Michael's POV...
I have no idea what I'm doing here.
I left Holly a month ago and had no intention of meeting up with Mia to stuff her life up again, yet here I am.
"Hi," I said softly, not knowing how she was going to react. After all, I made the girl break down!
She didn't reply. Other than to sit down in the nearest chair and stare at me.
"Um, I don't really know why I'm here...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come." I started towards the door, but she stopped me.
"No. Sit down. You've come all this way..." She paused and just looked at me.
I sat down and looked at my hands.
"What did you name the baby?" she asked.
She seems awfully calm to me. I didn't expect it. And she's not asking me why I'm here, it all seems so surreal.
"Um, Holly named him Adam..."
"That's nice."
I've only seen the baby once. I went to see Holly at her parents house just after he was born. They're both doing ok. Holly and John are going to take things slowly and see how it goes. He wants to be part of Adam's life, even if he isn't with Holly.
"Um, well, you see..." I can't come all this way and not tell her. "The baby, it turns out that I'm not the father..."
I took a second to let the news sink in. I expected her to be shocked, to be angry or upset like I had been. I expected some kind of reaction to show in her face. But nothing. She had the same blank expression on her face that she had when she walked in.
"Oh really? That's too bad. So who's the father then?"
THAT'S all she has to say? Have I flown to Crazy Land or something? Why doesn't she have more to say?
"Um, John. From Mondavi."
She nodded.
Suddenly I felt like I need to get out of here. This isn't right. What did I expect Mia to do? Jump into my arms and say she was happy that they baby isn't mine and that she wants to be with me?
No. That is so not going to happen.
I knew it before I even got here. When Lilly told me Mia had left for Genovia after her break down, I knew it would be useless.
I nodded back at her. "Ok, well I should get going. I have a job to get back to, I sort of never told them I was coming here. So, uh...Bye."
"Goodbye, Michael. Good luck with everything." She said it as if I were just an old aquaitance, not the love of her life. Which maybe I never was.
As I left the Palace grounds it began to rain softly. Story of my life.
I arrived back in New York the morningafter I'd left. What a waste of a day, and of last minute flight money. It's a good thing I don't have a wife and child to support anymore, becuase we'd be living on the streets.
The answering machine flashed at me and when I pressed the button it announced that I have seven new messages.
Seven? I've only been gone a day. Usually I wouldn't get seven in a whole week.
The first few were from the office, asking where the hell I was and threatening my job status. Big Whoops. I'll just tell them mom was rushed to hospital and I didn't think to inform them in my panic.
One was Felix, and another was Lilly, both asking me to call them,
The last message was from Holly. She sounds upset and wants me to call her as soon as I get the message. Great.I settled into the couch with a tub of ice cream (who says only girls can wallow?) and dialed her parent's house.
She answered after only one ring. "Hello?"
"Hi, Hol. It's me."
"Michael! Oh thank God! I need your help!"
"What is it? What's wrong?" She sounds so distraught I can't help but give a damn.
"My parents went out of town for the day and now the car's broken down and they won't be back until tomorrow. I can't look after Adam all by myself! I don't know what to do!"
"Calm down, Holly, breathe. What about John? Can't you call him?"
She was silent for a second. "I don't know John, Michael. I don't trust him. I need someone who knows what they're talking about. You read all of those books while I was pregnant. Please, I can't handlehim on my own."
I took a deep breath and sighed. "Ok, I'll be there in a few hours."
I grabbed the bag I'd taken to Genovia; it's lucky I hadn't unpacked, and headed to the car rental place.
At least this time I don't have Holly yackingaway next to me on the way there.
I arrived at Holly's parents huge place in the early afternoon. As soon as I stepped out of the car I could hear the sound of a baby crying. Holly's baby, but not mine.
"Oh thank God, you're here!" she cried as she flung the door open.
One of the housemaids took my coat from me as I stepped into the lobby.
"He won't stop crying! And I'm so tired, I haven't had a decent nights sleep in forever." She led me to the room they had recently transformed into a nursery.
Adam lay in the cot, he was crying his little heart out. I bent down and picked him up; he's so tiny I feel like I'm going to break him.
"Shh..." I cooed to the tiny life I held in my arms. Then I turned to his mother. "What about the maids? Can't they help you with him?"
"They have too much other stuff to do, they made it quite clear when I first arrived here that they wouldn't be helping with him. It's not in their job description. And besides, they don't know anything about babies, one of them can't even speak English!"
"Well I don't exactly know much about babies, only what I've read in books. What makes you think I'm going to be any help?"
She looked at me directly in the eyes. "Because you're Michael. Why do you think I wanted you to be his father? Because I knew you'd never let us down. You'd find a way somehow, to do whatever was necessary. I knew I could count on you."
That's quite a compliment. She was putting her and her child's lives in my hands willingly.
"Oh," I said, breaking the eye contact and looking down at little Adam. Without me realising, he'd fallen asleep in my arms. There was silence in the room.
"You see?" Holly whispered. "You're a natural. You've got the touch. I've been trying to get him to go to sleep for hours! I'm a horrible mother!" She collapsed into a chair.
"No you're not. It just takes time. And it's especially hard with newborns. He probably only fell asleep with me because I'm new. I have a new smell or something. Give it time."
"You know," she looked up at me, her eyes wide. "You could still reconsider, Michael. I mean, John could still be apart of his life, but you...You could be his father..."
I looked down at the gorgeous, tiny baby asleep in my arms and thought about it.
Don't kill me, there's stilltwo chapters left.
