Legacy

Chapter 1: September

"Happy birthday."

That's the first thing I hear in the morning.

A small smile spreads across my face as I roll over to meet Michael's eyes. I kiss him softly before pulling back a bit. "You remembered," I whisper, propping my head on a fist.

Michael smirks. I can barely see it in the early morning light. "It's kinda hard to forget when your name is your birth month, September," he teases before planting a tender kiss on my forehead.

"What's the plan for the day?" I ask, sitting up and rubbing my eyes with the heel of my hand.

Michael gets his usual devious smile. Not the smirk his face seems to default to.

There was a time when that look would scare me to the point of paralysis, but now it's just a silent promise of a secret yet to be revealed.

And I've grown to love that look.

"Well..." Michael plants a kiss on my nose. Then my cheeks. Then down my neck, towards my clavicle. "We could have some fun right now..." He moves to climb on top of me.

I laugh and kiss him softly. "I think doing it twice last night was enough."

Michael pulls away, pushing his bottom lip out. I hold his gaze for a long moment before he grins and shakes his head.

"Whatever you want. It's your birthday." He sits up and pops me on the ass. "Get up and shower. I'm gonna go start breakfast. French toast? Pancakes? Cinnamon rolls? Just bacon? Nothing else?"

I giggle. "Rob will want the cinnamon rolls." I sit up and stretch my arms above my head, my shoulders popping in a couple places.

Michael grins and kisses me softly. "Alright." The next moment he is out of bed and racing down the stairs.

I hear the delighted squeal of our son as he runs down the stairs to "help". Even though he'll end up trying to get into the icing before they're even on the rolls... Breakfast is his favorite meal of the day. He likes it more than dessert.

Crazy little goon...

I get up and hop in the shower.

On a normal day I'd be rushing through my shower so Michael can put me and little Robin in the basement before he goes off to work. But today is a family day. The man gets off work and we spend the whole day together.

During the days he's at work, I spend the day either teaching Robin how to read with the children's books Michael brings, or I help him with his coloring book.

The other day, he asked me what color a frog is. I told him that frogs were green... to which he responded that the one he had been coloring is all the colors. And it was. Every color of the rainbow and with no regard for the lines. That page is still tacked up on the fridge in the kitchen. It was originally on the fridge down in the basement, but Michael insisted on it being moved upstairs instead.

I close my eyes and savor the warm water running over my body... and my mind starts to wander back...

I remember...

Just over a year after Robin was born, Michael and I put him down to sleep. Then Michael took me to our room and sat me down on the bed.

It wasn't for sex.

I didn't know what to expect. Sex made sense. But this man wasn't fumbling with his shirt or aggressively pulling off mine.

I watched as he reached into his pocket and pulled out something I couldn't see.

I still remember his every word.

"September..." he sighed. "Sweetheart... Morning Bird..." Every name he ever called me.

Then there was that smirk. The hint of a smile he wore for every single victim. The one that never changed. Even for me.

In that moment I was more afraid than I had ever been in my entire life. I wasn't afraid for myself. I was afraid for my son. My beautiful baby boy.

"Robin is old enough that I don't have to worry about milk. And he's young enough that getting rid of you won't be too much of a problem..."

But then the smirk softened. His cold eyes softened.

"For him."

My heart froze. I wasn't even sure I was breathing.

Then he was on one knee, taking my hand in his. "Thing is, I've grown rather fond of you. More than I thought I would be."

"The original plan was to kill you. The moment you were of no more practical use to me. But that's just not the case. Not anymore."

"I love waking up beside you each morning. Looking into those beautiful brown eyes. Robin's eyes. September, I love you."

His hand opened. And I saw them. Two silver rings. One for him and one for me.

I cringed. Or maybe it was a flinch. Maybe just a shake of the head. All I know is that my body suddenly jerked involuntarily.

Michael noticed and brought a gentle hand up to my cheek. "I. Love. You." Each word was soft. As soft as it was the first time I held our son.

When I didn't dare to meet his eyes, Michael sighed and stood up, closing his fist tightly around those two rings.

"I'm asking you to be my wife. If you say no, I'm goin' back to the original plan. But because I love you..." He took a breath. "You can pick how I do it."

"Slit your throat... Drowning... Strangulation..." He was towering over me then, creeping above me until he had me pressed down into the mattress. Tears were welling in my eyes. "Smothering... Good old fashioned stabbing... I'll even use the gun if that's what you want."

I blinked. And I saw the tears in his eyes, as sure as I felt mine streaming down my face. His fingers came up to wipe them away. Then his forehead was pressed against mine.

"Please," Michael whispered, his breath quivering. "Please be my wife."

I didn't say a word. I just took his hand and slid the smaller ring onto my finger.

I open my eyes as I feel the water start to cool down. My gaze falls down to the ring on my finger, light glancing off of its surface and winking up at me.

And a small smile crosses my face.