Star Bright

by Christina OW

  “It kind of worked, which reminds me, there is a one year old waiting to be tucked in and a four year old busting with stories about his first day in school.”

  “That doesn’t mean you are dodging the talk.” he moved closer to her, forcing him to bend his head to look at her.

  “I wouldn’t dare.” she feigned shock.

  He leaned down and kissed her, longer than he had before. He smiled, tasting her soft lips and he was glad when she kissed him back, allowing her hands to drape over his shoulders. He pulled back and looked earnestly into her green eyes, “Please, don’t stop Michael from calling me dad. I promise I will be a better father to him than Ricky.”

  Maria looked at him, his sincerity tugged at her heart. She knew he would keep his promise, but she still needed to protect Michael, “He’s never had a father.” she said with a sob in her voice. She turned him around and pushed him out the door, “We’ll talk about that later, right now you need to spend time with them before they go to bed.”

  He took her hand and walked to the living room with her, “Okay, but tonight we are setting a clear path for our future as a family, no dodging, and no changing the subject.”

  “I’ll be on my best behavior.” she pulled her hand out of his when they got close to the kids. She sat on the single seat, watching Izzy play, as Dave and Michael shared the couch and talked about school.

  It was hours before the conversation ended and Michael nodded off. Izzy fell asleep in Maria’s arms minutes after Dave got home, but Dave didn’t want to take her up yet, he just wanted the four of them in the same room, acting like the family they all wanted to be, and were. They tucked Michael in first before they put Izzy to bed, Maria was exhausted too, but Dave seemed to be running on batteries. He wasn’t sure when he would have an opportunity to talk seriously with Maria again, and besides, she didn’t have an early day so she could sleep in, he on the other hand had to be up before the sun.

  He left Maria in Izzy’s room whispering the three generations blessing to call Todd on his cell phone, “Hey, be at the office at seven tomorrow, I want to get things done by next week.” he hung up in the middle of Todd’s whining.

  Maria closed the door quietly behind her and turned to Dave’s smiling face with an exhausted look on her face, “I guess we aren’t going to sleep.” she let her hair loose and ruffled it up to let some cold air in it.

  “If you’d prefer we could have the talk either in your room or mine.” Dave said casually, “If you want to be comfortable.”

  Maria stopped what she was doing and eyed him suspiciously, “Nice try, we’ll talk downstairs where it’s open, with several exits.” She led the way down the flight of stairs.

  “I wouldn’t make you do what you don’t want to do.”

  “That’s the problem, I might want to do what you wouldn’t make me do.”

  When they got to the bottom of the steps, Dave pulled her to him and held her against him. The fast movement made her hair fall delicately over her eyes making her look even more beautiful. Dave leaned down and lightly brushed his lips against hers, “Why would that be a problem?” he whispered on her lips.

  Maria’s heart raced at their closeness, her lips parted slightly in anticipation of a kiss. She’d never felt such a response to a man in such a long time and she liked it. Four months ago if he pulled her like that, her hands would have been up covering her face, but now her hands were at ease on his arms and her lips enjoyed the tease and temptation his gave.

  “Well yes.” she whispered, “there are a number of reasons why that would be wrong, but I can’t think of any right now.”

  “No reasons, then there is nothing to stop me from doing what you might want to do, but don’t want to, and sure, I wouldn’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.” he leaned down closer catching her lips with his and kissing her so softly that it made her tremble. He rubbed her sides gently, that made her body tingle, and reminding her of the pleasures a man’s touch could bring, something she had long forgotten.

  After a few minutes of what felt like Maria’s first sincere blissful kiss, she pulled away laughing, “Did you just come up with a tongue twister?”

  Dave smiled, caressing her back, “What can I say, I’m a genius.”

  Maria punched him in the chest before she took his hand and led him to the couch, “Your ego is bigger than this whole house.” she sat down and cuddled against him, “but I do have to admit, you are a genius and the best at what you do, so the ego is understandable.”

  “A jeer and a compliment in one sentence, you must really like me.”

  She sat up and looked at him, “What can I say, you’ve grown on me.”

  “Does that mean we can officially be together?” Dave asked eagerly, “Like an item?”

  Maria laughed, “That sounded so high school. When was the last time you dated?”

  “Freshman year, college.” he confessed, “That’s when I met Amy, so it’s been close to eleven years.”

  Maria did a little math in her head before she spoke, “You are twenty-nine? That’s pretty young for a big shot lawyer.”

  “I’m actually thirty.”

  “It’s still pretty young. Wow, you really do have the right to have such a big ego.” she admired him and gave him a lot more respect. She always thought he was in his mid thirties or closer to forty with how mature, focused, strong handed and arrogant he was.

  Dave felt shy at her compliment, “I love what I do and I try to give a hundred percent to everything, I get that from my dad.”

  “So you must get your looks from your mom, because you have this boyish prettiness when you smile or when you’re really happy.” She placed her hand on the side of his neck and played with his hair. He hadn’t gotten the time to cut it and it wasn’t its usual professional cut.

  “Who do you take after?” Dave tried to concentrate on the conversation because her fingers were sending volts along his neck and shoulder, if he wasn’t sure she would get frightened he would jump her.

  “My mom says I take mostly after Miguel, but I think I look more like her. Apart from the eyes and chin, Michael takes after Miguel, which my mom is positive about.”

  “You blame Miguel for what Ricky did to you, don’t you?” He asked, unconsciously. He couldn’t help but feel the compulsion to defend her father, but he didn’t want Maria to feel like she didn’t have someone to support her. But Miguel was trying, risking his freedom to come back, why, Dave wasn’t sure.

  Maria pulled her hand out of Dave’s hair and stuck it in hers, “Yes and no.” she pulled her lips in a quick tight smile, “It hurt me that he didn’t come back to see me and how I was doing. Sometimes I think if he had, he would have been like all dads and just kept me away from Ricky when I thought I was in love with him, or forcefully pulled me out of the relationship when he first hit me.” she chuckled nervously, “I was really hoping he would come back and just shoot Ricky, which I bet, wouldn’t have been much of a problem for him.”

  “Why didn’t you leave when he first hit you?”

  “Mama tried to make me but.” she shrugged her shoulder unable to repeat the stupid words, ‘I loved him, after a few months I just couldn’t.”

  “Battered women syndrome.” Dave said harshly, unable to keep the anger out of his voice.

  Maria looked at him and smiled. She could see his tempered volcano was about to blow, but she was prepared for it, it wouldn’t catch her off guard this time, “That and he told me he would take Michael away from me if I dared to leave him.”

  Dave bit his tongue and stayed quiet for a moment, he didn’t speak until he was sure his anger wouldn’t make its way out, “How did you get your scar?” he pointed to her forehead.

  “If I start giving you the history of every scar on my body we’ll be here all night.”

  “I don’t think a man would hurt his own son.” even as the words left his mouth he knew they didn’t apply to Ricky.

  Maria blinked back tears as
the memory of Michael’s bleeding forehead filled her mind, “Well Ricky would.” her voice was shaky and full of emotion, “He and I have close to identical scars.” she lifted her finger to her forehead and traced out a line, “his is a centimeter shorter and a little higher.”

  Dave pulled her hand down, held it in his and kept silent, he didn’t know what to say to comfort her. There were no words to comfort such anguish, “I swear I thought he was dead.” she sobbed and let the tears flow freely down her cheeks, “one second he was standing over me yelling, the next he was still on his bed, the gash on his head bleeding like a running tap.”

  She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand as her face creased in anger, “I felt like he squeezed my heart with his bare hands, I just wanted to kill him.”

  Dave knew he shouldn’t ask, but he was sure her answer would fit the missing piece of the puzzle, “Did you?”

  Maria knew it was his lawyer side asking that, he was probably thinking up a defense for her, if only the ass was dead, “Don’t you already know that answer?” she asked calmly.

  “It was ruled as an accident, therefore there is no case against you, but I just want you to tell me what really happened.”

  Maria nodded. She wasn’t so scared about telling the story anymore, there was no risk of going to jail because no one died. She was stunned, but grateful the sheriff hadn’t put that in the police report, “Mama got Michael out of the house when he was still unconscious and bleeding, I stayed to give them a little more time to run before Ricky caught up with them. He chased me around the house, but thanks to his heavy drinking he didn’t catch me, but he tripped me. I hit the kitchen table and the candles fell, the whole place caught on fire fast. Ricky was so focused on hurting me, he didn’t even notice the flames. He fell and knocked himself out and I ran.”

  Dave remembered that from her police statement, “You kept running and didn’t look back.” repeating what he read.

  “Don’t believe everything you read.” she said quietly, making Dave give her a perplexed look, “I stood there and watched for a while. I wanted to make sure he didn’t come out. I only ran when I heard Michael call for me, then...” she paused and looked at him. She wanted to see from his reaction how much of a monster he thought she was, but his face remained unchanged, “Then mama and I watched the house burn down until the sheriffs came. We needed to be certain he was dead and that Michael was safe.” She sobbed, knowing that there was no such luck for her, all she did was put Michael in more danger than he was before.

  “That’s one less bastard in the world. It was considerate of him to take himself out.” Dave spoke candidly.

  Maria laughed, that was the same line she had used on Edna and Jane, “Say I got arrested, could that be a defense?”

  “It’s a good thing you left the last part out, although the abuse would have been cited as a motive. I would have gotten you off easy.”

  “I wouldn’t have been able to afford your services.”

  “They would be free, because I like you so much.” He pulled her closer to him and tucked her by his side.

  “With a lawyer like you on my side, I should be on a crime spree.” Maria joked. She turned to make herself more comfortable against him. She felt light and free after telling him the truth, close to the truth, and knowing he didn’t judge her, made her like him even more.

  “I’d have you put on house arrest and be your personal warden,” he rubbed her arm and felt a few bumps on her inner part. He stretched her arm out and looked at it, there were a few small straight scars. He then lifted her arm closer to his face and surveyed the whole of it. There was a long one on her wrist, two in her palm and a few on her fingers.

  She would normally pull away and cover up her body if someone took a look at her scars, but instead she leaned her head back and watched his face. His expressions kept changing from anger to pain as he traced each scar with his fingers, “If those disgust you, you won’t like the rest of my body.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked harshly. Unable to contain the anger from his voice.

  She pulled her arm down and weaved her fingers with his, “I have a few more on my legs, and you’ve seen the ones on my forehead.”

  “And your hair line and upper back.” he continued.

  “How did you... never mind. Anyway, Ricky hit, cut and burned the places people couldn’t see, he had to change his focus points to parts that weren’t visible when our neighbors and friends started to notice.”

  “He burned you?” Dave hissed out.

  “Yes. His main aim was to disfigure me so that guys would stop looking at me lustfully.” she spoke comfortably, unlike she ever did with anyone else, not even her mother, “My cursed beauty is one of the reasons I don’t like Miguel much.”

  Dave wrapped both his arms around her, “Is that why you don’t like to be looked at?” She stiffened a little before she relaxed. Dave was getting used to that and he understood her. That particular reflex had become a part of her, but he always hoped for the day she would trust him enough not to hurt her.

  “You don’t miss anything do you? With everything that’s happened in my life, I grew to hate men, except for Michael and you of course.”

  He kissed the top of her head, “Thanks, that means a lot to me.”

  “You’re welcome. Now could you please tell your journalist to come home, he’s attracted enough attention.”

  “Tomorrow.” Dave wasn’t sure she told him everything, he still felt something was still missing, “Maria have you told me everything?”

  Maria kept her voice steady, “Yes,” she was glad she wasn’t looking at him, because he would pick up the lie immediately.

  “How long do you need before we become an item?”

  “If the relationship stays on a PG thirteen status I don’t need any more time to wait.”

  “Okay, we’ll take it slow, but I want to sleep holding you tonight, so will it be your room or mine.”

  Maria smiled, he wasn’t asking, he was telling, “Yours is just fine.”

  “Good, let’s go to sleep. I have an early morning and you have to be up to take Michael to school.” Dave stood up and led her up the stairs.

  “Michael Greer, you still haven’t explained that to me.” Maria followed him, feeling comfortable, with no anxiety attacks or the need to run and hide, not even his touch, knowing his intentions and feelings for her, made her skin crawl. She had come a long way from being a frightened little girl scared of her own shadow and she was proud of herself.

  “I will, tomorrow at lunch.” He opened the door to his room and led her in.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Michael tapped Maria on her shoulder to wake her, “Mama, wake up I need to get to school.”

  Maria turned to face him, “One more minute.” she mumbled, then pulled the cover over her head.

  “No mama now!” he shook her, “Dave, tell her to wake up.” Maria pulled the cover off and sat up straight, fully awake. She finally realized where she was and she got pensive about Michael’s reaction, “Never mind, she’s up.” Michael knelt on the bed and kissed her nose before he turned to Dave, “So can I come for lunch today?”

  “Good morning Maria.” Dave laughed when he saw the surprised look on her face. He put Izzy down on the bed and walked to the mirror to tie his tie, “You can’t come to my office during the day anymore, you have school, and you have new friends you can have lunch with.”

  Maria watched the two converse casually, like there wasn’t a huge pink elephant in the room. She felt uncomfortable and mortified having been caught by Michael in a man’s bed. She expected him to ask her a million questions, she would most definitely turn red trying to answer, but Michael completely ignored her. Izzy crawled to her and hoisted herself up against Maria. She held her face in between her little hands, kissed her nose, then settled on her lap, pulling the heavy covers over her legs. Maria smiled, she really loved Izzy and she was glad Michael loved her as well, she wondered
what else he had taught her.

  “Okay, but I’m coming on Saturday.” Michael insisted, “I don’t like missing lunch with you.”

  “Sure, we’ll spend the whole day together, give your mom a break.” Dave hoisted Michael then Izzy off the bed, “Take her downstairs and get ready for school, we’ll be right down.”

  “Okay, mama hurry up.” Michael took Izzy’s hand and led her out the room.

  “Bye.” Izzy sang out as she waved and walked out behind Michael.

  Maria waved back until the door closed behind them, then she jumped off the bed completely freaked out, “Why did you let them in before I had a chance to get out of bed?” Maria half yelled.

  “You looked peaceful, it would have been a crime to wake you up.” he answered her calmly, watching her pace the room fretting. “Besides, the kids are fed, dressed and ready to leave.”

  “That is not the point, Michael caught me in your bed.” she sat on the king size bed and held her head in her hands, “What he must be thinking.” she moaned.

  Dave chuckled, “For a four year old, a lot.” he picked up his jacket from the mini sofa.

  Her head jerked up, “What do you mean?” She stood up and moved to him, “He asked you what I was doing in your bed didn’t he?” she asked worried. This was one of the times she wished she had a normal four year old.

  “Yes.” he pulled his jacket on and straightened out his shirt.

  “Well, are you waiting for a bell? Spill!”

  Dave laughed as he straightened out her tussled hair with his fingers, “I told him mommy slept in my bed because I was afraid of the dark.”

  “He’s four, not stupid. What did you really tell him?”

  “That we only slept in the same bed to keep each other company and nothing else happened.”

  “That’s it?” Maria asked perplexed. She knew her son and she was sure there must have been more.

  “He was glad that you were my girlfriend now.” Dave lied. He didn’t want Maria to start her day with a cloud hanging over her head, “And I asked him to call me Dave on occasion just to keep you comfortable.”