Disclaimer: All the events and character description taken place in this story is COMPLETELY FICTION. No copyright infringement intended. All characters are copy written to their respective owners. No profit is being made from this story. It should be viewed only as entertainment.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
The first thing that Stephanie did Wednesday morning was convince her husband that she needed to retain her rightful place as family chef. Due to his obvious fail at making her breakfast the day before, Angle quickly gave in. He gladly retired his chef hat for the job of feeding Andrew Vincent so that his wife was able to cook with ease.
"Kurt, you know, when you feed the baby, you are suppose to put the food into his mouth, not all over his face, hands, and clothing." Stephanie pointed out to her husband to poke fun at him on Daddy duty.
"I'm trying to get the spoon in his mouth, but he keeps turning his head to look at you." explained Angle as he let the spoon fall back into the bowl of baby oatmeal.
"If you turned the high chair so that he would face me then he could watch me without having to turn his head." She quickly pointed out raising her eyebrows slightly.
Steph was sometimes surprised by how Kurt was so oblivious to solutions to problems that seemed like common sense to her. Everyday parenting came so naturally to her that she never had to think about it. Angle, on the other hand, always seemed like a novice; unless it was playing with his kids, he was always a natural at that.
"The food smells great, babe." He commented while turning the high chair around as well as adjusting the position of his chair.
"I know, I'm starving. I love breakfast food. I love all food, actually. It's being pregnant that does that to me. I'm going to look like Shamu the whale before I pop this kid out." Steph chuckled placing her left hand over her robe that was covering her abdomen.
"Steph, you're the sexiest pregnant woman I've ever seen. The weight means nothing, sweetheart. You eat as much as you want because it's good for the baby. You'll lose it after he's born." replied Kurt after he successfully spoon fed their son.
Angle's words caused Stephanie to look up from her stovetop of pancakes and bacon. Her eyes gazed over as she watched him grab his cell phone and begin to punch the keypad with his thumbs.
"Who are you texting?" She quickly asked him before flipping a pancake over to reveal its golden brown side.
"Brock. I'm hoping he'll even text me back. I've got a feeling that he's pissed that I walked out on him and Dana White after he went through the trouble in setting up that try out for me. I feel guilty for leaving him hanging, but he of all people should know that family comes first." He explained setting his phone back down on the table so that he could go back to feeding his son.
"You would think, but I wouldn't call him Mr. Sensitivity." Steph mentioned with an eye roll. It was no secret she had never been very fond of Lesnar, despite how well she got along with his wife.
"You know, Rena's pregnant again too. Pretty wild, huh?"
"Yeah, it is. It's good to know that I won't be the only one blowing up like a blimp in a few months." She chuckled tending to the sizzling bacon with her metal tongs.
Hearing the house phone ringing from a nearby counter top base caused Stephanie's attention to shift in its direction. She quickly stepped away from her stove to answer it without even bothering to see who was calling.
"Hello?" Steph voiced into the cordless phone after balancing it between her cheek and her shoulder so that she was able to resume cooking breakfast.
"Good morning, Stephanie. How's my beautiful pregnant daughter doing?" Vince commented back in a somewhat cheerful tone of voice that was in complete contrast to how he sounded the day before when he was probing for information of her ex-husband's whereabouts.
"Good morning, Dad, I'm fine. To what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?" She asked back with a hint of both laughter and sarcasm in her voice. There had to be a reason that he was calling her at home when he knew she wasn't going to be in to the office for the next few days. It wasn't like him just to call to say hi.
"I was just calling to inform you that we are having an important meeting regarding Jeff Hardy's replacement this afternoon at one. I want you to join us via video conference on your laptop. You need to be a part of this since Triple H is off the table for consideration after Paul blew off SmackDown yesterday. Speaking of that asshole, did you ever manage to get a hold of him? All I was able to get was his voice mail."
"Yes, he and Aurora are in New Hampshire visiting his parents. I received a text message from him this morning saying that he would be bringing her home later today."
"He's got a lot of nerve shirking his responsibilities to the company in order to go visit his family. He can't do that on his own time? You ask him that when you see him!" McMahon commanded back.
"Dad, I'm going to go. We're about to sit down and have breakfast. I will see you on the video conference at one. Bye!" She replied back quickly before ending the call and placing the phone on her countertop. She was in no mood for her father's usual bullshit this early in the day.
"You sure got him off the phone quick." Angle chuckled while he fed another spoon of oatmeal to their son. He had been listening to his wife speaking briefly to her father.
"He can be so aggravating sometimes. I swear, I need to hear him go on and on about Paul just as much as I need to get sick again. I'm starting to wonder if he can ever just call me to have a pleasant conversation. I guess that's asking for too much, huh?" She scoffed letting the pancakes fall onto the breakfast plates followed by the pieces of bacon.
"Yeah, knowing Dad, that would be too much to ask." Kurt agreed with a smile as he watched his wife approach him in order to serve him with his plate of food.
"You know, I could have gotten up and got the plate from you. It's bad enough that you're on your feet cooking breakfast. You should be resting." He added admitting to his guilt for allowing her to cook and serve him breakfast.
"Kurt, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm fine to be up moving around. You should be happy that I'm staying home from work this week. The baby and I are fine, you just need to find something else to worry about." Stephanie told him with a hint of bitchiness in her voice. While she knew that her husband meant well, his over protective routine was getting old very fast.
Before Angle was able to rebuttal, his cell phone began to ring signaling an incoming call from where it sat on the breakfast table.
"I bet that's your pal, Brock, calling you back." Stephanie commented while watching her husband reaching for the cell phone.
Kurt seemed to agree with his wife's prediction because of the smile on his face, however, it quickly faded when he had his phone in his hand and could actually see the caller id. The look of concern on his face in turn worried Steph.
"It's not Brock?" She inquired aloud wanting him to tell her who was calling. Whoever it was, he didn't look like he wanted to take the call.
"It's my lawyer." He muttered back.
"Is he calling about the arrest?" Stephanie then asked, almost like she was thinking aloud to herself instead of looking for an answer from Kurt.
Angle didn't answer back, instead he answered the call, bringing the phone to his good ear.
"Mike?" He said into his phone not even bothering to say hello first. He was too much on edge to find out why his lawyer was calling him that early in the day when he thought the whole DUI fiasco was behind him.
As if on cue, baby Andrew began to whine and cry reaching out toward his father and his bowl of baby oatmeal. He was getting pissed off by the fact that his father had ceased feeding him his breakfast in order to answer the phone call.
The disruption from his son was making it hard for Kurt to hear Mr. Santicola, who was explaining the reason for calling. Angle quickly got up from his seat and left the kitchen by traveling down the hallway to another part of the house where he could hear Mike over his son's crying.
With her husband out of the room and on the phone, Stephanie quickly took his seat in front of Andrew's high chair and picked up where he had left off feeding him. His mommy feeding him his breakfast caused Andy's crying to immediately stop. The welcomed silence allowed Steph to hear Kurt's voice in the other room. She couldn't hear exactly what he was saying, it was muffled, but she could tell by the tone of his voice that whatever he was saying, it didn't sound pleasant.
As heated as the conversation sounded, it was surprisingly brief. Angle reemerged from the hallway with a blank stare, his cell phone still in hand.
"Kurt, what's going on?" Steph was able to ask a few minutes later.
"Mike just called to tell me that Karen tried to terminate my parental rights to Kyra and Kody. He was contacted this morning by her Tennessee lawyer. She's trying to say that I'm an unfit father because of the whole DUI arrest." Kurt muttered in a hoarse voice that sounded like it was on the verge of cracking with emotion.
"What? That's crazy! She can't do that! You've done nothing to have your paternal rights taken away!" Stephanie yelled back in anger. She was in complete shock that her husband's ex-wife would attempt to take his children away from him, as if moving them to Tennessee wasn't enough.
Andrew Vincent resumed whining again when his mother's attention was taken away. Unlike the last time though, his crying was quickly curtailed when Stephanie popped his pacifier into his mouth that had been nearby on the kitchen table.
"That's what Mike said. He said that no judge will grant her sole custody. I just can't believe she's actually trying to take my children from me. Kyra had told me that she was asking them if they wanted to change their last name to Jarrett, but I never thought she would take it this far." He admitted sinking into one of the kitchen chairs facing his wife.
"Oh, Kurt, it will be okay. She can't keep you from seeing Kyra and Kody. She has no case against you." Stephanie assured him in a sympathetic voice.
Seeing him bring his hands up to his face compelled her to leave her seat and approach him. It was clear that her words of encouragement were not enough to keep him from losing his composure. Steph placed her hand on his back and began to rub in between his shoulder blades.
"I just pray to God that her request just gets thrown out. The arrest was bad enough, I don't know what I'll do if I lose two of my kids because of it. I can't stand the thought of Jeff Jarrett adopting my kids and calling himself their daddy." He confided to her with a fair amount of strain to his voice. His muscles were all tightened as he was tense with worry.
He felt like the preverbal rug had been pulled out from under him without warning. Did Karen truly believe that he no longer deserved to be the father of the two beautiful children he had given her during their marriage? Sure he had made mistakes during the course of their marriage, but he always made it a point to provide for their children. He never had a problem forking over the hefty child support payments to his bitchy ex-wife because he knew it would benefit Kyra and Kody. Hell, because she had been Mrs. Kurt Angle when he had made it big as a professional wrestler, she was now a millionaire. All of the money in child support obviously wasn't enough though. She was going after what he valued most: his children.
"I would never let her take your kids from you. I'm your wife and mother of one going on two of your children and I would attest to your capabilities as a father to your children. You're great with our son, and you're even terrific with Aurora, and she's not even yours. And when this new baby comes into the world, I know without a doubt that you're going to be there for him or her." She then said with a reassuring smile as she took one of his hands and brought her to robe covered abdomen.
Stephanie's loving words caused Kurt to look up at her. His blue eyes sparkled with tears. He could not believe how lucky he was to have her in his life. With everything that had been thrown at them in the last few weeks, they had gotten passed it together. It was a testament to how strong their love for each other was. He would not take her love for granted. She was his guiding light through all of the trials and tribulations that God had set before him.
"Thank you, baby. I love you so much." Angle whispered while at the same time he leaned toward her and then wrapped his arms around her waist. He hid his face into her robe. His lips kissed the spot where he thought his unborn child was growing inside her at that very moment.
"I love you too, honey. You'll see, it will all work out." She whispered back with a smile. Both of her well manicured hands caressed where his neck met his back along his spine.
Stephanie could feel a wave of admiration and love wash over her as her husband's arms tightened around her waist while he hugged her lower body close to him. Many women would be turned off completely by a muscle bound man showing vulnerability by crying, but Steph was touched by how hard he was taking the mere possibility of losing his right to be the father to his two other children. It spoke volumes to the extent of how important his kids were to him. This was something she had not seen in Paul. She never saw him shed a single tear in the absence of time with his daughter. Levesque was more likely to rage out in response. Perhaps the two men were just very different in the way that they handled strife. Steph sure knew which method of coping that she preferred to deal with though; thank God it was from the man she was currently married to.
Several times during the course of the drive back to Greenwich Connecticut Paul found himself tearing up. It surprised him each time and he was quick to fight his tears back before his little girl in the backseat could notice. He knew why he was getting emotional. Despite wanting to keep his baby girl with him for the rest of the week, he was on his way to return her to her mother. With every mile the Hummer traveled down the highway, the more he dwelled on the thought of having to say goodbye to her.
While he had had her for more than a day, the time with her had gone by faster than a blink of an eye. Their return to Connecticut was the same; it felt like a shorter drive coming back from Nashua then it did going there. Perhaps it was the less amount of congestion on the road, but most likely, it was the impending sadness that he was going to have to face when he said goodbye to his child.
At least Aurora had gotten to see her Aunt Lynn and her two cousins when they came over for breakfast. She had taken a shining to her older cousin, Neysa, who made it clear that the feeling was mutual. His niece had been sweet enough to braid Aurora Rose's brown hair into one small braid. If Neysa lived closer to them, she would surely be a mentor to her little cousin.
All the Levesques being under the same roof definitely gave him the old familiar feeling of being a part of a family, which was something that he had desperately missed since he had lost his family with Stephanie.
"I home!" Aurora shrieked aloud with excitement when she saw the oh so familiar sight of the Angle home from the window of Daddy's Hummer.
"Daddy, I see Mommy now! I get out and see Mommy now!" She then exclaimed before he could even pull the SUV to a stop in the driveway.
Paul couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed by his child's insistence that he hurry and get her out of the Hummer. Normally, Levesque liked to take a moment and mentally prepare himself before he would approach the Angle home. Aurora Rose was too anxious to see her mother to wait. The moment he set her on her feet in the driveway, she took off running full force toward the front porch with her new doll clutched to her with her left arm.
"Hey wait for Daddy!" Levesque called after her. He quickly hit the button to lock his SUV before running after her.
"Mommy! Open up, I home! Mommy!" The three year old hollered as she immediately began to knock on the lower part of the front door where she could reach. She wasn't tall enough to ring the doorbell herself.
Paul pressed the doorbell as soon as he too was on the front porch. After the bell chimed, it wasn't even a full minute before the door flew open with Stephanie, who looked to be overjoyed, on the other side of it.
"Oh my baby girl, I've missed you so much, honey!" Steph immediately gushed scooping up her three year old to be hugged tightly in her arms. Hugs were then closely followed by kisses, and then she took a moment to gaze at her little girl who she had missed terribly.
"Your hair looks so beautiful, sweetheart. Did Grandma Patricia braid it for you?" She then asked her daughter allowing one of her hands to run down her brown braid.
"No, it's was actually Neysa who did her hair." Levesque interjected before their child could answer back.
He was making his obvious presence known since she hadn't even bothered to look at him, much less, acknowledge that he was there too. He hadn't even been invited into the house for he was still standing there on the front porch.
"Look what Daddy's Mommy goted me! She Claire!" Aurora then announced holding her new doll in front of her so that her mother could see.
"Oh wow, what a nice present Grandma Patricia got you! Why don't you go show Kurt and Andrew your new doll while I talk to Daddy, can you do that, sweetie?'" Stephanie asked her child setting her down on her feet.
Aurora looked hesitant at first since she had missed her mother so much and wanted to be on her like glue. But remembering that she had so many of her other toys and stuffed animals in the living room compelled her to nod her head in response to her mommy's request.
"Thanks for bringing her home today. I really missed her." Steph thanked her ex the minute they were left alone in the doorway. She had unintentionally positioned herself so that he couldn't even enter the house.
"You're welcome. I really needed some time with her. My family needed time with her too since they hadn't seen her since she was in diapers. I'm sorry about the miscommunication yesterday, I was sure that your nanny would have told you that I was keeping her longer." explained Levesque as he used his right muscular arm to lean against the opened front door.
"You know, you were really selfish yesterday, Paul. I can understand that you wanted to spend more time with our daughter, but blowing off SmackDown to do so-"
"Would you stop with the SmackDown tapings? Do you think it really matters if I show up there or not? We both know that Vince was just going to job me out to some little numb nuts that isn't even in my league. Why do you even care about-"
"I care because I was the one who pushed for you to take Jeff Hardy's spot as number one contender for the WWE championship on RAW! I went to bat for you to be moved back to our number one show, to end your losing streak! And what did I get for backing you? You blew off one of my shows!" Stephanie yelled back completely cutting him off mid sentence.
"Shit, how was I suppose to know that you were pushing for me to be in a main event spot? You said nothing to me about this." He answered back in his own defense.
"Well, it doesn't matter now, because Dad made it clear in the meeting today that it will be Shawn who is going to take Hardy's spot to face Jericho. Shawn announced that he is retiring this year so we're giving him a big send off. I'm suppose to call him tonight to confirm the details." She muttered folding her arms across her chest.
"Good, I'm glad that Vince chose to give my spot to someone who truly deserves it. My best friend deserves nothing less for putting up with me this past year. I've confided in him a lot to the point where I'm sure he doesn't want to hear more of my problems anymore than I want to tell him." Levesque chuckled completely defusing what could have been an argument between them over business.
"Good, well, just make sure that you clear it with management before you miss another show. I would hate for Dad to have to suspend you. I know how much wrestling means to you. Enjoy the rest of your day, Paul." She said back politely before she started to close the door.
"Yeah, thanks, I guess you can tell Aurora I said bye." He replied before the door shut.
With the conversation between him and Steph ending, he couldn't help but shake his head. Had she really taken on the cause to have Triple H put back in the main event on RAW or was she just trying to make him feel bad about leaving McMahon in the lurch? He wasn't really sure. He did know that the news of his best friend, Shawn, getting one more opportunity to show why he was the Heartbreak Kid was terrific. Michaels deserved the spot as he made his final swan song, bowing out gracefully as one of the greatest showmen of the business.
After she had said goodbye to her former husband, Stephanie returned to the living room to enjoy being with both of her two children. Since it had been days since she was with her little girl, Steph sat down with her child at the doll house to play with her. Aurora had assigned her mother the Daddy figure to play with while the three year old put herself in charge of playing the Mommy and the puppy dog figurines.
"The mommy give puppy a baff in the baffy tub." Aurora said aloud placing the animal figure into the plastic bath tub that was in the doll house bathroom. She then made the mother figure lean over the tub to pretend to wash the dog.
"Ma-ma dat!" Andrew exclaimed with glee pointing to his sister's doll house while he struggled to climb into his mother's lap.
Kurt had been attempting to keep the one year old busy on the other side of the room so that Stephanie could spend some one on one time with Aurora, but the baby was much more interested in what Mommy and Aurora were doing.
"Andy, come on, come back over here with Daddy." Angle called out for the baby.
"He can stay over here with us. I think he missed his big sister." Steph pointed out with a smile before giving her youngest a kiss on the cheek.
Angle quickly realized that his wife was enjoying being with both of her children at once. It was clear to anyone who would see her with both of the kids that she loved being a mommy. Instead of inserting himself into things, Angle simply pulled out his cell phone and began texting his brother-in-law, Shane, about his almost UFC tryout.
"No! No touch, baby! That mine!" Aurora screamed out when she saw the one year old take the plastic man from his mother and begin to manipulate it in his small hands.
"Aurora, he's not hurting anything by holding the Daddy. You need to share." Steph corrected her daughter while using her hand to block the child from reaching for the plastic toy in the baby's hands.
"But Mommy, I want you to pway wif me!" Aurora Rose whined bouncing herself up and down a bit to show her frustration.
The three year old hated the fact that her mother was holding the baby in her lap and letting him play with her toys. Mommy was suppose to be playing with her not with the baby.
"I am playing with you, but you need to learn to be a big girl and share. Pretty soon you're going to have a new baby brother or sister that's going to want to play with us too." Stephanie told the child with a smile.
Steph wasn't sure that her daughter would pick up on the fact that she was being told about a new sibling that was going to be joining their family. She hadn't even planned on mentioning the unborn baby to Aurora yet, but it just came out.
Mention of a new baby caused the three year old to put on a pouty face. She had almost completely forgotten about what her daddy had told her while at his house. Now her mother was confirming the existence of a baby hiding in her tummy. Daddy was right. A new baby was going to be coming out of hiding soon and was going to take all of her mommy's love and attention away, just like baby Andy did.
"Why new baby inside your tummy? Why it get in there, Mommy?" Aurora asked aloud looking directly at her mother.
While Stephanie took a quick moment to come up with a response that was appropriate for a three year old as well as an honest reply, she was beckoned by the sound of her cell phone ringtone.
"Hang on a second, Mommy needs to answer her phone."
Stephanie got up from the floor, leaving both children so that she could answer her cell before it went to voice mail.
"Hello?" She quickly said after hitting the send button and bringing it to her ear. She walked out of the living room to make sure that her children wouldn't interfere with what she expected to be a business call.
"Hi, Stephanie? This is Candice Beckman-Ehrlich, I'm sorry to bother you, and I hope you don't mind that I got your cell phone number from Mr. Laurinaitis, but I needed to speak with you."
"Okay..." Steph replied causing a bit of an awkward moment before the diva pressed on.
"Listen, I just found out about that ridiculous rumor about me and Kurt. I think I was the last person to know since all the divas were spreading that garbage behind my back. I would have said something to you in person, but you nor Kurt were at RAW this past Monday. I just wanted to make it clear that there isn't anything going on between me and Kurt. And the baby that I'm expecting is my husband, Ken's, child. I'm so embarrassed that anyone would make up such hurtful lies."
"I know, women can be cruel, especially in this business. I appreciate you calling me and letting me know the truth personally. Of course I already knew that it was all lies, but thanks for the phone call."
"Oh not a problem, Steph. I just can't believe how out of control it all got. I mean, Triple H was kidding around with me saying that Kurt had a crush on me and then the next thing I know, me helping you guys out by babysitting your little ones automatically means that I'm cheating with my boss' daughter's husband. It's unbelievable." Candice admitted explaining the chain of events as she saw it, that led up to where they were now.
"What, wait, Paul told you that Kurt had a crush on you?" Stephanie asked back thinking that she had misunderstood what the diva was telling her.
"Well yeah, but I figured he was just messing with me. I figured that he was pulling my leg because why else would he tell me that out of the blue after a show, right?"
"Yeah...That's right..." Stephanie replied back before letting her mouth gape open as her mind wandered.
Had Paul really been the source of all those nasty rumors about Kurt and Candice Michelle? The diva, herself, had implicated him. But would he really do something that petty as to spread gossip? Besides, Levesque was on SmackDown, when and where would he talk to a RAW diva? She didn't buy it. Paul wouldn't do something so childish.
And then, before Stephanie could comment further, she heard her one year old begin to cry followed by her husband calling her name. Something had happened in the family room and she needed to get back there.
"Candice, I need to go. Thanks for calling, take care."
"What's going on?" Stephanie asked with a voice full of worry coming back quickly into the living room.
She had returned to find her husband holding their crying one year old while Aurora was standing next to her doll house with a look of guilt like she knew she had done something that she wasn't suppose to do. The moment Andy saw his mother, he reached out in her direction.
"I was texting Shane and I looked up and saw Aurora shoving the baby! He barely missed the glass table when he fell back onto the carpet! How long has this behavior been going on?" Kurt hollered to be heard over his son's crying. He was completely shocked at what he had just witnessed. It wasn't like his sweet little stepdaughter to harm her little half brother.
"Aurora Rose, did you push the baby down?" Steph asked sternly looking over at her daughter as her husband handed the baby over to her.
The three year old's eyes began to well up with tears. Mommy and Kurt were looking at her with mad eyes. She didn't like it.
"Baby taken my toys..." Aurora muttered back while she rubbed one of her eyes with her hand. Why couldn't her mommy see that she was only defending what was hers?
"That's no excuse!" Stephanie scolded bringing Andrew close to her in an attempt to soothe him so that he would stop crying.
"Is he okay? Do you think he hurt his head on the carpet. She really shoved him hard." Angle asked with worry, bringing his own hand to the back of Andy's head.
"I think he's okay. He just got scared." Steph replied before then giving the baby a few kisses.
Aurora couldn't understand why her mommy was making such a big deal over the baby falling on the carpet. He didn't have a booboo. He was probably just crying so she would get in trouble with Mommy. Daddy was right when he said that baby Andrew wanted to take her mommy away from her.
"Aurora, I want you to come over here, tell your little brother that you're sorry, and give him a hug." Stephanie told her oldest in a much calmer voice since the baby was finally settling down now.
"No!" She screamed back with defiance giving a foot stomp for good measure.
Stephanie's eyebrows lifted and she placed her free hand on her hip. It was obvious that the child was unusually cranky and needed to have some consequences for her unacceptable behavior.
"Aurora Rose Levesque, either you come over here and apologize to your baby brother or I am going to sit you on the stairs for timeout. What's it going to be?"
"He not my baby brother! I no like him and the baby in Mommy's tummy! I want them go away!" Aurora hollered before she kicked one of the baby's toys as hard as she could, sending it tumbling across the room.
Both Stephanie and Kurt's jaws fell wide open. Both pairs of eyes were as big as saucers. Neither of them had any idea what had brought on Aurora's tantrum nor where her feelings about Andrew and the new baby had stemmed from. Before Stephanie could even react to the sudden unexpected outburst, Aurora ran from the room.
"Take him, I need to find out what's going on with her." Stephanie muttered as she handed over the one year old to his father.
Stephanie walked briskly after her daughter. It wasn't hard to figure out where she had gone off to. The sound of her stomping her feet up the staircase made it obvious that she was going upstairs to her room. On the way up the stairs, Steph decided that she needed to be careful about how she approached her little girl. The child was obviously upset about something and it was up to her to find out what it was that was bothering her. After all, a three year old doesn't just one day stop loving her sibling. Something was going on, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.
"Aurora?" She called out gently after peeking her head into her three year old's bedroom.
Aurora Rose was lying in her bed with her face hiding in her pillow. She was hugging her stuffed sea otter that her father had bought her at the aquarium. Stephanie could hear her baby girl's muffled cries from where she stood in the doorway, and it broke her heart. Steph quickly approached her daughter's bed, taking a seat on the edge of the right side.
"Sweetheart, come here, please tell Mommy why you're so upset." Stephanie pled in a hushed voice while she quickly lifted her daughter off her pillow and placed her in her arms, holding her like she had done when she was a little baby like Andrew.
"Andrew want to take you way from me. He want all your hugs and kisses with not any for me, Mommy. It his and his daddy fault that my daddy not live wif you and me." Aurora explained through her tears. She was finally voicing to her mother what had been bouncing around in her little mind ever since her daddy had put it there weeks ago.
Stephanie couldn't believe what she was hearing out of the mouth of her own child. She couldn't fathom how her little girl had even come up with those conclusions. Someone had to have planted those nasty thoughts in her head. But who would do such a thing to her innocent child? She couldn't even think of anyone who would want to cause that kind of emotional damage to a three year old.
"None of that is true, Aurora. Mommy would never ever stop loving you. And I love you just as much as I do Andrew. Who told you that? Someone had to have told you those lies. Tell Mommy, who said that to you?" Stephanie asked in a very serious tone of voice that made Aurora a bit uneasy. She looked like she didn't want to tell her mommy who had told her. Mommy looked angry and she didn't want to get her daddy in trouble.
"Aurora, who said that to you? You don't keep secrets from me, I'm your mommy. Please, sweetheart, tell me who said that to you." Stephanie pressed on.
"Daddy..." Aurora admitted in her sweet innocent voice.
Stephanie looked horrified. Her face contorted into a look of anguish as she tried desperately to wrap her mind around the idea of her ex-husband filling their daughter's head with such hurtful thoughts. In her mind, she kept wanting to not believe it. Lately, he had seemed to be making such an effort to be a positive force in their child's life. But why would her three year old lie? Suddenly all of Aurora's acting out toward her little brother as of late was making sense. It was all because of the lies he had subjected her to. And for what? What did he gain by doing that? It only caused his little girl pain.
"You're daddy said all this to you? Did he say anything else that made you feel sad?" Steph asked doing her best to hold back her own tears. She wanted to know every hurtful thing that he had said to their child.
"He say that the hiding baby make you sick and it almost losted. He not like the hiding baby. He want it go away." Aurora admitted giving her best recap of what her father had told her in her room at his house two nights ago.
Stephanie let out a long exhale as she could begin to feel her anger build up inside of her. He had told Aurora not only about the pregnancy but the fact that she had almost lost her third child. Where did he get off telling her that? And he wanted her to lose the baby? What the hell was going on in his mind that would allow him to say something so off the wall to his three year old daughter?
"Mommy? What wrong, you mad at me?" Aurora asked with a look of worry on her face.
"No, sweetheart. I could never be mad at you for telling Mommy the truth. I want you to always be honest with me and tell me anything that Daddy says that you don't understand or that hurts your feelings. Daddy was so very wrong to say those things to you. I love you so much. And Andrew is your little brother because he was hiding inside the same tummy as you were, just like this new tiny baby that's growing inside of me right now. You and Andy are my babies and it hurts my heart to know that your daddy would lie to you." Stephanie cried hugging her little girl tightly in her arms as she rocked back and forth on the edge of the bed.
"I sorry, Mommy..." Aurora whimpered through tears.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart. You did nothing wrong. It's Daddy who needs to be sorry."
Stephanie cradled her little in her arms, rocking back and forth, over and over again until she saw that Aurora had fallen asleep. Slowly and with great care, she gently laid the three year old down on the bed before slipping out of the room so that she could go get her cell.
"What happened? Did you find out what that was all about?" Angle asked his wife the minute she re-entered the living room.
"Not now, we'll talk later." She muttered back before grabbing her cell phone and darting back out of the room.
"Son of a bitch..." She sneered when Paul's voicemail automatically played the second she tried to call him. She wasn't about to leave a voice message about all of this.
She felt completely blindsided by her daughter's testimony about her former husband. She was still trying to come to terms with the fact that he had actually said those things to their baby girl. She thought he was doing so well by their child. Perhaps that's what he wanted her to think. If he could tell his own three year old lies, why not her too?
Steph needed to speak to someone who knew what was going on with Paul. Someone he had confided in and trusted to tell what exactly he was feeling this whole time. And then she remembered what Paul had said about Shawn; how he had confided in him more than he should have. Surely Shawn would be able to shed some light on all of this shit. After all, her father had told her to call him about his upcoming storyline. He was already expecting her call.
Stephanie quickly found his name in her business contacts and hit send to dial. She tried telling herself to stay calm, cool, and collected when it came time to speak with him. He didn't have to know her current emotional state. She just wanted him to tell her what was going on with his friend, her ex-husband.
"Hi Shawn, it's Stephanie, how are you?"
"Hey Steph, I'm doing good. I'm excited about the upcoming programming! The Heartbreak Kid is back baby! Woo! Let's talk storylines!" He said back with enthusiasm.
"A-Actually Shawn, I needed to ask you something on a more personal note. It's-It's Paul. Umm, I don't know how to ask you this but...Has he confided in you about anything he feels bad about that had to do with my child? I need to know what's going on with him. And I know that you're his best friend in the whole world."
There was a long pause before Shawn came back with a response to her question.
"I think I know what you're talking about and, Steph, I told you before that Paul had really been taking the divorce hard. I mean, pushing a baby off a sofa has got to be an all time low for anyone. I'm just glad he came clean with you about it. To be honest, I haven't talked to him in a while, we sort of lost touch a few months back ..."
Stephanie felt like she had slipped into a catatonic state of being. She was speechless. Shawn's words after 'pushing a baby off a sofa' started to become fainter and fainter until she could no longer hear him at all. Her mind was racing a mile a minute, but she couldn't think or keep any of it straight. She felt numb and light headed. She plopped down in one of her kitchen chairs, almost losing her balance. The room was starting to spin around her like it was her own personal hellish Ferris wheel that would never stop. Sadly, her husband had been right about Paul Levesque and she had been woefully wrong.