by Miley Maine
“Or what?” She narrowed her eyes. “He comes from bad stock. His presence as part of this family is a disgrace, and you’re blinded by your absurd, hopeless romance.”
“Absurd?” I scoffed. “You’re the one being completely irrational. He’s shown you nothing but respect and generosity since the minute you set foot in his estate.” I stressed it, lest she had forgotten whose property she was relishing in. “And you know very well that he understood how different he was since he was fifteen. He ran away from home because he didn’t wanna grow up and be like them. How could you still hold them against him when he disowned them decades ago?” I paused, my breath quickening, and my chest burning with rage. “Answer me,” I insisted.
“You’re defending him like he’d placed some dark spell on your mind.” She shook her head in disapproval. “What happened to my bright, intelligent daughter?”
“She lives by facts.” My hands were shaking, and I could barely control the tremors that surged through my body. “That man you despise so much worships the ground I tread on. He adores my son and treats him like his own, and don’t you dare claim that you don’t see it, too.” My voice was breaking, but I remained unyielding, speaking fast as I defied all forces to get my message through.
“And you love him.” Her words lingered, bitter and slow. Disgust was evident on her face as she drew it out, her lips curling in a way they only would when her eyes witnessed an unspeakable crime.
Exhaling slowly, I forced my muscles to relax as I raised my eyebrows, my eyes exposing an unbending determination. “How unfortunate for you.”
I could see her hands clench into tight fists beside the draping fabric of her skirt.
But I couldn’t afford to waste any more of my time while my son celebrated his fourth birthday with the best father I could have wanted for him.
Abandoning her in her hostile stance, I turned around to see that the group was moving away toward the corral, headed by Danny and Billy with the new horse.
As Michael closely followed, he turned in my direction, and I nodded and blinked to signal that I was coming.
I left my mother behind and marched along to catch up with them. When we arrived at the little wooden fence, I peeked back to see my father taking my mother by the hand and walking her our way.
Her lips mouthed something or another, and I saw him nod calmly as he surely dismissed every meaning she was trying to deliver.
I turned back ahead and smiled at the sight of my Danny as he helped Billy atop the pony, while Michael dutifully held the reins and lovingly patted the tame creature.
On the other side across, all the ranchmen had gathered, clapping and cheering Billy on as the horse slowly swaggered, bobbing his head up and down in a harmonious motion that revealed his natural grace.
Surprised to witness my son’s complete lack of fear or apprehension, my smile grew wider as I, too, began to cheer him on. “Go, Billy!” I softly yelled, pressing my palms together under my chin with a little bit of concern and a whole lot of pride.
Much to my surprise, my son was a natural.
I could feel my eyes well up as he performed with ease, riding, and leading as he steered his horse to strut in circles along the barrier.
A couple of minutes later, his face began to relax as he became more confident in his grip. He started showing off a move or two, taking a risk as he urged the pony to stride a little faster.
“Whoo!” One of the ranchmen cheered and clapped his hands in the air, initiating a new round of applause as everyone encouraged Billy to go on.
My heart began to race, and I was starting to panic when the pony’s excitement reflected in his accelerating pace.
“Danny?” I beckoned his attention with a wave of my arm. “Sweetie, ain’t that enough?”
He quickly glanced at me from under his hat and slightly nodded.
“They’ve done enough now.” I made my way through the small crowd to get closer to where Danny stood in the corral. My hands were now clasped together while my heart pounded in my chest.
Acknowledging my suggestion, he swiftly turned around and assumed the position to grab the pony’s lead and stop Billy. But as he did, his hand missed since the boy had unexpectedly accelerated.
When the horse’s thrust gained sudden momentum, he bounced in a jolt, and we all saw Billy pull his head back while his hand lost its grip.
As if in slow motion, I watched my son’s little body fly backward as gravity pulled him down, arms and legs flailing the air while his bouncy, blond hair added a dramatic view of his head as it landed on the glistening grass.
It all happened in a split second, but to me, it felt like forever.
How could we have possibly missed it?
Why couldn’t anyone catch him?
My anger boiled a thousand times in the instant when I saw his limbs settle down, rendering him horizontal on the green carpeting of the field. It was, however, swiftly replaced by an excruciating worry as my legs beat my mind to acting as they pulled me up and over the fence, rushing to my baby’s side.
Danny was already kneeling down at his feet while Michael tended to his head and shoulders. Two sets of expert hands were thoroughly examining every inch of Billy’s small body, checking for injuries.
Terrified, I held my breath as my lips let out murmurs even I failed to recognize.
“Is he okay?” I finally whispered, my eyes pleading with Danny to tell me what I wanted to hear.
“He will be, just give us a minute.” He didn’t move his eyes off of our boy.
“I told you this was a bad idea.” My mother’s ill-omened statement rang through my ear as she bent over my shoulder.
Barely stopping myself for shoving her away from me, I drew a deep breath and kept my focus on my child as he settled there, unconscious.
Michael immediately stood up, waving at Pete and the guests. “Everybody, let’s just go back to the house, alright?” He declared. “He’ll be fine, let’s just make some space. C’mon, people.”
“Follow me, everyone.” Pete took it from there as he ushered everyone along the path leading back.
The voices and mumbles were like a thin film of clouds in my head, barely forming clear words or understandable sentences.
My whole being was sucked into a whirlwind of worry over my kid who laid motionless on the damp ground.
I began to cry. “Billy. Billy, please.”
As I leaned forward, obeying my every desire to shake him awake, Danny’s arm quickly intersected me.
“Don’t move ‘im yet,” he commanded as his fingers still assessed every limb.
“Nobody listens to me.” My mother’s shrill yelp pierced through my tormented brain. “It’s his fault. His fault!”
Standing over me with one fist on her waist, my mom’s other hand pointed a finger at Danny, who completely ignored her.
Or perhaps he was downright blocking her out of his awareness as he finished inspecting our baby.
His face, however, did reveal annoyance at her mere presence.
And he had all the right to feel that way. She was being a complete nuisance at the wrong time in the wrong place.
“Okay?” He finally looked up at Michael, whose eyes devotedly followed his every move.
“Nothing here.” Michael pointed at Billy’s head. “All seems fine.”
“Yeah, I’m not too happy about his arm, though. Let me do it.”
Beyond careful, he proceeded to collect Billy off the ground, skillfully placing his fingers, palms, and arms in positions that would support the child’s body in the best of ways.
As he slowly stood up, my heart stopped for a moment. Why wasn’t he moving?
“Is he okay?” I insisted as I paced alongside of him.
“Yes. He just needs to be in bed right now.” In spite of his best attempts, tension dripped from his voice.
“Why isn’t he waking up?” I whined.
“Where’s the doctor in this fucking place?” My moth
er yelled behind us.
“Pete knows what to do.” Danny spoke with a low voice that only I could feel as we marched toward the house.
Barely taking my eyes off of Billy, I glanced ahead to see our little group of guests gathered in the distance at the garden and around the front porch. Their pale, grim faces didn’t ease my mind.
It was all far too frightening, and I began to silently weep.
“Gigi.” My mother’s demanding call was, once again, horribly timed.
I didn’t answer her as my steps hurried to catch up with Danny.
“Gigi!” she insisted.
I swiftly turned around, facing her and my father.
“Not now,” I strained before looking at my dad’s helpless face. “Please?”
His hands gripped her arm as he aimed to restrain her. “Rita, for fuck’s sake,” he hissed from between his grinding teeth.
“We shouldn’t take him home; we should take him to a hospital,” she yelled, making sure Danny heard her.
Once again, we disregarded her comment. I heard my father stop and halt her with him, and their voices grew farther as we approached the doorway.
“Rita, for once, stay quiet, goddammit.”
“I can’t stay quiet when my grandson’s life is in danger!” she shrieked. “That man doesn’t have the slightest idea about first aid or any medical background.”
“This is his bread and butter; he knows what he’s doing.”
“How can you be so trusti—”
We stepped into the house, away from all the noise, and Michael followed us in and shut the door.
Feverishly, I turned to him. “Where’s the doctor?”
“Pete went to fetch ‘im, Gigi, don’t worry.”
“How?”
Danny had already headed upstairs, and I ran to follow.
I couldn’t believe what was happening and on Billy’s birthday of all days. Was he ever going to wake up? Would this give him a permanent disability? Would he ever go on a horse again? How would I face my mother’s insensitive accusations to Danny?
Feeling like my mind was spiraling down a bottomless abyss, I used the moment when the three of us were alone in Billy’s room, and I leaned my back against the door.
In a blur, I saw Danny place him down on the bed with endless tenderness and care. Removing the hat that had dangled across his neck by its string, he began to carefully undress him, unbuttoning his checkered shirt and jeans.
“He’s gonna be okay.” He glanced in my direction before going back to the task at hand. “You need to be strong for me now, okay?”
My head was thrown back against the solid wood of the door. I slightly nodded as if to myself, squeezing my eyelids shut. “Okay.” I took a deep breath. “Okay.”
“I need you to come ‘ere and talk to him while I go downstairs and send everyone home.” He approached me, his eyes dark and serious. “Can you do that?”
“Of course.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Yes.”
When he left the room, I rushed to Billy’s side, kneeling down by the bed and taking his little hand in mine.
“Billy?” I whispered, forcing a smile into my tone.
“Wake up for mommy, Baby.”
Chapter Fifteen
Danny
Only concerned only with Billy’s wellbeing, I marched downstairs and apologized to our guests, reassuring them that our boy will be fine and that the doctor was on his way.
He did, however, need his rest, I explained, politely asking them to all go home and thanking them for sharing our son’s fourth birthday with us.
As Michael escorted everyone to their cars, offering help and assistance whenever required, I saw Rita and Russ in the corner out on the porch. She was wiping what seemed like tears as he attempted to comfort her with hushed words I didn’t care to hear.
Turning back around, I aimed to walk into the house before getting into a futile argument with her. Unfortunately, she caught a glimpse of me and came hurrying behind me.
“You.” Her spite filled the air. “You turn to me when I’m talking to you!” she yelled.
I, once again, kept on walking as I proceeded to go upstairs.
She followed me, and I heard Russ’s desperate appeals for her to shut up.
“Too chicken shit to face me, aren’t you?” she screamed, the stomps of her feet pounding as she tailed me. “You know you’re not fit to be a father. You’re too rotten to raise a child.”
“Rita, that’s enough!” Russ yelled from behind her.
“You are irresponsible and useless,” she continued, hatred spewing sharp and stinging from her lips. She scoffed, banging her palm against the wall as I made it up to the last step. “I’m not surprised, considering your filthy roots.”
At that moment, Gigi opened the door and stepped outside, her face flushed and her chest rising and falling, visibly reeling with indescribable anger.
“That is enough outta you!” she screamed, shoving her index finger up in her mother’s face as I walked past them, silently going inside. “So help me God, if you don’t shut your mouth right now I will have Michael drag you out and into the guest house until you can get a fucking grip!”
“Calm down.” I heard Russ whisper. “Rita, c’mon.”
I sat down on the chair beside our son’s bed, resting my elbows upon my knees as I leaned forward, observing his breathing and eye movement underneath his soft, pale eyelids.
I listened to their few strained yelps, blurting out unrecognizable words. A ruckus ensued outside the room in what I imagined was Russ trying to break up their argument and pull Rita away.
A few seconds later, Gigi stormed back inside, shutting the door behind her as she sharply exhaled.
“Anything?” Her eyes fixated on the child.
Feeling awfully sorry for her, I pressed my lips into a thin line as I slightly shook my head and placed my chin on tight fists.
At that moment, I was utterly helpless.
Minutes passed in absolute silence, so deafening, I could almost hear our heartbeats in the quiet room. Gigi sat on the opposite edge of the bed, restlessly watching Billy and occasionally touching his face, forehead, hands, and chest.
I thought I saw his eyelids twitch before he began to move his feet and hands, turning to look at me as he lazily opened his eyes.
I held my breath, and my heart stopped.
“Oh my God.” Gigi began to simultaneously laugh and cry, tears running down her cheeks to meet the lifted corners of her flushed lips. “Baby, thank God.”
Launching from the chair, I approached him and gently touched his seemingly unaffected arm, planting small, soft kisses on his fingers, arm, and shoulder.
Gigi, from the other side, started to frantically kiss his face and neck in a mindless frenzy.
“Ow,” he winced, and we both immediately withdrew a few inches, lifting our hands up in the air. Groggily moving his hand toward the other arm, he moaned, “My arm hurts.”
Letting my shoulders finally relax, I breathed out in relief, placing both hands over my eyes before hastily leaving the room.
In the seclusion of our bedroom, I threw my weight down on the bed, finally allowing my knees to give in. As I tried to regulate my breathing with deep inhales and audible exhales, I stretched my arms and popped my knuckles in an attempt to regain composure.
It had been one of the scariest experiences of my life, and I was just gradually coming down.
My ears caught another round of commotion out in the corridor and across the hall before the voices and sounds became most distinct. Rita was back, and she had clearly joined Gigi in Billy’s room.
“Thank God you’re okay, sweetheart.” Rita’s obnoxious screech became understandable. “Gigi, Honey, this can’t go on.”
“Excuse me?” My wife’s tired voice pained me.
“This child—”
The sounds became muffled, and something clunked softly—my guess was the door—before their conversation
moved outside, closer to my hearing.
“He needs a dependable father. A real man who can be accountable and keen on his wellbeing. Danny is none of those things; you have to listen to me.”
“You’re unbelievable,” Gigi strained, trying—and failing, out of enragement—to speak in whispers. “We don’t even know what’s wrong with him yet, and you’re using this as an opportunity to break us up?”
“No, you liste—”
“What are you? Seriously,” she huffed. “Where’s Dad?”
“Downstairs with Michael.”
“Dad?” She yelled out. “Daddy?”
“What do you think your father will do? Wipe away the voice of reason?”
She loudly scoffed, “Reason. Oh my God, I can’t believe how delusional you are right now. Please, go home, I beg you.”
“I will not leave you two alone with him. I can’t even trust him enough with a car right now for Christ’s sake!”
“Mother, you are completely out of li—”
Russ’s voice suddenly echoed through the stairway as he urged Rita to come with him. After negotiation, she finally agreed to go to the guest house until we knew what was wrong with Billy.
That was it.
That was the moment I decided that Rita absolutely had to go. Her spending another day in our house guaranteed nothing but the end of Gigi and I, and the termination of this marriage.
It was a scenario I could not even stomach. I loved Gigi and Billy with my heart, and I wasn’t about to let malevolent little Rita destroy what we had.
Getting up, I started to pace across the room, my legs too restless to settle, and my mind too edgy to quit storming in my head.
Only when my eyes caught sight of Michael’s car pulling over outside with the doctor in the passenger’s seat was I able to push my resolute deliberations aside and scram out of the room.
Before I made it halfway downstairs, Michael was already ushering the physician upward.
“Hello, Doc,” I exhaled before leading the way. “Thank you for comin’ so fast.”
“I’m sure everythin’s fine. Let’s see what we have here.”
We stepped into the room where Gigi was alone at Billy’s side.