Star Bright (6 page)

Maria nodded. Jane was
right, she was finally free and she wasn’t going to give Ricky
another thought. He had taken enough time away from her. She walked
to the window and looked out at her son. He was walking around the
field with Denise, Jane’s daughter, pointing out things on the
ground. She should be worried about what he would say since it was
his father she didn’t rescue from the fire. But he hadn’t asked
about Ricky once since Edna told him he was dead. Seeing him with
Denise was the first time she saw real joy on his face since he was
old enough to understand what Ricky was doing. He looked happy not
a care in the world, so why should she be worried?

Chapter Six

“
Da.” Elizabeth
shrieked happily as Dave walked into the house carrying his
cheerful daughter in his arms. Unlike her, he was exhausted. He
stayed at the office until seven, before he thought of coming home.
He wasn’t as agitated or worried as he usually was and had no need
to rush home, since he had his daughter with him. He fed her dinner
over three hours ago and he thought she would fall right back to
sleep, but she was very energetic and hyper, practically bouncing
off the walls of his office. She had managed to get out of his
office and crawl under several desks playing hide and seek without
letting Dave in on it.

He had searched the whole
office floor and was about to widen the search grid to the entire
building when one of the paralegal’s screamed and jumped off her
chair. A happy, shrilly laugh followed as she got on her feet and
ran to Dave. He picked her up relieved. He didn’t bother to scold
her, her sweet smile washed all his worries away. She placed a wet
kiss on his cheek and waved at his co-workers, yelling bye with her
tiny voice as he walked back into his office. He got a long ribbon
and tied one end around her belly and the other end to his desk. He
also had Carol watch the door just in case she broke out
again.

“
Dave is that
you?” Amy walked into the foyer with a glass of brandy in her hand.
Her white robe was open, revealing a short, cleavage satin night
gown. He hadn’t bought that, and she definitely hadn’t bought it
for him. Dave stood by the door, contemplating going back out of
it. She leaned against the wall and smiled at him, “What, you want
to leave already?”

Dave exhaled and headed
for the kitchen without saying a word to her. He took out a TV
dinner from the freezer and popped it in the microwave. He had
given up on expecting Amy to cook or order take-out for
him.

He pulled at Elizabeth’s
curly hair and watched it snap back. She bounced in his arm
excitedly and pulled at her front curls. Dave watched her play with
her hair, smiling exhaustedly at her. Out of the mistake of a
marriage he had with Amy, Izzy was the best and the only great
entity that came out of it. She pulled her pink head band off and
pulled more curls to her face.

Dave took out his dinner
and sat at the counter placing Elizabeth on top of it too. He held
her leg with one hand while he ate quietly with the other. It
didn’t take long before she tried to climb on his shoulders, the
distraction with her hair already exhausted. He laughed and placed
her on his shoulders and went back to eating. She went quiet after
a while and Dave could feel her weight on his head. She had finally
fallen asleep.

“
She’s not
asleep yet, but she’s dozing off.” Amy’s flat voice came from the
door way. Dave stood up slowly and gently lifted Elizabeth off his
shoulders. She woke up when he settled her in his arms. He sat back
down and went back to his dinner. Amy came closer and put her glass
down on the counter, “I’ll take her to bed.” She extended her hands
out for Elizabeth.

Dave looked at her, out
of habit, suspiciously. He wasn’t sure what her end game was today.
Normally when Elizabeth fell asleep on the floor she would walk
right past her, or Dave would have to beg or force her to put her
in bed.

“
I’m not going
to eat her, I’m just taking her to bed.”

Dave stood up and turned
to her. He paused for a while, thinking the action through, and
then he bent down to place Elizabeth in her arms. Elizabeth fisted
her hands in Dave’s shirt and shrieked in objection. Dave
straightened up and stared at his daughter shocked.

Did she know exactly how
her mother felt towards her? Because as far as he knew babies never
repel their mothers, it was so... unnatural.

“
Lizzy what’s
wrong?” Dave stroked his thumb over her pink cheek.

“
Lizzy
?” Amy said distastefully,
“Give
Elizabeth
to
me.” she said stressing her full name. “Come here honey.” She
looked at her with a wide smile on her face, probably facilitated
by the alcohol she was consuming.

Dave looked at her, and
then at his daughter, what about her mother did she not like? His
list was as long as his arm.

Elizabeth gave Amy a
blank stare, then turned back to Dave and put her tiny arms around
his neck. Dave chuckled softly. Whoever said babies could sense
evil was right.

“
I guess that’s
a no.” He walked past Amy and went upstairs. He gave his daughter a
quick bath before he put her down. She was out like a light once
her head touched her pillow. Dave stood there for a while watching
her, something he was accustomed to doing. It gave him peace that
he often craved in the hell hole of a marriage he had or after a
tiresome long day at work.

“
So you brain
washed my daughter into hating me?” Amy spoke loudly from the
baby’s bedroom door. Dave’s jaw tightened, pissed that his peace
had been disrupted. “I asked you a question!” Amy
yelled.

Dave turned and marched
to the door. He shoved Amy out and closed the door gently behind
him. He turned and found her on the floor staring up at him
angrily, her glass next to her, all the content soaked up in the
carpet. She was about to yell at him again, but he picked her up
and dragged her into her room at the end of the hall way and closed
the door behind him.

“
Who the hell
gave you the right to push me around?” Amy stood close to him,
looking up at him. She was close to two inches shorter.

“
When will you
learn to grow up Amy? Couldn’t you see she is asleep?” Dave kept
his voice low. He didn’t have the strength to fight and he also
didn’t want to wake his daughter up just because Amy had decided
she wanted to go a few rounds.

“
Who cares
about that brat, the only thing she’s done is drive a wedge between
us!” Amy yelled emotionally.

“
No Amy, you
did that all on your own with no one’s help.” Dave turned to leave,
but she stopped him. She reached up and pulled him down in a kiss.
Dave pulled her away and looked at her shocked. First the baby now
this, what the hell was wrong with her?

“
I love you
Dave. Why can’t we just go back to what we had?” her voice was
lower and she sounded desperate. He stared at her stunned. He
wasn’t sure if this was a game meant to anger him further or it was
a sincere confession. But she did look sincere.

“
Amy I don’t
know.” He said unsure, all the anger gone from his
voice.

She held herself tight
against him in a hug, “We can, I know we can.” Dave stared at her,
shocked more by her actions than her words, “All we have to do is
give that brat away and I don’t have to compete for your attention
anymore.”

Dave’s anger rushed back.
He pulled her hands off him and pushed her away, “The only person
I’ll be giving away is you!” he said acidly. He couldn’t believe
he’d thought she was sincere. There was a catch, there was always a
catch to her nice attitude.

She dropped in her lounge
chair laughing, “You actually believed me? Well, we would have
worked with that brat out of the way, but since you don’t want to
make an effort.” She swung her legs up on to the chair. She rubbed
her legs against each other seductively, and her night gown
dropped, showing her thigh.

“
Who were you
wearing that for?” Dave asked angrily. It wasn’t out of jealousy,
but disgust. He wiped his lips roughly with the back of his hand,
imaging where her lips had been that day.

“
Do you think
I’m also having an affair?” She laughed wickedly, “All you need to
know is I’ve had a lot of pleasure in this little thing.” She
petted herself with her hands, running her fingers from her breast
to her inner thigh.

Dave fought the urge to
pick her up and throw her out the window, instead he turned around
and stormed out of her room, banging the door behind him to silence
her laugh. He stood still for a minute, realizing the mistake he
had made by banging the door. When he didn’t hear Elizabeth cry, he
walked to his room.

He got undressed and
readied himself for bed, thinking of the best contractor he knew to
install cameras in Amy’s room. He was going to leave her penniless
and alone. It was time for one of her lovers to shoulder her
expenses.

Dave walked out of the
court house, pride flowing with every step he took, victory number
forty nine tucked under his belt. This win was definitely getting
him a step closer to the promotion.

Since he started at
McKenzie and associates, he’d only lost two cases and he was
determined not to lose anymore. He had managed to get a big oil
company out of a billion dollar law suit. He was glad it was
against a rival oil company, if it was against a sick community his
conscience wouldn’t have been able to take it. He was still having
nightmares about the pharmaceutical company he managed to get off
with very little effort. He blamed the prosecution for that loss,
if it was him, he would have gotten the plaintiffs double what they
had sued for. If his career wasn’t at risk, he would have
encouraged them to appeal and given them some pointers to
use.

He got into the car and
answered his ringing phone. He thought it was his boss calling to
congratulate him and offer an early promotion, which he wouldn’t
have minded at all, but it was the opposite.

“
Dave you need
to get here now, the witch is here with her minion.” Carol
whispered on the phone. Dave threw his phone on the passenger seat
and pushed his car forward, speeding to the office. He didn’t care
if he got a ticket, as long as he got there in time to get
Elizabeth away from Amy.

Carol had insisted on
calling Amy a witch in front of Dave without batting an eye lash.
Minion was her code for boyfriend. She was in Dave’s life enough to
know that his wife was cheating, that’s what gives her the courage
to chase after Dave openly.

The past week was rather
peaceful when Amy disappeared. She told Dave that she was going to
see her family, but he knew exactly where she was going. Whenever
there was a new toy in her life, she would disappear for a week.
Her mood after the trip always told Dave how long that toy was
going last in her life. As usual, she would mark her return by
driving Dave crazy. She would normally spend thousands of dollars
on new clothes and jewelry, if the toy was staying, or she would
throw parties at the house, with Elizabeth locked in her room. All
Dave could round up was she wanted something, and she was going to
use Elizabeth, if she was going to get it without a fight from
him.

His car came to a
screeching halt in front of the building, he didn’t even bother to
drive it into the parking lot. He grabbed his briefcase and his
phone and ran for the elevator. He threw his keys to the
receptionist and asked him to park the car. When he got to his
floor he rushed for his office, struggling not to draw attention to
himself.

He stopped when he saw
Amy and a moron looking guy, who looked like a sixteen year old GQ
model, facing Carol who had pinned herself between them and the
door. Dave walked slowly towards them, a smile over his face. He
could always depend on Carol to take down Amy.

“
What’s going
on?” Dave asked calmly. He put his briefcase down on Carol’s desk
and sat at the edge of it looking at Amy’s angry face and then at
the daft, idiotic face of her companion.

“
Your bimbo
won’t open the door!” she answered angrily.

“
I’m a red
head, bimbos are blond, like you.” Carol said coolly. Dave
suppressed a smile. He didn’t want to encourage another fight
outside his office.

“
Why do you
want to get into my office?”

“
She locked my
daughter in there!”

“
No I didn’t.”
Carol said.

“
Then explain
the locked door and the baby inside?”

“
Who says
there is a baby inside? And this isn’t my office.” She replied
coolly. Dave looked at Carol’s grinning face then turned back to
Amy. He felt relieved that there was no way Amy could get to his
daughter. He turned and looked at the boy, amused at how he was
checking his reflection out on the tall painting on the wall
opposite his door.

“
Amy, aren’t
you going to introduce me to your new boy toy?” He took this moment
to irritate her, “Don’t you think I should at least know one of the
many?” He stood up and extended his arm, “I’m Dave, her
husband.”

“
I’m Brian,
her model boyfriend.” He said candidly, with a smile. Amy looked at
him shocked. She turned red, embarrassed by his
confession.