Chapter One
Saturday morning saw Haley Scott sitting at her kitchen counter sipping her coffee while reading the mail she had collected a few minutes earlier. As soon as she had seen the post stamp on the two envelopes; one addressed to herself and the other to her husband, she had known exactly what they were and a frown marred her forehead.
Although she knew they would be arriving at some point, the timing of them couldn’t have been worse in her opinion. Reading the contents of the envelope addressed to her, a sick feeling of apprehension settled in the pit of her stomach and she didn’t know what to do. She only hoped Nathan felt the same way she did about it.
Hearing footsteps on the staircase, she got up from her stool and quickly stuffed both envelopes into a drawer before returning to her seat. Opening up the newspaper she had also collected, she pretended to be fully engrossed in it while she tried to work out how to bring the subject up into casual conversation. The best way, she thought to herself, was to act normal and as if it was no big deal.
“Hey baby,” Nathan said walking over to where she was and kissing her softly. “I missed you this morning when I woke up.”
She smiled up at him. “Sorry honey, I couldn’t sleep so I figured I might as well get up.”
“You could have woken me up and I could have kept you company,” he said, giving her a wink.
“Well, I did try but you were pretty dead to the world there. Anyway, I felt a little nauseous so…”
“Are you okay?” he quickly interrupted as his eyes roamed over her.
Haley nodded and reaching out her hand, she cupped his cheek in her palm. “I’m fine. I came downstairs and made a cup of tea and that seemed to settle my stomach. I’ve got a feeling though tea isn’t going to cut it all the time.”
Nathan leaned into her touch before lowering his head to hers and kissing her again. “In future wake me up when you don’t feel well, okay?”
She laughed softly. “You’re going to regret saying that.”
“No I won’t.” Seeing the mail on the counter, he gestured to it and asked, “Is any of that for me?”
“Uh…yeah, there’s a couple of things,” she replied handing over the letters addressed to him, her eyes not quite meeting his. “Do you want a cup of coffee and some toast?”
“That’d be great, Hales, but I can make it if you’re not feeling all that great.”
“I’m fine,” she told him as got up from the stool and made her way over to the percolator. “But thanks for worrying about me.”
“Always,” he said returning her smile.
While she worked on preparing Nathan’s breakfast, Haley’s mind wandered to the two letters she had just stuffed into the drawer. She had always thought that attending her ten year high school reunion would be fun, meeting up with old friends and finding out how life was treating them as well as possibly seeing some of her former teachers. The main reason behind her wanting to attend though was proving to people that her marriage to Nathan was just as strong as it was back then if not more so. She knew that people had doubted them lasting and some of their classmates had even had a betting pool going at one point.
Unfortunately, now was the worst possible time for the reunion to be happening and she wasn’t sure how she was going to get out of it. Hopefully, Nathan wouldn’t be too up for going since school hadn’t never held as much interest for him as it had for her. Plus, they saw their real friends as often as they could so it wasn’t like they would be missing out on catching up with them necessarily.
She knew she would have to tell him soon about the invitations, particularly since his brother would most likely mention having received his when they next spoke. Maybe she could get to Lucas first though, she mused as she spread some marmalade onto a slice of toast.
“Hales? Did you hear what I said?” Nathan’s voice broke into her thoughts.
“Huh? Sorry, what did you say?”
Getting off the stool he was sitting on, he walked over to where she was and he wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder. “It wasn’t important. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I guess I’m just not with it this morning, that’s all.”
“Well, I think I should pamper you today. What do you think?”
Turning her head slightly so she could see his face, she smiled at him. “Hmm, what did you have in mind?”
“How about I run to the video store and get us some movies and I can stop off and get your favourite treats? We could just curl up in front of the TV and veg out.”
“That sounds nice but I was going to do laundry and--”
“Nope, no laundry for you today, Mrs Scott. Let me take care of it. I’m not completely undomesticated, you know.”
Haley laughed. “Aww honey, I know. I’ve trained you well,” she teased.
“Hey, since it’s looks like a nice day, how about we go out instead of staying inside? We could prepare a picnic and eat it in the park or something.”
Kissing his cheek, she replied, “Actually, that sounds even better. Maybe getting some fresh air will help.”
Capturing her lips with his, he kissed her long and slow, savouring the unique taste of her. “Okay then, you take a seat on that stool and I’ll prepare what we’re taking with us.”
“Ooh, I get to boss you around,” she joked before doing as he’d said and sitting down at the counter.
“Hah, when don’t you,” he said before taking a bite of his toast.
“Very funny.” Changing the subject, she said, “Oh, let’s take some extra bread with us and we can feed the ducks while we’re there.”
Watching him work, Haley couldn’t help smiling at the look of concentration on his face as he gathered everything they were going to be taking and packed them into the cooler he had just retrieved. It still amazed her that they had been married now for twelve years and although there had been a few bumps along the way, they were more in love now than they had been at sixteen.
After what had happened when she had left Tree Hill for the music tour and then subsequently returned, a part of her had always wondered whether Nathan could ever truly forgive her for leaving him behind but he had. In the usually silly arguments they had had over the years, he had never once thrown it back in her face and she would always be grateful for that.
Oh, things hadn’t been easy in the slightest and there were times when she had been ready to call it quits, not because that was what she had wanted but because she didn’t see Nathan ever changing his mind about her. Slowly though, he had come around and she knew deep down that those baby steps they took would serve them far better in the long run instead of rushing headfirst into things and hoping for the best.
Nathan had surprised her after they had both graduated from Duke by suggesting they renew their wedding vows in front of their family and friends now that they were set to begin the next stage of their lives. She had readily agreed and the ceremony was held on the stretch of beach just behind the Scott’s beach house with everyone they loved in attendance. The reception had been held inside the large house at Dan Scott’s insistence and it still counted as one of her favourite memories.
She had never thought that Dan would ever come around to accepting her in his son’s life but it had happened after Nathan had told him in no uncertain terms one day, after a particularly vicious verbal attack from him, that if he couldn’t accept his wife, that he would have no further contact with him. The thought of being cut out of his son’s life seemed to jolt him into reality and slowly but surely, he had learned to accept her and over the years, had even come to love her.
And now, they had something new and wonderful in store for them which cemented their love even further. Her hand automatically went to her flat stomach which in a few months time would start to swell with their first baby and she couldn’t help the smile that crept onto her lips.
Having only just come off birth control a couple of months previously, Haley had been surprised that she had gotten pregnant so soon. She knew people who had had to try for some time before falling pregnant and so she had sort of expected the same to be the case for her and Nathan. She remembered having told him that she was a week late and the next morning she had woken up only to find that he had gone out and returned with three different home pregnancy kits.
While they waited for the time to pass until the results came through, he had sat with her, his hand holding hers securely as their hearts thumped wildly in their chests. All three results had come through with a positive result and she remembered the tears in his eyes as he had kissed and hugged her tightly and told her over and over again how much he loved her.
That had been just a few weeks ago and since then, they had been to see their doctor who confirmed that Haley was five weeks pregnant. While Nathan had wanted to shout it from the rooftops and tell everyone they knew, she hadn’t felt the same way; preferring to keep it just between them for the time being. He could understand her fears after what had happened almost a year ago now but he still wanted to tell their family and close friends; the people he knew would be happy for them and wanting to share in their joy.
“You’ve gone and spaced out on me again, haven’t you?” Nathan teased as he walked over to where his wife was sitting, her elbow resting on the countertop with her cheek cradled in the palm of her hand.
“Sorry honey, I don’t know what’s wrong with me today,” she lied. She hated hiding things from him but she just needed to come up with the best way of bringing up the subject of the reunion with him.
“Well hopefully the fresh air will perk you up. Of course, I know another way that usually has you pretty perky,” he said smirking at her before chuckling at the blush that crept onto her face.
“We are not doing that in public,” she told him and seeing he was about to speak, she added, “…again.”
“Whatever you say, honey. Everything’s packed so we can go whenever you’re ready to leave.”
Haley nodded. “Okay, let me just grab a sweater and a blanket to lay on the ground.”
“Sure, I’ll go and put the cooler in the car so I’ll meet you out there.”
“Back in a second,” she told him as she started going upstairs. Once she’d collected her sweater, the blanket and Nathan’s fleece jacket just in case he wanted it, she went back downstairs and found him standing at the foot of them. Frown lines marred his forehead and she tilted her head slightly as she regarded him. “Nathan…what’s wrong?”
Instead of answering her verbally, he held up the crumpled letters and watched her face, taking note of the way she bit her bottom lip.
“I-I can explain.”
“Okay then, let’s hear it.”