Chapter Seventeen
Deb Scott was furious and that was putting it mildly. The sight of her son and his… Haley laughing and joking along with her parents was not something she had been expecting to see when she had initially decided to call the James’ and tell them of what their daughter had done with her son. She had been expecting them to be just as angry as she was but here they were, acting like one big happy family. And to think she had thought Haley was a sweet young girl when she had first met her. Looking over once again at the table they were all seated at, she knew she had seriously underestimated Haley James.
Having Haley no longer working at the café meant that they were short-staffed since she and Karen hadn’t yet been able to find a replacement, so she had to help serve customers. When Deb had seen the group first enter the café, she had, of course, known immediately who the older man and woman with her son and Haley were and she had felt a surge of happiness well inside of her thinking there was bound to be some sort of confrontation. She could only hope that enough ugly words and accusations would be thrown around which would have Haley running back home with her tail between her legs.
She figured that Karen could hold the fort for her while she went to sort out Nathan’s mess for him but upon closer inspection, she had realised the older couple didn’t look angry or upset and that confused her. Surely they had to be angry that their daughter who was a good ten years younger than her son had gotten married without their knowledge or blessing.
Forcing herself to smile, Deb had gone over to introduce herself and take their orders but Nathan had beaten her to it, introducing Jimmy and Lydia James to her as his parents-in-law. It had taken all of her effort and willpower not to slap the smug look from his face.
“They seem nice,” Karen said as she and Deb stood in the kitchen together.
“Nice? I don’t care how nice they are,” she spat. “I’ll bet they put her up to this.”
“Put who up for what?” The brunette asked, a confused look etched upon her face.
“I’ll bet her parents put Haley up to it… Told her to find a rich husband who they could fleece for everything he has.”
Karen laughed but it disappeared as she took in the look on the other woman’s face. “Y-You can’t be serious, Deb.”
“I’m completely serious and if my son was thinking properly he’d know he was being taken for a ride. But no, he’s being fooled by Little Miss Innocent over there with her big brown eyes and her constant blushing.” She sighed loudly. “I knew we shouldn’t have hired her.”
Shaking her head, Karen said, “Really? How come you never voiced your concerns, then? If I remember correctly, you were the first one to mention how nice and sweet she was.”
Deb waved her off. “Fine, she fooled me too. Satisfied?”
“Can you hear yourself? You really believe that Haley’s parents sent her off to find a rich husband and that her arrival here in Tree Hill was all some conspiracy for her to meet Nathan?”
“Karen, I know it all sounds so far-fetched but you’ve got to believe me. There is more to this than them coincidentally meeting here in the café. There’s got to be.”
“Why? Because you want it to be true? I’m sorry, Deb, but I just don’t buy it. Nathan isn’t stupid and I’ll bet he’s had his fair share of girls trying to snag him because of how wealthy and successful he is but, from what we know, he’s never let himself be snagged. Why then all of a sudden would this young girl suddenly be able to do what others haven’t?”
The blonde shrugged her shoulders as she tried to come up with a plausible response. From her position, she could see Nathan smiling at Haley and she had to admit she had never seen him look at anyone that way before, but that didn’t mean her theory wasn’t true.
Finally, she answered Karen’s question. “Most likely because she’s so different to them. Haley has that wholesome look about her whereas those other woman probably all look and sound the same. Her innocence is what he’s attracted to.”
“I don’t buy it, Deb. I can’t believe someone could be that deceitful without someone becoming at least a little suspicious. Lucas and Brooke have spent so much time with her in the time that she’s been here that I’m sure they’d have picked up on something.”
Deb released a hollow laugh. “C’mon, deceiving Brooke isn’t all that difficult.”
“Excuse me? That’s my daughter-in-law you’re insulting there.”
“Fine, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I just meant that Brooke can be quite trusting and it wouldn’t be hard for someone as conniving as Haley to put one over on her.”
“And what about Luke? Are you saying he’s too stupid to know when someone’s pulling the wool over his eyes as well?”
“No, of course not and, like I said, I didn’t mean to insult Brooke either. They’re my family, too.” She inwardly cursed herself for having insulted Karen’s family, particularly given that she needed her—them on her side. “I just don’t want to see Nathan get hurt and I’m afraid that’s exactly what’s going to happen. He’s all smiles now but this girl has the ability to break his heart, I just know it.”
Watching Deb’s face, Karen saw her staring at the table her son and his new wife were seated at with his new in-laws and she recognised the determined look in her eyes and she felt a tiny shiver run through her body. It reminded her exactly of Dan Scott.
* * * * *
“So, your mother doesn’t seem to have much to say for herself,” Jimmy said, looking over at Nathan before taking a sip of his coffee. “From the things you’ve said, I figured she wouldn’t hold back telling us how bad you were for Haley.”
Nathan nodded as his eyes searched for his mother and he noticed her staring at him, a look he recognised only too well in her eyes. “Oh, believe me, she’s not happy. My guess is, she thought you and Mrs James would be halfway back home with Haley so she’s probably still in a state of shock to see us all here having breakfast together.”
Jimmy and Lydia glanced at each other as they took in what their son-in-law was saying; they couldn’t help but be concerned at what their youngest daughter had let herself in for by getting involved with Nathan.
“Karen seems nice,” Lydia stated, breaking the silence that had suddenly taken over the table.
Haley smiled at her mother’s words. “Yeah, she is… I’m really going to miss working with her.”
“Well, she’s your family too now, Hales, so it’s not like you’re not going to be seeing or talking to her.”
“I know, but it’ll be different and--”
“Can I get anyone a refill?” Deb asked, suddenly appearing at the table. A smile was fixed on her face but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Sure, I’d love some more,” Jimmy said as he held out his cup to her.
“Mom, why don’t you join us?”
“I’m far too busy, Nathan,” she replied, gesturing offhandedly to the café which had emptied out some since their initial arrival before adding pointedly, “As you know, we are a little short-staffed these days.”
Nathan was just about to reply when Haley cut in and said, “And who’s fault is that, Deb? I’m more than happy to carry on working here until I move to Chicago with Nathan, but given your recent actions, I didn’t think I’d be particularly welcome here.”
Deb couldn’t help but be slightly taken aback by the young woman’s response. She certainly hadn’t been expecting her to answer back like that. “Hmm, kitty has claws,” she mumbled under her breath before turning to walk away.
“Excuse me?”
“Mom, it’s okay…” Haley said, trying to stop her mother from getting into an argument with the other woman.
“No, honey, it isn’t. I want to know what you meant by that, Mrs Scott?”
Turning back to the face the woman, Deb gave her what could only be described as a sarcastic smile. “Oh, just that your little girl seems to be all sweet and innocent when she wants something like, say, to fool my son but when someone doesn’t fall for her act, then her true colours are shown. Isn’t that right, Haley?”
“Mom! I warned you the other night…” Nathan started only to be cut off my his mother.
“You really expect me to believe you’ll cut me out of your life for this little--”
“I’d be very careful about what the next words out of your mouth are, Mrs Scott?” Jimmy interrupted, pushing his chair back and standing up to face her.
“I’m just curious,” Deb said, looking him right in the eyes. “Was it you or your wife who put Haley up to the idea of finding herself a rich husband to solve all of your money problems?”
Nathan stared at his mother incredulously as her vile words sunk in. “I can’t believe you. Actually, what am I saying? Of course I can believe you’d say something like that, especially since you seem to suddenly be channelling Dad. You wanted to know if I’d cut you out of my life for Haley, well you’re about to find out.”
“Nathan, I--”
“No, you’ve gone too far this time. Having a PI follow Haley around was bad enough, phoning her parents behind our back was despicable but actually spouting this rubbish to their faces, I’m sorry, but that’s it. Unless and until you can accept her as my wife, I don’t want to see or hear from you.”
Haley watched the scene unfolding before her eyes and she felt the sting of tears. She looked over at her parents and saw the matching expression of shock and disbelief on their faces and her heart hurt. All she could hope was that they didn’t think less of Nathan for any of this… They had always taught her to respect her elders but in this instance, she backed her husband one hundred percent. But a part of her couldn’t help but feel sorry for Deb at the same time. Taking a deep breath, she spoke.
“It doesn’t have to--”
“This is all your fault,” the blonde spat angrily. “I know you’re behind this… You’re the reason my son suddenly hates me and--”
Nathan couldn’t help laughing. “Right. All those years you weren’t around… All those years that you left me with him while you travelled around for your job and whatever else, that’s all down to Haley, huh? The way you’re talking, you’d think we were family of the year. Let me ask you something though, why do you think I chose to live in Chicago instead of sticking around here even after Dad was gone? I mean, I could have easily opened up a branch of the company here and travelled to Chicago as and when necessary but I didn’t.”
“You’re my son, Nathan… My only child and I love you,” Deb said quietly, her hand reaching out to touch him and a stab of pain spread through her body when he took a step back.
“You’ve got a funny way of showing it.” He released a heavy sigh. The last thing he wanted was to have this conversation in front of his new in-laws, let alone having it in front of them in a public place with members of the local community watching and listening avidly, but at least there weren’t as many people as there had been initially. Although given the gossip mill, no doubt this would be all over town by lunchtime.
“I get that me getting married so fast is a shock for you and yeah, a part of me is sorry that you weren’t there for our wedding but given the way you’ve been acting since you found out about mine and Haley’s relationship, do you blame us for not telling you beforehand? And for the record, it was my idea to do that.”
Turning to look at his wife, Nathan saw the tear tracks on her face and his heart suddenly felt even heavier in his chest. Taking his car keys out of his pocket, he handed them to her and gave her a reassuring smile. “Hales, why don’t you take your parents out to the car while I finish up in here?”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded and leaning forward, he pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Yeah. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
“It was nice meeting you, Karen,” Lydia called out to the other woman who smiled in return.
“It was nice meeting you both, too.”
Jimmy smiled at the brunette in response and closing the short gap between him and Nathan, he squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. “See you in a few, son.” Glancing at Deb, he simply said, “Mrs Scott,” and wasn’t surprised when she didn’t even bother to look at him.
After the three of them had exited the café, Nathan and Deb simply stood staring at each other for a long moment before she spoke.
“Let’s take this into the kitchen.”
Laughing sarcastically, he said, “Why? It’s not like this won’t be all over town in a few hours anyway so what’s the point?”
“You had to bring them here, didn’t you?”
“Uh, you’re the one who brought them to Tree Hill, Mom, so don’t put this on me. Haley and I were showing them around town and we decided to come here for breakfast.”
“You’re going to regret marrying her, Nathan, mark my words. She’s so far out of your league and right now you can’t see that but just wait until you have to take her with you to work functions. You’ll soon see the mistake you’ve made.”
“Seriously, can you hear yourself? The way you talk you’d think we were royalty or something. I’ve never been a snob and that’s not going to suddenly change. Just because you seem to calculate someone’s worth by how much money their family has, that’s your problem, not mine.” He looked at her for a moment before realising he was most likely wasting his breath and he began making his way towards the door.
“Nathan, wait!”
“Why? So you can badmouth Haley and her parents some more? I don’t think so.”
“Just what does she have on you?” Deb asked, her hands twisting in front of her. “Is she blackmailing you because if she is--”
Nathan shook his head sadly. “You really don’t get it do you… You just can’t accept that I’m in love with her, that I’ve chosen to spend my life with her.”
“She’s going to hurt you, Nathan.”
“And what? You’ll be there to tell me ‘I told you so’, huh? Well, fine. I give you permission to say it but you know what? You’ll never get a chance to because she’s not going to hurt me, just like I’m not going to hurt her. The only person who’s going to be hurt is you because you’ll miss out on seeing me and on seeing your future grandkids.”
“So, she is pregnant. I knew it!”
“None of this is getting through to you, is it? For the last time, Haley is not pregnant and when I mentioned kids, I meant when we decide to have them which isn’t going to be for a long while yet. If you want to be a part of our and their lives, you know what you have to do.” Giving her one last look, he opened the door to the café and walked out, not once looking back.
Knowing that the café’s remaining patrons were looking at her, Deb held her head up high as she made her way back to the kitchen and once in there, the tears she had been holding back started to fall from her eyes.
“Did you really call Haley’s parents to tell them she and Nathan had gotten married?” Karen enquired.
“They had a right to know.”
“But like that?”
“I had to do something, Karen. He’s my son and I love him… I just can’t stand by while that little bitch makes him a laughing stock.”
Karen shook her head as she listened to her friend’s words. She knew that as long as she held that belief, her relationship with her only son would continue to suffer and she would have no one but herself to blame. Right now, there was no point in voicing her thoughts so instead she simply said, “Why don’t you go home, Deb? I can manage here on my own and--”
“No, I need to keep busy. If you don’t mind, I’ll stay here in the kitchen… Like Nathan said, I’m sure news of what’s happened here this morning is probably spreading like wildfire already.”
“Sure, that’s probably for the best,” the brunette agreed and upon hearing the bell above the door ring out, she headed back to the counter to serve the customer who had just walked in.
Pulling out a chair, Deb sat down and stared off into space as she recalled the look on her son’s face just before he walked out of the cafe. There was no way in hell she was going to lose him to someone as insignificant as Haley James and all she needed to do was prove to him that she had been right about her all along. How hard could that be?
* * * * *
“I-I’m sorry about all that back in the café,” Nathan said to his parents-in-law as soon as they had arrived home. The car ride back had been made in tense silence and he had literally felt his palms sweating. He wouldn’t have blamed them in the slightest if they had decided to take Haley back home with them when they left.
“You’ve got nothing to apologise for,” Lydia told him before adding, “Your mother on the other hand.”
“I know, the things she was saying… I just need you to know that I don’t share her views.” Turning to look at Haley who hadn’t said a word, he came to a decision and started to say, “There’s something you probably need to--”
Haley’s eyes widened when she realised he was going to tell them the truth and she quickly shook her head. “Nathan, don’t.”
“Hales, I…”
“No.”
Jimmy and Lydia shared confused looks.
“What’s going on?” Jimmy asked a moment later when the young couple in front of him hadn’t said anything further.
“It’s not important, Daddy.”
“Maybe I should be the judge of that. Nathan, you want to finish what you were saying?”
Quickly trying to think of an alternative, he suddenly said, “Several years ago my Mom was treated for an addiction to prescription drugs and it’s possible… It’s possible she’s back on them and that’s where all this crazy stuff she’s spouting is coming from.”
Having heard him talk a little about that time in his life and knowing how horrible it had been for him, Haley walked over to him and hugged him tightly, her hand rubbing up and down his back soothingly.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Lydia said as she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
Nathan hated lying to them, he knew for definite that his mother hadn’t touched drugs for years and that she was still clean but if Haley didn’t want him telling her parents the truth, then he would respect her decision. Hell, the James’ already thought his mother was cracked so telling them this white lie probably wouldn’t make that much of a difference.
“Thanks, maybe I’m wrong but…”
“It would make sense though,” Jimmy mused.
“Would you like me to make you some sandwiches for the ride back home,” Haley asked a few moments later as they entered the living room and she frowned when her mother laughed. “What?”
“Trying to get rid of us already, huh, Haley-Bop?”
“No, of course not.”
Jimmy laughed. “Some sandwiches would be great, honey. Actually, we figured we’d hit the road in a couple of hours and we’d visit Quinn on the way back. She’s never going to believe her little sister has gotten married.”
Moving from Nathan to her father, Haley hugged him and said, “Tell her I’m sorry we didn’t tell you all beforehand. Everyone will definitely be invited to the blessing when we have it.”
“We’ll tell her… Actually, maybe you should give your brothers and sisters a call and tell them the good news.”
“Um…”
“C’mon, Haley-Bop, it’s only fair they hear it from you and not us,” her mother said, agreeing with her husband.
“Okay, you’re right. I just hope the boys don’t all decide to come here and pay Nathan a visit,” Haley teased.
“Woah, what?”
“I see that got your attention, Nate,” Jimmy said, chuckling at the look on his son-in-law’s face.
“C’mon, Hales, I’ll give you a hand with those sandwiches and you can tell me whether I need to be worried about your brothers,” Nathan said, taking his wife’s hand and pulling her behind him into the kitchen, the sound of laughter filling the air.
* * * * *
Lying in bed together later that night, Nathan released a sigh of relief. “Well, at least that’s all over with now.” He hadn’t been surprised when Haley had asked if she could share his bed again given the events of that morning. If anything, he needed that feeling of comfort, too.
“Huh?”
“You know, telling your parents.”
“Yeah, now I just need to tell my siblings. Can’t wait,” Haley muttered sarcastically.
“C’mon, it probably won’t be that bad.”
“True, it won’t be as bad as telling Deb but I can’t see them being happy about being kept in the dark.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that but at least your parents have met me and they seem to like me. Although, after meeting my Mom today, I can’t say I’d blame them if they changed their minds.”
Turning onto her side to face him, Haley shook her head. “They haven’t changed their minds about you, Nathan, and they’re not going to.” Remembering what he had almost done earlier on, she asked, “Were you really going to tell them the truth about why we’re together? I mean, how we got together to start with.”
“If you hadn’t have stopped me, yeah, I was. I don’t know if it would’ve necessarily been the right thing but I just didn’t know what else to do.”
“I’m sorry you had to tell them about your mom’s addiction and use that as an excuse.”
“Hey, no apologies, okay. And after all the crap she was saying today, it’s no more than she deserves. I just…I hate that she made you cry again.” His fingers lightly trailed over her cheek and leaning forward, he covered her mouth with his and kissed her slowly.
Haley kept her eyes closed even after the kiss had ended, still savouring the taste and feel of his lips. “I wasn’t crying because of her,” she admitted after a minute or two had passed. “I was crying because I hated how much she was still hurting you.” Her eyes fluttered open and seeing the intense way he was watching her, how his blue eyes had darkened, she bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from releasing the moan she could feel bubbling within her.
Hearing her confession, Nathan’s feelings for her increased in their intensity and he stole her lips in another kiss, this one even hotter than its predecessor. His tongue slipped into her mouth and explored every hidden crevice while his hand moved to her waist and pulled her closer to his body.
When the kiss finally broke, he hugged her to him, burying his face into her soft, silky hair and he mouthed the three words he had been feeling for her for a while now. He had never uttered those words to another woman before and a part of him still wasn’t ready to say them out loud hence him mouthing them, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before he was able to.
When he did say them though, he wanted the timing to be right and for it to be all about Haley. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was only saying it because of her help and support in this situation with his mother. He could only hope that she felt the same way about him.
Finally drawing back from her, he rubbed his nose against hers as he rested their foreheads together. “Thank you… For everything, Hales.”
Haley smiled back at him, her palm cupping his cheek while her thumb rubbed back and forth along his cheekbone. Just before her lips met his once more, she whispered, “You’re welcome.”