He Saved Me

Chp 49

Michael's POV
     I had one of my staff members help Lisa Marie get situated in the guest house. I knew this was going to be somewhat confusing to the kids, but it's too late now. I went back into the main house, and asked the chef to prepare dinner. I let her know that we'll be expecting an extra guest. By then Prince had come back from class. He and Blanket sat down with me while I continued planning our trip.
     "Applehead, how does this look?" I asked for his opinion. I was showing him an online brochure to the tour of one of the castles in Scotland.
     "That looks really nice Dad. Isn't that the castle you were talking about a few weeks ago?" he asked. Prince and I are history nuts. We can talk about world history for days. We were engaged in our conversation, when the chef informed me that dinner was ready. Right on cue, the doorbell rang. I opened the doors to Lisa Marie, looked better than earlier today. I hadn't informed the kids about her joining us for dinner. To be honest, I didn't want her to. But it would be awfully rude of me to not invite her.
     Just then, my girls decided to join us downstairs. I looked over at them and smiled, but did a double take when I saw Mia. She came down with her face caked. She had on the brightest red lipstick I had ever seen, along with fake lashes I think. I was not thrilled about this.
     "Mia, why do you have makeup on?" I asked a little surprised. I guess Lisa Marie could sense the unpleasantness in my voice, and jumped to Mia's defense.
     "Mike, it's just a little makeup. It's not a big deal," she pointed out. Everyone turned to look at her. No one was expecting her other than me. Confusion was written across everyone's faces, except for mine. I was irritated. It's bad enough that I'm having to include her in our family dinner, out of my pure inability of being inhospitable. But now, she's trying to give me input on how I parent. I was annoyed to say the least.
     "It is a big deal Lisa. She's not old enough for this. And it's not for you to decide, so please stay out of it," I said glaring at her. She looked taken aback by my little outburst. I quickly turned my attention towards Mia, and she looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Please go wash your face Mia," I said sternly.
     "No, Paris did it for me. It took her a long time. I wanna keep it on. Pleeeease Daddy," Mia whined.
     "Girl... don't test me. Go wash your face. Now," I emphasized.
     "You don't like it?" she asked me sadly. I let out a sigh. I didn't want to make her feel insecure about how she looked. I know how much a disapproval, from your parent about your appearance can hurt. But all this makeup is not appropriate for a 10 year old in my book.
     "It's nice baby, but it's not right for your age. Please don't argue and go wash it off," I said gently. Mia pouted and went back upstairs to wash it off. "Paris, she's only 10. Why would put that stuff on her?" I said annoyed.
"She's not going anywhere with it on. She really wanted to play around with my makeup, so I let her. You should've seen how excited she was," Paris said back. I felt bad for forcing her to take it off, but she's a kid. I want her to stay a kid. She can have her whole life to be a grown up, and play around with makeup or whatever else she wants. But for now, it's not allowed. I didn't even allow Paris to wear more than lip gloss till she turned 14.
     I was distracted from my thoughts as I noticed Lisa Marie help set the table, with the rest of the staff. This sight took me back 25 years. Every night, I would come down that same staircase and watch my wife prep for our family dinner. Sure it was only a family of 2, but a family nonetheless. I shook those thoughts out of my head, and noticed my older 3 staring at Lisa Marie intently. They looked like they were trying to figure out what's going on. I decided to break the ice and take this head on.
     "Kids, come say hi to our guest for the night," I said gesturing towards Lisa Marie. "Lisa you met Paris earlier today, and this is Prince and Blanket," I pointed each of them out. My boys gave her a warm smile, while Prince gave me a look. I guess he was just as suspicious about this as Paris is.
     "Wow Prince, you've really grown up," she smiled. "Last time I saw you, you were just learning how to walk. And Paris was still a newborn," she said looking over to Paris. Prince and Paris gave her scorned look in return. Lisa Marie turned her attention to Blanket now. "And Blanket, you really are a spitting image of your father," she claimed. Blanket gave her a hesitant smile, acknowledging that it was true. I could tell she was trying to warm up to the kids, but it wasn't really working.
     Mia came back down, pouting her life away. "Much better," I said while poking her nose. She was clearly pissed, refusing to make any eye contact with me. Then tension in the room was high, and all I wanted to do was get this dinner over with. "Let's eat," I said trying to move this night along. We all sat down, ready to dig in. It was pretty quiet and awkward. The kids occasionally would give Lisa Marie death glares, which I can't even blame them for. I did spring this on them last minute.
     We all ate in complete silence, till Mia dropped a meatball on her shirt. "Eww, Daddy?," she called out. That was her way of asking me to help her clean it up. I was about to get out of my chair to walk over to her, when I saw Lisa Marie get up.
     "It's okay Mike, I got it," she said. She walked over to Mia with napkins, and helped her wipe off as much sauce as she could. "You got some all over your face," she chuckled. She took another napkin and wiped Mia's mouth for her. I watched Lisa Marie observantly, as she helped my little girl. They were both giggling and whispering to each other. God, I yearned for a night like for so long back when we were married. I wanted Lisa Marie to be the mother of my children so badly. But God had other plans.
     My older 3 glared at Lisa Marie, with hateful looks on their faces. They were not happy about any of this, no matter how hard Lisa Marie tried to warm up to them. I was extremely uncomfortable by all of this, to say the least. Mia, on the other hand, seemed to be friendlier than her siblings. She seemed to like Lisa Marie more than she liked me at the moment. God, am I seriously jealous right now?
     And just when I thought the night couldn't get any worse, little Miss Mia decided to ask the most awkward question of the night. "Daddy, is she our new mommy?" Mia asked with her doe eyes. I damn near choked on my food.
     "Mia!" my older 3 yelled in unison. Everyone stopped eating and stared at me. Lisa Marie looked like she was waiting on me to answer too.
     "No babygirl, she's just a friend. Finish your food please," I said gently. I was desperately hoping Mia would drop this topic. I could see the relief on everyone's faces except for Mia and Lisa Marie. They looked hurt, Mia more than Lisa Marie.
     "I want a mommy," Mia mumbled. I rubbed my temples, stressed on how I'm going to handle this. I didn't even know where to begin...