Chapter 49

"Did you have a good night sleep last night?" asked Toni as she poured coffee in Alex's cup.

This morning, the couple had invited them over for breakfast in their cabin. Sasha had her eyes on the pancakes as she reached out three of them and placed them on her plate.

Michael watched her closely as she poured the syrup on top of the pancakes. The liquid dripped slowly from the fluffy pancakes onto the bottom of the plate as Sasha cut a huge piece and shoved it inside her mouth. The syrup glistened in her lips and she licked them off.

Amusement was in Michael's eyes as he saw the resemblance the girl had with her parents.

Most especially on how she ate.

"You got a big eater here, man," Michael observed that made both of his friends laughed.

"What?" Sasha asked in a muffled voice as she chewed on her food. She took another big bite of the pancakes as she poked some strawberries that was on another plate across from her, and placed them on top of the pancakes. Aside from that, the girl also had some scrambled eggs and corned beef on a larger plate that Toni had brought in earlier while the pancakes were still being done.

"Wow! You are just like your father," Michael blurted out that made Sasha looked up to him and gulped the food quickly. She almost choked upon doing it and took the orange juice to wash the food down.

"You okay, honey?" asked Alex.

Sasha nodded.

"You need to slow down, bud!" Michael reminded her, chuckling.

"Am I really like dad?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

"Do you know that your dad eat like a bear?"

"What do you mean?"

"He loves to eat! If he could eat a horse, he would gobble it up in a day, you know."

"Really?" asked the girl as she looked at her father.

Robbie chuckled. "That was before, honey. Not anymore."

"I didn't even know how you never gained so much weight with all that eating," Michael commented.

"It's in the genes," replied Toni. "Remember how Tito Ramon was?"

"Oh yeah! He was tall and fit. You kinda had the same body now, Robbie."

Robbie smiled faintly as he tried not to be annoyed as how his friends compared him to his father.

"Oh, sorry, man. I didn't mean to remind you of him," Michael apologized.

Alex held his hand.

"It's okay," Robbie replied and gazed at Alex.

"Who is Tito Ramon, Daddy?" asked Sasha.

"He's your grandfather," Robbie told his daughter.

"Oh... where is he now, Dad?"

Robbie did not know how to reply and waited for Alex to fill it in. He was glad that she took the hint.

"It's been a long time since they saw each other, honey," Alex said.

Sasha was quiet for awhile as she poked into her food. She wondered if her grandfather was nicer than her grandmother was. But she knew it would be impossible to meet him especially if he and his father had not seen each other for a long time.

"Will I meet him someday?" she asked, curiously.

She had always wanted to meet her real grandparents since she never had anybody except her mom for how many years. She knew her other grandmother was in heaven now and that her other grandfather was in a special place which her mom never said where it was.

So when Sasha met her grandmother, she was hoping she would also meet her grandfather someday. She had always longed to have a complete family like her best friend, Allie had.

Robbie stared at the girl as she sighed. He knew that her daughter was probably looking forward to meet his father.

But how? How could he allow him back to his life after what his father did to him?

"He is still your father..." the words of his mother echoed in his mind.

"Anyways, since when did you guys hooked up?" Michael asked Alex suddenly and they were both caught off guard.

"Michael!" Toni scolded him with widened eyes, glanced at Sasha, and turned her eyes back to her fiancè.

Michael laughed.

"Well, I don't think she knew what that meant," he replied.

"Still..."

"Anyway... you tell us, love birds. How long have you both realized you actually love each other?"

The pair stared at each other, not knowing if they needed to confess or just let it pass. Both of them were eager to know the answer.

"Mom and Dad are not a couple. They had me first," Sasha replied which surprised everyone.

Michael was now interested at the girl as he felt the eyes of his friends on him.

"So tell me more, Sasha," Michael inquired as the pair looked on.

"You see, Mom got pregnant with me and went to New Zealand. We lived with our aunt for five years before Mom and I flew back to the States."

"You were here five years ago?" Robbie asked. "You came back and yet you did not tell me?"

His gaze went to Alex as she tried to open her mouth but no word came out.

"What more should I need to know, Alex?" Robbie asked her. "Why are you not telling me all these?"

"Dude, hey, it's okay.." Michael interrupted, trying to calm Robbie as he saw his friend pursing his lips. "Things take time-"

Robbie stood up, clenching his fists.

"How much more time? She had taken my daughter away from me for ten years, Michael. Ten years! All this time I was thinking she was far away... and all this time she hid my child from me."

Toni and Michael just stared at both of them, stunned while Sasha poked at her food more. She did not dare to peep as she sulkily kept poking on her food, suddenly annoyed at how her parents were arguing again because of her. She hated how grown-ups ruined a supposedly wonderful day.

The couple, on the other hand, did not know how to react since it had been so long since they really got together like this...

What could have been a nice quiet breakfast was suddenly becoming a war zone!

"But I told you the reason why, Robbie," Alex retorted.

"Yes, but you didn't tell me you came back to the States after five years," he replied angrily.

"If you knew, would you look for us?" she inquired and Robbie just stared at her. "You didn't look for me when I left... you knew where I will go, but you didn't look for me."

"I can't believe we're back to this conversation again..." Robbie commented.

"O-kay.." Michael sighed as he tried to lower the tension between them. "How 'bout let's all finish our breakfast and go boating later?"

"Boating?" Sasha's ears perked up and she looked at Michael.

She was relieved to know there would be a fun activity despite of all the drama that had occured since last night.

"Yes, Sasha. Are you excited?" Michael focused his eyes on the girl.

"Yes. It is going to be my first time to go on a canoe," Sasha replied suddenly excited.

"Okay. So Toni here will take you."

"Wait! I can't go with Mom and Dad?"

"Michael..." Robbie called with a warning. He knew what he was doing as he did it before to him when he had a fight with Alex when they were kids.

Michael always set up a place for them to talk and reconcile. That little lake had been a witness to it.

"Trust me, man. You needed this," Michael told Robbie and Alex as he looked at both of them.

"Michael, why can't I go with them?" Sasha asked.

"You will, honey," assured Toni. "Plus we do have other fun activities before that."

"Like what?"

"We got all the kids together and do a scavenger hunt."

"Scavenger hunt? I'm good with that. Will there be prizes?" Sasha asked excitedly.

"Yes."

"Now, let's all finish our breakfast so we can start sooner."

Sasha happily ate her pancakes while her parents stared at each other.

Maybe a little time away from their child was what all they needed and somehow, both of them looked forward to that.

*******

"Are you ready?" Toni asked Sasha as the girl nodded.

"Can I come, too?" asked Alex.

"Maybe for a bit. We need to catch up, too, anyway. We can talk while the kids do their thing. I think Michael wanted to talk to Robbie first. I missed you, Alex," and she held her arm.

"Me, too," replied Alex, smiling.

Antionette "Toni" Santos had been her best friend when they were younger aside from Robbie. Every year she looked forward to going to camp because of her but then after her mother passed away, she was not able to connect with her any longer.

Last time she saw her was when they were seven, that summer, and she remembered how they would tease the boys a lot.

Toni and Michael were best friends and had practically grew up together. She remembered how she would always tell her how much she liked Michael and how she wanted to marry him someday. Alex, on the other hand, never told her about liking Robbie.

"Why can't you marry Robbie?" The little girl Toni asked.

"Because he is my best friend. Best friends don't marry each other," chuckled little Alex.

"Of course, they do. Don't you like him?"

"I like him."

"Then why not marry him?"

"I told you he is my friend."

"Okay... but Michael is my friend, too but I want to marry him. So maybe you, too."

Little Alex just rolled her eyes at her friend.

Funny how a simple children's joke turned into reality.

Her best friend Toni was about to be married to the funny Michael while she was about to marry Robbie.

"Best friends do not marry each other..."

But then, why did she ever agree to marry Robbie in the first place?

'Because you love him,' her heart dictated.

Despite of all the uncertainties, she still wanted this to be true...

What she did not realize before was that her so-called vow not to marry her best friend would finally be her long time dream...

And her heart had actually longed for them to be real... since that day.