The Stranger On The Roadside
AN: This story was inspired by Heart's "All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You". I was hoping for a one-shot but it didn't happen.
On Saturday morning, the Kennedy family woke up late in their new home on Deer Run Drive located on the Tobesofkee Lake in Macon, Georgia.
Malyk, Michonne, and their son R.J. dined on the elevated deck overlooking the lake that morning to the sound of birds chirping and overall quiet compared to their main home in Buckhead, Atlanta. Their Macon home was situated on a secluded lot of one and a half acres surrounded by mature trees with a huge back yard and a fire pit; down the incline at the water level was a dock something which enticed Malyk to the property as he started looking at catalogues for his latest hobby.
The blue sky was bright with sunshine and nary a cloud to be seen, and the water was pristine blue from its reflection. It was a perfect June morning. The high expected that day, a whopping 91°F.
The young family's mission was to discover their new city having recently expanded their business by opening another two restaurants in the area. In total, they had three restaurants in the vicinity including the one in the neighbouring town called King County.
After spending the afternoon at the Tubman Museum, Malyk, Michonne, and R.J. drove to their newest restaurant, M&M's Cuisine for an early dinner.
At the Cherry Street intersection, while waiting for the light to change, the sheriff's vehicle was three cars behind theirs. The light changed and Malyk executed his turn and drove into the restaurant's parking lot.
Malyk sat in the side booth near the front with his back facing the door. He sat across from Michonne and their son who sat on the inside closest to the window and waited for the waitress to bring their meals.
...
R.J. picked up his crayon and began colouring his placemat, but stopped when the door opened and the sheriff walked in. R.J. was like any other young boy, he was fascinated with policemen. But that day, when the sheriff walked in the front door with his shades on, R.J. didn't feel comfortable when the man removed his sunglasses and stared at him.
"Mommy, are we in trouble?" he asked his mother as the policeman stared at their table.
"Of course not, baby. Why?" Michonne asked, looking at the distress on her son's face.
Malyk turned his head to his left away from his wife and looked over his shoulder to see what caused his son's reaction.
Michonne looked up at the same time to see the stranger's piercing blue eyes staring directly at them, instantly her mouth felt parched. In an instant, something that was never supposed to happen happened when both her past and present collided.
"Why is that policeman staring at us?" R.J. asked.
...
Sheriff Rick Grimes sat in his SUV and called his order in then spent time going through his iPad while waiting to pick up his dinner.
By the time, Sheriff Grimes entered the establishment to pick up his order, the family was already seated and waiting for their meals.
Rick exited his vehicle and closed the door. He walked at a normal pace as he approached the restaurant taking in his surroundings, a hazard of his job. There was a movement in the front window which caught his attention as a young brown-skin boy, bent down to retrieve something he dropped. The boy sat next to a dark-skin woman, but not just any woman. It was her. It was only her profile but since that night, her face was etched into his memory.
Rick couldn't believe his eyes, it was her—Nikki, the woman from six years earlier. He pulled the door open and walked into the restaurant. He stood there momentarily transfixed when his own eyes stared back at him. The brown-skinned young boy sat next to the woman he knew as Nikki. She sat across from a tall black man whose back was to him, but Rick knew without a doubt the boy was his son. He removed his shades and placed them into his pocket and looked at the happy family.
At that moment, his emotions ran the gamut from surprised to sad then again from happy to angry. Then he recalled the note she left behind that morning. She referred to them as lost souls, who were trapped in a moment in time. She declared her love for another man and begged him to understand that what they shared ended in that room and begged him not to look for her.
He often wondered whatever became of Nikki and now he knew. She used him. She took his seed and raised his son with another man.
Rick searched his memory because, at the time, he recalled the entire situation reminded him of a song he heard on the radio, right down to the note she left behind. As he stood there, however, he couldn't recall the damn song but found the irony in the situation that the woman who didn't want to be found happened to turn up in his town years later.
He wasn't even sure what he wanted. But he couldn't not say anything about it. The woman, whoever she was, had robbed him of damn near five years of his son's life.
"Sheriff Grimes, you're right on time, your order's up," Olivia called to the lawman.
...
Six years earlier...
Michonne checked the pregnancy test and was disappointed once more.
A few weeks later came the gut-wrenching news as to why they couldn't conceive. At thirty, Malyk Kennedy had just been given the sucker punch by his urologist. He was sterile. Who would have thunk it? He was in the prime of his life. His body was his temple, he believed in exercise and a healthy lifestyle.
Michonne and Malyk Kennedy were one of the new up and coming power couples in Atlanta, Georgia. But despite their financial successes, the one thing they wanted most eluded them. At present, they sat beside one another on the white leather sofa in their perfectly Feng Shui designed living space and comforted each other after receiving the devastating news.
Malyk's large carob coloured hand caressed Michonne's mahogany forearm. "I'm so sorry, babe. I know how much this means to you, but—it isn't over because we still have options," Malyk added. "Of course, that's if you're willing to explore them—either way, this isn't a deal-breaker for me." He added, his message of hope hung pregnant in the air waiting to be plucked.
Michonne's rich warm brown eyes saddened from the news seized upon her life partner's angular visage whose dark orbs were veiled by the cover of long straight lashes. Her delicately manicured hands were sandwiched in his large hand.
"Honey, it's not something I really want to talk about tonight," an exhausted Michonne replied. "Can we just watch some mindless tv instead?"
"Whatever you want, babe," Malyk added the guilt he felt at not being able to give her what she really wanted made him feel like less of a man. Since high school, they had a plan to finish culinary school, open their first restaurant and get married. By thirty, they wanted to have at least four children and maybe three restaurants. Instead, they owned and operated six restaurants, five of which were in the Atlanta area with one in King County, which Michonne's mother ran.
The recent setback, however, only caused the couple to delve further into expanding their enterprise which meant spending more time apart in their establishments. On Friday nights, Michonne usually closed the restaurant in Buckhead dashed home to shower then travelled to King County overnight to help out her mother with the influx of the weekend crowds in the restaurant there.
...
9 months later...
It was early December when their second IVF treatment failed. Things had not been the same in their marriage for some time, it had become strained. Despite Malyk's many attempts to reassure his wife that they were still good, Michonne simply felt broken inside. Even the simplest little thing like leaving the toothpaste on the countertop sparked an argument between the once happy couple.
A few weeks later, while at work, Michonne verified the last order and hit the send button, when Malyk walked into the office unannounced and handed her a gift.
"What's this for?" she asked as she set it on the desk.
"I thought I'd come by and surprise you—" he added when his wife looked up at him seemingly annoyed by his presence. Malyk hung his drenched raincoat on the coat rack and placed his umbrella in the nearby stand.
The small office suddenly felt claustrophobic. Michonne knew his presence was anything but a surprise visit. Her husband had ulterior motives and she really wasn't in the mood to talk about her feelings and certainly not while she was at work. So, Michonne removed her jacket and purse from the coat rack and grabbed her keys from off the desk and walked towards the office door as she prepared to leave the restaurant.
Malyk followed her through the door, "Michonne, babe, where are you going?"
"I just need some air, Malyk," Michonne replied, suddenly feeling the need for some space. It was her turn to feel guilty, she knew how he felt months earlier. Michonne's head was a crowded space, they'd done everything right, but the result was still the same.
"Are you seriously going out in this weather?" Malyk asked, incredulously.
Just then a flash of lightning streaked across the sky followed by claps of thunder. But Michonne continued on her way down the hall past the waiting area and out the front door. She couldn't explain her need to be anywhere but where she was.
...
It had been almost an hour since she got behind the steering wheel, started the ignition and drove off with no clear destination in mind.
The rain poured down in thick sheets. The windshield wipers danced to and fro, it was almost hypnotic and from the radio came the saddest songs she had ever heard.
Approximately ten minutes, after she turned off interstate seventy-five taking the exit for King County, which led to the rural road, she noticed a parked car on the shoulder of the road. She drove another ten minutes along the route when he came into sight, a lonely figure walking along the shoulder of a lonely stretch of road. He wore a dark stetson, dark shirt and jeans, but he had no umbrella, no coat. His clothes were plastered to his skin by the cold December rain. He carried a red jerrycan and walked in the direction of town.
Her rational mind told her not to stop but something inside her rebelled. She reasoned killers wouldn't be walking on the side of the road on a cold miserable rainy night, so she slowed the vehicle down along the lonely stretch of road and rolled the window down.
The blue-eyed stranger stopped and leaned into the window. "Where are you headed, cowboy?" Michonne inquired.
"The gas station inside the county line."
"I'm going that way but you'll have to find your own way back," Michonne offered.
"Much obliged, ma'am," the stranger replied removing his stetson and poured off the rain. He opened the car door and got in.
…
Six weeks later, Michonne found herself kneeling in their bathroom holding her locks up emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet. It was the third morning in a row. She was almost certain what it meant but hadn't dared to say it out loud without confirmation.
Malyk noticed it too but remained silent. Instead, he wondered what it meant for their marriage? That evening, when his wife walked into the restaurant and suggested they leave early, he knew exactly why.
After a simple dinner at home, Malik asked, "Do you love him?"
"What?"
"Michonne, let's not make this any more complicated than it needs to be. You're pregnant. The question is, whether you love him or not? I can't give you a child, but if you love him I won't stand in your way."
Tears spilled from her eyes when she realized he was offering her a way out of their marriage with dignity.
"I don't know him, Malyk. I—it happened the night of the storm. His car was broken down on the side of the road and his phone was dead. He was halfway between the turn off from the interstate and the county line. I gave him a lift to town. I'm sorry," she added.
"So there's no one to notify about this child?" Malyk asked.
"No. All I know of him is that his name is Rick."
"Good. Then this child is ours. Case closed."
"Don't you even want to know why it happened?"
"Will it change anything?"
"No, but I finally understood what you meant when you said you felt broken. When I got my period again, I was disappointed. I couldn't explain it without dredging up more of the same old feelings. I felt numb inside and just wanted to feel something—anything. That night I just wanted to forget everything and for a few hours, I did. I wasn't his overachieving wife, so I wasn't a disappointment to him because he got more than he expected from me. He was just a stranger I met on a lonely stretch of the road, nothing more."
"Baby, you've never disappointed me. But it hurt like hell watching you retreat into your shell each time you got your period. It felt like I failed you yet again because even money couldn't fix the problem. On the night of the storm, I just wanted to remind you that we still had options. In the box, was an adoption application and literature for private adoptions, but you didn't even look at it."
Michonne reached across the table and took Malyk's hand in hers. "Sweetheart, you didn't fail me. I just felt like it was up to me to deliver and I couldn't even do that."
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