her eyes narrowing to slits.
"Good to see the demon has stil kept you alive. Then again, I
doubt you'd do him much good dead."
"No demon is keeping me alive," I bit my cheek to keep
my tone reigned in. The heat in my arms raced up and down, ready
for any sign of uncontrolable emotion. "Or maybe there is, I don't
know. But you're going to explain this to me first." I puled the
letter from my coat pocket and pushed it down the table.
Her eyes locked onto the paper like it was a bug ready to
be squished. "You went into my personal belongings?"
"Don't play vulnerable now, Mother. It doesn't suit you," I
snapped. "I want you to read that and tel me just who the hel is
Michael."
She lifted her head to stare at me with a gaze strong
enough to pierce through my heart. "Michael," she breathed. "Is a
worthless, ungrateful, disgusting boil of a man." A shaking breath
worthless, ungrateful, disgusting boil of a man." A shaking breath
escaped her lips as I watched the stare melt into sorrow. Her bony
arms wrapped around her frame as tight as they would go as she
fought to keep herself together. "And I loved him dearly."
"Jayson said our father's name was Harry."
"Harry." Now it was her turn to sigh. "Harry was a loyal
man and he loved his son very much. But he never loved you.
You're the permanent proof that I fel in love with a fool who left
me once his task was complete."
I shook my head and tried to add two and two together. "I
don't understand. So Michael is my father but he left you knowing
you had a baby on the way?"
"Your father," she said with a hysterical laugh. "Let me tel
you about your father. Imagine you're in the middle of a crisis and
no one can help you. No one but this beautiful man who just
happens to lure you home and tel you that together we could have
an eternity of love and happiness. That was Michael.
"He said he was here for a mission, which I chalked up to
the local church, sily me. I should have put it al together when a
month passed and he stil hadn't left. But I didn't want to think of
that. For the first time in almost two years a man had told me he
loved me, that he had wanted me. You wouldn't know what that's
like, to have your husband not want to touch you but some
handsome mystery man who wil.
"After two months of never-ending passion I found out I
was pregnant. I knew right from the beginning it wasn't Harry's. So
I told Michael, thinking it would promote him to ask my hand, take
Jayson and I and make a perfect family. Instead he sat me down,
Jayson and I and make a perfect family. Instead he sat me down,
promised me to always love the child inside of me, and left."
I sat there, stunned. What did you say to something like
that? What could you say knowing that you were the product of a
failed marriage, a broken home? I tried to swalow and found my
throat raw and dry like I'd screamed for hours on end.
"Come on," I heard her say, my head immediately snapping
up to see her spiteful stare back in place as if she were wiling me
to wither away. "Did you realy think anything different before you
came here with that paper?"
My head shook mechanicaly. "I didn't...not like this. He
left you, Mom, who does that?"
"An angel creating his army." She said it so simply, the rol
of her shoulders practicaly sending me into a violent rage. "He said
one day he'd be back for you, back for us. I first thought it meant
after your birth. But time passed and before I knew it five years
had come and gone and stil my lovely angel never came back. The
only good that ever came from your birth was that you were an
afternoon baby. Everything else has only been of loss and
heartache and betrayal of your father."
"Good to know I was such a burden. Did he say anything
else?" I pressed past her childish jibes.
She started to shake her head but stopped. "Oh, yes, he
did." Her hands reached up around her neck and fumbled for
something just under her turtleneck. A long silver
"Good to see the demon has stil kept you alive. Then again, I
doubt you'd do him much good dead."
"No demon is keeping me alive," I bit my cheek to keep
my tone reigned in. The heat in my arms raced up and down, ready
for any sign of uncontrolable emotion. "Or maybe there is, I don't
know. But you're going to explain this to me first." I puled the
letter from my coat pocket and pushed it down the table.
Her eyes locked onto the paper like it was a bug ready to
be squished. "You went into my personal belongings?"
"Don't play vulnerable now, Mother. It doesn't suit you," I
snapped. "I want you to read that and tel me just who the hel is
Michael."
She lifted her head to stare at me with a gaze strong
enough to pierce through my heart. "Michael," she breathed. "Is a
worthless, ungrateful, disgusting boil of a man." A shaking breath
worthless, ungrateful, disgusting boil of a man." A shaking breath
escaped her lips as I watched the stare melt into sorrow. Her bony
arms wrapped around her frame as tight as they would go as she
fought to keep herself together. "And I loved him dearly."
"Jayson said our father's name was Harry."
"Harry." Now it was her turn to sigh. "Harry was a loyal
man and he loved his son very much. But he never loved you.
You're the permanent proof that I fel in love with a fool who left
me once his task was complete."
I shook my head and tried to add two and two together. "I
don't understand. So Michael is my father but he left you knowing
you had a baby on the way?"
"Your father," she said with a hysterical laugh. "Let me tel
you about your father. Imagine you're in the middle of a crisis and
no one can help you. No one but this beautiful man who just
happens to lure you home and tel you that together we could have
an eternity of love and happiness. That was Michael.
"He said he was here for a mission, which I chalked up to
the local church, sily me. I should have put it al together when a
month passed and he stil hadn't left. But I didn't want to think of
that. For the first time in almost two years a man had told me he
loved me, that he had wanted me. You wouldn't know what that's
like, to have your husband not want to touch you but some
handsome mystery man who wil.
"After two months of never-ending passion I found out I
was pregnant. I knew right from the beginning it wasn't Harry's. So
I told Michael, thinking it would promote him to ask my hand, take
Jayson and I and make a perfect family. Instead he sat me down,
Jayson and I and make a perfect family. Instead he sat me down,
promised me to always love the child inside of me, and left."
I sat there, stunned. What did you say to something like
that? What could you say knowing that you were the product of a
failed marriage, a broken home? I tried to swalow and found my
throat raw and dry like I'd screamed for hours on end.
"Come on," I heard her say, my head immediately snapping
up to see her spiteful stare back in place as if she were wiling me
to wither away. "Did you realy think anything different before you
came here with that paper?"
My head shook mechanicaly. "I didn't...not like this. He
left you, Mom, who does that?"
"An angel creating his army." She said it so simply, the rol
of her shoulders practicaly sending me into a violent rage. "He said
one day he'd be back for you, back for us. I first thought it meant
after your birth. But time passed and before I knew it five years
had come and gone and stil my lovely angel never came back. The
only good that ever came from your birth was that you were an
afternoon baby. Everything else has only been of loss and
heartache and betrayal of your father."
"Good to know I was such a burden. Did he say anything
else?" I pressed past her childish jibes.
She started to shake her head but stopped. "Oh, yes, he
did." Her hands reached up around her neck and fumbled for
something just under her turtleneck. A long silver
Similar Books
