Chapter 75
RAVEL
PRESENT TIME
The moment the jet touched down in Seattle, I dialed Hazel’s number, planning on giving her the liberty of knowing that I was headed to her house. Finding her place isn’t going to be difficult, especially since it is all over the internet.
Getting into the rented car, I gave out her home address to the driver, knowing that there was no way she’d show up at the office with the news flying around. Relaxing back, I dialed her number again, hoping that for her sake, she would pick up.
I have a daughter. An almost three years old daughter and Hazel told me nothing about it. She intentionally kept me away from my daughter; why? Because I hurt her? Hiding my daughter from me was just so cruel.
She finally picked. “I’m heading to your house Hazel, Tell your security to open the gate for me.” I’ll have to climb through it if I have to.
“My entrance gate isn’t accessible Ravel,” she informed me with a tired tone. “Head to your hotel, I’ll meet you there.”
Does she think I abandoned an ongoing meeting to f uck around with her? “I know Daisy is in that house with you and I’m going to meet her after I have a conversation with you.” I drawled out, punctuating each word, “Tell your security to open the gate when I get there. I’d hate to create a scene Hazel, but that doesn’t mean I won’t if I have to.”
She sighed. “Stop by the bridge.”
I scoffed. “I said I’m coming to your da mn house and you tell me to stop by the bridge?!” I snapped angrily. “What?! Do you want to keep hiding her from me? Isn’t three years long enough?”
“Stop snapping at me, Ravel!” She yelled, “I’m stressed by the situation Ravel! I can’t even leave my house! I had to pull my daughter out of school early! Please do not add to it!”
I took a deep breath. Shouting and scolding each other isn’t going to help the situation at all. “I want to see my daughter, Hazel, even if it’s her pictures, her baby pictures.”
“Stop by the bridge, I’ll come pick you up myself.” She rasped. “There is a secret tunnel that leads to my parking lot. If you take the main entrance, the papara zzi won’t let you through.”
Does she have a secret passageway? She sure made enough effort to keep her hidden. “Fine, I’ll stop by the bridge.” She disconnected the call before I could say any other thing. “Stop at the last bridge,” I informed the driver.
Leaning back, I closed my eyes and exhaled. By the time we got to the bridge, there was a red Ferrari parked there. I got down, walked to it, and knocked on the window; it rolled down and revealed Hazel dressed in a black dress and sunglasses.
“He’s not coming with us.” She mused, jerking her chin towards my parked car. “Only those very close to me are aware of that passageway, and I want to keep it that way.”
That’s not a problem. Nodding, I walked back to my car and instructed the driver to leave. I watched him drive away before getting into Hazel’s Ferrari. “Nice car.” I complimented, fastening my seatbelt.
She glanced at me, no doubt surprised at how calm I looked and sounded now, a complete contrast to how I sounded on the phone earlier. “Thanks.” She grunted, the car purring as she turned it on. She took a left town, driving down a rural path before disappearing down a tunnel covered with grasses.
We rode in silence until she pulled over at her parking lot, parking next to one of her numerous sleek cars. I got down and admired her cars. “What a collection you have here,”
Rounding the car, she joined me and stared at the car too. “Thank you.” She gestured towards the elevator. “Let’s go to my office and have that conversation, and if things should end well, you’ll meet Daisy.”
“If things should end well?” Why is she trying to pi ss me off? Licking my lips roughly, I followed her gesture and headed for
the elevator quietly. If I should say something, I might end up saying something that we both might regret.
The moment we stepped into the house, I finally understood why she never wanted me in her house. Artworks of her while she was pregnant and that of Daisy were sca ttered all over her hallway. I stopped right in front of the artwork that is now my
favorite.
An artwork of her and Daisy on a bed. She looks so small. “How old is she here?”
“Two days old,” Hazel responded. “I wasn’t able to get a picture of her when she was born because I faced some complications and wasn’t conscious to take the picture.”
“Complication?” I whispered, averting my gaze to her. “You faced complications after childbirth?” I stared at her, unable to move my gaze from her face. I could have lost her… I could have lost her forever.
She waved me off. “It’s fine. The most important thing is that I’m fine now and so is the baby.” Grabbing my hand, She led me away from the hallway into her office. “Do you want a drink or something?”
The more I am in her personal space, the more I’m proud of the woman she became; I am proud of the growth in her life; she has come a long way from the Hazel I met in my office hallway. “Whiskey please.”
She walked over to the mini bar and grabbed a whiskey and two glasses. She filled both glasses before settling down. “I know you have a lot of questions Ravel.”
Yeah, I do. “When did you find out you were pregnant.” It would be quite understandable if she found out about the baby after our divorce but didn’t know how to come tell me.
“I found out the day I caught you in bed with Jane.” She revealed and I winced, the feeling of shame consuming me. “I went to your office that day to tell you about it but I was told you never showed up, I went to your mum’s and Elenor told me you went home, that was when I came home to that unexpected sight.”
Unable to hold her gaze out of guilt, I stared at my feet. “I’m sorry Hazel, I’m really sorry about some decisions I made in life, and hurting you was one of them.”
“Why?” She whispered, the pain in her voice demanding my attention. “I’d been asking myself what really went wrong. One night we were happy, and the other You were giving me divorce papers.”
I really want to tell her the truth, to tell her what happened but I can’t, not when I don’t have a solution yet. “I’m sorry.”
Her jaw clenched.
“Stop apologizing, you’ve already done that more than a million times. I want to know what happened!” She demanded, “How did you end up falling out of love with me?!”
Blinking rapidly, I licked my lips. “This isn’t about us Hazel, this is about our daughter Daisy and the fact that you hid her from me.”
“You deserved it.” She spat, “all of you did.”
“What?” I scoffed out, bewildered. “Here I was, trying everything humanly possible to fix our broken relationship and you behaved like you wanted the same too, but little did I know that you lied to me in the face and f ucking lied to me all this time!”
“I didn’t lie to you!” She quickly asserted, “I just didn’t mention it!”
All the emotions came crashing down and even to my surprise, I found myself crying. “Don’t you get it Hazel? I missed everything in my daughter’s life. I missed her birth, her first words, her first step, her first everything and it’s all my f ucking fault!”
My shoulders shook as uncontrollable tears kept rolling. “My daughter doesn’t even know who I am Hazel.”
Her eyes turned glassy as she watched me cry. Getting off her seat, she joined me on my sofa and pulled me down to her chest. “I should have told you Ravel… I should have and I apologize for not telling you.”
My shaking body froze when a soft voice filled the room. “Mamaa…”
Hazel looked up at her desk. She sniffed, wiping away her tears. “That’s Daisy, she’s awake.” She smiled weakly, “Do
to meet her?”
you want
No. I’m not worthy to meet her now. I’m emotionally unstable and I came empty-handed. Standing to my feet, I grabbed my jacket. “Maybe some other time. I just can’t meet her now.” Exhaling, I walked over and pulled her into a hug. “Don’t worry about the press, I’m going to control them.”
She nodded. “Are you sure you don’t want to meet Daisy?”
“Yeah,” I affirmed, giving her a peck, “some other time.” I need to clear my head a little bit and get rid of this hurt before it consumes me. “I’ll see you later Hazel.”
“I’ll see you too Ravel.”
I held her gaze, pinning her with it. “I love you, Hazel.”