-1Chapter Four
"Lauren's not answering her cell phone, it keeps going straight to voicemail." Michael said to Kevin as they entered the Abbott mansion.
"Mom? Lauren? Is anybody here?" Kevin yelled into the eerily quiet house. Nobody responded. "I'll go check upstairs."
"She's not here, Kevin." Michael pointed out the obvious.
"How do you know that?" Kevin asked, frustrated that his brother didn't seem to be as worried as he was.
"Well for starters, Lauren's car isn't in the driveway," Michael took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed his mother's number this time, "and why would Lauren go to the trouble of bailing Gloria out herself just to bring her back here?" Michael flipped his phone shut in frustration when the call was forwarded to voicemail. "Lauren's up to something. I just wish I knew what it was..."
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Gloria didn't know whether to laugh or scream when Lauren drove them into the cemetery. It was dark out, and a thin layer of fog seemed to envelope the entire property. All they needed were a few brain eating zombies to complete the horror movie motif. Gloria nervously glanced at Lauren. She had read an article recently that looked at the affects pregnant women's raging hormones had on their behavior. Violent mood swings were one thing, but murder...
"I'm not going to kill you, Gloria." Lauren said, her voice rough from the hours of silence. No wonder Michael always had such a hard time lying to Lauren, Gloria thought to herself. The woman could read minds!
"Then why are we here?" Gloria asked suspiciously. Lauren pulled the car up behind a grove of trees and shut off the engine.
"There's someone I'd like you to meet."
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"Where do you think they could be?" Kevin wondered out loud as he paced the Abbott's living room.
"I don't know." Michael replied sharply.
"You don't think Lauren would..."
"Of course not!" Michael looked at him incredulously. "Lauren wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Well maybe we should call the police?" Kevin suggested. Michael laughed bitterly at that.
"And tell them what, Kevin? That my very emotional, very pregnant wife may have kidnapped my mother, who just happens to be out on bail? Yeah, that'd go over really well."
"Well then what should we do?" Kevin asked, frustrated.
"I don't know, but we can't stay here." Michael said, and Kevin nodded in agreement. The two men headed for the door, which opened as soon as they reached it. Michael and Kevin froze.
"What the hell are you two doing here?"
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Gloria practically had to jog in order to keep up with Lauren's brisk strides through the cemetery. She irrationally admonished herself for not wearing more appropriate shoes, then tried not to laugh when she wondered exactly what kind of footwear one should wear during late night jaunts through a graveyard. She was just about to ask Lauren how much further they had to go, when all of a sudden the younger woman stopped dead in her tracks.
"I haven't been here in so long," Lauren said as she bent down and ran her fingers over the name engraved on the large tombstone in front of her. "Too long." Gloria jumped when a loud roar of thunder punctuated Lauren's words.
"Dear, maybe we should start heading back? We don't want to get caught in a rainstorm." Gloria reasoned, though she had a feeling Lauren wasn't going anywhere until she had said what she had come here to say.
"I used to come here all the time," Lauren continued, ignoring Gloria's warning. "I've lived in LA, Paris, all over Europe. I've traveled the world," Lauren slowly stood up and wiped a stray tear from her eye, "But I've never felt more at home than I do right here." As if on cue, a flash of lightening lit the night sky allowing Gloria to read the name engraved on the tombstone's marble surface: Neil Fenmore.
"Your father." Gloria gasped out loud.
"He was a wonderful man," Lauren praised, the admiration she still felt for him clear in her eyes. "I was his little princess," she smiled warmly at that, "He gave me everything I ever wanted. Not just material things, but respect, pride and love." Lauren's voice turned rough with emotion. " So much love."
"He sounds like a great man, I wish I could have met him." Gloria said, then wished she hadn't. The look of contempt Lauren gave her then sent a chill up her spine and for the second time that evening, Gloria decided that it would be in her best interest to shut up. Confident that there would be no further interruptions, Lauren continued.
"The only pain in this lifetime that can even compare to that of losing a child is the pain of losing a parent," Lauren said with the kind of understanding that could only be felt by someone who had experienced both. "When my father died, I thought I would too. He'd been my rock for so long that I didn't know how I would ever be able to make it in this world without him there to guide me. I just felt so lost and no matter what I did, no matter what I accomplished, nothing and no one could fill the void that he left," Lauren smiled wistfully through her tears, "Until Michael."
Gloria had always been astonished by the depth of love that Michael & Lauren so obviously felt for one another, and tonight was no different. Gloria watched in awe as Lauren's entire being seemed to radiate with happiness as she talked about her eldest son.
"Michael was so unexpected," Lauren continued. "I didn't want to fall in love with him, but how could I not? He gave me the respect, the acceptance and the unconditional love that I had been searching for my whole life. And he expected nothing in return, felt that he deserved nothing in return." Lauren's smile turned bittersweet. "How can a man who loves so completely feel unworthy of receiving love in return?"
Gloria didn't answer. Because in that moment, as the rain from the storm clouds above finally descended upon them, Gloria realized something. She was the answer.