part 22: (nicholas)

**”Bismillahir rahmaanir raheem”
-in the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful-**

Tasha smiled to herself in the kitchen with a feeling of contentment as she checked her tray of roasted veggies in the oven and listened to tom and nicholas enjoying themselves together in the lounge.

Tom was well aware that nick loved gifts and so he made it a point to not only bring a gift, but to bring a totally awesome gift that nick was sure to be impressed with.

She thought about how good tom was with kids. Because nick generally doesn’t like anyone. From the dozens of other suitors she’d brought home for herself to meet nick before, nick had never showed interest at all.

Tom seemed to be very mature. Well ofcourse, he was well into his thirties and had never been married before. He was always too busy investing in his future to worry about settling down.

Tasha and tom had been seeing eachother for around 6 months now and the fact that he’d ask to come home.. Or rather begged to come home to meet nick, surely was a sign for her that he wanted to take things a little further.

She’d always dreamt of having more of a life. She had wasted so much of her life by having her first child at 18. And then having to deal with being a single parent, working and providing for her child at such a young age. She had to mature almost over night and take responsibility for so much. More than was possible to manage.

She’d seen a few men from after she’d given birth to nicholas uptil now. Some were rich, some were educated, others were fun to be around. But none lasted after meeting nick. And she wasn’t willing to marry anyone who wouldn’t accept her son. Nick was her life and maybe she had a different way of showing it but she honestly couldn’t imagine life without him.

Now that tom seemed to be getting along with nick so well.. She was starting to get excited about the next few steps ahead. But it was upto tom to make the moves. Not her, so she would have to wait until he was ready.

“Come on boys….” She screamed on her way to the dining room to place the hot platter of roast chicken on the table.. “Suppers ready!”

Nick and tom were enjoying themselves so much with the Remote control copter that tom had gifted to nick that they totally ignored tashas call.

It was only because the battery was dead and needed abit of charging that they decided to give in and join tasha at the table for dinner.

“Uncle tom that copters awesome… How long does it need to charge up before we can carry on playing?” Nick asked whilst stuffing a roasted carrot in his mouth…

“Nicko! Don’t talk with food in your mouth. Its rude..” Tasha scolded lightly

Tom giggled slightly.. “Leave the kid babe… His just excited for his new toy… I’m sure it should be charged abit once we’re done with supper…”

“Cool!!!” Nick started eating a little faster now..

“Not so fast young man.. And there’s still dessert after this…” Tasha mocked

“I’ll skip dessert even today…. ” Nick replied excitedly

They all laughed…

“That’s now something new… Nick never miSses his favourite chocolate brownies…” Tasha said nudging tom abit..

“On the other hand….” Nick began and they all burst out laughing again.

“You know nick… That copter will fly much better in an open space.. The apartment is slightly small. You should see it fly outside….. What you say we head out for a picnic tomorrow to the park near my house? We can fly it all day..”

There was silence for a while in the room and for a moment tashas heart stopped beating. Had tom gone a little too far? Nick was definitely going to flip…

The seconds were dragging and she watched as nick gulped down his glass of raspberry coldrink..

“yeah.. That sounds like fun…. Where do you live?”

Tasha almost couldn’t believe her ears but she tried to hide her amusement..

“Its abit of a drive.. Maybe around 45 minutes or so from here.. But trust me, you won’t regret it.. The park is big and there’s so much of open space.. Its sure to fly good there…” Tom replied in his usual friendly tone

To tashas surprise, nick was up and ready early the next morning. He sat playing PS while he waited for her to get done. They packed the car with a few things as tom insisted that he’ll bring most of the stuff. And in no time they were on their way for a picnic like one big happy family. Tasha couldn’t control the immense happiness that she felt inside. Her life was finally going to be complete.. And nick had finally opened up to someone other than himself!

Posted by silent living…