Fateful Encounters

Chapter 40

The tower of block fell over on the hardwood floor for the tenth time, but the loud clanking barely registered.  When an object came flying into his lap, Michael finally managed to refocus.  His thoughts had been whirling around finding solutions for his current predicament. Prince laughed heartily when his Dad made a face. 

“Block?  ‘Gain?” He giggled, pointing at the colorful squares before him.

“I won’t build it again, if you throw them at me, little man!”

“Dada! ‘Gain!” 

Michael had to smile at his son’s bossiness.  

“Say, please.  Then we will do it one more time before you go to take a nap.”

“No nap.”  The little forehead became furrowed and the heart shaped lips pressed together resolutely.  There was no doubt this little guy was used to getting his way. 

“Yes, you have to take a nap.  And if you’re good, Daddy will sing for you, ok?”

Nodding, Prince’s face lit up and he enthusiastically started to rebuild his tower.

Michael watched his son and wondered about different traits he thought he detected in him.  He was sure he saw Janet’s feistiness, saw his own mouth, his mother’s eyes.   What would his soon to be born daughter look like?  And how about the new baby…if Prince was bossy, surely any child of Lisa’s would be a little tyrant.  The smile on his face intensified.

As always, thinking about the new baby caused his pulse to race.  How odd, not much more than two years earlier, he had been desperate for children.  His dreams seemed to slip away and move further and further into the realm on implausibility.  Now, he would be father of two within weeks, and then add a third baby in no time at all.  It all seemed so surreal.

Since returning from the hospital last night, he had not been able to sleep or eat.  Janet had insisted on staying over at Neverland, after having driven him back from LA.   Speaking of bossy…  She had insisted he ate a small snack and was currently in the kitchen rummaging through the fridge.  The noises coming from that end of the house were almost as loud as Prince’s blocks hitting the hardwood.  Why did Janet think she needed to feed him anyway?  He did not need food.  He needed a solution of how to get out of this marriage as soon as possible.  The contract he had with Debbie stated they would have two children and that the divorce would happen after two and a half years unless initiated by either one of them earlier after the birth of the second child.  Had the second invitro been unsuccessful, he would have had an earlier out-clause.  How would Debbie react when he asked her for a divorce as soon as possible?  A shudder raced through him: he had a pretty good idea how she would react.  Not well. 

Then, there was the issue of his mother.  She had been more than vocal about him not having children out of wedlock.  What would she say when she found out he and Lisa would be parents? Not that he wondered about his mother’s sentiments regarding Lisa.  He knew full well, his mother adored her former daughter in law and had always remained very friendly with her.  However, he was aware of the fact that mother had turned a blind eye to the exact details of his friendship with Lisa.  When they all had visited South Africa, mother had remarked that she thought it was so nice how he and his ex-wife got along.  Yeah, they had gotten along really, really well- especially when left alone in their suite.  Joseph had winked at him and made some barely concealed rude comments, causing Michael to blush furiously and Katherine to tersely comment that Joseph should not draw conclusions from his own behavior to others.  The guilt at disappointing his mother’s high opinion of him never stopped eating away at his self-esteem.