Star Bright (23 page)

“
If I start
giving you the history of every scar on my body we’ll be here all
night.”

“
I don’t think
a man would hurt his own son.” even as the words left his mouth he
knew they didn’t apply to Ricky.

Maria blinked back tears
as the memory of Michael’s bleeding forehead filled her mind, “Well
Ricky would.” her voice was shaky and full of emotion, “He and I
have close to identical scars.” she lifted her finger to her
forehead and traced out a line, “his is a centimeter shorter and a
little higher.”

Dave pulled her hand
down, held it in his and kept silent, he didn’t know what to say to
comfort her. There were no words to comfort such anguish, “I swear
I thought he was dead.” she sobbed and let the tears flow freely
down her cheeks, “one second he was standing over me yelling, the
next he was still on his bed, the gash on his head bleeding like a
running tap.”

She wiped her cheeks with
the back of her hand as her face creased in anger, “I felt like he
squeezed my heart with his bare hands, I just wanted to kill
him.”

Dave knew he shouldn’t
ask, but he was sure her answer would fit the missing piece of the
puzzle, “Did you?”

Maria knew it was his
lawyer side asking that, he was probably thinking up a defense for
her, if only the ass was dead, “Don’t you already know that
answer?” she asked calmly.

“
It was ruled
as an accident, therefore there is no case against you, but I just
want you to tell me what really happened.”

Maria nodded. She wasn’t
so scared about telling the story anymore, there was no risk of
going to jail because no one died. She was stunned, but grateful
the sheriff hadn’t put that in the police report, “Mama got Michael
out of the house when he was still unconscious and bleeding, I
stayed to give them a little more time to run before Ricky caught
up with them. He chased me around the house, but thanks to his
heavy drinking he didn’t catch me, but he tripped me. I hit the
kitchen table and the candles fell, the whole place caught on fire
fast. Ricky was so focused on hurting me, he didn’t even notice the
flames. He fell and knocked himself out and I ran.”

Dave remembered that from
her police statement, “You kept running and didn’t look back.”
repeating what he read.

“
Don’t believe
everything you read.” she said quietly, making Dave give her a
perplexed look, “I stood there and watched for a while. I wanted to
make sure he didn’t come out. I only ran when I heard Michael call
for me, then...” she paused and looked at him. She wanted to see
from his reaction how much of a monster he thought she was, but his
face remained unchanged, “Then mama and I watched the house burn
down until the sheriffs came. We needed to be certain he was dead
and that Michael was safe.” She sobbed, knowing that there was no
such luck for her, all she did was put Michael in more danger than
he was before.

“
That’s one
less bastard in the world. It was considerate of him to take
himself out.” Dave spoke candidly.

Maria laughed, that was
the same line she had used on Edna and Jane, “Say I got arrested,
could that be a defense?”

“
It’s a good
thing you left the last part out, although the abuse would have
been cited as a motive. I would have gotten you off
easy.”

“
I wouldn’t
have been able to afford your services.”

“
They would be
free, because I like you so much.” He pulled her closer to him and
tucked her by his side.

“
With a lawyer
like you on my side, I should be on a crime spree.” Maria joked.
She turned to make herself more comfortable against him. She felt
light and free after telling him the truth, close to the truth, and
knowing he didn’t judge her, made her like him even
more.

“
I’d have you
put on house arrest and be your personal warden,” he rubbed her arm
and felt a few bumps on her inner part. He stretched her arm out
and looked at it, there were a few small straight scars. He then
lifted her arm closer to his face and surveyed the whole of it.
There was a long one on her wrist, two in her palm and a few on her
fingers.

She would normally pull
away and cover up her body if someone took a look at her scars, but
instead she leaned her head back and watched his face. His
expressions kept changing from anger to pain as he traced each scar
with his fingers, “If those disgust you, you won’t like the rest of
my body.”

“
What do you
mean?” he asked harshly. Unable to contain the anger from his
voice.

She pulled her arm down
and weaved her fingers with his, “I have a few more on my legs, and
you’ve seen the ones on my forehead.”

“
And your hair
line and upper back.” he continued.

“
How did
you... never mind. Anyway, Ricky hit, cut and burned the places
people couldn’t see, he had to change his focus points to parts
that weren’t visible when our neighbors and friends started to
notice.”

“
He burned
you?” Dave hissed out.

“
Yes. His main
aim was to disfigure me so that guys would stop looking at me
lustfully.” she spoke comfortably, unlike she ever did with anyone
else, not even her mother, “My cursed beauty is one of the reasons
I don’t like Miguel much.”

Dave wrapped both his
arms around her, “Is that why you don’t like to be looked at?” She
stiffened a little before she relaxed. Dave was getting used to
that and he understood her. That particular reflex had become a
part of her, but he always hoped for the day she would trust him
enough not to hurt her.

“
You don’t
miss anything do you? With everything that’s happened in my life, I
grew to hate men, except for Michael and you of course.”

He kissed the top of her
head, “Thanks, that means a lot to me.”

“
You’re
welcome. Now could you please tell your journalist to come home,
he’s attracted enough attention.”

“
Tomorrow.”
Dave wasn’t sure she told him everything, he still felt something
was still missing, “Maria have you told me everything?”

Maria kept her voice
steady, “Yes,” she was glad she wasn’t looking at him, because he
would pick up the lie immediately.

“
How long do
you need before we become an item?”

“
If the
relationship stays on a PG thirteen status I don’t need any more
time to wait.”

“
Okay, we’ll
take it slow, but I want to sleep holding you tonight, so will it
be your room or mine.”

Maria smiled, he wasn’t
asking, he was telling, “Yours is just fine.”

“
Good, let’s
go to sleep. I have an early morning and you have to be up to take
Michael to school.” Dave stood up and led her up the
stairs.

“
Michael
Greer, you still haven’t explained that to me.” Maria followed him,
feeling comfortable, with no anxiety attacks or the need to run and
hide, not even his touch, knowing his intentions and feelings for
her, made her skin crawl. She had come a long way from being a
frightened little girl scared of her own shadow and she was proud
of herself.

“
I will,
tomorrow at lunch.” He opened the door to his room and led her
in.

Chapter
Fourteen

Michael tapped Maria on
her shoulder to wake her, “Mama, wake up I need to get to
school.”

Maria turned to face him,
“One more minute.” she mumbled, then pulled the cover over her
head.

“
No mama now!”
he shook her, “Dave, tell her to wake up.” Maria pulled the cover
off and sat up straight, fully awake. She finally realized where
she was and she got pensive about Michael’s reaction, “Never mind,
she’s up.” Michael knelt on the bed and kissed her nose before he
turned to Dave, “So can I come for lunch today?”

“
Good morning
Maria.” Dave laughed when he saw the surprised look on her face. He
put Izzy down on the bed and walked to the mirror to tie his tie,
“You can’t come to my office during the day anymore, you have
school, and you have new friends you can have lunch
with.”

Maria watched the two
converse casually, like there wasn’t a huge pink elephant in the
room. She felt uncomfortable and mortified having been caught by
Michael in a man’s bed. She expected him to ask her a million
questions, she would most definitely turn red trying to answer, but
Michael completely ignored her. Izzy crawled to her and hoisted
herself up against Maria. She held her face in between her little
hands, kissed her nose, then settled on her lap, pulling the heavy
covers over her legs. Maria smiled, she really loved Izzy and she
was glad Michael loved her as well, she wondered what else he had
taught her.

“
Okay, but I’m
coming on Saturday.” Michael insisted, “I don’t like missing lunch
with you.”

“
Sure, we’ll
spend the whole day together, give your mom a break.” Dave hoisted
Michael then Izzy off the bed, “Take her downstairs and get ready
for school, we’ll be right down.”

“
Okay, mama
hurry up.” Michael took Izzy’s hand and led her out the
room.

“
Bye.” Izzy
sang out as she waved and walked out behind Michael.

Maria waved back until
the door closed behind them, then she jumped off the bed completely
freaked out, “Why did you let them in before I had a chance to get
out of bed?” Maria half yelled.

“
You looked
peaceful, it would have been a crime to wake you up.” he answered
her calmly, watching her pace the room fretting. “Besides, the kids
are fed, dressed and ready to leave.”

“
That is not
the point, Michael caught me in your bed.” she sat on the king size
bed and held her head in her hands, “What he must be thinking.” she
moaned.

Dave chuckled, “For a
four year old, a lot.” he picked up his jacket from the mini
sofa.

Her head jerked up, “What
do you mean?” She stood up and moved to him, “He asked you what I
was doing in your bed didn’t he?” she asked worried. This was one
of the times she wished she had a normal four year old.

“
Yes.” he
pulled his jacket on and straightened out his shirt.

“
Well, are you
waiting for a bell? Spill!”

Dave laughed as he
straightened out her tussled hair with his fingers, “I told him
mommy slept in my bed because I was afraid of the dark.”

“
He’s four,
not stupid. What did you really tell him?”

“
That we only
slept in the same bed to keep each other company and nothing else
happened.”

“
That’s it?”
Maria asked perplexed. She knew her son and she was sure there must
have been more.

“
He was glad
that you were my girlfriend now.” Dave lied. He didn’t want Maria
to start her day with a cloud hanging over her head, “And I asked
him to call me Dave on occasion just to keep you
comfortable.”

Maria felt guilty, she
didn’t want this, well she did, but it didn’t keep her from feeling
guilty, “I don’t want you and Michael to change your relationship
just because it will make me more at ease.”

Dave placed his palm on
her cheek, “We aren’t changing anything. We, yes Michael and I
agreed it would be better this way, until we make it official.” He
kissed her forehead and walked to the door.

“
Wait what?”
Maria turned to him confused, “What do you mean official, and what
other plans have you and Michael made?”

“
Get dressed,
Michael needs to be at school in an hour.” He closed the door
behind him, laughing.

Maria knew Dave always
needed to have control and take charge of every single detail, but
she wished he would have the conversations with her and not
Michael. She was fine with him sometimes making the decisions for
all of them, because so far he’s been doing all the heavy lifting,
but she wished she’d have a stronger input in the decisions. Maria
went to her room and got ready, a little irked at another
controlled life she had gotten herself into, she wasn’t battered
into it which was great, but it dawned on her, she is a housewife,
she wasn’t sure if she liked it or not.

She dropped off Michael
at school then went to work early. Izzy was taking a nap in Rose’s
office, with a baby monitor tucked close to her head and the
receiver strapped to Maria’s apron. She and Jane weren’t friendly
anymore, the little talking they did, had become none existent.
Maria didn’t mind let alone care, but she wished Jane wouldn’t talk
behind her back. Maria didn’t care to find out what she was saying,
but the cooks and the new blond waitress kept glaring at her. If
she didn’t have to pay some of Michael’s tuition she would have
gladly quit and found another job, if Dave let her. He liked having
them close by and would prefer if she stayed at home than work far
from him. Maria served one more table before she left for
lunch.

“
Paula.” Maria
turned to Jane’s annoyed voice. She hadn’t bothered to tell Jane
her real name, because she didn’t see a reason to, “Those guys want
you to serve them.” She walked past Maria, bumping her in the
process.

Maria wanted to pull her
back by her hair, but she held back, she still had the rest of the
afternoon with her, she wanted it to be peaceful. She picked up her
notebook from the counter and walked to the table filled with five
high school looking boys, “Hi and welcome to Rose’s, I’ll take your
order.” she said, with fake cheer and a pasted smile on her
face.