My Boss & Me

Memory

Things began to go back to normal...well, normal-ish slowly. Markus and I were doing a couple of things which was awkward and weird for both of us. We went on dates, saw movies, made dinner together, and made out like teenagers. We even moved my things into his primary bedroom. We weren't 'doing the deed' just yet, but Markus was understanding as to why I wasn't ready, and he never pressed the issue.
Our days were filled with breakfast, work, lunch, manuscripts, dinner, more manuscripts, making out, and bed. There wasn't much for the tabloids to pick up about us, so they eventually left us alone. We were no longer the center of attention, and we finally had the house to ourselves. Of course, we would be in them from time to time if we went out to dinner or had guests, but other than that, we had not been the main story on any millionaire's mind which is good in this world.

We didn't see his mom much since our last fight, but his dad came to dinner almost every weekend to talk about the business and the books Markus planned on publishing. He even mentioned my book, but I hadn't written any of it since the baby. Mr. Turner encouraged me to start writing again, so I was at my computer, waiting for the words of the next chapter to appear in my head or flow out of my fingers. Nothing came; I just sat and stared for about an hour, waiting for something to come to me. After another half an hour, I closed my laptop and went back to reading manuscripts for Markus. As they say, When you can't write...Read.

But as I said, things were going great until they weren't.

Do you know that moment in movies where the characters are about to have what you think is their happy ending? That's how this was, and we thought we had a happy ending. At least, I thought so.

It happened when his mom came to visit with his dad one weekend. She was pleasant, which isn't normal for her, at least not being friendly to me. We were waiting on dinner to finish, and she insisted on seeing the new redecorating of all the rooms, so while the men spoke of business, the women spoke of decorations. I first showed her the kitchen, then the dining room. So far, she seemed to approve of my decorating tastes, saying things like, "Oh, how nice." Or making pleased hmm noises as I showed her rooms. Then we moved to the upstairs rooms; I showed her the guest rooms first, trying to avoid showing her the master bedroom. Luckily just as we were headed there, we were called for dinner.

On the way down the hall, listening to her speak approvingly about my decorating style, I kept getting the sense of slight danger or deja vu. I don't know if it were something she'd said as we reached the stairs or if it was the polite back and forth to who should go down the stairs first, which I inevitably went first, but I started to remember what happened that day.

~~~~~~

"I want you out of Markus' life. I will pay you any amount to quit that job and move out of his life permanently. But, you will have to sign an NDA and set the record straight that this child is, in fact, not my son's."

I was shocked, more so that she had the guts to say this to my face, let alone in Markus' own house. It was understandable that she wanted to protect him and had doubts about this child being his, but to try and bribe me to leave and lie about it being his.

"Mrs. Turner, I'm not lying about this baby being his. Markus and I did sleep together."

"Oh, I don't doubt that. My son is a well-known whore, but I'm not going to let you ruin the reputation he is trying to build  by taking on the responsibility of his father's company."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not ruining anything. If anything, people will see how responsible he's being and taking care of his child!" I started walking away, towards the stairs. I wanted her to leave.

"Don't you dare walk away from me!" She called after me as she followed me to the stairs. She caught up and grabbed my wrist, spinning me to look at her, "I'm not done with this conversation!"

"Well, I am," I said, yanking my wrist out of her hand. "As much as you hate me and this situation, YOUR son was a part of this mistake. Yes, we slept together. Twice I might add. Yes, I am pregnant, but I refuse to take the blame for the both of us. So either get on board or get out of my life!"

"The only thing keeping you in this house is that child," She sneered at me, "Once it's gone, Markus will come to his senses and kick you to the curb. I'll have to speed up the process."

It was too late for me to process what she meant by that. The next thing I knew, she had shoved me off the top step, and I was tumbling down the tall staircase. When I got to the bottom, she was already there, kneeling next to me.

"You should have taken my offer."

Without another word, she pulled out her phone and began 'frantically' calling the police.

~~~~~~~~
How could a mother do something like that? How could someone cause death to a baby without a second thought?
Why didn't I take her offer? She would still be alive if I had.

"Jan? What's wrong?" Markus was kneeling next to me, looking at me worriedly. I couldn't look at his parents or him. It was my fault. I shook my head, and he wrapped his arms around me.

"I think we should call it a night." Mr. Turner said as they stood up from the table, and he led his wife out without saying goodbye.

Markus took me to our room and undressed me. He pulled an oversized T-shirt over my head and pushed me onto the bed to lay down. I don't remember much else besides crying the rest of the night.