Arcana | 18 – The Star

Arcanum 18 – The Star

The Star represents a stage in which an individual finds his or her rightful place to act in the world in a way that will embellish and nourish it from the spot the individual has made his or her own. It sometimes prompts us to not decide between apparently irreconcilable options but to conciliate the two. This card is traditionally seen as a sign of luck, prosperity, fertility. It symbolizes generous action. It is also associated with divine love, hope, and truth (which emerges from the well completely naked). It represents a creative realization that presumes its author has found his rightful place.

Los Angeles County, February 1989

A serene calmness. Some inner tranquility that stemmed from knowing that they didn’t have to be hidden behind any disguise any longer.

Did it make them feel lucky? At times, yes, it did. Michael and Lisa knew that they had something that not everyone experienced in their life. They had love, and they had time. The only thing they needed at that very moment was to find a way to move forward while keeping that beacon of hope intact.

Something eventual had changed after the several minor and major revolutions that had been sprinkling their lives for months now. To think about where they had been just one year earlier made everything seem even more surreal in some ways.

And yet, the effects of what they had become and were still becoming were all there. They were real, tangible. Like Lisa’s belly growing exponentially as weeks went by.

At the end of January, Michael had finally managed to finish his world tour by playing his five last concerts at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles. Just like planned. After that, it had been game on – but only as far as his private life was concerned. Whatever business or project he had initially planned, it had been put on hold for the time being.

When he was done, the very moment he stepped offstage, the first thing he did was grab Lisa’s hand and drag her backstage, to his dressing room, without even uttering a word. It had made her laugh to the point that she almost had to double over, to see him wired and demanding like that. Flushed, sweaty, his white shirt plastered to his torso. Sexy as all get-out. Yeah… laughter aside, she was also turned on like hell because the moment his big, warm hand had grabbed hers, Lisa had immediately felt the intensity of his touch and had guessed his intentions.

Of course, she was right. Michael had pulled Lisa into his dressing room, kicked the door closed, locked it, and then had been all over her.

“It’s over. Done,” he had whispered, before kissing her. Almost no foreplay was needed, because they were both more than primed by the night they had shared – apart, yet together. So very, very close emotionally even though the stage separated them. Michael could not know how much she loved to feel his sweaty body pressing against her, the softness of his hair and his lips touching her, caressing her. Within minutes, they were naked on the couch, making love. A quickie, yes, but it had been so damn worth it.

“Tell me again we’ll get married,” Michael had panted at one point, between kisses. His tone was serious, hopeful and yet urgent.

Lisa had been holding onto his shoulders, her fingers digging in his solid muscles as he pushed into her again and again, molding her lithe body according to his own passion. He had stared at her intensely as he kept moving in regular, controlled strokes and she struggled to keep her eyes open.

“Yes…”

“Say it again…”

“I’m gonna marry you…”

“Yeah… you’re gonna marry me, baby girl…”

She had pulled his head down and kissed him again.

“Yeah…”

But not at that very moment. And not even afterward. Because at the end of the day, she had asked him to wait until their baby was born and, uneasily, he had acquiesced. Making Katherine kind of unhappy in the process, possibly, but still… Michael and Lisa had to do what they felt was right for them, for their little family. They were aware of the morbid interest surrounding them, of how many eyes were always on them. They knew that the media would have a field day, if only the wedding were to be held during Lisa’s pregnancy. It would have looked like a reparative act at best, something they had to do only because they were going to have a baby. But it wasn’t like that. Not even by a long shot.

And then there was the Priscilla problem, which Lisa so far had been able to avoid altogether, because Michael really didn’t need to deal with any more shit right now. Even that morning, when the car stopped and they stared at the gate to Hidden Hills for the first time, she didn’t say a word. Knowing well that soon she would have to – because some secret just couldn’t be kept forever.

Still glancing at the entrance of the gated community, Michael blindly reached out and took Lisa’s hand.

“Ready?”

She held onto his fingers. She loved how big and strong his hands were. Whenever he would hold her hand like this, she always felt safe, secure, protected. She felt as if nothing bad could ever happen to her.

“More than ready.”

They were just outside of Hidden Hills because they were thinking about buying a new house there, closer to the city than Michael’s ranch was, now that they were going to have a baby. And the gated community next to Calabasas seemed perfect, because it granted Lisa and Michael privacy and discreet room to maneuver themselves into a more family-oriented, ordinary life. Which was something that, all of a sudden, Michael seemed to crave.

At first his complete commitment had marveled Lisa, but Michael’s idea of having another place to live at had been just as surprising, in a way. She had always cherished her privacy, and she despised the intrinsic fame that her name had brought her since the day she was born. She had always been under scrutiny because she was Elvis’ daughter. She had her father’s genes written all over her face. Now that she was back with Michael and their relationship had taken the most serious turn ever conceivable, she knew that things would only get worse. Lisa and Michael had to protect themselves and their baby as best as they could and, even though he was not intentioned at all to sell his ranch, he also wanted a place where he could just be a family man.

And so they had driven over to the west San Fernando Valley which, all of a sudden, seemed a reasonably plausible option in terms of house-hunting.

The realtor was a sixty-something man that kept tugging at the collar of his white shirt. He sounded very professional and undoubtedly well-versed in his job, but also tense, as if he wondered how on Earth he had managed to land such a potentially lucrative business and was about to have a panic attack. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes sparkled, as they kept falling on Lisa’s ten-carat diamond ring that indeed signaled so much more than an affair.

Yes indeed. The first thing Michael had done after flying back to California had been to buy Lisa an engagement ring, making her very much aware that his marriage proposal was dead serious, and not the result of some moment of lust-induced, sex-crazed bliss.

When she had first seen the ring, Lisa had tried to protest, but Michael was having none of it. So she had teared up, because she was a sap after all, and then she had framed his face with both hands and kissed him with all the love she felt for him. And Michael, who had been down on his knee and had made sure to ask her again – fully clothed this time – had known that she had been sincere when she had told him that she was “all in.”

And now here they were. Standing on a property that most likely would belong to them in a few days, holding hands, as the realtor spoke. Hoping that he couldn’t guess Lisa’s growing baby bump under the coat that she was wearing, even though the temperature was pretty pleasurable for a sunny February morning.

The house was beautiful. Smaller than Michael’s main mansion at Neverland, for sure, but more than spacious nonetheless.

“…The compound has a total of eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms and about eight thousand square feet of living space. It extends on more than three acres, so you’d have plenty of space… If you’re ready, I would like to show you the master bedroom suite. There’s a catwalk to an office and a customized closet, you’ll love it. Then I will show you the studio in the guesthouse and the second-story guest unit.” The man tugged at the collar of his shirt once again. He seemed giddy. “On a side note, I’ve heard you both love horses. There’s a three-stall barn on the property, too…”

Lisa smiled, sweetly.

“Yes, Michael and I do love horses. By all means, lead the way.”

Michael was happy to let her do all the talking, preferring to just observe the location, feeling the vibes it exuded. Imagining, daydreaming. He gazed at the perfectly kept lawn extending all around the main house and, for a second, he was able to tune out everything but the sounds he heard and the images he saw in his head. Children playing. Lisa laughing, her eyes sparkling, her skin kissed by the sun. He could see everything in such a transparent manner. And his heart just about exploded. That was the future he wanted for himself.

Yes, of course, he did want to keep pursuing his music career and being the top dog. But he also no longer wanted to experience the loneliness he had felt throughout his whole life. Professional and personal fulfillment could both be obtained, one didn’t exclude the other. All of a sudden, it all became so much more than a simple reverie. It was almost palpable. Almost within reach. He wanted to keep going as an artist, but also needed a future where he could finally lay back and relax, and enjoy his family. He was thirty, after all. It was time.

Blinking, he turned and watched Lisa. She was staring at the trees surrounding the beautiful infinity pool. Michael didn’t know what was going through her mind, but he could guess.

He smiled, ever so slightly, as they kept walking together toward the main entrance.

Lisa glanced at him.

“You OK?”

He nodded his head.

“Yeah. I love this place.”

“It’s nice, huh…”

“Very. I was just thinking… Maybe we should build a higher wall around the property… Just in case we wanna spend some quality time outside… You and I… You know, just to make sure we have some privacy and all…”

Lisa laughed.

“You’re nuts.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Lisa’s apartment, Westwood – Later that night

“You can’t sleep?”

Michael turned on his side and reached out, touching Lisa’s naked shoulder. Her eyes opened lazily and they stared at each other. Man, wasn’t she beautiful. Hair tousled, that expression of perfect delight she always wore after they made love for hours. To him, the future mother of his baby was divinity personified.

“Stop staring at me and then maybe I’ll be able to.”

He laughed, and she did that cute, funny thing where she scrunched her nose just because she knew he enjoyed it.

“I love staring at you. And I’m wondering why you seem so restless.” He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Is everything OK down there? The baby?”

“Yes, Michael. The baby and I are fine. I just have a lot on my mind right now.”

Michael scooted closer and kissed the tip of her nose, then her lips, gently. His eyes were still studying her and Lisa was starting to find it very difficult to hide from him. She felt naked way beyond her obvious lack of clothing. There was just something in the way Michael’s eyes would always scan her. As if they could reach in and see whatever they needed to see. She sighed.

“Wanna talk about it?”

It was rhetorical, really. She knew. She knew how he operated. And if they really wanted to make it work, this time, maybe some things needed to be out in the open.

Lisa intertwined her fingers with his.

“I think I will sell this apartment.”

Michael seemed genuinely surprised.

“What? Why? You just moved here. It’s your place. I think we should keep it. It’s convenient, useful, and-”

Reaching out with her free hand, she gently covered his mouth.

“I need the money. I love that mansion at Hidden Hills and I think it’s perfect for us. You know the price. It’s around 2.5 million. If I sell this place, I can pay for my half. And you can pay for the other half.”

OK… Now Michael looked even more confused and she knew exactly why. He was such a male!

“Baby… I will pay for it. You don’t need to sell nothing.”

“Yes, I do.”

He leaned up onto his elbow and stared down at her. His face was grave and beautiful. Without any make-up on, hair messy, torso naked, he looked like an ancient god.

“No, you really don’t. I know how to take care of my woman and my kid, you know.”

Lisa rolled her eyes. What swirled inside of her was a strange mixture of feelings. Pride and happiness at hearing him claim her and the baby, for the umpteenth time, but also slight irritation. Because, although she longed to be cared for, this was not it at all.

“I don’t need a sugar daddy, Michael. I can pay for my own stuff, you know…”

He frowned.

“Sugar daddy? Lisa! Look, I really don’t know what the heck is wrong with you tonight, if you’re in a bad mood or something, but I don’t think you understand. I’m paying for the house, and that’s it. This is how things must be done. I take care of my family.”

She had to scoff. He was just so obnoxiously cute, all huffy and… old-style. She brought his hand up to his lips and kissed his knuckles, grinning when he sighed and relaxed a bit.

“Mike… Baby. I do love you. You know that, right?”

Michael nodded his head.

“That’s why I wanna do this with you. I don’t want you to do this for the baby and me. I want us to do it together. And…” She pursed her lips for a moment. “And I will need to sell this apartment for that.”

“But…Why…”

Right. Why would an heiress need to sell an apartment to buy another house? That was where his confusion stemmed from, and she really could not blame him. He was so in the dark. Because she had left him there.

“Because I no longer am receiving any money from my mother… at least for the time being… and I likely won’t until I turn twenty-five. It’s quite a long time, baby… It’s four more years.”

Michael closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

“I knew something was wrong, but I also was trying to give you time and space to tell me on your own terms. You think you’re ready now? Think you can tell me exactly what happened between you and your… and Priscilla?”

She had to admire how polite and even he still was when talking about what was supposed to be his future mother-in-law from hell. A woman who had flat-out refused to meet with him again, even though she knew that her daughter would soon give birth to his kid. Despite Lisa’s insistence, Priscilla had been completely unmovable: she was not going to see Michael. She had no desire to. Further decisions would have to be postponed to a future date and that had been it. She didn’t agree with Lisa’s decision to just be with him and whatever that choice entailed.

Priscilla’s behavior had been disappointing, enraging and heartbreaking.

As a matter of fact, what had shattered Lisa’s heart even more had been the confused, pained expression on Michael’s face when he had finally realized that he was no longer welcome to Graceland or any other place where Priscilla was. He was simply persona non grata. From that moment on, Lisa and Michael had just stopped talking about the matter altogether, and she was so very sorry it had to be brought up again.

She rubbed her forehead.

“When I told her that you and I were having a baby, she was obviously shocked. Very upset. I think I almost managed to have her pass out cold with one single statement. She wasn’t happy, Michael… But not just shocked like your mom. My mother wasn’t having it at all. She told me…” She took a deep breath. “She basically told me that she would support the baby and me if I got rid of you. That she could accept my baby only if you weren’t in the picture… you know, involved as our kid’s father.”

Michael just stood there, stunned. He was expecting something unpleasant, but nothing like this. This was horrific beyond belief. This was maddening, and he found himself struggling to maintain some measure of composure.

For a moment, for just a short, brief, intangible instant, he saw red. The undercurrent of what was going on was so very clear. The prejudice more than obvious: the black boy from Indiana had dug his claws into the only daughter of the white icon… and he would soon be able to hold onto the white icon’s legacy as well.

It had never been about anything of that sort, for Michael. He hadn’t fallen in love with Lisa because she was Elvis’ daughter, but because she was Lisa. And although he knew very well that their status was what had allowed them to push through and come to terms with the perilous setbacks of their relationship, what Lisa owned didn’t mean anything to him. He didn’t want her money and sure as hell didn’t need Elvis to be great. If anything, Michael had never required to attach his name to anybody else’s to do what he did.

His hands closed into fists and he bit his tongue, realizing that he had been this close to snapping at Lisa. This close to snarling that she should have told her mother off. That shit like that should never be tolerated. That he wasn’t a fuck them and leave them kinda guy. And that she should have let him know what the fuck was going on the moment it had happened, instead of keeping it a secret for months. Pretending that everything was alright when it wasn’t.

“Michael…”

Her voice, soft and smoky, worked like an anchor dragging him back and out of the deep, black waters he had been sinking into without even realizing it. He noticed that he had been staring into space for a while and his eyes moved up, finding Lisa’s face. She looked concerned and his anger deflated a bit. Snapping at her? What for? Were human feelings really that basic and blunt?

He swallowed hard.

“I’m listening.”

“I know you’re mad. You have all the reasons to be.” She shook her head ever so slightly. “Believe me… even I couldn’t believe my own ears.”

“What did you do? What did you tell her?”

Lisa bit her lip.

“I told her that I wasn’t in a hurry and that I could deal with all this without her. As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what I’m gonna do. And she’ll do what she thinks she has to do. I don’t give a fuck.”

Michael’s eyes narrowed. What was she saying?

“What? Is that why you haven’t seen or spoken to your mother since?”

Of course, he had noticed that Lisa had stopped taking Priscilla’s calls. And that Priscilla had stopped calling after a while. But he also hadn’t thought much of it. There were so many things they had to sort out, and his future mother-in-law had taken the backseat – which she deserved, anyway.

“Yeah.” Lisa paused, as if she needed to find the right words. “I don’t need any more interference and I will not allow any of this shit to happen again. Not even from my mother. Hell, especially from my mother! There are just so many things that need to be done still, Michael… And I think I’m almost there. Selling this apartment will seal the deal.”

“I am not sure I follow…”

He definitely wasn’t. Why was she being so secretive, again? Almost speaking in riddles?

“I know you have been making a lot of changes in your life lately, Mike… And remember when you told me that I needed to trust you, even when I was not directly involved in the choices you were making?”

Oh, man… Now Michael had kind of an inkling of where all of this was going. He didn’t know the specifics, but he certainly recognized the flavor. Lisa had been focused on moving pawns on her own chessboard, just like he had been busy taking care of his own. The problem? He was not sure how he felt about that. Because to tell the truth, instructing her to just have faith in him while he took care of his business was one thing, but having her do the same felt entirely different.

“I remember…”

“Well… It goes both ways, doesn’t it? I have been learning to trust you with this for quite some time now, and I need you to do the same. We need to be equals in this.”

“Well… Fine. But are you letting me know about it? What this is all about, I mean…”

“I am. That goes without saying. That’s why we’re here.”

“And why now? I mean… we’re here every night…” He was still slightly miffed that she had made him wait so long, and yet couldn’t help but reach out and taste her sweet lips. His tongue sliding into her mouth gently, reminding her why they were there – together, in the same bed – every night, and doing what. As if she didn’t know.

But just to make sure she remembered…

Lisa broke the kiss and stared at him from below her long eyelashes. Her sexy, hooded eyes did something to him and Michael felt something stirring. Oh, damn… He was such a slave to her body. And her heart. How had he ended up in such dire, yet delicious predicament?

“I don’t wanna be around my mother if she can’t accept you or respect you. I don’t wanna do this without you… And I won’t.” Her gaze dropped on his mouth for a moment. “I don’t think you understand how much I love you. How proud I am to be having this baby with you. How unexpected all of this is… And how happy it makes me. How happy you make me.”

And possibly she didn’t know what those words did to him. To hear her say that she had chosen him, because she loved him more than he maybe had ever given her credit for. The fog in his mind dissipated some more. It just kept happening, as of late.

“There’s also something else…”

“What?”

Michael’s voice was husky now, very low. Heavy with passion. He didn’t want to hear anything else. He wanted to make love to her again, with every fiber of his being, and he wanted to do it immediately. But he also knew that he had to let her have her say first.

“I’m leaving the church. In fact, I already did.”

Once again, her words were so unexpected that they managed to catch his attention, and his eyes focused on her face. Nothing. Lisa looked composed, calm, collected. He tried to be a mirror to her own feelings and kept his expression even. All the while, wondering how this young woman had been able to deal with all this shit without even thinking about reaching out to him. A mixture of pride and disappointment washed over him.

“OK…”

“Aren’t you gonna ask me why?”

“Why…”

He was so utterly shocked by the mere idea of her stepping away from that cult that, for a moment, he hadn’t really known what to say. He and Lisa had never spoken about their respective beliefs in detail, but it had occurred to him that those headquarters in Clearwater had acted as some sort of safe haven for her, at least at times.

Obviously, he didn’t like that cult one bit. He found it to be manipulative, exploitative and prone to brainwashing. In a way, he was happy he had just recently opted for a much more liberating, less regimented way to express his own spirituality and he had hoped Lisa too could find some peace, because at times she just seemed so torn, so confused.

Well… Apparently, he hadn’t been wrong, but still, all of this was unforeseen.

He realized that the pregnancy had made Lisa’s wiser. Full of some sort of unique wisdom that he, sometimes, could not understand. He wasn’t the only one evolving in this.

“They had their eyes set on you the moment they found out we were hanging out… and they wanted me to bring you in…Because you are who you are, I get that now. I agreed at first… I mean, months ago. Mostly just to shut them up, because it’s easier that way than to have them push and push until I can’t take it anymore. But then…” Leaning up on her elbow herself, she raked her fingers through her hair and then reached out, stroking his cheek. Michael tried very hard to ignore how the sheets had lowered slowly, exposing her naked breast. “…Then I realized I didn’t want to. You’re so just comfortable in your faith, Michael. So serene and sure of what you believe in. You’re nothing like me… And I didn’t want you to become like me. I didn’t wanna drag you in there like my mother did to me when I was just a kid. My dad…”

“He didn’t like those people… Yeah, I heard.”

Michael covered her hand with his own, then moved it close to his lips and kissed her palm. There were heaviness and sadness in Lisa’s voice. As if her decision had come from some profound disappointment. Once again, she had told him nothing about it up until that point. And he had been unable to see.

“What… I mean, what-”

“What made me change my mind?”

“Yeah.”

“About bringing you in? Or you mean about me staying?”

“No, I get why you ended up not wanting to involve me. I am not so sure why you’re stepping away, though.”

She stared into space for a moment.

“Because I am no longer sure of what I believe in, but I do know it’s not them. And because I also know I don’t like how they handle some things.”

He knew better than to push her. Lisa always said what she wanted to say. She was pretty much an open book to him, and when she decided to not elaborate further, often it was because nothing else needed to be said. Like in this case. He got it. In fact, more than she would ever believe.

“Well… I think we can be together even if we believe in different things. You can do your thing and I can do mine. Search for your answers and stuff… It’s more than fine. I don’t expect you to be like me. I don’t care about that.”

“But I do. I really want to be at peace with myself. Look, I know how they operate and I know they had their eyes set on you from the get-go. I was just a useful idiot. When I told ‘em I wasn’t gonna do it, they did their best to change my mind…” She paused, once again biting her lip. “But it didn’t work. And now I’m out.”

Lisa hoped her face didn’t give anything away. There was a part of her that needed comfort, and she was aware that Michael could give it to her. But she had to take care of this alone.

She was not going to tell him what the people at the church had said about him, when she had started to back off. The hatred they had spouted, the relentless mocking, when it had become pretty clear that they would not have the most famous man on the planet among their ranks. Because Michael simply was not interested, because his faith was strong as it was, and because he would never be a part of such a…

“Lise?”

“Yes?”

“Are you OK with that? With stepping away?”

She tried to smile. It came out half-assed at best.

“Yeah… I will be.”

Which was the truth. Eventually, she would be alright.

Another thing that Michael didn’t need to know was that they had been trying to hold onto her as much as they could, throwing all their aces on the table. Including a record deal. Playing with Lisa’s ambitions – and knowing well that she had been cut off financially by Priscilla and needed, wanted to make money on the regular. Knowing that she needed a future to build her life on and that she wanted to be independent.

The treachery, the deceitfulness couldn’t be more obvious. If mother couldn’t reel Lisa back in with her emotional manipulations, maybe the promise of a music career would do. And maybe, in the long run, after mollifying Lisa’s obstinacy with some millions, the church would have another chance to have Michael become one of the faces of their organization. Despite their apparent contempt for him.

Well, how about fuck them, instead.

Fuck them and fuck their double-dealing shit. Yes, Lisa had been caressing the idea of being a singer, or even more so a songwriter, for quite some time now. And that was something she had never told Michael. The mere idea of even talking about music with him made her tremble. She had never been intimidated by the man, nor had she ever cared much about the megastar. But the artist, the genius behind the dance and the music? Well, yeah. That was another matter entirely. That made her feel small and hesitant. And so her young, insecure little self had taken her little secret and had hidden it in a place so remote that only she would have access to it. Just Lisa. Not Michael.

So, no. He didn’t need to know what had been on the table, that day in Clearwater. He only needed to understand that she was free. That was all that mattered.

“Mike… There’s something I wanna do.”

Leaning forward, she framed his face with both hands and stared into his eyes. He was looking at her intently, and she realized that they needed to move forward some more. They deserved some reward.

“Just tell me what you want, and I’m gonna do it for you, princess. Whatever it is.”

She closed her eyes for a moment and smiled. God… he was just so sweet. And she had no doubt that, had she asked for the moon, he would have tried to snatch it from the sky only to hand it to her. Thankfully, what she wanted was so much easier to obtain.

“I think I wanna see that scan. If you agree with me, that is.”

Michael’s eyes widened. He looked surprised, once again. Then pleased, genuinely happy.

“Are you serious?”

“One-hundred percent. I don’t wanna wait anymore.”

“Really?”

His smile seemed to light up the room and she pushed him back, playfully. Then she squealed when he grabbed her and pulled her close, kissing her into submission. Holding her in his arms until she stopped squirming and melted against him, her fingers tangled in his hair, her lips on his neck.

“Yeah, really. Let’s call the man… Tomorrow morning, first thing,” she purred in between kisses and little nips. “After we’ve made love all night.”

“You gotta be kidding me. I’mma call him right now.”

“No, Michael… It’s past midnight… Wait! What are you doing?” She burst out laughing and fell back against the pillows as he stood up, gloriously naked in the dim reddish of the room and looked down at her, smiling and squinting his eyes. He purposefully decided to ignore the fact that he was half-aroused once again – because Lisa’s words and kisses had, as usual, worked their magic.

“Look – He’s being paid handsomely for his work. He’s going to pick up the phone and believe me, he’s gonna send us that scan right away.”

Lisa laughed again.

“Oh, my God! You’re such a friggin’ bully!”

“That’s right. And you’re gonna find out what a punk I am in a minute. After I make this call.”

She just watched him walk out of the bedroom and toward the living room, and then come back, cordless phone in hand. Still naked. And possibly even more handsome than he had been just a minute earlier. Lisa shook her head to herself. She was hopeless. Hopelessly in love with this man.

Besides, she knew that trying to stop him now would be pointless. Once Michael’s mind was set, there was no way the tide could change. And she was OK with it.

During their second routine ultrasound, about a month earlier, the doctor had told her and Michael that the sex of their baby was fairly visible.

The news had taken them completely by surprise and pushed them both into some weird state of paralyzing panic. Without any rational reason, obviously, if not that they had not spoken about that eventuality at all and they were not expecting that their little one would be in the most appropriate position to show its gender. As a matter of fact, neither Michael or Lisa had asked the doctor to check the baby’s sex at the start of the scan.

The doctor, however, had just turned to look at them at one point during the examination.

“Well… This is not an exact science and we can’t be one-hundred percent certain, but…”

Michael had squeezed Lisa’s hand tighter.

“But what? Is something wrong with our baby?”

The doctor, a forty-something man with a spectacular Seventies-looking afro, had smiled and pushed his glasses up his nose.

“Oh, no! There are absolutely no abnormalities. The baby is healthy. What I meant to say is that I think I’m fairly sure I can see the sex, at this very moment.” He had cocked his head to the side. “Do you want me to tell you if I think it’s a boy or a girl?”

Lisa and Michael had stared at each other, wholly unprepared and speechless.

And even now, after four weeks, Lisa couldn’t tell why they had ended up telling the doctor that they wanted to wait a little longer.

Well… To be completely honest, she had a suspicion and it was related to the way she had felt when they had started that sonogram. She knew that Michael had felt just the same way, because lately they were just so in sync.

It had been the very first time that their baby had become something truly tangible and recognizable. No longer just love manifested, a little bump on her belly or a bean-looking shape on a blurry screen. Not longer some months-long wait. That one, on the screen, was a living being. A tiny human being with tiny hands and tiny feet and its little head and all its body parts at their place.

It had been Michael’s and Lisa’s very first encounter with their kid in its physical form. With the little person that soon would become a part of their world in all the ways that counted, with the individual that would keep them connected for their entire lives.

And the shock – mixed with happiness and exhilaration, yes, but paralyzing nonetheless – hadn’t granted them the courage to move that final step further. To ask and to know if they were going to have a boy or a girl.

They were so busy nourishing their relationship that they reveled in that ephemeral sense of suspension that came with it. Locking people out while they stayed in, where had an entire world to be explored within their own metaphorical four walls. Protection and perfection of talent were everything that mattered, while everything else just floated all around them, unmovable and often unseen. They needed to purify the future from the mistakes of the past and they needed to be on their own to do that.

They had needed that moment. And now, it was time to move that final step forward. Lisa knew. And Michael, speaking to the doctor over the phone in the middle of the night, knew as well.

Lisa pulled up the sheets a little, covering her breasts, and just stared at Michael as he gave the doctor a fax number, asking him to please send a copy of that scan as soon as he could. His tone was soft, polite – as usual – but it was fairly evident that he would not tolerate much delay.

And so, about ten minutes later, the fax arrived. Two pages. The first one was the scan, while the second was a note, handwritten by the doctor.

“What you’re seeing here is a two-dimensional black and white image that gives only a side view of your baby. When I noticed that the fetus was in a viable position, I looked for characteristic features known as “signs.” I will make this short, and next time we meet I will tell you everything in detail: your little one sports both the hamburger sign and the sagittal sign… and the caudal notch is pointing downward. Which means that close to 100%, you’re having a baby girl. Congratulations, Michael and Lisa!

Dr. Damon Sutton”

Michael’s hands were shaking and his voice was too, as he read the words to Lisa.

Still sitting up on the bed, she didn’t know where to look. If at the scan carefully placed on the crumpled cover, or at the man standing at the foot of the bed, one knee on the mattress. Michael had put on a black robe and the belt was half-knotted, partly showing the solid muscles of his torso.

It was such a fleeting moment, but the happiness that invested Lisa was so luminous, and so intense, that she had to close her eyes for a moment. Fearing that her breathing would stop. Even decades later, this would have been one of the moments forever carved in her memories.

When she opened her eyes again, Michael was staring at her and he looked as if he was about to cry. His eyes were misty and his smile was hesitant, but so honest. She knew he had been waiting for her to be ready and lock gaze with him.

“Did you hear me?”

“Yeah…”

Lisa’s voice was nothing but a whisper.

“We’re having a baby girl…”

“Yes… Yes, we are.”

“We’re creating a tiny little goddess, Lisa. Our daughter.”

She smiled, then tears flooded her eyes.

Brentwood, Los Angeles – The next day

“Michael?”

The voice came from afar, from the thick fog of his thoughts. At first, Michael didn’t even pay too much attention to it.

“Mike? Hey… Do you hear me?”

Blinking, he finally brought himself to turn his head toward Bill. For a moment he wondered why he was sitting in the backseats, given that it was just the two of them. He could have taken the passenger seat, but out of habit he hadn’t. Bill, of course, had said nothing.

“Yes, of course.”

“Are you really going out?”

Michael’s eyelids lowered slowly, then rose again.

“Well, that’s why I am here. Please, Bill… Just wait for me here, OK…”

His head of security snorted.

“That’s what I’ve been doing for twenty years. Waiting for your butt to come back, every single day.”

Michael had to laugh.

“You’re right.”

“But what if you don’t in, like… twenty, thirty minutes from now? You want me to call Lisa?”

Oh, Bill, Bill… As if he didn’t know that Lisa had no idea of where her soon-to-be husband was.

Michael just gave the older man a look, and Bill shook his head, turning in the driver seat and staring into space. He unwrapped a candied fruit and popped it into his mouth.

“Shout, if you need to be saved,” he mumbled. Then he turned on the radio.

Michael smiled to himself and got out of the car, then walked straight toward the door of Priscilla’s house. He knew that she was in Los Angeles. It had taken him exactly half an hour to find out, earlier that morning, when he had gotten up from the bed and left the room. And Lisa in it, still asleep. The truth was that he hadn’t been able to doze off for more than a handful of minutes, despite being physically exhausted after making love to her for hours, almost until dawn.

Lisa, on the other hand…

He had stopped at the door, just staring at her for a minute, a little smile on his lips.

God… She was just too gorgeous, half-wrapped in those crumpled sheets. The white of the satin fabric in sharp contrast with her creamy skin. Her long hair a mess, her ruby lips parted, her pregnant belly visible.

He knew he had worked her over good, but she hadn’t been half bad herself. At one point he had thought he would pass out for the heat, the friction, the passion. For a little while, they had been able to make love in the most common position – as her belly still was not so prominent, and she had told him that he would not hurt her or the baby. While he was on top of her, he had shivered in pleasure, feeling her fingertips play with the muscles of his back, then land on his ass. Her nails digging into his flesh as she pulled him closer and even more into her, following and guiding his movements. It had been heaven and Michael had found himself fighting against the pleasure mounting, trying very hard to keep it at bay for just a little longer.

He had kept his strokes slow and solid, his torso leaning up, his eyes drowning into hers. He had loved to see her little perky breasts, now fuller because of the pregnancy, bounce with each one of his thrusts. He had loved feeling her hands stroking his face, her fingers tangled in his hair, her whimpers and moans.

When, afterward, he had taken her from behind, he had realized that he was sweating. Too much pleasure. Too much commitment to giving it and taking it. Leaning forward, his chest adhering to her back, he had kissed her neck and Lisa had turned her face, finding his lips. The moment her tongue had entered his mouth, he had been unable to stop himself and he had come with a violence that had almost rendered him dizzy. And she had come with him.

There were many things that Michael loved about sex with Lisa, but their ability to share those mind-blowing, simultaneous climaxes was definitely the cherry on the cake. He had never experienced anything like that, never such a connection with a woman, never such complete and utter physical and emotional pleasure. That early morning, just standing there, in that quiet bedroom… Just listening to her light breathing as she slept, once again Michael had realized that Lisa was it, for him. She was that once-in-a-lifetime occasion. That once-in-a-lifetime love. And everything that had happened to them was predestined, it had been the catalyst that had brought them where they were now. Nourishing and nurturing something – someone – so important, so vital. Together.

However, for what he had been planning to do this morning, Lisa was not necessary. It was one of those occasions where she would have to have faith in him, just like he had asked her to do.

The door opened in front of him before he even had the chance to ring the doorbell.

“Michael…”

Michael tipped his head, holding Priscilla’s gaze.

“Mrs. Presley…”

Her face looked unreadable. And cold. It occurred to him that he had once liked that lady. He had thought that she was sweet, kind. How wrong he had been. That woman hated him.

No, scratch that. She despised him. There was contempt in her clear blue eyes that were nothing like Lisa’s. They didn’t have the warmth, the sweetness, the sultriness that Lisa’s eyes had.

They looked made of steel, which was quite fitting.

He straightened his stance and cleared his throat.

“Thank you for seeing me without prior notice.”

“I take it my daughter doesn’t know that you’re here.”

Of course not. Her words were rhetorical, really. Priscilla lacked so many things, but she was shrewd and likely knew that Michael was there because he had finally come to know what had happened when she had learned about the baby. And despite his best acting skills, he knew that Lisa’s obvious pain and disappointment had left some traces on his face too.

He was there because he felt it was his right to set the record straight, whether the woman wanted to hear him out or not. He was the father of her soon-to-be granddaughter, she was his love’s mother, and she would listen to him.

He just stood there, and they stared at each other for a moment. Priscilla’s lips parted and he held his breath, waiting for her to tell him that he had to leave immediately and that they had nothing to talk about.

Then her eyes narrowed.

“Please, Michael… come in.”