Chapter 121 - 121: Repressed memories, and Reality Checks
Mikaela watched eagerly as Kristen unpacked first the tower, and set it under her study desk.
She and Olga then unpacked the massive curved ultrawide monitor and placed it on the desk top.
After that, Kristen plugged in both the monitor and the tower into the UPS and power strip that they had installed, connected the monitor to the tower's display output, and then connected the keyboard, mouse, headphones, and ten-gigabit router.
"OK all set. You can power it on now," said Kristen stepping back.
Mikaela sat down at her desk, and apprehensively pressed the power button.
The tower came to life with a loud whirring sound as the fans spun up.
The monitor flashed with first the UEFI and then the SiriusOS boot screen.
Within seconds' Mikaela was staring at the user account creation screen.
"Go ahead, put in your name and a super-secret password that only you should be able to know," said Kristen.
With trembling fingers, Mikaela typed in a username and password into the fields and clicked on the "next" button.
The system logged her into the desktop environment, and there was a video file in the top left corner of the screen. The preview was deactivated, and the file name said: "Message from Daddy".
Kristen quietly left, and closed the door.
Mikaela pulled on the headphones, and with trembling fingers, clicked on the video file.
---
"Happy birthday, Mikaela. It's Daddy," said Ivan on the video.
His smile faded and a look of intense sadness filled his eyes.
"I don't know if you even remember what I look like, or what I sound like. I know I made you a pinky promise to see you every weekend, and believe me, Princess. I tried my best to keep it," he said with a heavy sigh.
"It eats me up inside, knowing that I'm not allowed to come anywhere near you, because I beat up Sky. I hope you are doing all right, and that you are safe and healthy. Just remember Princess, I love you. No matter what happens. I can't be there with you right now, but always remember that I am there for you from afar, and I do whatever I can to keep you happy and safe, like this computer I got you. How do you like it? It's pretty cool right?" he asked, perking up a bit.
He leaned forward into the camera.
"I'll tell you a secret. I helped make this computer and its systems. If you ever feel like you miss me, just remember that this computer has me written all over it," he whispered in a conspirational tone.
"I have to go now. Happy birthday once again, Princess," he said, and the video stopped.
Mikaela sat at her desk, tears rolling down her cheeks.
A memory from when she was seven, which had been suppressed, now replayed in her mind's eye clear and crisp: The last time she had seen Ivan.
Ivan had come to the house while Annette and Sky were there, Annette had set a long list of rules about what Ivan could or couldn't say or do.
Ivan's sudden attack on Sky, where he threw them through the coffee table and shattered it, rolled up the copy of "Heather has two mommies" that Annette had given him to read, and shoved it into Sky's mouth. His backhand when Annette tried to pull him off Sky, his apology to her, Mikaela.
Annette grabbing her and fleeing into the Master bedroom.
And finally Annette forcing her to eat sleeping pills as she tried to break free and call for Ivan.
Mikaela slowly pulled off the headphones, and turned to her bed in a daze.
She spied the plush slime monster toy Annette had given her on the bed.
With a howl of rage, she pounced on it and clawed at its soft body, determined to rip it to shreds.
The door burst open, and Kristen rushed in, followed by Annette and Edward.
"Mikaela? What happened?" asked Kristen, worried.
"M-mom forced pills on me! She chased Daddy away! I want Daddy!" wailed Mikaela, flinging the slime monster at Annette, and burying her face in Kristen's chest.
---
Edward took charge immediately.
"Ms. Ford, stay here with Mikaela until she calms down. Annette, come with me," he said and pushed a slightly shocked Annette out of the room.
"Get your hands off me!" snapped Annette, once they were outside Mikaela's room.
"I know trauma responses and suppressed memories when I see 'em, Annette. You had better come clean," he growled.
"What are you talking about?" asked Annette.
"Are you telling me that Mikaela is making that accusation up?" he asked her.
Annette rubbed her temples in frustration.
"Fine, I'll tell you what happened," she sighed, and recounted her version of the events.
"OK, I get the picture now. Well, you'll have to explain yourself to Mikaela, Annette. No way around that. Or she's never gonna trust you again," he said.
"Oh, so now you are an expert in child psychology?" scoffed Annette.
"No, but I've seen first hand what a lack of trust does. You may hate the military, but trust in your crew or unit is the only thing that you can count on in there. If that is gone, you can end up killing each other. Authority and discipline can only do so much," said Edward.
"Yes well, I didn't ask for your opinion. I'd appreciate it if you would please leave and let me salvage whatever is left of this damn birthday," said Annette, pointing to the door.
"I ain't going anywhere. Not until Mikaela has calmed down, and you explain yourself to her," said Edward firmly.
"Fine," said Annette through gritted teeth.
---
Kristen just silently held Mikaela into her chest as Mikaela's sobs slowly turned into sniffles.
After what seemed like an eternity, Mikaela finally stopped crying, and slowly let go of Kristen.
"Don't worry, sweetie, you're safe now," said Kristen, feeling well out of her depth.
Olga knocked on the door, and entered.
"Mikaela, Captain Hawkins is downstairs with your mom. He told me to tell you that nobody is going to hurt you, and that your mom just wants to talk to you about what happened. OK?" she said.
"OK," said Mikaela, and slowly climbed out of the bed. She clung to Kristen as they came down the stairs.
---
"Mikaela, I believe you when you say that your mom made you take pills. Can you tell us exactly what you remember? And what happened?" asked Edward.
Mikaela took a deep breath and recounted what Ivan had said in the video message, and what she remembered of the violent encounter. She even recounted the times when Sky was mean to her.
"OK. Now Annette, can you explain yourself to Mikaela?" asked Edward.
"Mikaela, sweetie. I didn't mean to hurt you. Daddy had just thrown Sky through a table, and he had just hit me. I was so scared. So scared of what he might do to you, or to me next. I just needed you to calm down. I'm sorry sweetheart, I was just so scared," said Annette tearfully.
"But daddy didn't hurt me. He just hurt Sky," said Mikaela.
"Well, he hurt me too, remember? He hit me right across the face. Just like how you got scared of me and are mad at me right now, I was scared and mad at him too. And while he might be nice to you, he was never nice to me. That is why I had to divorce him. I just couldn't live with him anymore," explained Annette.
Mikaela was silent as she processed what Annette was saying.
"OK. But I want Captain Hawkins to stay the night. You're not scared of him like you are of Daddy are you?" she asked.
"Fine he can stay the night," sighed Annette.
"Let's make tea. And you will now be nicer to Captain Hawkins and to all these ladies. OK?" asked Mikaela.
"OK," said Annette, forcing a smile.
---
"You want to sue Ivan for defamation, punitive damages, and even more alimony because he sent Mikaela a new computer with a video message on it explaining why he can't see her, and thereby forcing you to explain why you forced sleeping pills down your own daughter's throat?" asked Ruth, staring at Annette with open disgust.
"Don't you get it? That man sent his new harem of floozies to deliver a computer that contained a video message which threw my own harrowing escape from him into a suspicious light! It has taken nearly two weeks of me sucking up to Mikaela's every bratty whim to finally get back some normalcy!" shouted Annette.
Ruth looked at Annette with a mixture of pity and resignation.
"Mikaela's ten years old now. She's old enough to testify. If we bring any further charges on Ivan, she can be put on the stand. Do you really want to do that?" she asked.
Annette took deep breaths, and let what Ruth was saying sink in.
"What are my options then?" she finally asked.
"You could re-marry, or designate somebody else as Mikaela's legal guardian with powers of attorney, but that will stop the alimony and child support. If you're cutting Ivan off, then his money stops as well," said Ruth.
"OK, what about increasing the alimony payment? If he can send her a fancy-ass computer, he has more than enough cash to add a few more zeros to the alimony checks," said Annette.
"A small problem with that. Now that the Sirius Zone Redevelopment Authority has published its own by-laws, an increase in alimony payments requires you to prove that you need that money. And no, you can't file proceedings for that in a friendly court or state, because Ivan can counter it in a Sirius Zone court," said Ruth.
"Well, I am a single mother with a mortgage and bills! I need the money," said Annette.
"Do you now?" asked Ruth.
She tossed a stack of papers onto the desk.
"Mortgage on the Pine Springs house, fully paid off, and full ownership transferred to your name. Utilities, provided for free by Sirius Software for the entire Pine Springs district as part of a redevelopment subsidy initiative. Car, medical and life insurance, fully covered by Ivan's Sirius Software employment perks, separate from the alimony. Your salary from Boston Public School, seventy-five grand a year. The current alimony check, a hundred and fifty grand a year. Your expenses, about fifty grand a year, and that includes your income tax and my retainer fees. Frankly Annette, you can quit your job tomorrow and still have more than enough money to live on, unlike some of my pro bono clients where an alimony check is the only thing that keeps them out of a homeless shelter," said Ruth, ticking off items one by one with her pen.
"So I can't do anything. That's just great!" said Annette, throwing up her hands.
"Here's an idea. How about you ease up on the rules? If Mikaela thinks you're a nice parent instead of a controlling one, she won't be pining for Ivan's presence, or for this Captain Hawkins you mentioned," snapped Ruth.
"I'm not paying you for parental advice!" snapped back Annette, and stormed out of Ruth's office.
"Damn, I'm starting to feel this retainer isn't worth it," muttered Ruth.
---
"That bitch doesn't realize how good she's got it! She didn't even know how many damn bills were being paid by Ivan until I told her, and not one damn lick of gratitude or guilt!" slurred Ruth on her fourth shot of vodka.
"This is quite unlike you," chuckled Stefan Stanislaus, Ivan's lawyer as he sipped his beer opposite her.
"When I started my practice, the clients I got were women who were dumped like expired milk the second they turned 40. Compared to those asshole men, the amount of shit Ivan has put up with from Annette makes him a damn saint in my book," said Ruth, shooting a fifth shot.
"I think you've had enough to drink for one night, Ms. Hirschfield. Come on, up you get," said Stefan, gently but firmly helping a giggling and reeling Ruth to her feet.
"Hey Stefan, would you like to swap clients? It would be fun to represent Ivan for a while," said Ruth, as she staggered out of the bar with Stefan's help.
"You know that you can't do that," said Stefan, helping her into a taxi.
"Make sure she gets home safe," he told the driver, giving him her house address, and an extra tip.
---
"Ivan, I think you need to put a little more of a squeeze on Annette, Ruth informed me that she was about to sue you for even more alimony thanks to the stunt you pulled by sending Mikaela that computer," said Stefan.
"We've been over this Stefan. I'm not about to let Mikaela suffer because Annette forgets to pay a bill," said Ivan.
"Yeah, well, you keep this thing up, and sooner or later, Annette might just decide to use all that surplus on expensive shit," said Stefan.
"Her ideology makes her incapable of that. She'd rather pretend to live in austerity and play the struggling single mom card to the hilt," chuckled Ivan mirthlessly.
"I'm serious Ivan. There are other ways progressives find to spend wads of cash, particularly if they don't earn it themselves," warned Stefan.
"All right, hammer out a new alimony agreement that if she donates any of that money to social or political causes, she's cut off completely," said Ivan.
"That's the spirit," said Stefan, typing up the agreement.
---
"What the hell is this?" screamed Annette, throwing the new alimony terms onto Ruth's desk.
"It looks like a standard amendment to the alimony terms. Apart from you losing all benefits if you re-marry or appoint a legal guardian, you now lose them if you use it to donate to any social, political or charitable causes or organizations," said Ruth reading the terms.
"He has no right to dictate how I spend my money!" shouted Annette.
"That's true, but the money isn't yours or just for you, is it? It is for Mikaela's needs and care," said Ruth.
"Are you even my lawyer anymore? You're supposed to be helping me fight this blatant infantilization! He is treating me like some child with an allowance!" snarled Annette.
"I am your lawyer, which is why I'm telling you to suck it up and let it go! If you take this to court, the sleeping pills incident can come out, you'd be thrown in jail, and Mikaela goes not to Ivan Zakhrov, but Aaron Zakhrov. And you definitely don't want that, do you?" retorted Ruth.
Annette glared at Ruth.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
Ruth sighed wearily.
"I suppose you haven't been following what's been happening to the Sirius Zone. Well, it is now basically an independent enclave from the United States. Massachusetts and Federal law no longer fully applies here. Hate to break it to you, but Pine Springs is basically a border-town, and subject to Sirius Zone jurisdiction. Which means that these alimony terms will now go through a court that Sirius Software owns and operates. So if you want to keep your current lifestyle, you had better not ruffle any feathers," explained Ruth.
"Why can't you file a challenge in a US Federal court?" asked Annette.
"I can, but that isn't some magic bullet. Ivan can have that challenge overturned in a Sirius Zone court and cut you off completely. He can file for custody in a Sirius Zone court and just take Mikaela away from you any time he pleases. There is no place in the US, or anywhere else that you can run where he cannot find you and do that to you. The only reason he hasn't done that is so that Mikaela grows up without the trauma or the baggage that comes with all that. So for your own damn good. Don't rock the boat, and turn Ivan into the monster you claim he is. There is no coming back from that," said Ruth, as Annette's eyes grew wide in terror.
"He wouldn't do that," she said hoarsely.
"He wouldn't, but Aaron certainly would. You disowned him, so you being his mother isn't going to save you from his wrath if he ever brings it to bear on you. So for the love of God, don't force his hand," said Ruth.
Annette took deep shuddering breaths to calm her pounding heart.
"OK, Ruth. I'll accept these Draconian terms, for now. But I want you to push back that I can use my own money, the money I make from teaching, to do what I please with. I need that. Please," she said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"OK, I'll set up a meeting with Stefan and see if we can set up separate accounts for your salary and the alimony. You're right, you should be able to spend what you make on whatever you want," said Ruth, giving her a reassuring smile and patting her hand.