by Lila Moore
“The police are going to arrest me. Luke hates me. I’ll never get into college. You’ve ruined my future. I hope you’re happy.”
“Why would the police arrest you?”
“The paramedics overheard you tell Luke that I pushed you down the stairs.”
She waved her free hand in the air dismissively. “I’ll tell the cops it was an accident-that I tripped. I can’t let my only daughter become a convict. What would people say?”
I scoffed. “Of course. The most important thing is your reputation.”
“Sit down, sweetheart. Let’s talk.”
She pointed to the seat beside her bed. I couldn’t believe how calm she was, though I shouldn’t be surprised. Everything was going exactly to plan. She was getting everything she wanted: Luke.
“I’d rather stand,” I replied.
“Suit yourself. I just want you to know there are no hard feelings. We’re even now.”
“No hard feelings? People think I intentionally pushed you down the stairs to give you a miscarriage. I don’t think you were even pregnant to begin with.”
“You’re a smart girl just like me.”
A strange look passed over her face. For a moment, I thought she looked proud of me. My disgust with her rose to new heights. I turned to leave.
“Gigi, don’t go.”
“What?”
“I’m going to set things right. One of my Daddies has a son that’s your age. He’s obscenely wealthy, smart and cute. You’d be perfect for him. He loves books and art just like you.”
“I don’t care. I’m not playing your game anymore.”
“Spend some time with him. In the end, you’ll see that this was all for the best.”
I left the room without a word. I didn’t see the point in arguing with her. She would never see the error of her ways. All that mattered to Val was getting what she wanted. Collateral damage didn’t concern her.
As I walked towards the exit, I heard one of the nurses calling after me. I didn’t care. Whatever problems my mother had were hers to deal with. I was done.
Luke
I desperately needed a stiff drink. I threw myself down in the chair where Genevieve had been sitting. It was still warm with her body heat. In that moment, all I could think was how much I hated Trent. The bastard had been right about everything: the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Genevieve was exactly like her mother. She’d lied and manipulated me; she’d made me into a fool. No. That’s not fair. Genevieve didn’t turn me into a fool. I am one by nature.
How could I have trusted her? Once her mother had tried to take advantage of me, I should have known Genevieve would follow. Still, something bothered me. Doubt nagged at the back of my mind. What if Genevieve was telling the truth? It was preposterous to think Val would fake a fall down a flight of stairs and induce, or fake, a miscarriage. What could her motivation be?
I searched our past, but came up empty. She’d try to force me to marry her once; when her planned failed had she decided to take it to the next level? I shook the thought away. Even for Val, it was insane. And the baby… would she risk the life of her unborn child just to secure a marriage to me?
Tears welled up in my eyes. I swallowed hard and blinked them away. I was going to be a father and I never even knew. Now it was too late. The baby was gone. But who was responsible? Val? Genevieve?
I didn’t know Genevieve well, but I refused to believe the sensitive girl I’d known for a short period of time would try and kill her unborn sibling. She must have really believed Val was never pregnant.
The stain on the front of Val’s jeans passed through my mind. Was she bleeding, or had the blood been placed their like a spill? It was impossible to know for sure. The room had been dark and in the chaos of the moment all I could think about was getting Val to the hospital.
There was one way to find out: I could just ask her.
I jumped to my feet and marched down the hall to her room. I threw open her hospital room door, expecting to find Genevieve, but the room was empty except for Val. She was lying propped up in bed, her arm in a sling. Dark circles left deep marks beneath both her eyes. Her makeup was smeared as if it had been half-removed.
For the first time, I could Val’s age. She looked about a decade older than usual. She was still beautiful, but she looked rough around the edges. It was understandable; she’d been through a lot.
When she saw me, she smiled weakly. She opened her mouth to speak. Her voice came out scratchy and barely a whisper. I went to her side and took her hand.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“Okay,” she said meekly. “It’s not true what the doctor said, you know?”
“What’s not true?”
“I didn’t lose the baby. I couldn’t have. Oh, Luke, say it isn’t true.”
Her voice broke and her face twisted. I couldn’t pull her to me because of her shoulder so I did my best to comfort her. I leaned over and wrapped an arm around her.
“Have you talked to Gigi?” she asked. “I’d hoped she’d come to visit me. I’m sure she didn’t mean to… to…”
Her voice caught in her throat as she choked back a sob.
“It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
She wiped her eyes. I noticed there weren’t any tears falling down her cheeks. Was she faking?
“I have to talk to her. I don’t know how my baby girl could do such a thing. She must have been confused. I’m sure she didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Val, what were you doing in my apartment?”
She looked down at her hands.
“I wanted to apologize to you in person. What I did was unforgivable. I was so blinded by my feelings for you. When I used your credit card to buy the engagement ring, I thought it would be a story we both laughed over, a story we’d share with our grandchildren.” Her voice cracked again. “We’ll never have grandchildren now, will we?”
I rubbed her back.
“I still had the key you gave me a couple months ago, so I thought I’d let myself in. I was going to surprise you and return the ring… as soon as I found it, anyway. I discovered it was missing earlier. I was terrified I’d lost it. I’d had it insured though. If it was missing I would have paid you the insurance claim. You believe me, don’t you? Say you do. I can’t stand the idea of you thinking of me as a liar and a thief.”
“I believe you,” I said, though I wasn’t sure I did. I couldn’t remember ever giving her a key to my apartment either. Had she stolen it?
“When I snuck in, it was dark. I thought maybe you were still at work, then I heard a noise upstairs…”
She let her words linger dramatically.
“I thought it was you. I went upstairs to find Gigi naked in bed.”
She looked up at me with big blue eyes. They looked glassy. I couldn’t tell if it was the effect of tears or the pain meds she was on.
“What was she doing there, Luke? I know you would never sleep with my daughter. Did she try to seduce you? Did you know she was upstairs in your bed naked? What a stupid question. Of course you did.”
She covered her face with her free hand and made loud sobbing noises. I stiffened and glanced at the door. Sleeping with my exes’ daughter was not the smartest decision I’d ever made, but I’d thought Val was out of my life for good. That may not make it right, but I couldn’t help being drawn to Genevieve. We had a connection I couldn’t ignore.
“I deserve the pain. I deserve it all after what I did to you. Maybe Gigi was right to push me down the stairs. I’ve been a horrible mother. I’ve neglected her. If I’d spent less time with you and more time with her, maybe she wouldn’t have lashed out like this. It’s all one big cry for attention, don’t you think? She couldn’t stand the idea of sharing my love with a new baby. Poor Gigi. I’d forgotten all about my first baby. I’m going to fix things. This is all my fault.”
Despite my nagging suspicions, I found myself comforting Val.
“It’s not your fault.
You’re not a bad mother.”
I remembered Val abandoning Genevieve after that fateful dinner a couple weeks ago. It was a shitty thing to do, but it didn’t make her a terrible mother, did it?
“I’m sure you were just overwhelmed,” I said. “Being a single mother isn’t easy.”
“No, it isn’t.”
She grabbed my hand and squeezed it hard.
“Luke, I want you to know something. If you decide to choose Genevieve over me, I completely understand. I’ll respect your choice and step aside. And, I’m going to find your ring and return it. I haven’t forgotten about it.”
“I have the ring.”
“What? How?”
“Genevieve brought it to me tonight.”
Val’s face fell. “She stole it. She knew she could use it to weasel her way into your life.”
What Val was saying made a kind of sense. Genevieve was young. Girls her age fall for men easily. They get swept away in a fantasy and they do what they can to make sure it becomes a reality. But that didn’t explain why Genevieve had refused to return my calls until I threatened her with the police.
The memory still made me cringe. It had been one of a series of foolish things I’d done. I’d accused her of lying and manipulating me when I’d done the very same thing to get her to agree to meet me. I had no business snapping at her the way I had.
Genevieve had seemed sincere when she’d said she planned to stay away from me after being told by Val she was carrying my baby. She’d said she wanted to return the ring and have one final goodbye. Was that really so unreasonable?
Yet again, I’d made things worse.
Still, I had a hard time believing Val would fake all this. It was extreme-even for her. I needed to talk to Genevieve. Val squeezed my hand.
“Before you make a choice,” she said, “there’s something you need to know about Genevieve. She’s not well.”
“What do you mean? She’s sick?”
“Yes. Not physically, but mentally. A year ago I had to have her institutionalized.”
“Why?”
“She attacked me.”
I dropped Val’s hand. It couldn’t be true. Genevieve in a mental institution? I couldn’t picture it.
“Ask her yourself if you don’t believe me,” Val said.
That was exactly what I would do. I stood and started to leave. Val grabbed my shirt sleeve.
“If this is it, will you kiss me goodbye? I’d hate to think the last time I ever saw you, you stormed out of my hospital room, leaving me to wonder if I’d made the worst mistake of my life. One last kiss. Please?”
I leaned over, intending to kiss her on the forehead, but Val was too quick. Her lips found mine, soft and sweet. Her mouth opened and her tongue brushed against mine. I cradled her face gently as she kissed me harder.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped and turned to find Genevieve standing behind me. A look of shock and rage twisted her face.
“You two really do deserve each other,” she said with disgust as she ran out of the room.
“Gen, wait!”
I ran after her to the sound of Val’s sobs.
Genevieve
I’d made it as far as the hospital parking lot. Then I changed my mind. I’d resolved to cut my mother out of my life for good, but something pulled me back. I wanted to tell her off. If I was never going to see her again, I wanted to leave her with a parting gift. I wanted her to know exactly what I thought of her. She may not care about the damage she’d wrought in my life, but I’d never be able to move on unless I told her exactly how much she’d hurt me.
I turned around and marched back into the hospital with a renewed sense of purpose. I wouldn’t let her speak. I’d tell her exactly how I felt, then I’d return home, pack my bags and leave. I had no idea where I’d go, but I’d figure it out even if it meant homelessness. Hell, panhandling seemed like a better alternative than having to live under the same roof as Val.
I took a breath then opened my mother’s hospital room door. Luke’s back was to me. He held Val’s face in his hand while he kissed her passionately.
Stars danced in front of my eyes. I thought I would pass out.
“What are you doing?” I said breathlessly.
Luke jumped out of bed like he’d been electrocuted. He looked confused. My mother licked her lips. The corner of her mouth twitched like she was about to laugh. My heart dropped; my stomach twisted into knots. The pale green walls of the hospital room closed in on me. I had to get out.
I ran to the sound of Luke calling after me. Was he nuts? Did he think I was going to hang around and watch him make out with my mother? I hated him with every fiber of my being for falling for my mother’s bullshit. How could be so oblivious? I never wanted to see him again.
Luke
Genevieve was moving fast. She made it out of the hospital to the emergence drop-off before I was able to catch up with her.
“Just leave me alone,” she screamed. “You’re pathetic. How can you not see that she’s lying and manipulating you?”
The hurt in Genevieve’s eyes made me want to die. I wanted to tell her that it wasn’t what it looked like, that her mother had insisted on a goodbye kiss. I’d indulged her because… well, I wasn’t sure.
In the moment, I’d pitied Val. Denying her a final kiss felt excessively cruel, especially if it turned out she was telling the truth. I wanted to explain to Genevieve, but I knew it was pointless. She was too blinded by her feelings to hear what I had to say.
“What has she lied about?” I asked, as gently as possible.
“Everything! How can you not see that?”
“I know she’s lied to me about a lot. Her story was so dramatic. It doesn’t make sense.”
Genevieve sniffled. The anger in her eyes seemed to ease a bit.
“You don’t believe her?”
I had the strange sense that if I didn’t answer correctly, I could break Genevieve into a million pieces. I’d never seen her look so fragile. I wanted to hold her and convince her it was all one big misunderstanding. I took a step towards her. She took a step back.
“Just tell me what she said,” Genevieve demanded.
“She said she snuck into the house to surprise me and found you lying in bed naked. The next part was unclear, but she said you pushed her down the stairs.”
I left out most of the details. They would only upset Genevieve more.
“It’s not true,” she said, sounding exhausted.
“She told me you have a history of violence.”
Genevieve’s eyes narrowed. She looked up at me sharply.
“She said you had to be institutionalized,” I continued. “Is that true?”
“No,” she snapped and turned her back on me. She buried her face in her hands.
After a moment, she said: “Yes.”
“What?”
“It’s true. I was in a mental institution.”
Part Three
Genevieve
“That dress makes you look fat.”
“You just said that I look too skinny,” I replied.
“Well, you’re skinny-fat. You could stand to hit the gym and tone up.”
I picked up my clothes and headed into the bathroom. I quickly decided that I didn’t need Michael’s opinion on my outfit. Asking for a compliment was too much. I would never satisfy his impossible standards.
“Where are you going? You don’t have to hide. You can change in front of me.”
I pretended like I didn’t hear him and closed the bathroom door behind me. I leaned against the sink and stared at myself in the mirror. My hair was long and messy. I’d barely run a comb through it when I woke up this morning. I just didn’t seem to have the energy to do anything.
Michael had promised me a night out on the town. He said it would lift my spirits. I was planning on wearing jeans, but he insisted I dress nicely, or as he put it: “I can’t be seen out with an ugly girl.”
He’d said it with a laugh like it was a big joke, but I wasn’t sure he was kidding.
Times were desperate. My mother had sunk to a new low by telling Luke about my time in a mental institution. She knew it would convince Luke that I was a liar and she was right. After our confrontation in the hospital parking lot, he’s made no effort to get in touch with me. I’d gone straight home, packed my things and blindly headed out the door. After roaming the city streets for hours, I realized I couldn’t sleep in the park; it was too scary.
Against my better instincts, I called Michael. I figured he’d want nothing to do with me after being humiliating by Luke, but he was eager to take me in. He greeted me with a big smile. It was then I understood his eagerness to help; he wanted to rub it in Luke’s face. He had no interest in my wellbeing; this was about winning.
As I considered myself in the dirty bathroom mirror, it was hard to imagine there were any winners in this game. I slipped off my dress and turned to the side. What I saw made me nauseous. I was starting to show. A small baby bump gave my stomach a fullness it had never had before.
So far, no one seemed to suspect I was pregnant. My bump was small. I didn’t look pregnant yet, just bloated. Michael had made a few comments about how I was getting fatter, but he didn’t know the truth. If he found out, I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be. He’d probably kick me out. Then what? Returning home was not an option. The idea of asking Luke for money made me sick. I never wanted to see him again. But if I was going to keep this baby, then I was going to have to swallow my pride and ask him for help. The baby was his responsibility too.
I put on a short black dress with a sweater over it. The sweater hid my stomach while the miniskirt showcased my legs. I thought it would satisfy Michael’s desire to see me in a ‘sexy’ outfit.
Since moving in with him, he’d tried repeatedly to convince me to sleep with him. I’ve refused so far. Before finding out I was pregnant, I would have jumped into Michael’s arms in a heartbeat. The idea of sleeping with him while carrying another man’s baby felt repulsive to me now.