Chapter One-Hundred-Seventy-Six
When Nick had gotten off the phone with Ashley he looked at Brian who was standing there holding Josh up so that he could see the rings too. Nick kissed Dakota’s forehead and went over and joined him.
“You have perfect timing Frick, I mean sheesh. I wouldn’t be surprised if she is onto me. I told the best story I could come up with but you know she has the ability to read my mind sometimes.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t realize it was her you were talking to.”
“What ring did you want me to see?”
“This one,” Brian answered while pointing to a white gold promise ring that has two sideways hearts joined together with three diamonds going through the middle of them. Dakota gasped.
“Oh daddy that one is the prettiest so far!”
“Josh suggested it,” Brian replied with a grin. “And some how he knew you’d say that, Kota.” Dakota smiled at Josh and Josh blushed and darted his eyes toward the rings nervously.
“It was just a guess,” he insisted quietly. Nick chuckled and looked at Brian and the two friends exchanged knowing looks. The both of them thinking the same thing…that their kids are going to be doing this together some day down the road but for a totally different reason.
“Daddy I likes that one best,” Dakota insisted.
“Okay, we’ll put it on our invisible ‘maybe’ list for now sweetheart alright? We just got here, let Daddy look at all of them first.”
“Okay,” She replied and she slid from his arms and went over and climbed up onto one of the chairs that are in front of the display case and she began to look too though she thinks the first one she saw would be perfect for Ashley. Nick shook his head smiling and he looked at Brian who was watching her with amusement.
“I swear sometimes I think my daughter is a pirate. The way she obsesses over jewelry it’s crazy.”
“Maybe the people who abandoned her were pirates…” Brian teased.
“They’d have to be pretty evil pirates to want to give her up…” Josh spoke before he could stop himself. Dakota did not look up from the display cases but she blushed nonetheless and suddenly felt a funny feeling rush through her. A kind of feeling that you get when you’re on top of a really big roller coaster and are about to go down hill really fast. But why? It’s just Josh…and what does it mean? She will be sure to ask Ashley just that when she gets home. Ashley will know…because Ashley knows all.
“Or maybe she just likes to be a pretty princess,” Laney suggested.
“She’s definitely spoiled enough to be one,” Nick replied while chuckling a little and he went over and wrapped his arms around Dakota from behind and kissed her cheek. The mention of the people who abandoned her so long ago made a faint aching feeling plague at his heart. Still to this day he doesn’t understand how someone could have abandoned her…and in such a cruel way too. He is just thankful that he was walking down that street at just the right time and had heard her cries or he would never have had his little girl to love and hold every single day. Suddenly the lady who works in the Tiffany’s Jewelry store that they’re standing in finished with her customers and she moved on over to Nick and Brian. Nick notices the slight excited look in her eyes that he sees in every fan he meets and became very cautioned all of the sudden. Will she be a professional saleswoman? Or will she lose her cool? Will she guess why he is buying a ring and whom it’s for? And will she be a hater, or will she support his relationship with Ashley?
“Hi there, how can I help you Mr. Carter?” she asked in a professional tone, though Nick could still see that glow in her eyes.
“I was just looking at your promise rings…I’m thinking about buying one.”
“Oh, I see,” the lady – who’s nametag read Chantell replied and Nick suddenly noticed a knowing look in her eyes. “Have you found any that you like in particular?”
“Yes actually, we have!” Dakota spoke up excitedly. She saw the look of dislike in the woman’s eyes and automatically knows why. She is not going to allow any fan to be horrible to her future mommy. Whether her future mommy is present, or not.
“We like that one right there,” she announced while pointing to the heart one that Josh had picked out earlier. “It would look perfect on Ashee.” Nick grinned a little and patted his daughter on the shoulder.
“It is really beautiful. We’ve been looking at all of your rings and that one so far is the only one that’s jumped out at us.”
"Well... this ring doesn't look good on all types of hands. Now it looks good on mine," the saleswoman slipped the ring onto her left, fourth digit and smiled as the stones sparkled. "But, it might not work on another woman's hand. It's your choice, though." Dakota narrowed her eyes at the woman, her blood beginning to boil.
“You take that ring off RIGHT now lady!” Dakota demanded firmly. “That ring is for MY Ashee! NOT you!” Nick grabbed hold of his daughter in fear that she is going to dive over the display case and attack the rude saleswoman – not that he would blame her or anything. But if she does do it, at least he would be able to say he tried to stop her but he just couldn’t.
“Kota baby…calm down.”
“But daddy! That mean lady is trying to steal my Ashee’s ring!”
“She wasn’t trying to steal Ashley’s ring sweetheart. I’m sure she was just giving what she thought was her professional opinion,” Brian reassured while looking at Chantell with a polite look on his face, though anyone who looked at him would be able to see that he is not at all pleased with her. “But she doesn’t know Ashley like we do. She doesn’t realize that Ashley’s hands are the most exquisite hands a woman could have and that ring would be absolutely perfect for her.”
“You mean child,” Chantell pointed out, losing all of the professionalism that she had in her.
“Be that as it may, that is the ring I want to buy my girlfriend. So if you could please tell me what it costs I would be most grateful.” Nick replied as he watched Brian step away from them as Josh whispered quietly in his ear.
“One hundred and forty nine dollars.”
“Fine,” Nick replied giving Chantell a gratified smile though he spoke in an icy tone. The woman rolled her eyes moodily and gently took the ring off of her own finger and she got out a velvet box and placed it inside neatly before closing it. She set the box on the counter between them and Nick pulled out his wallet and proceeded to pay for the gorgeous ring while Dakota eyed the ring and the woman watchfully. She is not going to let her ruin her perfect moment. Her daddy buying Ashley this ring also promises Dakota that Ashley is going to be her mommy some day and she wont let anything stand in the way of that. She loves her Ashee and there isn’t anyone else who could be a better mommy in her eyes.
“It must be nice that Ashley has a Backstreet Boy for a boyfriend who is willing to spend so much on her. I bet this won’t be the last time you spend your money on her,” Chantell spoke up again in such a natural tone as if they were having a conversation about the weather.
“It is not your place to make that kind of judgement. You don’t know her,” Nick replied simply and he rubbed his hand over Dakota’s back.
“Oh please…what seventeen year old wouldn’t love to have a rich boyfriend like you buying her rings like this?”
“Let me tell you a little something about Ashley here. It’s really none of your business but since you insist on talking shit about her you should at least know the facts,” Nick replied as he leaned in close to her so that he could look in her eyes and make her see how serious he is. Brian and Laney were now listening closely and were ready to jump in at any given moment if Nick were to say or do the wrong thing.
“For your information she is the sweetest most caring woman you will ever come across. She’s been through hell and back again yet she still manages to have such a big heart and care for just about anyone she meets as long as they stick around long enough for her to get to know them. You see she has a slight problem with trust but only because she’s been hurt one too many times.” He explained, and he placed his hands on Dakota’s shoulders gently and she leaned back against him smiling as she loves hearing all of the good things about Ashley – and her daddy setting a jealous fan straight.
“She has such a way with children that all she has to do is sit down somewhere at the orphanage and they all come running over to her. Usually begging for a story, or for her to play with them…and anytime either of them have a problem, she is usually the first one to know about it. She talks to each and every one of them…and listens to all of them like there is nothing else she wants to do more. She even knows how to read people’s emotions sometimes too. But I’ve always figured that comes with being hurt so much. You have to learn whom you can trust and whom you can’t trust and she learned that the hard way. Ashley has no interest what-so-ever in my money.” He added as he placed his closed wallet in his pocket as he had finished paying for the ring.
“Infact, my boss at the orphanage has noticed her love for children and is considering on hiring her to work there as a caregiver. Plus…her dream career is to help abused children when she gets older. She has every intention of earning her own money herself and being independent as much as she possibly can. It is me who insists on spoiling her most of the time even though she keeps insisting that I shouldn’t because I love her and I love seeing her smile. She had to lean on me for awhile in the beginning but that’s because she was going through a lot and I was her caregiver and had to take care of her. But she’s getting much stronger and more independent every single day. She loves me for who I am and I can see that everytime I look into her eyes because when she looks at me it is like she only sees me – everybody else in the room has disappeared. She is my best friend in the whole world apart from Brian and I couldn’t live without her even if I tried. I can talk to her about anything and everything and she listens to me and cares about what I have to say and I do the same for her. And when it comes to my daughter…she is so amazing with her that sometimes it is like watching mother and daughter. Dakota adores her and everyone who watches the two of them together can see that. I love her and I have every intention of spending the rest of my life with her. There is no one who is going to stand in my way of doing that either. I don’t care how many jealous fans we have to dodge in order to do that.” Nick explained and Chantell stared back at him quietly and with an amazed look on her face as she could see so much love in Nick’s eyes. Never before has she ever heard him give such a speech about his girlfriends.
“That is all I have to say to you. Judge her all you want but at least now you know your facts.” Nick added, and he picked up the ring and Dakota and turned to Brian and Laney.
“I’m ready…let’s go.”
“Not yet Nick – Josh and I want to buy something. Why don’t you take Kota out of the store and wait for us there?”
“Okay…” Nick replied while eyeing Brian curiously and he walked past with Dakota and the ring. Brian patted his shoulder gently and smiled at him before rounding on Chantell. He waited until he saw Nick and Dakota walk out of the store before speaking.
“I am going to buy something from you too but before I do that I want to make it perfectly clear that your opinion is to be strictly professional and not of what a fan would say. Got it? Or I am going to ask for the manager.”
“Okay,” Chantell nodded.
“Alright. My son here wants to buy that there and have it be put on a silver chain,” he explained, pointing to a pendant that has four hearts on it in shape of a clover and they have four diamonds in the center of each of them.
“Okay,” Chantell replied, and she opened up the display case and pulled out the clover pendant.
“But, we’re talking about a five year old here so we would need the chain to be pretty short.” The lady raised her eyebrow at him and opened her mouth to speak when Brian cut her off.
“If what you’re going to say isn’t professional, please keep it to yourself.”
“I was just going to say is it really wise to buy a five year old diamonds? I have a 5 year old niece and she loses the cheap jewelry that we give her from Claire’s all the time.”
“Ellie treasures the special things given to her because she’s never had anything given to her before in her life until her parents gave her up. She’ll be fine.”
“I see,” Chantell replied and she proceeded to find the smallest chain that she could. When she did she slipped the beautiful pendant on it and held it out for Brian to see.
“Is this okay?” Brian looked at Josh and Josh grinned and nodded.
“Perfect,” Brian answered.
“Will that be all for you, sir?” Chantell asked in the best professional tone she could muster.
“Not quite. Josh have you decided what else you wanted?” Josh pointed to another pendant that looked exactly like Ashley’s ring except it’s meant to be put on a necklace. Brian grinned.
“Dakota will love that seeing as how she went crazy over Ashley’s ring.” Brian noticed the look in Chantell’s eyes and could pretty much guess what she is thinking.
“My niece Dakota is pretty much like a pirate. Everytime she sees a piece of jewelry she goes crazy. She’s been collecting jewelry since she was two. She knows how to take care of it. Infact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she grew up to work in a jewelry store some day.” Chantell shook her head.
“No need to explain anything to me sir, I’m just a saleswoman.”
“Saleswoman slash fan who is most likely to run off after this and blab to the world that Brian Littrell let his six year old buy diamonds for four and five year olds. I would like you to at least include the facts.” Chantell nodded and she got out the other pendant that Josh had picked out. She put it on a short necklace that matched Elenore’s and then placed the two diamond necklaces into boxes and she set them out on the counter between them. Brian got out his wallet and paid for it and when he finished he took the diamonds and placed them in a bag and he set Josh down.
“Let me hold onto them for you Josh okay? At least until we get home.” Josh nodded and he grabbed hold of Brian’s pantleg and followed him out of the store where they found Laney, Nick, and Dakota.
“I thought I was going to help you pick out Riley’s ring.” Nick spoke when his best friend came out of the store.
“I’m going to wait and buy Riley’s ring another time – in a better store where I am not bound to get attacked by a fan’s jealous opinions.”
“So what did you buy instead?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Brian answered with a grin. Nick raised his eyebrow, but he let the subject drop.
“Well here, put it in this Mervyns bag – we can’t let Ashley see a Tiffany’s Jewelry store bag or she’ll ask questions.”
“Good point,” Brian agreed and he put the Tiffany’s jewelry bag in the Mervyns bag underneath the clothes Nick had bought Dakota. They spent a little more time at the mall going into stores for Dakota and Josh and then after awhile they decided they should probably head back if they’re going to be there on time to meet Sarah. When they got back to the house they drove into yard closing the gate behind them and they parked the van and got out. Nick got Dakota out of her booster seat and rested her on one hip while he grabbed their bags in his other hand and he shut the door with his foot and began carrying her inside. Brian got Josh out and he held his hand as the two of them followed suit. When they got into the house they found Kori, Wiley, Harold, and Spencer playing board games and Howie sitting in a corner of the living room with Ryan who was talking on the phone and looks as if he had been crying.
“Hey guys,” Wiley greeted with a grin.
“Hey,” Brian replied while setting his bags down.
“Did you have fun at the mall?”
“Mhm, lots. These kids can really ware you out,” Brian nodded and he sat down on the couch.
“What’d you buy?” Kori asked, trying to stay casual, as if she isn’t trying to pry any answers out of them.
“Kota and Josh both got some new clothes…a couple of toys, and we had lunch while we were there too.”
“I also bought some friends forever necklaces for me and Ellie from Clare’s,” Dakota bragged, smiling hugely as she is very excited about sharing them with her best friend.
“I see,” Kori replied while smiling some. Dakota is making this all too easy for her. “I knew you couldn’t resist not looking at jewelry while you were there. Did you look at anything else from anywhere else?” she asked while looking at Nick with a raised eyebrow. Nick narrowed his eyes at her.
“Well we looked at bangles in Hot Topic too. But Dakota didn’t see any that she didn’t already have so we didn’t buy any.”
“I see. You didn’t buy any other piece of jewelry from anyone else that you care about?”
“I think she’s onto you Nick…” Brian whispered in Nick’s ear.
“Yeah I sure as hell am,” Kori agreed having had over heard Brian’s whispers. “So why don’t you tell me what’s going on before I go all over-protective sister on you?”
“Yeah Nick, why don’t you tell us what’s going on so that I can prove that Kori was worrying over nothing?” AJ added as he walked in the house with Laila still placed safely in her baby backpack. Nick groaned.
“I knew that was what you were arguing about. You know Ashley called me earlier asking me if I knew what was going on…I’m sure she is very suspicious now thanks to you.”
“I didn’t tell her anything. I knew that whatever you’re planning had to be surprise I wasn’t going to ruin it for you. But please reassure me that it was a good thing for me to do.”
“It was a very good thing for you to do because it’s not what you think,” Brian replied. “Do you honestly think I would support him in buying Ashley an engagement ring so soon? There is no way.”
“Then what kind of ring did he buy her?”
“A promise ring,” Nick answered indignantly. “There is no way her and I are ready to get married right now but I want her to know that I do plan on asking her to marry me in the future. I wanted to reassure her that I really do love her…because she is always looking at me with eyes full of questions...wondering how long I am going to be around. But I knew words wouldn’t be enough so I had to do something big and romantic. Yes, I do plan on marrying her some day. But it won’t be for a long time…I think she should get through this mess with Sean first and get that out of the way…and maybe do some schooling…maybe I’ll propose when she graduates from college – on her graduation day…is that good enough for you?”
“Aww…Nicky that’s adorable!” Kori gushed and she got up from her place next to Wiley and went on over and hopped onto the couch next to Nick and she flung her arms around him and hugged him. Nick chuckled a little and returned her hug.
“She is going to cry when you do this, I’ll bet you anything.”
“Well, it had better be happy tears because she doesn’t know what I went through at the jewelry store trying to deal with the jealous fan slash saleswoman.”
“Oh god she was annoying,” Brian replied, rolling his eyes. “Dakota wanted to jump her – if Nick wasn’t holding her back she probably would have.” Kori laughed a little.
“Well, you don’t insult Dakota’s mommy in front of her that’s just a big no-no.”
“Egg-xactly!” Dakota agreed defiantly and Nick laughed and kissed her cheek as he was still holding her.
“So where is this ring? Is it beautiful? I want to see it!” Kori begged, suddenly very excited for her sister.
“It’s hiding in the Mervyns bag. Yes it’s beautiful…Dakota and Josh helped me pick it out. No you can’t see it yet. I want Ashley to be the first one to see it. Plus she could walk in any minute now and see us looking at it and I can’t risk that happening”
“When do you plan on giving it to her?”
“Tonight when she comes home. I have to because the saleswoman was a fan and who knows who else saw me buying the ring. It is now operation keep Ashley away from all news reports time. Brian said he is going to help me plan something big and romantic for her so we’re going to work on that while you two are gone.”
“And I’ve already thought of something too. But I will explain later,” Brian added. Kori grinned.
“I am so excited for her! I will keep her away from all newspapers and newscasts while we’re out at all cost I promise.”
“I’ll be with you, so I can help you out with that” Laney replied.
“Sweet.” Just then Ashley, Denise, and Sarah walked in and Nick, Kori, and Brian grew very quiet as she did.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
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