by Donna Raider
Saturday morning, the sound of her wife retching in their bathroom yanked Mika awake. She quickly ran warm water over a washcloth and fell to her knees beside Leah to wipe her face and mouth. Leah leaned against her for support.
“Are you okay, honey?” Mika asked anxiously.
“Yes, darling,” Leah groaned. “It is quite normal. Don’t worry about it. It’s just not very pleasant.”
Leah smiled a timid smile at her then began vomiting again. “Truly miserable,” she gasped.
On the third day of her morning sickness, Leah looked at Mika with pleading eyes. “Do you have any idea how long this will go on?” She whimpered. “I hate feeling so sickly.”
“I know you said you wanted to have the whole pregnancy experience,” Mika soothed, washing her face, “but I can make this stop.”
“Yes, please,” Leah’s lips twisted slightly, “I have enjoyed about all of this experience I can stand.”
Mika led her back to their bed and placed her hands on Leah’s abdomen. Immediate warmth and wellbeing spread throughout Leah’s body. She felt wonderful. That was the end of her morning sickness.
##
With the help of her wife and son, Leah breezed through her pregnancy. During her sixth month, they went for a sonogram. Richie was as excited as they.
“Leah, you look wonderful,” Dr. Strand dragged his eyes down the woman’s body. “You are doing an incredible job of controlling your weight. If I didn’t know better, I would think you’re not pregnant.” He weighed the mayor then typed into the iPad for which he had traded his pen and clipboard.
“She has always eaten healthy and taken good care of herself,” Mika volunteered.
“Yes, indeed,” Strand licked his lips. He noticed she hadn’t moved to maternity clothes yet.
“The sonogram, Strand,” Leah said dryly. He was the best surgeon money could buy, but his bedside manner was disgustingly non-existent.
“Oh, of course,” the doctor’s eyes quickly scanned her body one more time. He left the room as she changed into the paper hospital gown.
He moved the new High Definition Live Ultrasound machine so all four of them could see the screen, then applied the cold gel to her stomach before beginning to move the wand around her abdomen.
Loud, steady heartbeats sounded through the machine. All three Crosses gasped as the 3D color picture of their twins came into focus. They were speechless, in awe of God’s creations.
“Looks like one of each,” Strand announced as if he were placing a fast food order.
“A boy and a girl,” all three said in unison.
“Wow! They each have their own little compartment,” Richie softly said as he studied the picture. “A brother and a sister all at once. Life doesn’t get any better than this.”
“Yep,” the doctor confirmed. “Looks like you have gained seven pounds for each fetus. A fourteen-pound weight gain is just perfect. You might want to consider purchasing a few maternity outfits,” he added. “They will be more comfortable.”
“How is everything going between you,” Strand looked from Leah to Mika.
“Wonderful,” Mika smiled, taking her wife’s hand. Tilting her head toward her son, indicating this wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with Richie in the room.
“You’ve resolved your concerns,” the doctor continued, without being specific, afraid the mayor might turn him into a lizard.
“Our lives are perfect,” Leah smiled.
“I was happy to see the new ultrasound and all of the most up-to-date equipment for our delivery room,” Strand smiled sincerely. “Thank you.” He briefly wondered if there was some way, he could induce a minor heart attack in the mayor. He did want to get the latest cardiovascular equipment. Probably a bad idea, he thought.
CHAPTER 12 - Meet My Mother
It was Saturday afternoon in April. Richie was spending the night with Isaac. Leah and Mika were making love on the sofa when Mika felt an icy coldness fill the room. Looking over her wife's shoulder, she saw a woman standing in their family room. Mika immediately pulled the sofa throw over Leah’s bareback and stilled her own movements.
“No. No.” her wife begged. “Please don't stop, baby.”
“Honey, there is a strange woman in our house,” Mika whispered in Leah’s ear.
Leah stilled her movements against Mika and looked back over her shoulder. “Mika,” she said casually, “Meet my mother.”
“I thought she was dead,” Mika frowned as she pulled the blanket tighter around Leah.
“As did I,” Leah growled waving her hand to dress herself and her wife.
Just to be safe, Leah froze Jezebel where she stood. “What are we going to do with her?” Mika asked adjusting her collar that was upside down. “She is one evil looking woman.”
“I think I will strip her of all her powers and let her talk to us,” Leah eyed her mother suspiciously.
Mika nodded and immediately took away all the magic Jezebel possessed. Leah then released her from the statue-like state.
A shocked Jezebel glared at them. She had been surprised at her daughter’s ability to freeze her. Obviously, the girl’s powers had increased tremendously.
“Leah darling,” Jezebel’s sickeningly sweet voice oozed. “I apologize for catching you in such a compromising position. It's not every day a mother finds her daughter rutting like a common whor…”
Mika immediately sprang to her feet and took a step toward Jezebel. With a movement, Mika had seen her wife make many times; Jezebel held her hand palm up in front of her to produce a fireball. She looked confused when nothing happened. She threw out her hand as if willing it to do something. Two lumps of coal appeared in the palm of her hand. The priest knew her wife was antagonizing her mother. Mika couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her lips at Jezebel’s expression of dismay. Frowning, she dropped her hands to her side and continued her tirade.
“Really Leah, the parish priest. Could you have picked anyone more destitute?” Jezebel moved toward her daughter. “At least you aren’t still sleeping with that uncouth sheriff woman.”
“Mother,” Leah glared at the woman, “I would like you to meet my wife, Mika.”
“Wife!” Jezebel squawked. “I wasn’t even invited to the wedding.”
“Yes, well, we thought you were dead,” Leah said icily.
“I am not that easy to kill, dear,” Jezebel continued to move toward her daughter. “I just needed time to come to terms with the fact that my daughter wanted me dead.”
Mika stepped between Jezebel and her wife, stopping Jezebel’s advance toward Leah. “What do you want?” Mika asked quietly.
“To spend time with my daughter, of course,” A disingenuous smile oozed across Jezebel’s face. She turned her full attention to the priest.
“Tell me, Priest,” she spit out the word priest as if it left a bad taste in her mouth, “do you truly believe you are worthy of my daughter?”
“No. No, I don’t.” Mika moved to stare into the witch’s eyes. “I don’t believe anyone on earth is worthy of your daughter, but no one, anywhere, could love her as much as I.”
Jezebel scanned Mika. “Well, you are pretty,” she cackled. “I have to give her credit for that. I guess you are good in bed, too.”
“Why are you here?” Mika asked again.
“The internet,” Jezebel grinned evilly. “Quite possibly the greatest invention of your world. You two have caused quite a ruckus on YouTube. Singing my personal favorite, That Old Black Magic Called Love . I must admit you looked very happy.”
“We are,” Leah glanced at her wife.
Jezebel began to circle Mika, studying her from all sides. “You love her so much, but you let her sleep with others?”
“Such lies, Mother,” Leah gasped. “I have been with Mika six years, and there has never been anyone but her.”
“You would dare call me a liar?” Jezebel held out her hand as if to choke Leah. Nothing happened.
“Is
this what you are trying to do to me, Mother?” Leah slightly moved her head, and Jezebel began to make a gagging, choking sound as her daughter slowly closed her airways.
Just as the older witch fainted from lack of oxygen, her daughter released her and let her fall to the floor in a heap.
Jezebel stayed on the floor for a long time, trying to figure out what was happening. She had heard that her daughter’s magic had increased and that she was now considered the most powerful witch in the world. Jezebel had assumed that was because everyone thought she was dead. Leah was infinitely stronger than she had ever been in the past. She decided to attack the priest.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t see the photo that was in every newspaper and on every possible website?” Jezebel snarled at Mika as she frowned. “You know the one of her with that singer in New York? Obviously, he had just finished with her when the paparazzi took their picture.”
She scowled as both Leah and Mika laughed. “Yes, that was rather embarrassing,” the priest said, her eyes twinkling. “But that was me with her in the dressing room after the performance, and actually, she had just finished with me.”
Leah nodded her head at Mika and her hair turned black, as the sideburns appeared. Jezebel gasped. “It was you, in disguise.” Slyly Jezebel flicked her hand, intending to freeze the priest, but nothing happened. She couldn’t figure out what had happened to all her powers. Her magic wasn’t responding at all.
Jezebel rose and straightened her back, bringing herself to her full height. She turned her most intimidating glare on her daughter. “What have you done to me?” she screamed.
“I have made you safe, Mother,” Leah smiled that all-knowing smile that drove her opponents mad. “Stripped you of your magic.”
“No,” Jezebel howled like an injured animal. “You can’t do that. You’re not strong enough.”
“I am Mother, and I have,” Leah smiled a sad little smile at the shell of a woman before her. “I would rather have you powerless than dead.”
“You ungrateful little…,” Leah flicked her wrist, cutting off her mother’s rant.
“I must apologize for my mother’s behavior,” Leah turned to Mika. “Perhaps she needs to relearn her manners. I think every time she opens her mouth to be cruel or say something bad, a toad should pop out.”
“Or butterflies,” Mika laughed. “They won’t pile up like toads. They’ll just fly away.”
Leah clapped her hands. “Excellent idea. You know I truly did marry you for your brain,” she grinned. Mika leaned down and kissed her. “And all this time I thought you married me because I could…” she whispered the end of the sentence in Leah’s ear. Leah blushed and smiled. “That, too,” she laughed.
Jezebel rolled her eyes. What was wrong with them? They spoke of her as if she weren’t even in the room. They should be terrified, but they weren’t.
“This is what’s going to happen, Mother,” Leah explained. “Every time you speak badly of anyone or to anyone, butterflies will fly out of your mouth. That way we can train you to speak nicely to everyone you meet.”
“You are out of your mind,” Jezebel gasped as a stream of butterflies escaped her mouth. “Leah, I’ll make you pay for this.” Many more colorful monarch butterflies filled the air.
Jezebel clasped a hand over her mouth. “You wretched little…” Butterflies were everywhere, circling the older witch.
“What are we going to do with her?” Mika asked her wife as she pulled Leah into her arms and kissed her briefly.
Leaning back in her wife’s arms, Leah studied her mother for a long time. “Let’s arrange for her to stay at the bed and breakfast,” she smiled.
“We have many guestrooms,” the priest noted. “She could stay with us.”
“Yes, darling, but if she stays with us, it will greatly curtail our, um, activities.” Leah smiled salaciously at her.
“The B&B it is,” Mika kissed her wife as if they were alone. “Can you just transport her there so we can return to what we were doing before she so rudely interrupted us?”
“Sadly, I cannot,” Leah bowed her head. “I’m afraid it will take all the diplomacy you and I possess to convince Ruth and Naomi to allow her to stay in their establishment.”
“Oh, yes, I forgot, the whole evil personified thing.” The priest smiled at her mother-in-law. “Thank God you did not follow in her footsteps.”
“Why don’t you pull the car around and we’ll drive her to the B&B?” Leah stepped back from her wife’s arms and faced her mother.
Leah didn’t want to admit she still feared and distrusted her mother. She hoped Jezebel wouldn’t find out she was pregnant. Deep inside, she suspected that was why the old witch was here.
“Do you need anything, Mother?” she smiled coolly at Jezebel as they waited for Mika to get the car.
“I need you to stop this foolishness,” Jezebel walked slowly toward her daughter. “Give your mother a hug, darling. I’ve missed you so much.”
Leah stood rigidly as her mother wrapped her arms around her. She could feel her mother trying to squeeze the breath from her. She thought of all the times her mother had tortured her, squeezing her until she fainted, or choking her until she couldn’t speak for days. She thought of how much she loved Richie and wondered how anyone could hurt a child as her mother had hurt her.
Leah disengaged herself from her mother’s embrace and started toward the door. “I believe Mika has the car out front for us,” she smirked.
“I am not going anywhere with you,” Jezebel cried. “You are destroying me.”
Leah tilted her head to the side and instantly she and Jezebel were in the car with Mika.
“Oh,” Mika jumped. “I thought you would walk out, but this is fine, too.”
“Mother can be so uncooperative at times,” Leah placed her hand on her wife’s leg, sending electricity tingling through her.
“Umm,” Mika nodded.
Everyone smiled greetings to the mayor when she entered the diner. Then jumped for cover when they saw Jezebel. The appearance of the priest behind her mother-in-law eased their fears enough for them to come out from under the tables and from behind the counter.
“Jezebel,” the sheriff approached the woman hesitantly. “We thought you were dead.”
“I am so sorry to disappoint you, Sheriff,” Jezebel chose her words carefully, not wanting to spew butterflies all over the diner. She wanted to disintegrate the blonde imbecile that had encouraged her daughter to kill her.
“Mother wants to make amends and do better,” Leah smiled her best political smile.
Jezebel shot her daughter a look of hatred, then smiled at those around them. “Yes, I want to be with my daughter and her family, so I am turning over a new leaf. I hope you will accept me.”
“No chance in hell,” Emily huffed. “We don’t want you here. Just because Leah has changed, doesn’t mean you have.”
Seated with Emily, Richie and Amber watched in fascination as the adults traded insults.
“What would an idiot like you know…?” Out came the butterflies. Jezebel clasped her hand over her mouth.
“What the hell is going on?” the sheriff glared at the mayor.
“Mother can be a bit contentious,” Leah nodded, “So I have stripped her of her magic, and she is learning to treat others nicely.”
If looks could have killed, Jezebel would have ripped her daughter’s heart out right in front of everyone and laughed as she crushed it to dust. Unfortunately, for Jezebel, evil looks were all she had left, and they didn’t intimidate anyone.
“The butterflies?” Ruth raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Every time Mother speaks ill of anyone or to anyone, butterflies come out of her mouth.” Leah shrugged her shoulders. “It is a training method used to reinforce good behavior and punish bad behavior.”
“If it is okay with all of you,” the priest smiled to the diner’s patrons, “my mother-in-law is starving so we would like to have dinner.�
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“Sure, Mika,” Levi nodded. “Whatever the mayor says. If you two say it’s okay, we’re okay,” the diners quickly nodded and agreed it was fine with them if the Cross family wanted to eat dinner there.
“Well, it’s not okay with me!” Emily cast a fierce look at Leah.
“Please, darling,” Jezebel whined to her daughter, “just melt her.” More butterflies fluttered from her lips.
The sheriff’s eyes narrowed as she studied Jezebel. “So, if I antagonize the old bat, the worst she can do to me is spit out butterflies.”
“You worthless guttersnipe…,” Jezebel railed at the sheriff as butterflies filled the room. Mika opened the door and let the beautiful insects outside.
“I don’t believe your job description includes antagonizing elderly women,” the priest shamed the sheriff.
“Elderly women!” Jezebel screamed. “You impertinent…” More butterflies.
Everyone in the diner began to laugh and talk at the same time. The Cross family seated themselves in their booth in the back Richie quickly moved to his mother. “May we join you,” he hugged her.
“Of course, sweetheart,” Leah smiled her wonderful smile. “Mother this is Amber Stone, a friend of ours. Amber, this is my mother, Jezebel.” Leah moved closer to Mika making room for Amber in their booth.
Richie slid in beside Jezebel. “So, you’re not dead now, right?” the boy asked innocently.
“I am very much alive,” Jezebel answered him haughtily.
“So, you can love my mom?” Richie’s eyes were big and round. “She truly is the most wonderful person in the entire world,” he grinned his biggest grin and reached to squeeze his mother’s hand.
“It appears many people share your opinion of your mother,” Jezebel grimaced.
“Yes,” Richie agreed. “She is the best mayor a town could ever have. Mika says she is the best wife a woman could ever dream of, and I know she’s the best mother in the entire universe.”
Jezebel turned to study the boy to see if he was aggravating her, too. She saw only honest love for her daughter in his eyes.
“Your mother is a very fortunate woman,” Jezebel mumbled