Here's the newest chapter, I hope you all like it! If you haven't read my new story, Norma Louise, you should. You can find it one AO3, Wattpad, and here of course! Review and follow that as well, I'm trying to make it as popular as this story. Anyway, happy reading! - MJ123
As she walked along the sides of the motel porch to Steven's car, Norma realized the risk she was taking. It was peculiar that he had come back to find her after four years, what was he after? She had every right to be suspicious of his motives. If he were to try anything with her, she would pop him in the jaw. He couldn't just come back and have her, especially because she loved Alex. She wanted Alex. Not someone who broke her heart years before.
Before bothering to open the passenger side door, she glanced over at him, "Just so you know, my boyfriend's a cop."
He scoffed and shook his head, "Why would you feel the need to tell me that, Norma?".
"I just thought it needed to be said as a safety precaution." She finally opened the door and looked at him, all seriousness displayed on her weary complexion.
His eyes squinted down in disbelief and arrogance as he focused on her, "Safety precaution?".
"Yeah," she answered swiftly, "How do I know you haven't turned into some crazed psycho killer?". She wished that came out more like a joke than an accusation.
"Psycho killer? Norma, what do you think of me? I'm no killer. For Christ's sake, I'm a father. Can't be much of a good parent if I go around chopping off heads, can I?" he replied, a similar smirk on his lips as one of his hands rested on the wheel.
She pulled back a bit before entering the vehicle, "A father?".
He motioned in the backseat to clear her questions. Once she looked back, her heart dropped. Steven wasn't lying to her. There was a baby strapped in a car seat in the back of his car. The child was sleeping, they had to be at least two months old.
She looked back to him, "You weren't lying."
"Of course not," he said, growing a tad annoyed at her mistrust in him, "Why would I lie about my kid?".
"I um...I don't know. I just never would've guessed-"
"What? That I moved on from you? If I recall correctly, Norma, you left. You are the one who packed up and took your family to this place. What was I supposed to do? Sit around and harp over you?" he asked, she could tell he was growing angrier.
She put a hand up and climbed in the car, shutting the door as quietly as possible. "Just stop yelling? Okay? You've got a baby sleeping,that's a rarity. So unless you want it to wake up and start wailing, I'd pipe down."
He sighed and pulled out of the parking lot, starting out on the main road.
"She has a pair of lungs on her. Wakes up at least three times a night, I haven't slept a full 9 hours in three months."
Her hands dropped to skirt, smoothing the material awkwardly, "Well, yeah. Babies don't like to sleep much. The doctors will tell you they should sleep at least 16 or 17 hours a day but that's complete bullshit." Her eyes rested outside the window, as her voice went soft, "She?".
"Ella Louise," he said proudly, looking in the rear view mirror to see her peaceful face still asleep.
"Louise, huh? Wherever did you come up with such a creative middle name?" she asked sarcastically, giving him a whimsical look out of the corner of her eye.
"You don't like it?".
"No, no. Ella Louise. Very pretty," she twisted to look back at the baby, a smile on her lips, "She's adorable."
He grinned as the car halted in front of the diner he promised. "Thank you. It's a shame that I have to wake her," he sighed. Soon enough, he he was out of the car and unstrapping the baby from her car seat, hoisting her in his arms.
Norma left the car too, making her way over to the diner entrance, holding the door open for them. She could hear the baby starting to coo, waking from deep sleep. He walked through and headed straight for a nearby waitress.
"Excuse me, ma'am, do you have any high chairs for babies?" he asked, bouncing her in his arms to soothe her before she could act up.
"Yep, just take a seat and I'll get one right over for you," she answered politely, heading towards the back of the restaurant.
He complied and took the nearest booth, Norma joining him soon after. She watched him balance the girl on his lap, his fingers delicately moving through her hair.
"How old is she?" Norma asked, her eyes stuck on the baby's face.
He leaned down to kiss her head, "Four months now."
Not long after, the waitress came back with the high chair. She walked away after promising to return soon to take their orders.
Steven looked to her, a bit worried. "How do these work? I don't want her to fall."
Norma smiled at his concern, she was the same way with Dylan and Norman. Afraid that any simple obstacle would hurt their existence. It was a scary yet exhilarating feeling to be a new parent.
"Um...I could put her in if you want. I've had to do it many times before with my own children." She felt weird offering, mostly because she barely knew her niece.
Despite her edgy feelings, he handed the newborn to Norma. "Oh wow, she's really beautiful. Looks a lot like you," she laughed, rocking the baby a bit before standing to strap her in the chair.
"Thank you," he said, observing her happy body bouncing in the chair, her little chubby hands were trying to clap together.
She nodded, her smile resting towards Ella as she watched her play with nothing. It was funny how babies could find joy out of non existence, everything was so new to them it was entertaining to observe what they uncovered in everyday life.
"So, if you don't mind me asking, who is her mother?" she asked, her focus turning back to Steven.
"It's funny you should ask that," he smirked, reaching out to run his fingers along her tiny hand, "Do you remember Katie Foreman?".
She thought back hard, she met so many people in Arizona. The name sounded familiar but she couldn't put a face to it. "No, I can't say I remember her."
"Katie was the younger women who worked at Trader Joe's. She also worked at the library but you wouldn't know her from there."
"Oh...oh, I think I know who you're talking about. Brown hair, worked in produce?" she asked, trying to piece her together internally.
"Yep, that's her. Anyway, I got the courage to ask her out and we started dating after our first date. I fell in love with her so fast, I mean she's intelligent, intuitive, she just knows me. We've been together for three years and most recently she had this little angel," he cooed, taking the baby's hand and shaking it.
"That's sweet. How are you two doing now?" she asked, remembering that babies could cause friction between two people. A relationship was already hard to manage, not to mention another life to aid and look after.
"We are great, actually. Never been this happy with her. But I wanna talk about you. What's been happening?" he asked, feeling totally clueless to his ex-lovers new life.
"Well, uh- not much actually. Norman and I moved here and we like it. We opened a motel a few days after moving, business has been fair. My relationship with Dylan has healed a bit, we talk a lot more," she smiled, through her past events in White Pine, patching up with her distant son was her greatest accomplishment.
"I'm happy to hear that, Norma. I remember you two hating each other," he said, reminiscing on the numerous times Norma would talk about Dylan, she would genuinely worry about him, where he ran off to, who he was with.
She smiled and nodded, "And of course I met Alex, he's the Sheriff of this town. We are pretty happy. He's just so different from everyone else. He loves me a lot. And he's never laid a finger on me, unless it was lovingly, y'know."
"That's good. It's good that you found someone who's worthy of you. You deserve it after all the shit with Sam," he murmured.
Her skin crawled at the mention of her former husband, she wouldn't ever dream of being with someone like him again. That was the darkest point in her life. "How did you find me, Steven?" she asked, starting to grow curious.
"My mother came to me a few weeks ago. She said she saw you and some guy at a diner in Phoenix, said it was pretty heated. She claimed you were screaming at her about Sam or something. She also mentioned living in Oregon. Once I looked up Norma Bates in Oregon, there were only a few results. And then there was the motel website," he laughed.
"I just never thought anyone would come looking for me," she replied, her eyes focused on the table below.
"Well, you're an important part of my life, Norma. I wanted to see if you were okay. I didn't want you to be in trouble or anything."
She smiled, "I appreciate that."
"It's no problem, okay? I just wanted you to know that I'm here. Plus, I feel like we haven't addressed what happened before you left," he sighed, looking at her grimly.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, her heart starting to pound in her chest as she feared the worst.
"Norma..." he mumbled, leaning in closer, "The baby."
The moment she heard it, her skin sunk into a sickly pale color. There it was, the worst leaving his lips. She never thought he'd have the balls to bring it up, but he did. She didn't want to talk about it, she never wanted to think about it again but obviously he was going to make her speak.
This was going to be a long day.
Please review if you liked this chapter! I need feedback to keep me going.
