"You have your Daddy's eyes, you know that?" Stevie spoke to her daughter, lying surprisingly still on the changing table as she was cleaning her up. "Of course you don't." She sighed. "You've never met him."
Lily's little eyebrows creased as she listened intently to her mother. The baby made a sound as if she was fully engaged in the conversation.
"And you're a real troublemaker, just like him, too." Stevie smiled and so did Lily.
Having another child in her 40's was not something Stevie had ever planned. She had already been a mother of two, when Lily came along. She didn't believe it at first. The numerous test she took that one night failed to convince her. Then her doctor confirmed it and she still wasn't sure if it was true. Needless to say, she was scared. The thought of terminating the pregnancy didn't cross her mind, not even when she realized, she was going to have a lot of explaining to do. It might have been a different story if she were sure that the father was Michael. Likely, he would have driven her to a clinic himself. He had a vasectomy years prior to her getting pregnant and they were less than careful after that. So, no, she knew right away that Lily was Lindsey's. For a split second, she regretted not leaving him her number, when he asked her to. In all honesty, those thoughts vanished from her mind quickly. She believed that if she had had a way of telling him, he wouldn't have wanted anything to do with her or the baby. That night they spent together - it didn't mean anything. She might have felt differently in the moment, but she didn't any longer, when she had time to reflect.
"Isn't that so much better, huh, baby?" Stevie tickled Lily's belly, making the girl giggle adorably.
"Mom?" A knock on the door made Stevie look back over her shoulder. "Dad's here."
"He was supposed to come yesterday." She replied. "Tell him, I don't want to see him."
Dylan took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "Please, don't involve me in this. You can tell him yourself."
Picking Lily up, Stevie gave her son an apologetic look. She said, she was sorry, passing by him. With Lily on her hip, Stevie walked out of the room and turned towards the staircase. Her eyes fixed on Michael, standing by the front door, hands in his pockets, looking lost and uncomfortable.
"Hey." He smiled weakly, noticing her coming down.
"Hello." Stevie greeted him, sounding anything but warm towards him. "I thought, you were coming yesterday."
"Yeah, I'm sorry. Something came up." Michael shrugged, casting his eyes down to the floor. "But I've brought your things."
"Thanks. You can go now." Stevie said, but he didn't budge. "Is there something else?"
"I, uh... I was just..." Another weak shrug. "How you've been?"
"I'm not doing this, Michael." She shook her head, placing a hand on Lily's back, when she leaned against her mother's chest. "Maybe you should have asked me, how I was doing, before you filed for divorce. What good is it going to do now?"
"I'm just trying to be civil." He sighed. Every time. Every single time he tried, she shut him down. "I still care about you."
"Did you care about me, when you had another woman in our bed? Did you care about me during your business dinners, your business trips?"
"I-" Michael stopped, his jaw clenched. "I think, you're forgetting the fact that you had a kid with another man."
"See? You don't care about me." Stevie emphasized, shaking her head. "The gold-digger you'd left me for has walked out on you now, so you're just all alone with your bruised ego. You try to hide it, but you're still angry and so am I. I'm not completely sure what it is that you want from me know, but know that I don't want any of it." He opened his mouth, but she didn't allow him to get a word in. "Go out, throw some cash around - you'll find yourself a new girlfriend."
Michael wasn't used to this Stevie. He only knew her as an obedient housewife, who listened to every word he said. He didn't know, how to deal with this Stevie. So, he didn't try. He straightened up, held his head high and walked out.
