Chapter 8
Sitting on the edge of a settee in the formal living room she thought no one was allowed to use, Evelyn pondered the significance of the room. With its delicately carved giltwood throughout the room contrasting with the robin’s egg blue walls and fabrics, it had a lighter but more formal feel than most of the other parts of the house. At Michael’s request, Banner had escorted her there, promising to take care of Micah while she was occupied. The butler had seemed pleased she and Michael were meeting. He had even brought in tea and cakes as if she were a guest. She couldn’t decide if this merited the foreboding feeling she had.
Evelyn had been riding an emotional rollercoaster for two days at the hospital when she finally entered the Harding home holding Micah close. She had stopped short at the sight of Michael standing in the middle of the foyer. Feet shoulder width apart, arms tightly crossed over his chest, and back rigid, he cut an imposing figure.
“Mr. Harding.”
“Evie?” She had missed how he said that with a rush of breath like a sigh, but his use of her nickname made her more wary of what was coming.
“Is there something you need? I’m rather tired, and I’m desperate for a shower.” This was an understatement when her legs were trembling from her bone-weary exhaustion.
“Is Micah ok?” Had he asked anything about her son in the months they had been married?
“He will be. Thanks for asking.” Now wasn’t the time to get into all of her woes since she felt like collapsing on the floor in front of him.
“I would like to speak with you about a few things when you are up for it. Just make sure Megan gets you on my calendar. I’ll tell her it’s a priority.”
In her room with Micah tucked in next to her, she started calculating the costs of this most recent medical emergency. Giving up, she messaged Meghan and collapsed next to her son.
“Are you well rested?” Michael’s sudden appearance pulled Evelyn from her reverie. In an unhurried stride, he crossed to where she was sitting. She thought he might hug or kiss her cheek in greeting, but he laid a bundle of files on the table before taking the seat across from her.
“As well as any mom can be, I suppose.” Her fatigue was making her delusional if she imagined he would express some affection for her before evicting them.
“Do you want anything to eat or drink?” Was what he had to say so bad that he felt the need to delay the inevitable?
“No, thank you. Honestly, this gracious politeness is making me more nervous than if you were screaming at me. Can we get this over with?” Evelyn blurted.
“I want to discuss these with you.” He gestured to the pile of documents. Emptying the manilla envelope, he spread the contents and the folders across the surface.
“Ah. What specifically do you want to know? Do I need to be prepared for another dose of vitriol or should I just go pack?” At a glance, she had recognized the jagged script etched into her memory.
“I deserve that. Probably even worse. I’m not asking you to leave.” She noticed his careful choice of words. He hadn’t said he ‘wanted her to stay.’ Perhaps his political career was worth some minor inconveniences to him.
“Are you sure? Because most people do when they learn of Micah’s health issues. They don’t want the burden of a liability.”
“Evie, I’m so sorry for all you have been through” he stated, leaning forward, elbows on his knees.
“I don’t think you realize half of what that entails.”
“Did you refuse my proposal because my father threatened you and your family?” He held the stack of notes. If he had read them, there was no point in hiding the truth.
“Yes. And no. It wasn’t just him. I didn’t care what he thought.” She leaned her head back, looking toward the ceiling, not wanting to have this conversation, even though it was long overdue.
“I know Heath was behind a lot of this. Even these past few weeks, he tried to stir up my doubts again.” He moved one of the official looking documents, she assumed it was one of many with Heath’s signature.
“Michael, don’t you understand, none of that mattered. But you said horrible, unforgivable things to me. You blindly accepted their lies, constantly proving that you didn’t trust me and had no faith in our relationship. We fought so often, I was shocked at your request for marriage.” She jabbed at the pictures in front of them, emphasizing each point.
“I’m ashamed of my behavior, Evie. My treatment of you should have been enough reason to cause you to reject me. I loved you so much it scared me. Maybe I was too insecure. I thought that if we swore ourselves to each other, all of the uncertainties would go away.”
“You told your dad all of this before you came to see me, right?” She rubbed at her temples, trying to inhibit the headache from her fatigue.
“Yeah, because I wanted to give you my mom’s engagement ring. Did he march directly over and tell you what he thought before I had even gotten there?”
“I was surprised you hadn’t passed his car on your way.”
“How often did he go after you behind my back like that?”
“As much as he thought was necessary, or every time he saw me. Whichever came first.” Mr. Harding the Third had been relentless in his efforts to break Evelyn’s spirit.
“And my accident. You were at the hospital.” It wasn’t a question, as he pointed at another paper, most likely the ‘cease-and-desist.’
“I was, until your father had security escort me out. You were unconscious, but at least I had been able to find out you were stable. I knew nothing about your paralysis until I read about it in the paper.”
“You were always so strong. Why were his threats over my accident the final straw that made you leave? After as hard as you had held on to us?” He slumped back, his arms in the air, still not understanding.
“I couldn’t go to prison. I would have lost Micah. Not even you were worth that. I had no choice but to run.” She leaned into the corner of the sofa, arms crossed over her chest.
“It’s unbelievable how merciless my father was to you. I wish I could have been there for you.” He knew most of the secrets, yet he was still blaming others for their relationship’s demise.
“You were gone long before the accident, leaving me defenseless and alone in a world that was against me every step of the way.”
“Then why did you put up with it for so long?”
“I was a kid. I had just turned eighteen when you proposed. I thought that’s what love was. It’s no different from a puppy getting beaten and coming back for more.”
“You don’t think I loved you?” He looked astonished.
“You thought you did. But you’re more kind and supportive of me now than you ever were back then.”
“That seems unlikely. I’ve hardly spent any time with you.”
“Yet you introduced me to your colleagues, boasted about my designs, and sent a bodyguard to protect us.”
“That was Sabrina’s doing.”
“You still agreed to it. In college, we had fun, but I felt like your dirty little secret.”
“I didn’t see it that way. I wanted all of you, every waking minute of the day. A lifetime wasn’t going to be enough.”
“You came close, considering how much time we spent together.”
“Evie, I’m sorry. I am grieved that I caused you so much harm and pushed you away. If I had been a better man, I would have known how dedicated you were to me.”
“THAT WAS A LONG TIME ago. Remember we were leaving it bygones.”
“I know we said that, but that was before I knew all of this.” He waved his hand over the array of documents.
“That was a different lifetime. That isn’t my world anymore. Micah is.”
“Want to tell me why he makes frequent trips to the ER?”
Evelyn sighed. “I supposed you’re going to do it for me since you have my files.”
“Why didn’t he have surgery when he was younger? The sooner it’s fixed, the better quality of life. It explains why he’s so small.” He paged through the binder, not sure what he was looking for.
“If you saw the estimate and all the bills, you would know that not everyone has the luxury of getting what they need. We do our best with what we have.”
“It makes sense now why you agreed to the contract.”
“I became the gold digger your father always accused me of being. However, it is all for Micah. Without this arrangement, I would lose my reason for living.”
“There was no one else who could help?”
“Your father chased away any chance of that. I couldn’t even get a decent job without a degree and connections.”
“But what happened to your scholarship?”
“Apparently it doesn’t cover labor and delivery. Who knew?”
“You never finished college?”
“Ha! How was I supposed to do that and pay for the months Micah was in the NICU?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Look, I’m glad you reached all of your dreams and you get to look down on us from that lovely tower. But life has been hard on the other side of the tracks. I’ve scrimped and saved and failed. So many times. And I’m so fucking tired of the struggle.”
“You’re here now. You can rest until you get back on your feet.”
“You haven’t been around. You don’t know how I spend my days. I homeschool Micah and work on the business part of the designs. At night after he goes to sleep, I sew until the fabric starts to blur.”
“What about a nanny or tutor to help?”
“I can’t afford that. Even if I could, I want to spend every moment with Micah that I’m not working or sleeping. Every trip to the ER reminds me that any day could be his last.”
“The dedication you have to each other is enviable. I like to think we were like that once.”
“Even if we did, it’s different with a child. Wait, where did you see us? Surveillance. Of course. I should have known.”
“If it makes you feel any better, the nanny-cam Banner put in the bear is how they knew Micah was sick. It wasn’t on my instruction, but I confess I did watch last night.” He showed her a screenshot he had taken of them snuggled together, talking. “Why didn’t I see it sooner?” He opened the photo app on his phone.
“What would that be?”
“There’s no doubt he’s got your hair and smile. But when you put these pictures side by side,” he explained, moving the photos on his phone. “You see? The nose, eyes, even the shape of his face. He’s a mini-me.”
“I don’t see it,” she replied without looking at his screen.
“Same congenital heart defect.” He stabbed his finger at the binder.
“I seem to recall that there are several variations.”
“If you had been with only me before the accident, then the math says that Micah is my child!” Flipping through the folders again, he held up Micah’s birth certificate.
“There are a lot of variables to that theory, Mr. Harding. Maybe Micah was premature?”
“Then it would be in your very thorough health summary for him. I understand why you didn’t tell me in the past. We’ve been over what a belligerent ass I was. But why deny it now?”
“Excuse me, but aren’t you the man who has been trying to prove that I was scheming to get more money out of you? You should call Heath. He’d be delighted to make good on some of those threats to crush me so hard there would be no coming back. I’m paraphrasing, of course.”
“I’m not going to let him, or anyone, hurt you or Micah.”
“No, you’re just going to take him away from me forever. That’s the same as being obliterated.”
“I promise I won’t bring any legal proceedings. Please give me a chance and introduce me to him.”
“As his father? Ah, no. Look at it from his perspective. He was so excited that his mom was getting married so he would finally have a dad. But that man was as absent to him as his real dad. When did you last see or talk to Micah?”
“I was trying to keep my distance from you but, inadvertently, I avoided him also.”
“It doesn’t inspire confidence that you still don’t trust me.”
“A lot has changed in twenty-four hours. Let me catch up. But it wasn’t because of that anyway. It was to prevent activities like what happened in the car.”
“What hap- Oh!”
“Just because I have trouble resisting you, doesn’t mean I don’t want to get to know you both.”
“If that’s what you really want, spend some time with him. Apologize, as his new dad, for not being around. Make up some excuse about traveling and then tell him outrageous stories about your travels. Get to know what he likes.”
“You want me to lie to him?”
“To protect him from feeling rejected by one more person? Yes!”
“What about you?”
“I will spend time with the two of you as needed to get things rolling. But you’ll be fine, no matter how nervous the two of you are at the idea.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then you’ll have to be more explicit.”
“What about you and me?”
“What about us? We exist on paper only. You made that very clear.”
“We have amazing chemistry still.”
“It wasn’t enough the first time.”
“We’re different people now. You said so yourself.”
“Yes, in a conversation where you accused me of lying, yet again.”
“And what if I pay all of his medical bills?”
“Why would you do that? We made an arrangement. Micah and I are happy to have a warm place to sleep and plenty of food to eat. We don’t need or want any more from anyone. I won’t be indebted to you or anyone else.”
“But technically, you are my wife. I want to take care of you and Micah.”
“That’s a sweet sentiment but it’s about eight years too late.”