Push The Button (14 page)

“I love you, too. And I’m not going anywhere, Sir. I promise.”

Marcus smiled, accepting her pledge.

****

“You think you know so much so you should know she promised she would be with me forever. She said...she would never...ever...leave me,” Marcus bit out, his breathing becoming more rugged. “Remember that, baby girl? Remember when you promised me? I promised you, too, and I don’t go back on my promises...like you do.”

Marcus released Nicole and she fell to the ground gasping for air. David instinctively moved towards her, but Marcus quickly moved in between them, moving the gun to David’s cheek, close to His nose.

“Don’t... you... fucking... move,” he warned slowly, clearly, making sure David understood the brevity of their predicament. “You took her from me. You took everything. Everything I had, I had with her...”

“You lost her.”

“You
stole
her.”

“She left before I arrived.”

“It’s over Marcus!” Nicole called out from her position on the floor. “Do you remember what you did to me? Huh?? Do you want to see the scar?” She scooted back against the wall, massaging her neck as bruises began to surface. “It’s over...” she whispered.

Marcus shifted in his stance. His pistol-wielding hand began to tremble from holding his arm up as long as it had been.

“She left of her own free will because you damned near destroyed her. Accept it. You lost out on an amazing woman because... you are a punk-assed piece of shit!!”

With that declaration, David ducked His head, sidestepped Marcus’s aim and punched him in the appendix region. Startled, Marcus squeezed off a shot. The bullet shot through the window behind the recliner in the living room. He doubled over, caught off-guard by the punch to his abdomen, and staggered back a bit. David punched him again, this time on the other side of Marcus’ core. David was shorter than Marcus, but He did not let that intimidate Him. He tried to force the gun out of Marcus’ hand, but Marcus came back with some blows of his own. The two men fell to the ground and were scuffling, going back and forth, and exchanging places atop of the other.

Nicole screamed for help, hoping any of her neighbors were still home and could hear them.

Someone had to have heard the gunshot, right?
Nicole thought to herself and she scrambled to her feet and quickly scanned the room for something she could use to help David overtake Marcus.

“Stop this!! Marcus, stop this!!! This is fucking crazy!!!” she screamed, frantic, terrified. She ran to the hallway to see if anyone had come out of their apartments, but it was deserted. She ran back in and grabbed her purse, seeking her cell phone. She was going to call the police. She found it and began dialing 9-1-
POW!!!

Another shot rang out and the scuffling stopped. Nicole dropped her phone and fell to her knees.

“You shot... Oh my God... oh my God... oh my God...y-y-ou shot..oh Godddd!!”

Marcela dug her small hands into the dirt, chasing the pink earthworm that caught her attention as her parents hovered over her and spoke in hushed tones. She twisted her index finger and thumb into the ground, trying her best to grab the slimy, slithering worm. It got away from her and the tears began to form in her eyes. She rubbed a dirty fist in her eye and began to wail as the soil got into her right eye and began to burn.

“Mamaaaaaa” she wailed emphatically. She reached for her mother’s healing embrace.

“Oh baby, what happened?” Nicole asked her five-year-old daughter as she reached down to lift her up into her arms.

“Mama…mama!!” Marcela continued to cry out.

“Shhhh. It’s OK, my love. It’s gonna be alright, my baby,” Nicole reassured her, swaying her body side-to-side as she held her daughter close to her heart. “You just have a little bit of dirt. Let mama see,” she said as she reached her hand towards the child’s eye. Marcela shook her head furiously and pulled back away, pushing her hands into her mother’s chest as she tried to get away.

“Come to Daddy,” her father cooed, extending his arms out to her. Marcela smiled through her tears and gladly reached out to her father, preferring his hugs to her mother’s eye blowing. He grabbed her under her arms and pulled her close to his chest.

“Now, Marcy, you have to let Daddy get the dirt out. Hold still,” he softly commanded. He reached his hand towards her eye, spread the lids and quickly blew into her eye repeatedly. She batted her eyelashes a few times and the flecks of dirt came out with the tears. After receiving her father’s tender care for a few seconds, she seemed to be feeling better.

“There, there… alllll better,” her father confirmed, bouncing her up and down on. He pulled her close again, and breathed in her thick, soft hair which was fastened into a neat bun atop her head. She had a few stray tendrils along the crown, one of which he wrapped around his finger.

“It’s so good to see you, baby girl. I missed you so much this time.”

“I missed you, too, Daddy!”

Nicole stood quietly, observing the exchange between father and daughter. He had just returned from a business trip and as Marcela grew older, she struggled more with her father leaving on his trips. Nicole knew that Marcela did not quite understand why Daddy would be gone for such long stretches, but when he returned, she would be enveloped by the enormity of his love and tenderness. Marcela was truly a Daddy’s Girl, and she relished every moment her father spent doting on her.

Nicole watched them snuggle and cast her gaze downward, slightly beyond where they stood. She focused the small marble tombstone by her husband’s foot, quietly reflecting on what brought them there at that moment. The engraved words were simple:

BELOVED SON AND BROTHER.

It had been six years, to the day, since Marcus showed up at her apartment, enraged and out of his mind, and confronted David with a gun. She had returned to her apartment because she wanted to tell David about the strange man she encountered outside in the parking lot. Since He did not answer His phone, she went back to the apartment to make sure everything was OK. When she walked in, she was nearly paralyzed by the scene before her—Marcus stood before David, gun pointed at His chest, seemingly out-of-touch with the reality and brevity of the situation. Marcus was hurting and demanding that Nicole return to him and be with him, despite her decision to stay with the love of her life, David. David remained steadfast and attempted to rationalize with Marcus, but His efforts were futile as Marcus was not trying to hear anything other than Nicole’s agreement to be with him. Nicole’s entrance was just the slight distraction David needed to attempt to physically subdue Marcus, so he took a chance. The two men scuffled as David tried to separate Marcus from his gun. In the scuffle, the gun fired and Marcus was fatally struck in the chest.

Marcus rolled over onto the ground and David scrambled to His feet and rushed to Nicole. Nicole screamed and then tried to tell David to help Marcus, but she couldn’t get all of the words out. She felt herself struggling to breathe and looked around at the spinning room. Everything went black…

When she came to, Nicole was inside of an ambulance being poked and prodded by a female EMS worker. David was nowhere to be found. She became frantic and demanded to know where He was. The EMS worker tried to calm her down by telling her that she needed to relax, but Nicole was not interested in relaxing—she needed to know where her man was. The woman told Nicole that David remained in the apartment and was speaking with police officers.

“He didn’t do it!!” Nicole yelled. “He didn’t do anything! It was Marcus! Marcus tried to kill us!” she continued yelling, her voice hoarse and breaking. She began to cry and tried to sit up, but as she shot up too quickly, she felt woozy and fell back onto the stretcher.
Oh God,
she thought,
Please don’t let them take Him away. He didn’t do it. He didn’t do it…

Nicole blinked a few times and came back to the present. David and Marcela were now standing side-by-side at the tombstone. David was more solemn, now, and Marcela was fidgety, but seemed to understand her Daddy’s change in mood.

“Baby, we have something important to tell you,” He began. He took a few deep breaths and grabbed His daughter’s hand more tightly. He crouched down, resting on His heels as He looked into her eyes. “Marcus, the man who is buried here, was the man who created you, baby girl,” David said, simply.

David and Nicole agreed to bring Marcela there because she was old enough to learn the truth. While they knew she would not fully comprehend what it meant, they agreed it was time for her to learn the truth. In the short time that Nicole experienced amnesia after her fall, she believed that she and Marcus were in love and a couple. She spent time with Marcus and was intimate with him, not knowing that their relationship had long been over. Marcus took advantage of her lapse in memory and welcomed the opportunity to sleep with her again while she seemed willing to engage in sexual activity with him. Though she could feel something was off, she did not completely trust her own mind, so she did what she believed was normal for them.

After she regained her memory and realized that she belonged with David, she was overcome with regret and betrayal—Marcus manipulated her into having sex with her. He knew she would not consent to sex if she was not experiencing trauma-induced amnesia, and for a long time, Nicole struggled with what he had done to her. She opened up to David about it, right after they had physically reconnected, and He understood. While disgusted by Marcus’s manipulation, not once did He blame her or show any kind of anger or resentment towards her. His anger and hatred of Marcus only grew, so when Marcus appeared in their home, David was ready to handle Marcus, man-to-man.

He did not, however, plan to shoot and kill him.

David went with police to the precinct, but was not arrested. He cooperated with the police, explaining how shooting Marcus was an accident and how His own actions were in response to threats to His and Nicole’s lives. Nicole corroborated His story, as did one of their neighbors who spoke to police on the scene, and the cameras in and around their apartment complex. It became clear to investigators that the shooting was truly an act of self-defense, so no charges were filed against David. Marcus’ death was his own doing, even if David was the one who pulled the trigger.

“Marcus and Mama made you together, but Marcus died before you were born,” David continued. “I have loved Mommy for as long as I can remember and I knew, then, that I would love you, too… with everything that I have. I knew, before you were born, that you were sent here for me and Mommy to love and adore.”

“Mama told me that a man puts his penis in a woman’s vagina and that’s how people make babies sometimes,” Marcela replied. “Did Marcus put his penis in Mama’s vagina?”

Nicole could not help but chuckle at her daughter’s precociousness. David looked up at her, eyebrow raised, and the twinkle in His eye betrayed the frown He wore. He looked back at His daughter.

“Is that what Mommy told you?” He asked.

“Yup!”

“Well, your mama was right and yes, that’s what happened.”

“You put your penis in mama’s vagina, too, right?” she asked, pointing at Nicole’s bulging belly. She was just over 6-months pregnant with their son. Nicole laughed heartily at that question. Marcela went still for a moment, looked down at her shoes, and she kicked the ground a bit.

“Is Marcus my real Daddy?” she asked her parents.

“Daddy is your real Daddy, Marcy,” Nicole replied immediately. She walked over to be closer to the two most important people in her life. She leaned forward to caress Marcela’s face, lifting her chin up so she could meet her gaze. “Baby, Marcus was not a good man. He hurt Mama and tried to hurt Daddy. We wanted you to know the truth and we will tell you more when you’re older. Just know this—your Daddy loves you with everything He is. In the eyes of the law and in the hearts of this family, Daddy is your
real
Daddy, OK?”

Marcela looked up at her mother’s reassuring smile, then looked up at her Daddy, who was rubbing Nicole’s back. She looked between the two of them a few times and then broke into a smile. She threw herself into a wide hug, trying to grab both of them in her small arms. The family shared a big hug and right at that moment, Nicole’s stomach began to move, eliciting an excited yelp from Marcela.

“He moved! He moved! I felt him!” she yelled, clapping her hands with glee. Nicole clutched her stomach, feeling another of the mild contractions she had been feeling for the past few hours. She experienced the same when carrying Marcela, so she was not at all worried.

David wrapped His arms around Nicole from behind and rubbed her belly, feeling His son make his presence known. He nuzzled her neck and whispered, “I adore you, Star.”

“And I, you, Sir,” she replied.

“You saved me.”

“You gave me life.”

“You are giving me life, again.”

“I’m honored to carry your child, Sir.”

“We’ve been through so much, Star. Too much…”

“I know.”

“We can begin a new chapter when he arrives.”

“Yes…”

“Thank you for loving me.”

“Thank you for making me your wife.”

“She’s so beautiful… your twin.”

“She has his eyes…”

“She has your spirit.”

“She is her Daddy’s child.”

David took a deep breath, inhaling Nicole’s scent, a mix of Egyptian Musk oil and impending new motherhood. He looked down at His son’s limbs poking at the walls around him. He looked up at His daughter who was back on her knees chasing another Earthworm. He looked up to the sky and sighed deeply.

“Mine.”

Nicole leaned her head back against His shoulder and followed His gaze towards the sky. She too, sighed deeply.

“Always.”

Nicole felt another contraction, but it was a much stronger pain this time. She doubled over forward and David caught her.

“Star, you OK? Is it the baby?”

Nicole nodded as she tried to catch her breath. She continued to breathe and stood upright. David did His best to stabilize her and support her posture. “Come on, let’s go. Marcy!” He called, “Come on, baby girl. Time to go home!”