Free Karma by Nikki Sex Page B

wasn't a victim.
    "It
is my fault, in a way," she began to explain. "Trent wanted to put
off having children until we were more financially stable. After we had been
married a few years I went ahead and stopped birth control anyway without
telling him. I thought Trent would be happy that I was pregnant. But you know
what? I'm beginning to realize that even though he said he wanted children 'someday'
he never actually intended to have them. The longer I was married to that man,
the more I think that I never really knew my husband at all."
    The
words she said repeated in Mike's mind. Trent wanted to put off having
children until we were more financially stable.
    Mike
listened to the sound of Marcy talking, but was incapable of hearing anymore. A
weird sense of unreality crept over him. It was like déjà vu or something. Mike
had put off having children too, and where had that gotten him? Childless and
alone. He found this weird similarity to Marcy's ex disturbing.
    The
conversation dwindled as they drove into the hospital grounds.
    Jesus
Christ, I hate hospitals , Mike thought, with months
of Barbara's treatment flashing through his mind. He parked the car and let
Marcy precede him inside, while trying his best to not look grim.
    The
little girl was sitting watching TV when they came into the busy children's
area. Katie's face brightened when she saw her mom and she immediately got up
and came to her with a sunny smile. The loving embrace they gave each other was
really something to see.
    Mike
smiled for the first time since leaving the golf course.
    The
doctor informed them that Katie had sustained a "green stick"
fracture to her left radius. It had been placed in a cast, but there was no
need for surgery. The cast would only need to be on for a couple of weeks.
    Katie's
hair was straight and blonde, her face more rounded, and her nose delicate and
aquiline. She didn't look like her mother at all, except for her honey-brown
eyes and her equally generous smile. Yet her personality? Mike thought he could
already see similarities there, in Katie's apology for injuring herself, and her
stoic manner of bearing her burdens.
    What
a great kid, he mused, wishing that Katie was his. This little girl could turn my heart into silly putty with one look.
    Marcy
admired her pretty cast which was pink. "I got to pick the color," Katie
informed her mother and Mike admired it too. Katie was a little shy around him,
but definitely interested in the possibility of being friends. Mike knew they
would get along well. Kids liked him, and he would love any child of Marcy's in
any case.
    Life
was a strange thing. Mike, a man who had no hint of real attraction to anyone
for months, was already completely gone on Marcy Paget.
    How
had it happened?
    From
the first moment he had seen her, and every minute since Mike had only found
more reasons to admire and respect Marcy. Independent and self-contained, she had
such a grateful and cheerful personality, despite all the shit she had been put
through. Even though she had significant problems, Marcy felt lucky to have
such a beautiful child and to be who she was. André had been right about her: If
Marcy Paget didn’t deserve good fortune and happiness, then who did?
    Mike
wanted to be the one that made her happy.
    He
recalled the drive to the miniature golf park, when she had fallen asleep. For
awhile he had sat and simply watched her sleeping before he turned the car off
and woke her up. That could have been considered creepy, but it wasn't. He hadn't
wanted to wake her because she obviously needed the rest.
    Why
was he so ridiculously drawn to her? Marcy's features were plain and even severe
while asleep, but Mike had still found her attractive. It was hard not to look
at her and recall her broad sincere smiles and heartfelt laughter.
    While
waiting for her to wake, he had played with his phone, checking the internet. There
he found that NASA scientists discovered that lightning frequently hit the
ground