes there," Nora gestured at Paul and herself.  "He's a freshman, though.  Are you involved in any activities?  Band, sports, or anything?"

"I'm in choir."

"Oh, that's very nice.  Tristan, our son, he is in the band.  I don't guess your path's cross much." Nora said.

"No, probably not." Alexa replied.

Paul was grateful for Nora's conversation with Alexa.  It gave him time to study her and decide what he wanted to say.

"I was sorry to hear about your mom, Alexa," Paul said.

"Thank you," Alexa turned to face him.  "It was quite a shock."

"May I ask how it happened?" Paul asked.

"A car wreck.  Someone hit her," Alexa answered.  It was still a fresh wound for her.

"I'm so sorry." Paul hung his head for a moment.  "This is all very strange and I don't want to pretend to ignore the situation any longer.  We need to be adult and talk."

Everyone nodded their heads.  Anthony and Sandra sat down next to Alexa. 

"First of all, I need some straight answers from you guys," Paul looked into the faces of his ex-in-laws.  Seventeen years ago, he was intimidated by them and he couldn't have been so straight forward, but many years and many experiences had passed.  "Why did Jessie leave me and why did you never tell me she had a daughter?  All these times I've seen you over the years, and you never said anything.  Why not?"

"Paul," Sandra leaned in towards him, "we are sorry about the way things worked out.  Jessie didn't want us to tell you.  We respected her wishes.  We thought it was wrong for her not to let you know about your child and we told her so, but she didn't want to."

"Can you tell me now?" Paul asked.  His voice was pleading, not angry.

"We never quite understood why Jessie did what she did.  She never gave us a good explanation.  All she ever told us was she realized she didn't want to be married.  We don't think it had anything to do with you, Paul, it was Jessie, completely.

She knew this would upset you, so when she decided she no longer wanted to be married, she severed all contact.  Then, when she realized she was pregnant, she made the decision to not let you know.  This would only have forced contact with you that she did not want to have. You would have wanted to be involved in the baby's life.  She would have been forced to face you and she didn't want to do that."

"So I never got to be involved in Alexa's life or even know she existed just so Jessie could be spared an uncomfortable confrontation?"  Paul was upset.  Nora took his hand and squeezed it.

"Paul, we agree with the way you feel.  We told Jessie that, but she had made up her mind.  She was an adult, we could not force her to do anything.  It was not our place to interfere," Anthony explained.

"Paul, if it makes any difference, Jessie never told Alexa either, about you, that is," Sandra said.

Nora looked at Alexa.  She was looking very uncomfortable.

"Yes," Paul went on, "but Alexa knew she had a father, even if she didn't know who he was.  I, on the other hand, never knew I had a daughter.  I had no idea.  This doesn't just effect me, either, it also effects my wife and my children.  What she did was wrong."

Alexa jumped up, "My mom was a good mom!" she yelled.  "She loved me and now she's gone."  Alexa ran out of the room.

"Alexa!" Sandra yelled after her grand-daughter.  Everyone had jumped up after Alexa ran out of the room.  Sandra went after Alexa.  Paul sighed and sat back down.  He put his head into his hands.

Sandra walked back in.  "She's locked her door."

"I'm so sorry," Paul said. "Maybe we should leave."

Nora laid her hand on Paul's shoulder.  "No, you need to talk this out.  You all have had seventeen years worth of questions and pain.  You need to work through it.  You talk, I'll go see if I can talk to Alexa."

Nora didn't wait for an answer.  She left Paul, Anthony and Sandra and went down the hall.  One door was shut and Nora could hear a muffled crying on the other side.  She gently knocked on the door.

"Please go away!" Alexa cried from the other side of the door.

"Alexa, it's Nora.  Can we talk?" Nora asked.

Nora expected Alexa to yell 'no' from the other side of the door, but to her surprise the door was unlocked and opened.  Nora walked in.  The room was cream colored and plain, except for the deep purple bed spread and pictures Alexa had hung on the walls.

"Hey," Nora said and she sat down on the bed next to Alexa.  "I'm sorry things got out of hand back there."  Nora nodded her head towards the door.  "It wasn't very nice of them.  But, you have to understand, Paul loved your mother very much and his heart was broken when she left him.  He has had many long years of unanswered questions and wondering why.  He needs to work out those issues with your grandparents.  I hope you'll forgive him, because he really is a nice guy.  Had he known about you, he would have loved to have been a part of your life."

Alexa nodded and blew her nose into some tissue.  Nora looked at the photos on Alexa's dresser.

"Is this your mom?"  Nora reached over and pointed at a photo.

Alexa nodded again and picked the photo up off the dresser.  "Yes," she said.

"She looks like a lovely lady.  What kind of work did she do?  She is dressed very professionally."

"She was an accountant for a department store," Alexa answered.

"I see.  And are these pictures of your friends?"  Nora was trying to get Alexa to relax and open up a bit. 

"Yeah.  They're my friends from school.  That's Mia and Lindsay and my boyfriend, Rob."

"It must be hard to move away during your senior year," Nora said.

Alexa sighed, "Yeah, it is.  I miss them all so much.  I miss my friends, I miss my home, my room and my mom."  Alexa wiped away the fresh tears that had appeared in her eyes.

Nora reached over and put her arm around Alexa's shoulders.  She gently squeezed her.  "It was very brave of you to contact Paul.  I imagine it was scary to do that," Nora said.

"I was worried.  If mom never told me about him, I thought perhaps he was dangerous, but after mom died, Grandma and Grandpa told me about him.  They said he was kind and respectable.  They told me he had a good family and that they had always liked him.  After they told me all of that, I decided I wanted to meet him.  I'm almost an adult and I think I'm old enough to meet my father and decide for myself if I want to continue contact."

"That is a very adult thing to do.  You are mature for your age and capable of making good choices," Nora said.  She honestly felt that way about this young lady.  "Alexa, I know that we've only just met, but I want to tell you, I'm a friend and if you ever need to talk to someone, that isn't your grandma, I'm available."

"Thank you, Mrs. Wright."

"Call me Nora."

There was a knock on Alexa's door.  "Alexa, dear, it's Grandma.  Dinner's ready."

"Coming Grandma," Alexa said to the door.  She and Nora stood up.  They went out and into the dining room.  Paul and the Henry's stood around the table.  When Alexa walked in, Paul went to her.

"Alexa, I'm so sorry for my behavior and making you upset.  I hope you'll forgive me."

Alexa smiled and held out her hand.  "Of course I will," she said.

Paul took her hand shook it for a moment and then held it tenderly in his, "Thank you," he said.

Everyone sat down at the table.  Sandra and Anthony began to pass the food around.  Conversation was still a little strained, but it flowed more easily than before.  Alexa asked Paul and Nora about their work and their children.

Nora chuckled as she sat next to Paul and across from Alexa.  While it was obvious that Alexa had been born to and raised by someone else, once in a while she would see a mannerism or characteristic of Paul's in the young girl.

"What are you chuckling at?" Paul asked her.

"It's really remarkable, your eyes, Alexa.  They are so much like Paul's.  Once in a while, you'll make a face that is just like one Paul will make or our son Isaac," Nora said.

Paul and Alexa chuckled an identical laugh.

"So, your sons, Tristan, Blake and Isaac, they are my step-brothers?"

"Half-brothers," Paul corrected her.  "Yes, you've got three little brothers now."

"And I'm your wicked step-mother," Nora smiled, but twisting her hands in a melodramatically evil way.

Alexa laughed again.  "I don't think you're wicked.  I think you are very nice.  Thank you for coming to meet me."

"It's my pleasure," Nora smiled.

Alexa and Sandra cleared the dinner plates and brought out dessert, cheesecake.

"I'm a big fan of cheesecake," Paul said.

"I know," said Alexa, "Grandma told me."

"You remembered?" Paul asked, looking up at Sandra.

Sandra smiled and blushed slightly.  "How could I forget?  You and Jessie had me bake a dozen different kinds of cheesecakes so you could pick the perfect one for the wedding."

"Oh, that's right, we did."  Paul laughed.  "How could I have forgotten that?  You were so good to do it, too.  Your cheesecakes really were the best.  You know, the whole wedding cheesecake thing was my idea.  I just wanted to be able to eat your amazing cheesecakes."  Paul took a bite and smiled, "Oh Sandra, you haven't lost your touch.  This is amazing."

Everyone took a bit of their cheesecakes and 'mmmed' and 'ooohed' over it.  Nora had to agree with Paul.  It was the best cheesecake she had ever eaten.

After several bites, Alexa turned to Paul, "What do I call you?"

Paul looked at her, slightly surprised.  "Hmm, well, you can call me Dad or Paul.  Whatever you feel comfortable with."

"Well, then, I guess I'll try out both names to see how they work," Alexa smiled.  "Tonight, may I call you Paul?"

"Of course you can."

Paul and Alexa smiled at each other.  There was really no way of knowing how things would work out with Alexa, but Nora was happy to see them having gotten past the evening's previous misunderstanding.  Nora liked Alexa.  She and Paul had always hoped for a little girl, but pregnancy with Isaac had been difficult and after he was born, they had decided there would be no more babies.  She and Paul loved their sons and Nora was especially proud at how all the boys looked so much like Paul.  But still, they had been a little sad at never getting a daughter.  But now, they had Alexa.  She was half Paul and Nora liked her a lot.

As they were leaving, Nora pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled some phone numbers on them.  She handed the paper to Alexa.  "Here is the home phone number and my cell phone.  Feel free to call anytime."

"Thank you Nora," Alexa said.

"And you must come to have dinner with us sometime.  I know the boys want to meet you."

Alexa smiled, "I look forward to meeting them." 

She and Nora gave each other a hug.  They all said their goodbyes and Paul and Nora went down the driveway to their car.  The door behind them shut.  Nora took Paul's hand in hers.

Paul unlocked the door and held it open for Nora as she got in.  He closed the door, went to the driver's side and got in.

"That was a lovely evening.  How do you think it went?" Nora asked.

"Well the beginning was a little tough, but that was my fault.  Thanks for your help with Alexa."

"It was no problem," Nora replied.  "I like Alexa.  She seems to be an intelligent, sweet girl.  She's very pretty, too.  And the Henry's were very nice."

"Yes, they are nice people," Paul agreed.  "I always did like them."

"And what about Alexa?"

"Well, she is, like you said, pretty and smart.  I see a lot of Jessie in her, but she is her own person."

"Funny," Nora said, "I see a lot of you in her."