Her Wish, His Promise (Rewrite)

TWENTY

CHRIS POV 

I can’t help but ponder if Maria is right. That I am letting a dead girl ruin my relationship, or any relationship I’ve had for that matter. When i think about it everyone I’ve been with since Alice..well our relationship has gone to shit to put it bluntly.

Maria watched me turn to dust as Alice succumbed to her illness; once she went downhill it was so fast I never saw it coming, not that there was truly anything to be done anyways. She hid it from me until the very last moment, like she couldn't trust me after all we had been through.

I stayed with her, day after day, watching her grow weaker and sicker, with no one but me lying useless by her side. I curse my inability to help her everyday. Maybe she would have lived longer and happier had I done something.

I remember watching them cart away her body on that black stretcher the morning I woke up next to her and she had stopped breathing. Even with me performing CPR on her over and over again, I knew she was gone. The doctors had said it was years coming for her, that because she had never bothered to treat her HIV it had evolved into AIDS and was bound to kill her after all those years.

Winter hit and her immune system couldn't handle even a cold, Pneumocystis Pneumonia the doctor called it. She could barely fucking breathe, she just slept and slept. 

As I sit beside her grave I can only wonder if she regretted the day Maria brought her into my life.

I lower the red roses onto the soft grass in front of her gravestone before standing to my feet. The morning breeze runs past me and for a moment I feel like she’s right beside me, before it fades away just as fast. I feel a semblance of peace for the first time in months, like the chaos has cleared to give me answers.

Now I just need to know the answer to the most important question.

MINA POV

I impatiently tap my fingers on my leg, the nervousness and anxiety filling me to the brim. I can still hardly believe that he’s done this, that all of this is real. All because I fell in love with one crazy, relentless man.

And now he’s questioning the paternity of my daughter, all because I lied to him. Why did my plan have to blow up in my face? Oh yeah, because he's utterly unpredictable and a psychopath.

Cheyenne knocks on the window of the car, waving me forth, much to my chagrin, I get out of the car. I grab my purse and slam the car door behind me. 

The courthouse towers before me, as intimidating as can be considering my child’s fate is at stake. It terrifies me to think that Chris could be a part of her life, that despite all my efforts to the otherwise. She deserves to not suffer because of my own mistakes.

This will be the only opportunity to convince the judge that he is unequivocally not her father and save my daughter from life in Hell. 

Cheyenne walks beside me as I waddle into the courthouse, my hands shaking and my pulse racing.  One of ten thousand men in a suit holds open the door for us and we enter the building. Roman statues and large pillars line the walls and marble floors. 

I feel like an episode of law and order, fucking hell.

“What courtroom is it?” Cheyenne questions.

“Uh, familial court.” I confirm, checking the papers.

We blindly look around, as if hoping for some flashing sign with a huge arrow to point us in the right direction. After wandering around we eventually are pointed in the correct direction. I check my phone for the time, making sure that we’re decently early.