Fateful Encounters

Chapter 39

She was such a fucking idiot.  She deserved every single pile of shit Michael was shoveling her way.  It was like God had sent him to ensure she kept humble and did not indulge in more than ten seconds of happiness at a time.  Angrily, she wiped the tears away from her cheeks and blew her nose noisily.  For such a short, incredible, stunning flash in time she had been so incredibly exultant she almost forgot everything else that had happened on this forsaken, dreadful, fucked up day.  She must have hit her head harder than she had thought.  Or maybe the fall finally had knocked some sense into her.  The bastard was never going to change, and if he thought she would ever let his crazy, unreliable ass near their child, he better get ready for a fight.  Their child.  Her hand stole to her flat belly, still not believing it was home to the little human whose father was a thoughtless, self-absorbed, distrustful…

“I knew it! He hurt you again.  Why, oh why did you have Danny go and get him?  Lisa Marie, what has he done this time?  Do you need me to call the police?  I still don’t buy that you just randomly slipped on the stairs.”

Mother. Great.  Just what she needed: strong, supportive, maternal words of caring.  Too bad her mother was incapable of such things. 

“I don’t need the police.  And what are you of doing back?  I thought you took the kids to get snacks?”

“No need to roll out the welcome mat, dear. We ran into Danny and he took them out to get some ice cream. So, what did Jackson do?  And when will you finally tell me what had you get Danny and chase after that man. The ice blue eyes regarded her suspiciously.

Well, here was her chance to give her mother an aneurysm. Let’s see if she would get those facial muscles to move.  On the other hand, could she really afford any more drama?  Lisa eyed the blood pressure machine hooked up to her.  Surprisingly, the values read normal.  The only thing normal on this day so far. 

“His name is Michael.  And- nothing is going on .  I have high blood pressure.  Stress, tension, I’m high strung- you know the usual suspects.  Just like I told you.  So don’t stress me out more. I am not in the mood for another round of Michael bashing.”

“Why did you send me out of the room- if nothing’s going on?”

“’Cause I wanted to talk to Michael.”

“For what? So he could hurt you again?  Is it not enough he pushed you down the stairs?”

“Mother! Michael did not push me down the stairs.  I told you this a million times.”

“Lisa, you need to stop protecting him.  I don’t care if he physically pushed you or not.  I am sure you got into a fight and somehow you ended up in the ER.  Then you act like everything is peachy and you ask for him.  I just don’t get it.  I swear he has some kind of weird spell on you.  I mean, how else can he show you he doesn’t care for you?  He married his nurse, for heaven’s sake and keeps mass producing children with her.”

Lisa chewed her lip.  As painful as it was, her mother was right on.  Her guess about the events at Neverland had been pretty accurate, as well as implication that basically Lisa had been a nitwit yet again, when she has asked for Michael.  Why had she thought he would be happy to hear the news.  How silly her hope for a new start seemed now.  As shocked as she had been to hear the news, she also could not help but feel thrilled that her longtime secret wish had come true.  She had not been using birth control, but not in an effort to trap him, but remembering that she had not been able to conceive in the early parts of their marriage when she had desperately tried to become the mother of his child.  What were the chances that their random, passionate encounters now would lead to the baby fate had denied them earlier.  However, would Michael see it the same way?