By the Horns Ch. 03

"I figured he'd choose someone with a bit more to offer, not some trash junkie that couldn't hold a candle to you," Mike spat and took of his glasses. He scoffed and stood up.

His own pain of a junkie wife came to him for a brief instant, but he shoved it aside. His pain meant nothing as it was in the past, all he cared about at the current moment was the sweetie he lived across the street from.

"I'm so sorry Nadine. If I can do anything to help you, and I mean anything, just ask or say and I'll do it," he said and pulled up a chair in front of her.

Nadine nodded her head and looked down. She felt angry as hell, but surrounded by three people that she barely knew that showed her nothing but compassion in her dark time made her feel a lot better. Some of her wanted to call her mom, but her mom would only make her more angry by bringing up why she should listen to her more often. Another part wanted to call Stephanie, but she knew that Stephanie wouldn't be able to help as much as they had thus far. She looked at Mike and a fire was in her eyes as she came to her own conclusion.

"I want him gone," she said and her voice was filled with spite.

"Then I can help you honey," Tamara said softly and patted her hand.

"How?" Nadine asked and she snapped a bit.

Tamara understood her anger and spoke before she could apologize.

"My good friend and school mate is a very good divorce lawyer. I can call him if you..." she began to say, but Nadine stood up and her eyes burned.

"Call him now! I want him gone!" Nadine said fuming and her hands clenched at her sides.

Mike stood up and nodded his head. He handed Tamara his phone and she placed the call. Mike looked to Nadine and saw the anger there.

"Do you want to stay at your house or do you need a place to stay?" he asked.

Nadine looked to Mike and nodded her head.

"OK then, let's get some of your stuff and bring it over here. I doubt he'll have the balls to try anything with me," Mike said confidently.

Nadine nodded her head and walked to the door of the office. Desiree and Mike walked with her to her house and when they got there Desiree took Nadine by the shoulder and made her look into her eyes.

"Don't destroy anything or he can whine in court. Just get your things and let's go," she said firmly.

Nadine nodded her head and they trio entered her house. Mike stayed closer to the door of the bedroom as the pair loaded Nadine's suitcase with her clothes and toiletries. It took a very short amount of time before the bags were packed and with Mike's help they were back across the street in his house and safe. Nadine was shown to the spare bedroom and she put her clothes away. Desiree helped her and the two were quiet the whole time.

"Thank you," Nadine finally said to her as they finished unpacking.

"For what?" Desiree said softly.

"For everything," Nadine whispered.

"It's nothing baby girl, it's nothing," Desiree said and stroked her cheek softly.

Desiree leaned forward and gave her a peck on the cheek and when she pulled back Nadine had a bit of a smile on her face.

"I see a smile on someone's face," Desiree teased.

Nadine let out a bit a choked cough that had a smile in it. Desiree had a warm matronly smile on her face as she took Nadine's hand and led her down the hall to the dining room and dinner that Melina had brought home with the kids. The kids greeted Nadine warmly as they all sat down for dinner and Nadine noted there were three more children at the table. She said nothing of it, but the kids looked just like Desiree and Tamara. The twin girls were very much Tamara's children as they had similar facial features to her. Their hair was long and done in corn rows with beads on the end of the braids. The other thing Nadine noted was they had mocha skin.

The other boy that sat with them was very strong featured like Desiree. He had dark skin like his mother, but his eyes were not deep brown like hers. They were much lighter and his hair was not thick like his mothers. His hands were large and his lanky form showed he was going to grow big and tall. Nadine looked at the two young boys that she knew were Mike and Melina's and it dawned on her. All the children at the table had features to their father who was dishing out food to the chatting people.

Nadine's mouth was slightly open when she felt a tugging on her arm and looked down to see the youngest boy Luis tapping her.

"Can I have that drink?" he asked sheepishly in Spanish while pointing at the jug of tea next to her.

"Oh, si," Nadine said and poured him a glass.

Nadine watched as the boy looked down at his glass and picked it up. He sipped a lot of it down and Mike tilted his head.

"Luis, forget something did we?" he asked in an amused fatherly tone.

Luis set his glass down and looked away. Nadine had no idea, but he was blushing fiercely on the other side. Mike got up and his smile was wide as he walked to the boy.

"He gets bashful sometimes. I'm surprised he asked you for a drink," he said chuckling.

Mike came to the boy who jumped from the chair and put his arms around his dad's neck. Mike laughed as he caught him and he spoke to the boy in Spanish to calm him down.

"Es hijo de ok, ella no lastimarte," he said softly and Nadine understood it.

"I won't bite," Nadine said laughing a bit and the little boy looked at her, then ducked his head back to his dad's shoulder.

"Oh," Mike grunted and laughed as his son hugged him tightly.

"Venga aquí poco un," Melina said as she got up and smiled brightly at her son.

Luis opened his arms to his mother and she strained as she picked the little boy up.

"Your getting too big for this Luis," she teased in Spanish.

Carrying her son Melina went back to the seat she had and Luis began to be a bit more social. Nadine chuckled as Melina ate and fed him a bit of his meal that one of the twin girls handed to her. The happy grouping had a great meal and many things were spoken of as they enjoyed the company. After dinner was over they all broke to different areas of the house. Mike and his oldest went outside with Desiree's son. The younger boys went to the TV and started playing the Wii. The ladies went to the office and spoke in private with the twins leaving Nadine all alone. She got up and went outside to see the boys playing catch with Mike.

They tossed the ball around the yard for a while and after a bit Mike saw her watching them. He had the boys go check on the younger kids and Nadine wasn't surprised when they both acknowledged him as dad. Mike spun the football in his hands as he walked towards her. With a grin he tossed it underhand to her and she caught it cleanly.

"So you don't catch like a girl," he said grinning.

"No," she said and threw it back to him regular style.

Mike laughed as he caught the surprisingly fast throw. He tilted his head in an impressed manner.

"You know you can stay as long as you want," mike offered.

"Thank you," she said back.

Nadine was passed tears at that point so she had nothing left to do but sigh.

"I know it hurts, but you can get through this," Mike said reassuringly.

"It does, but I think it's not hurting much anymore," Nadine said truthfully.

"Tamara got a hold of her friend. He can meet with you any time. Just bring the email and he can get it done for you in a month no problems. Hell I can even cover his fee if you'd like," Mike offered.

"You don't have to," she said softly.

"The offer is there regardless," Mike said and tossed her the ball.

Nadine caught it and looked at him curiously.

"Why are you helping me? You don't even know me," Nadine said and tossed the ball back.

"Let's just say, it's my nature," Mike said warmly as he caught the ball. "Plus I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I knew you were in need and I could help. Call it my upbringing," he said smiling.

"And you're passing that to all your kids?" she asked back.

"Everyday," Mike said grinning.

"So they are all yours?" Nadine asked.

"Yeah. Devon was not one we were expecting," Mike said speaking of Desiree's son.

"What?" Nadine asked curiously.

"Like Meli, Desiree got pregnant on the set. She met Tamara a few months after she had him and the two clicked. They got married after like three months of dating. I know it's nuts, but eight years later they are the happiest of any couples I have ever seen," Mike said smiling.

"That's sweet, but Tamara's as well?" she asked.

"Well, Tamara wanted kids as well. They talked about it and decided to go the artificial route. Tamara decided to have kids that would have similar features to Desiree's son so they asked me to supply the juice," Mike said.

"So you two didn't, you know," Nadine asked.

"No, no,no. Tamara doesn't like men at all. Me and her are just friends. While she is one of my best friends, she and I would never get together," Mike said laughing a bit.

Nadine didn't say anything else. She was about to get lost in thought when Mike tossed her the ball again. She caught it and laughed as she threw it back. They tossed the ball back and forth until the boys came back out and the game got more fun. The game became a four way circle as they threw the ball and made each other work for catches.

As time does it flew by for the happy group, but the night came to a close. Desiree and Tamara gathered their kids and left after wishing Nadine the best. Melina put the young ones to bed and Tony and Carey went to their rooms. When all the kids were in their rooms they all went to the living room and sat on the couch with Nadine in between them. Mike and Melina sat up with Nadine and neither said a word, they didn't have to. Nadine knew that she would be amongst friends and that was all she needed. Mike put his arm over her shoulders as did Melina and Nadine simply enjoyed the warm embrace of the two as her mind drifted to a happier place.