Pure Chances

Pure Chances | 03

                 I brought in the last
brown box filled with magazines and paper clips, dumped it on the floor and fell to the couch, exhausted. Miguel held out a can of coke to me just before I collapsed from dehydration and I opened it up and gulped it down to the last drop. Impulsive drinker, yes I was. It was hard to get around the fact that just three years ago my sister had died and left me with a little girl to raise and now three years later I'm a college graduate with a three year old and a stable job, not to mention I had just successfully moved into a terrace house, in other words, soccer mom, yes I am. Having Miguel as my friend was one of the blessings of God in my life, apart from the fact that he was able to bring my social life out of the gutter, helping me raise Diane was the best thing anyone had ever done for me.

Miguel was holding his signature Pepsi can in his hand and staring at the top of it, I chose to ignore him and look around the house for areas that needed improvement, apart from the walls that needed plastering and painting, the dim lights and ruggedly placed landholders and the soiled carpets, everything else was fine. I groaned inwardly, I was never going to be able to find time for all this. I closed my eyes to savor the rest of my freetime before Miguel interrupted me.

"Vicki, you have to see this!" He had gotten up from his position on the dusty coffee table and held out an envelope to me. I raised my eyebrows at him before collecting it and tearing it open to reveal a typed letter, it didn't take me five seconds to guess who it was from.

Lucas Foster.

I tossed the letter to the side and Miguel picked it up hastily and in no time I was confronted with his widened eyes and dropped jaw.

"What. The. Actualfuck."

I wasn't surprised, this was everyone's reaction when they see the numbers of zeroes that were on the cheques Lucas sent me every six months, I was just worried that Miguel hadn't gotten past the widened-eyes-dropped-jaw phase.

"Did you even read this?" Miguel asked, shoving the letter once again in my face.

"No, why?" I shrugged, even though curiosity flooded my insides immediately. "Isn't it the usual?"

"Vic, this isn't from Lucas it's from his mother. She wants to meet with you. This woman still wants to be a part of Diane's life." I sighed, it wasn't the first time Meryl had tried to contact me, I just kept those little occurrences from Miguel so he wouldn't play the pity card.

"It's not her child, it's her son's child and he obviously wants nothing to do with her."

"It's her grandchild, stupid. In fact, stupid is an understatement for your silly ass." Miguel fell on the couch beside me and handed the letter to me. "Read it."
I took the letter in my hand and read it, it was nothing I hadn't heard before from Meryl, and she still hadn't given up, she even used her company's logo to get me to read it in the hopes that it would be from Lucas. She had to be really desperate at this point. I gave in.

"Fine, I'll contact her." I groaned. "On one condition."

"Anything!" Miguel managed to utter while grinning absurdly.

"You're picking Diane from school." I tossed my keys to him and he reluctantly caught them and groaned, I smirked and shut my eyes, feeling grateful that I had a little time to shuteye before Diane got back.

. . .

Calling Meryl Foster had to be one of the most ego blasting things I had ever had to do and as I walked into the posh restaurant I wanted to run back out, this had to be a bad idea, I could feel it with every step. Nevertheless, I kept walking down the aisle behind the waiter who was leading me to her table.
It seemed like everyone had their eyes on the door as I sat opposite Meryl and we exchanged pleasantries, both of us clearly wanting to get the meeting over with as fast as possible.
Dont get me wrong, Meryl was like cream in tea, over confident but still slightly confused, in the best ways I guess.

"Good day, Mother." The words were uttered from behind me. I knew who was behind me so I picked up my purse, stood up and spun around, leaving me face to face with the child deserter himself.

"Where do you think you're going." His words caught me so off guard, I had never heard him so sharp and precise, I had to admit he was quite good at hiding this side of him. "Have a seat Victoria." Victoria?? I thought it was Miss Burnes or nothing. Feet don't fail me now, my feet which I was referring to did quite an impressive job at failing as they started to move back to my seat as Lucas took a seat right beside  me.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" I managed to ask in between the cold stares that Meryl and her son exchanged. What a stark contrast with the greetings we had earlier, I thought.

"I'm going to take full custody of my daughter." He said plainly as he glanced at me briefly before returning to the staring competition with his mother. I laughed, the you-have-to-be-kidding-yourself-and-definitely-not-me-because-youre-a-joker laugh, I got up from my seat once again and in an instance I was back on my seat and staring at the piece of paper he had just tossed in front of me.

"It's a lawsuit." He answered to my mental question and I continued my you-have-to-be-kidding-yourself-and-definitely-not-me-because-youre-a-joker laugh till I was clutching my tummy and oblivious to the fact that I was in a seven star restaurant. "Read it." He glanced at me once more.

After reading his proposal and almost vomiting in my mouth, I turned to Lucas. "You have no right!" I squeezed the words between my clenched teeth and I heard Meryl stiffle a laugh.

"Preach it, sister." Said Meryl Foster as she leaned back on her chair to observe the scene in front of her.

"Actually, I have all the right, according to the law, I have even more right than you do." Said Lucas Foster, as his gaze hardened on mine, once again we were met face to face and his warm breath trickled the skin beside my lips. "But I have a proposal."

"Don't take it, I'll fight with you in court." Meryl said to me hastily. It was at that moment I realized this was a three way fight and so far Lucas had managed to come up top with nothing more than a piece of paper.

"What's the proposal?" I asked.

"You and Diane have to live with me."

"That is not happening." I replied sternly. I glanced at Meryl who was looking too excited for comfort and I only wondered if I was jumping from frying pan to fire. What if they were working together? She'd help me win in court against Lucas and then go behind my back and work against me and she and her son end up getting custody.

"Okay," I muttered. "Here's my proposal, you have to come live with us, for six months and I get to decide whether you're a good father or not and we have to get a contract in case you still want to pursue the suit."

"Not going to happen." Lucas stated, not even bothered enough to look at me while saying it.

"I'll see you in court then."

"See you later, Victoria." He said before getting up and heading out the door.

"If you need my help with anything, just call me." Meryl said before following suit, leaving me hopelessly lost in thought where I was sitting.

How do you win a case you're sure you're going to lose? Lucas Foster was like sugar, and I will crush him!

a/n: sorry for the late update. I promise it gets better, keep reading and voting and supporting, thank you so much. Any ideas for the cast? All the love, Taire 😉