Zelene
Cain walked in with his hand over Mikey's shoulder. He had an impish grin on his face that I did not like. It made him look triumphant. Like he had won something and I had lost.
I went straight to Mikey and took Cain's hand off his shoulder.
"Hey, mom. Look who found us."
"Hey, sweetheart. Go to your room. I need to talk to him."
Dalia helped by putting her hand over his shoulder and steering him upstairs.
I turned to glare at Cain. "What are you doing around my son?"
"Oh, come off it, Zelene. He's my son as well."
"What?" I asked him, wanting Cain to repeat what he had said to me about Mikey being his son as well.
"I said, I am his father, Zelene. What do you want us to do? Argue it in court? Well, you already know how that is going to turn out. They might ask for a paternity test if you choose to keep disagreeing, and I'll just be happy to oblige. I knew you were one hell of a loyal lay."
He chuckled as he said that, and I couldn't understand what I had seen in Cain that made me fall in love with him. Maybe it was just the sex but I was completely over that already. His actions and behavior meant nothing to be anymore because I just couldn't take them.
He made me feel less of myself when I was pregnant with Mikey. Always telling me that he knew better and that I had made one hell of a mistake in deciding to keep the child. That he wasn't going to pay a cent for upkeep.
"You might have sired him when you spread my legs, but that doesn't make you man enough to me his father. Men like you should have just joined the priesthood."
"But they are called fathers as well."
"At least, they try to stay celibate!"
He shrugged it off like it didn't matter to him. The man standing before me was waring a wool sweater like Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and he had dark jeans on. He looked like he worked and a lumberjack but I knew that thought was false.
He had some inheritance that he really wasn't managing well. Back when we were still together. I had no idea if he had finally gone bankrupt or if he had finally gotten better at handling it.
"Well, I am here now. And I have a right to be with my son. Either way."
"You don't have that right, Cain."
"Oh, yes I do."
"No, you don't. You buried that right when you told me that you didn't care what I do with the child. How do you think my son is going to feel when I tell him his father said that?"
"Look, I wasn't myself, okay? I was not thinking straight."
"That's right. You seemed to lose your thinking capacity the moment I got pregnant for you. Please, don't make this harder than it already it, Cain."
"I am not the one making it harder than it already is, Zelene. That is on you."
How convenient of him to blame me for standing in his way and standing for that I knew was right. No lady would agree that Cain had a right to be a father to Mikey. I wouldn't even allow that. I might even go crazy and do something that I might regret.
He took a step towards me and I took two steps backward and held out my hand. "Don't come close to me, Cain. I don't want you in my house. You better leave."
He sighed, as if he was exasperated of my antics. Then he did what I was praying he wouldn't do. He sat down on the sofa and propped up his legs on the table.
No single manners in that head of his.
I just turned and went to continue what I was cooking. Good thing I hadn't made any for him. I wasn't about to give him my food anyway.
Dalia came downstairs and found me in the kitchen.
She looked at me, worried and surprised at the same time. "He's staying?"
"I wouldn't let him do that."
"So he's doing it himself?" she asked. "Did you tell him you didn't want him here?"
"I did. Make that crystal clear to him."
Dalia walked away and the next thing I heard was her loud voice. She was shouting at Cain!
"I'm calling the police and she is going to file a restraining order on you if you don't leave this moment!"
I went to see what she was going to do, just as she brought out her phone and punched in 911.
Cain slowly got up from the sofa. He looked at me and turned to leave. Then he said, "I'm coming back."
"Then you'll be sleeping in a cell!" Dalia shouted.
After he left, Dalia walked up to me. "You really have to learn to take control of things, darling. If you don't want Cain in here, you tell him that and you act on it. If you want it otherwise.."
"I don't want it otherwise," I cut in.
She went on with her statement anyway. "If you want it otherwise, then stop pretending to him that you want him gone."
I nodded. She had a point there. What the hell would I have done if Dalia wasn't around?
"Thank you."
"Go talk to Mikey. I'll continue with the cooking."
"Alright," I said and headed up to his room. The door was locked when I tried to open it. I knocked.
"Who is it?" Mikey asked.
"It's your mom." Dalia must have told him to lock the door after she left. She was bold, I had to hand it to her.
Mikey opened the door. He looked scared. "Mom? Was that my dad?"
How would I answer a question like that? I had told Mikey the truth. That his father had left me when I got pregnant. That he wanted nothing to do with both of us.
I nodded in response.
"Did you chase him away?"
"I think Dalia made that happen."
"I'd like to meet him, mom. If he's back, then it's a good thing, right?"
Those were the words I was scared of hearing.