Page 73 of Forbidden Fruit
Livia yells and runs behind me while Anton stops in his tracks.
That…bitch.
I rarely swear. It’s yet another technique to keep my emotions hidden and in check, but I can’t stop the onslaught of insults I want to throw at her. I grind my teeth instead and clench my hand around Vanessa’s. I stop myself before I can hurt her, even unintentionally.
“Mamma?” Anton asks, sounding uncertain and frightened, like he’s dreaming her instead of seeing her in the flesh.
“Aren’t you going to kiss your mamma, baby?” she asks, but it sounds unhinged and terrifying.
I drop onto my haunches and pull him back against my chest, Livia at my side. If Monica believes she can get me to do anything for her now, she’s mistaken. I’ll play nice in front of the kids, but she’s in for a reckoning. My head almost spins as I remind myself I have the best lawyer on the island and she just made her bed, having refused the mediation I offered.
“Mamma is back,figliolu, but you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
“Don’t be silly. Of course they want to see me. We should go back to the house so I can spend time with you.”
At least she didn’t say ‘our house’. She isn’t welcome there and given the body language of my children, she makes them uneasy or downright scared.
Livia starts to cry and I pick her up in my arms as I stand, while Anton takes Vanessa’s hand and doesn’t say anything, eyeing his mother warily.
“If you thought this was a good idea, now you know how wrong you were,” I tell Monica. She has the decency to look downtrodden. But nothing she can do or feel can make me pity her. She wants war, then she’ll have it.
“You!” She points a manicured finger at Vanessa. “You set them up against me. What lies did you tell them?”
Livia cries harder against my chest and Anton starts as well. I step in front of Vanessa, shielding her from the onslaught of my ex-wife’s vitriol.
“Enough. Don’t talk to her, don’t even look at her. I gave you the chance to settle this like adults, to find a solution that would allow you to see Anton and Livia in a way that would work for them. Yet, you had to come here and throw a tantrum. I’m done with giving you grace.” I place a crying Livia into the stroller Vanessa is pushing. “Stay with Vivi,” I tell my children, then take Monica by the arm to walk her further away. I don’t want the children to hear what I have to say. “If you step near us again, I won’t hesitate to deal with you,permanently. Do you understand?”
“Are you threatening to kill me, Lino?” she asks, her voice high pitched. She’s mocking me, but the fear that coats her is visible in the drop of sweat on her forehead and the tremble of her hands.
“I’ll do whatever I have to in order to protect them. Now, leave. We’ll see you in court.”
She doesn’t move. Her mouth trembles, but I can feel she’s about to say something damning. She looks at the kids and Vanessa, who stares at me with worry written all over her gorgeous face.
I walk away, but Monica slithers a hand to my wrist and stops me. When I look back at her, my eyes convey all I need to say and she drops it like I burnt her. “I want money,” she says.
“Are you joking?” I spit the words.
When she told me all those months ago that she needed time for herself, to go soul searching, a small part of me understood and wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. Being a mother can be hard. I wanted her to find the happiness she so desperately searched for so she could be a good example to our children. These thoughts dissolve to nothing as I watch the mother of my children ready to abandon them for cash. I have nothing left for her but disdain and pity.
“No,” I say before I march to my family, holding my son against my chest as we walk back to our house. This evening is going to be difficult, but I’ll weather any storm for them.
FORTY
YOU DON’T NEED TO SHARE BLOOD TO BE A MOTHER
After the shit show of Lino’s ex-wife showing up at school, the lawsuit between them is expedited quickly. None of her demands are accepted by the judge. She doesn’t get the house or the kids. Not that it was her ultimate goal anyway. She was after money all along.
With her bad track record and that stunt she pulled, even her solicitor had trouble getting her out of paying a substantial fine the judge was requesting.
While the children are at Lino’s parents, we step out of the courthouse but she stops us.
“Wait!” Her heels clack on the marble floor.
Lino tenses and I squeeze his hand in a show of support, then we turn as a unit.
Her immaculate navy dress and pearls make her look like the perfect image of an outstanding citizen, but we all know what sort of devil she really is.
“What do you want?” Lino snarls. “I have nothing left to say to you.”