Being with Michael: Part 1 (Book Two)

Chapter Sixty Three

"Hold on," Paige says.

She pushes the wheelchair away from the car door. "I wanna try this," she says to Bill.

He flashes her a worried look but she just stares back at him. Then he grabs her hand and rests a hand on her shoulder to give her support.

She steps down with her right leg and balances herself. She puts her left foot down and Bill wraps his arm around her before she has the chance to fall.

She has her weight on her right side, and she slowing eases up and balances her weight out. Her left leg starts to buckle, but she locks her knee and keeps it straight.

She takes a step forward with her left leg, and she locks her knee after the step. It works. It's slow, but it works. She just has to stop between each step.

Bill closes the car door behind her. "You can take your arm off of me know. I can stand up fine," she says.

He lets her go but keeps hold of her hand. She steps forward with her right leg and then her left, stopping to lock her knee. She does this until she makes it all the way to the front door of the house.

The house has a pebble driveway and bushes in front with ivy climbing up the brick of the house. It looks like something you would see in The Secret Garden.

Michael meets her at the door and then takes Bill's place and holds her hand. Bill unlocks the door and they walk into the house.

The hallway opens up to a living room on the left and Paige can hear noise coming from the TV. They walk up to the opening and she  sees The Fast and The Furious playing on the screen.

Three kids sit on the sofa in front of the TV as they watch the movie.

"That's Blanket on the left," Michael whispers in her ear as he points to Blanket. "And then Paris is in the middle and Prince is on the right."

Paige looks at Michael with a lost face. Michael knows what she's thinking.

"No! No, they're not yours," Michael assures her.

Paige looks back at them. She knows they're not her kids, but it feels like she's looking at a newborn baby for the first time. That's what it feels like for her.

"Come on," Michael says. He doesn't intend to introduce them now. The kids will each do that individually.

He leads her down the hall and she looks at the picture frames on the shelf as they walk by. The hall stops and opens up to a kitchen on the right and a dining room on the left. The rooms are huge and nicely decorated, so it makes sense they would live there, it has to be pretty expensive.

The living room they passed by before opens up on the left side of the dining room, making all the rooms form an L shape.

Another hall opens on the other side of the dining room by the entrance to the living room.

"The room is down there," Michael says.

Paige wonders if they're going to be staying in the same room or if she's going to be staying in her own room.

They pass two rooms on the right and one on the left, which Michael says are the kids' rooms.

They walk a little further and reach another room on the left. Michael opens the door and says, "This is your room."

Paige walks in and Michael follows her. She looks around and Michael says, "I figured you wouldn't want to stay in the same room yet, you know, let you have a little time to figure things out."

She looks away from him and back at the room. An elaborate king-size bed sits in the middle with a dresser across from it. There's a reading chair by the window across from the door. Beside the blacket lying across the chair, there's no decoration in the entire room.

There's two white French doors off to the left side on the bed and Paige walks up to them. When she walks in, she finds a gigantic plush ottoman in the middle and a closet spanning from the right side to the middle of the room with a bathroom resting on the left side.

Shelves and cabinets fill both sides of the room as she walks up to the center with the ottoman. When she gets to the center, she has a full view of the walk-in closet that continues on the right.

The thing she notices more than the room itself is the fact that the closet is packed full with clothes and accessories. The bedroom was empty, but the closet definitely is not.

She turns and walks back out to the bedroom. She walks over to the window and pulls the shade back. She looks out across the lawn. The house looks like a plantation from the South. It is gorgeous.

She looks back at Michael who's still standing by the door. "Um, I'll let you get adjusted," he says.

She nods and he turns and closes the door behind him on his way out.

After he closes the door, Paige realizes she never even said a single word to him.