EXONERATION (INTERFERENCE) (2 page)

Snowball was too sick to be picked up the next day, and even the next, but by Wednesday morning, she seemed to have made a miraculous recovery.

“Um, you’re sure, Shane…um, Dr.
Ramsay, isn’t there?”

“No, I’m
sorry, he’s gone for the day. He left early this afternoon.”

“Okay, um, I’ll come get Snowball.”

“Hi, I’m Rebecca
Hayes, I’m here to pick up my daughter’s cat, Snowball.”

“Oh, yes, of course.
You know, your daughter’s really quite lucky. It’s amazing Snowball lived. Dr. Ramsay seemed so determined to save this cat. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s a great vet, but most of them wouldn’t have been so diligent. I mean, he stayed by her side every second. She was one sick kitty.”

“Oh, well, that’s…nice. What do I owe you?”

“Oh, um, Dr. Ramsay said there was no charge.”

“No, there must be some mistake. I need to know how much.”

“No charge.”

“He can’t do that!” I shouted.

“What?”

“I mean, why would he do that?” I asked, trying to regain my composure.

She looked up at me and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. Maybe he has a thing for blondes,” she said. “He’s certainly not into brunettes…um, forget I said that. He’s a really nice guy. Maybe he thought you couldn’t afford it. Anyway, I’ll go get your kitty for you. Oh, and she’s on some antibiotics, too; one tablet twice a day.” 

“Thanks,” I said, anxious to get out of there.

“Rebecca?”

I turned around, facing him. “I thought you left.”

“I did. But, I knew you’d be back today. So, I waited in my car until I saw you drive in.”

“I told you I don’t have anything to say to you,” I said, my chin starting to quiver at the mere sight of him.

“But I have some things to say to you. And um, I think you have something you need to tell me…something you should have told me…six years ago?”

“I have nothing to tell you.”

The girl came back with my cat. “Oh, Dr. Ramsay, you’re back. Um, Mrs. Hayes was just commenting on her bill.”

“There’s no charge.”

“Well, there you have it…from the boss!” she giggled and handed me my daughter’s little ball of fur along with a bottle of pills.

“Why did you marry…Hayes? You couldn’t stand him…”

“He’s a good man,” I said, not sure if I really believed that or not. 

My brain had been functioning well enough to remember to bring the cat carrier, knowing that Snowball would probably be back to her normal cantankerous self. I was right, and just as I tried to put her in the kennel, she jumped out of my hands the second a woman walked in with her golden lab. Shane caught her and helped me put her in the carrier, and as his hands brushed mine, I trembled…and found myself back in his room…with his arms around me…and I blushed.

He touched my cheek with the back of his hand. “You don’t know how much I missed that blush. It’s hard to believe, but you’re even more beautiful now.”

“I have to go!”

“Where’s my daughter?” he asked when I stood up. His receptionist was staring at us wide-eyed.

“
My
daughter…is at school,” I walked out the door toward my car. 

“She’s mine…I know it.”

I pushed my clicker to unlock my doors and set off the alarm, instead. The cat went crazy with the sound of the alarm and I was so frazzled, I couldn’t shut it off. He took the clicker from me and hit the alarm button again, silencing it.

“Thank you,” I said, opening the back of my car and putting the cat carrier on the floorboard.

“Let’s go have some coffee.”

“I can’t. I have a meeting at Shannon’s school.”

“Is she in trouble?”

“No, of course not.
She’s um, she’s in the play…and I have to…I have to go!”

“Not until we talk.”

“I can’t be late. She’s counting on me.”

“Then later…tonight.”

“NO!”

“Rebecca, please?”

I grabbed my keys out of his hand and got in my car. He stepped in front of the door preventing me from shutting it. “Just…tell me that she’s mine. I need to hear it…from you.”

“No. Now, I have to go!”

He stepped aside and I quickly closed the door. He knocked on the window. I ignored him until I realized he had my purse…which contained my wallet and my address and pictures of Shannon…and Parker.

I rolled down the window and reached for my purse. 

He pulled it back, “Not until you tell me that she’s my daughter!”

“She’s not!”

“I’m her father, Rebecca. I know it!” he was angry now, but not as angry as I was.

“Parker’s her father…you…you were just a sperm donor!” I shouted and grabbed my purse and peeled out of the parking lot.

“What’s wrong with you,
Beccs?” Parker asked later that night after I’d put Shannon to bed with Snowball.

“Nothing, why?”

“You’re
um, kind of jumpy, that’s all. So, it looks like the cat made a full recovery?”

I looked into my husband’s eyes and said, “Yeah, she’s fine.”

“What was wrong with it…her?” he asked, as if he gave a damn.

“I don’t know. She was sick. She’s on antibiotics.”

He stepped toward me, looking into my eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re white as a sheet.”

“I’m fine!” I stood up and walked out of my office. Parker followed along.

“Do you want to talk about what we were discussing before?”

“NO!”

“I just thought it would make you happy. You’ve been acting even more withdrawn the last few days.”

“I’m fine!”

“We um, we don’t have to…I mean, it can be done in the doctor’s office, if you want. Although, I’d really prefer the old fashioned way.” He waggled his eyebrows at me as if that would entice me. I had no intention of having more children, ever, and certainly not with Parker.

I closed my eyes and started up the stairs. “I don’t want another child, Parker. Not now.”

“But, I want a son.”

“There’s no guarantee that I’d have a boy.”
             

“There’s ways around that now. Especially if we go to…”

“NO! Just drop it. I’m going to my room to catch up on some work.”

“Are you ever going to forgive me?”

“I already did.”

“Then, why the cold shoulder for the last week?”

“Parker, I don’t care that you slept with her! I don’t care about any of them. I don’t care who you sleep with.”

“You’re my wife, you should care.”

I turned to look at him. “I know I’m not much of a wife…in that respect. I don’t blame you for wanting…needing release. Just keep them away from Shannon, and you can have whoever you want.”

“That’s not really true though, is it? I can’t have you. You’re my wife and yet I still can’t get passed the wall you built around yourself. Shannon walks right through it, but I’m always stuck on the other side. I just thought a child of our own would bring us closer. I’m trying,
Beccs…Rebecca.”

“I know you are. And, I’m sorry that I can’t give you what you want. I do…love you.” I said, the words sticking in my throat.

“Do you?” he asked, lifting my chin to look up at him.

My eyes were filled with tears. “Yes…” I whispered, “…you were there when I needed you, and you stayed by my side, even though Shannon’s not…” I wiped my eyes as visions of Shane flooded my mind.

“My name’s on the birth certificate. She’s my daughter!”

“Then act like her father. Come to the play Friday night.”

“You know I can’t. I have to fly to Phoenix Tomorrow morning.”

“You’re never home, Parker. Why would you even want another child?”

“I want a son!” he said, staring me down.

“Then have one with one of your girlfriends. My uterus is retired.” 

“It’s been seven years! When are you going to get over him?”

I spun around and ran back down the stairs. “I am over him! I married you, didn’t I? You got what you wanted, what you planned! DROP IT! I don’t want any more kids!”

“So, you’re the only one who gets a say in this?”

“Yes! I get to say if and when I want another child. That’s how it works!”

“Rebecca, I haven’t pushed you and I think I’ve been pretty patient for the last six years. But, I want a son. I want to have a child…with you!”

“I don’t…I’m sorry,” I said, heading back up the stairs.

“So, he’s the only one who gets to knock you up? Doesn’t seem fair to me, now does it? Especially since I’m raising his kid!”

I stopped halfway up the stairs and took a deep breath. “Just because your name’s on the birth certificate doesn’t make you her father.”

“Trust me, I know I’m not her father. You’ve never let me forget it.”

“Parker, you’ve never tried to be her father. You signed the birth certificate, but that was the end of your duties as a father. I took care of her as an infant, I fed her, burped her, changed her, cared for her when she was sick. I’ve nursed her wounds and held her when she’s cried.
When was the last time you even talked to her? You resent her because she’s not yours…but you make it so! She could be yours, but you’re too stubborn to let it go. You’re the one that’s not over him, and our daughter’s the one that’s suffered for it. She needs a father. So, grow up and be one. She’s the only child you’re ever going to have…from me, anyway. So, if you’re so interested in being a father, be one!”

“I love…Shannon, Rebecca. But, is it too much to ask for a child of my own?
A son to carry on my name? Just…think about it, please? I told you, I don’t have to touch you, we can almost guarantee a boy if we do in-vitro.”

“I don’t want another child, Parker, I’m sorry.”

“You mean you don’t want a child with me. Tell me, would you say no to him, like you’ve said no to me for the last three years?”

I didn’t answer him. I headed into my bedroom and closed the door.

“I guess I have my answer!” he shouted, which of course, woke up Shannon. And, true to nature, he walked out, leaving me to soothe her. But, as I walked into my daughter’s room and looked into her beautiful little face, I knew I’d have it no other way. I didn’t want him to get close to her. I didn’t want to share her…not with him. I hugged her tight and told her daddy wasn’t mad; he just had to go back to work and didn’t want to leave us again.

I curled up with my daughter and fell asleep, only to sleep through the alarm. I felt her stir and sat up and looked at her Cinderella clock on the wall.

“Oh, Shannon, wake up, you’re late for school. Get up, we have to go.”

We quickly dressed and I raced her to school. I managed to get her there only a few minutes late and sighed after I kissed her goodbye and she joined her first grade class. I was watching her line up with her classmates and I saw her waving at someone and smiling. She ran out of line, leaving her teacher and me wondering what she was doing. “Shannon…” I said as she ran passed me.

I turned to follow her, wondering what she was doing and I stopped when I saw her in his arms.

“Thank you so much for fixing Snowball, Shane! She’s all better now. But, she
hates
those pills. Do we really have to give them to her?”

“Yes. She needs to finish all the pills or she’ll get sick again.” He was staring at her and he grabbed her hands and said, “When’s your play?”

“Tomorrow night. Do you want to come?” she asked.

“If your mother doesn’t mind?” he said, looking up at me.

“Can he, Mommy?”

“I don’t think…”

“Please?” she said. 

“Honey, you need to go back to class. I’ll see you at rehearsal, okay?”

“Okay. Bye Mommy, bye Shane,” she said and ran back to her friends.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to see my daughter. You know, the daughter you’ve kept hidden from me for six years.”

I walked away, heading back to my car.

“Don’t you think we have some things to say to each other?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, too bad, because now that I know that I have a daughter, I want to be a part of her life…whether you want me around, or not.”

“No!”

“You can’t just say no. She’s my daughter!”

“NO! She’s my daughter! Where the hell were you when I was pregnant, and in labor?”

“You know where I was!”

I got in my car, trying to ignore him. He refused to let me close the door. “We have to talk. Follow me to a coffee shop.”

“No, I have to go.”  I needed to get away from him.

“Fine, then I’ll follow you.”