She goes to where she knows no one would ever think to look for her…Mirage Park, the poorer side of town. Her driver lets her off in front of the Super S motel. It’s not the sort of place she’s used to staying in, but it’ll have to be her home for now. She enters the office and pays upfront for a whole month’s stay in cash.
The next morning she wakes up feeling the full effects of the drinking and the heavy decision that she made. Here she is…in a sleazy motel in southcentral Del Sol, with no plans on what to do next with her life. She’ll just have to take it one step at a time…and right now, her first step is getting something to eat at the diner next door. She turns on the TV for the background noise as she gets dressed up in the most inconspicuous outfit that she can put together.
TV Commercial: *plays in the background* Every child deserves a loving home, but the foster care system is bursting at the seams as workers scramble to find one for children who cannot remain with their biological families. This is where you come in! You don’t have to be rich or live in a mansion…we need people just like you to give hope to one needy child. Contact us today if you’re interested in becoming a foster parent. Foster hope in a child’s life!
Dressed in the outfit from last night, along with a baseball cap and dark sunglasses, she leaves her room and heads for the diner…hoping that what she has on is enough to avoid detection.
Walking with her head down, she accidentally bumps into someone. She looks up and recognizes one of the low-level actresses that Robert managed before her accident. She holds her breath waiting to be noticed by the girl…but she doesn’t recognize her.
Actress: Hey…watch where you’re going!
Nadine: *mumbles* Sorry
She continues walking to the diner, using the rim of her hat to further conceal her face. Just as she’s about to enter…something in her peripheral vision catches her attention.
Next door, there’s a house and it looks like it’s up for sale. She leaves the diner and walks over to get a closer look. The house appears to have been abandoned for a while, but it seems to only need some touching up and a fresh coat of paint. She takes a picture of the for sale sign with her phone and makes a mental note to give the selling agent a call. Maybe this house is just what she needs if she plans to start a new life here in the Valley.
A year and several life changes later, she finds a new audience…
Nadine: *singing*
There’s a reason for the sunshine sky
There’s a reason why I’m feeling so high
Must be the season when that love light shines all around us.
So let that feeling grab you deep inside
And send you reeling where your love can’t hide
And then go stealing through the moonlit night with your lover.
Just let your love flow like a mountain stream
And let your love grow with the smallest of dreams
And let your love show and you’ll know what I mean it’s the season.
Let your love fly like a bird on a wing
And let your love bind you to all living things
And let your love shine and you’ll know what I mean that’s the reason.
Baby Boy: *dancing happily to her song*
(Source: ♫♪♫)
Suddenly the doorbell rings…
Nadine: *stops singing* C’mon sweetheart…let’s go see who’s at the door.
She picks the baby boy up and opens the door to see a social worker standing there with two school-age children.
Nadine: Good to see you again, Miss Holly!
Holly: Good to see you too. I’d like you to meet Claudia and Raul Trejo. *to the kids* This is Miss Nadine. She’s going to take good care of you both.
Nadine: Nice to meet you. *introduces the baby in her arms* This is Michael…Michael Roe.
The children look up at her with sad, scared eyes. They warm her heart immediately.
She took those sweet children into her home, fed them, sang to them and loved them as best she could until they all became family. Now she sits here, all these years later, feeling the pain of her past falling back on her at once. Seeing Robert again was a shock to her system. It threatened to crush her, but she slowly pulls herself from up under the weight of it…knowing that everything that happened all those years ago has led her here. She’s deeply hurt that the children that she’s loved and raised saw fit to dig deep into her past, but she’s already forgiven them. It’s the forgetting that’ll take some time.
She allows herself five more minutes to dwell…then she gets up and heads into the kitchen to make dinner.
Nadine Fuller Short Story – Part Summaries
Link back to Banks Dynasty Day 17 (Part 2)
