Bound by the Red Thread

“Nicole, this is YinMae.” He introduced her to the woman standing beside him. “And these are our daughters, Haun and Mei.” The girls both clung to their mother who looked Nicole up and down before taking her daughters and walking away.

One of the girls appeared to be older than Cliff the other younger. It was obvious that Jin had been with the woman for several years, both before and after their marriage.

“I want you to keep in contact with Cliff,” Nicole told Jin quietly. “He needs his father in his life. We can arrange visits, vacations, phone calls… whatever.”

“I’m not sure that will work.” Jin turned and looked over his shoulder to where YinMae was standing with both of their daughters.

“I hope we can try.” Nicole felt Paul’s presence behind her giving her the strength to continue.

Jin knelt down and looked Cliff in the eyes. “Be a good boy for your mother. Always remember that I love you.” Then, he stood, and with a nod to Nicole and Paul, he walked away.

They stood and watched as he met up with YinMae and the four of them walked away without a backward glance.

Epilogue

Six months later

Nicole walked into Trident Security with her son and fiancé. She and Paul had gotten engaged as soon as her divorce became final. They were building a house in Colorado not far from the small condo Paul had been living in.

They’d decided they wanted something new that would be theirs alone and had no memories of the past to deal with.

Clifton was seeing a counselor three times a week to help him deal with all the changes he’d been through. Once a week Nicole joined him and Paul went every other week. They were learning to cope together.

“Nicole, welcome back,” Colleen jumped up to greet them. She rushed to hug Nicole and shook Paul’s and Cliff’s hands.

“Hi! Colleen. I heard a rumor that an old friend of mine might be here today?”

Colleen nodded and went back to her desk, picking up her phone and talking softly into it.

A few minutes later two men walked into the room. “Nikki!” the younger man called as he walked quickly up to them.

“Nick?” Nicole asked walking up to the man.

“How long has it been?” Nick asked, pulling Nicole into his arms.

“Too long. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all the help your brothers were able to provide. Is Ian or Devon around? I’d like to thank them personally.”

As she finished talking, she saw Ian and Devon walking up behind Nick.

“Nikki, this is my husband, Jake Donovan.” Ni

ck grabbed the hand of the big man beside him and pulled him closer.

“I hate to break this reunion up, but someone needs to get some work done. Reverend, Junior?” Ian turned to Nicole. “Nicole I’m so glad things worked out for you. Nick, set up what we talked about.” Then he left the room.

Nick rolled his eyes at his brother and then smiled at Nicole. “Ignore Ian, he’s cranky as usual. We were wondering if you’d like to meet us for dinner tonight. Ian, Dev, and I would enjoy catching up and finding out how things are going with you. Paul and Cliff are welcome too. Jake will be there along with Ian and Dev’s wives.”

Nicole raised her eyes in a question at Paul and with his nod, then back at Nick. “That sounds like fun.” They made plans to meet later that day at Donovan’s, Jake’s brother’s pub/restaurant to catch up on everything that had gone on both before and after they had retrieved Nicole’s son.

Life was good and Nicole was happier than she had ever been.

* * *

The End