Promise of Forever
      Chapter 10
 

Michelle leads Danny over to the window seat, she has no idea how to tell this man who has become her everything what she has to tell him. She is so afraid of what he will do, how he will react. This is the hardest thing she has ever had to tell him, in their past she had caused him pain, just as he had caused her pain, but it was pain that they had each created, and together they made it through. This was so different, could she do this, could she inflict a pain on him that he may not be able to handle?

Danny sees the fear and pain in Michelle’s eyes, her hands are shaking as they hold his hands, he can see she is teetering on the verge of tears, and he is scared to death.

“Baby, what is, you're scared to death, you know you can tell me anything. No matter what it is we will figure it out together.”

Michelle looks into those ebony eyes that know her inside and out, she draws her strength from his eyes.

“Danny, I saw Theresa today…”

“Damn it! What did she do to you this time? She didn’t feed you more lies did she, you know better than to believe her!”

“Shhh, sweetie, calm down, no it’s nothing like that, I could have handled her telling me those lies, but what she told me today was a terrible truth. You have to promise me that you will listen to me before you say anything. I love you Danny, please hold on to that OK?”

“Babe, you’re scaring me, just please tell me.”

Michelle draws a breath and decides to tell Danny the same way she told Ray.

“Danny, what I found out from her today was that I didn’t kill Mick.”

“What are you talking about, and how the hell would she know that?”

“Because, she knows who really did kill him, Danny, honey, it was Theresa, she killed Mick.”

“What!? That’s crazy, why would she tell you that, I don’t believe it, she wasn’t even here when he died.”

“Danny, please, it’s true. Listen to this.” Michelle gets the tape recorder and plays the tape for Danny.

The fury and hurt on Danny’s face is like nothing Michelle has ever seen. He can’t contain his anger, “That miserable Bitch,” Danny says pulling away from Michelle he heads for the door, a look in his eyes Michelle has never seen, “I’m going to kill her, but not before I make her suffer.”

“DANNY, STOP! You can’t go, please calm down, I know this is terrible, but please listen to me, you are NOT a killer, no matter what she did, we will figure out a way to make her pay TOGETHER, and it won’t be the “family” way.”

“SHUT UP, MICHELLE, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.”

Michelle felt like she had just been slapped, she physically shrunk herself back in her seat, unable to stop them, her tears start to fall.

Danny was beyond furious, he wanted to strangle Theresa, but beyond his anger was his fear. The same phrase kept going through his head, “it’s all a lie”, he knew that Michelle loved him, but his fear; anger and hatred were clouding his judgement. Then he heard her crying, the sound of her tears made him realize just what he had said to her and how terrible it sounded when he said it.

He was by her side in a heartbeat. “Oh, God, Baby, I’m sorry,I’m so sorry. What have I done? I never meant to take this out on you. I know it’s not your fault. Please, don’t hate me on top of everything else. It’s bad enough that we are a lie you probably won’t want to be with me….”

Michelle’s head snapped up at Danny’s last statement. “Danny, stop it! I could never hate you, I understand why you said it, but it just hurt me, and scared me. Danny, I love you. We are NOT a lie. True, I didn’t kill Mick, but we both believed I did, I did hit him that night. Yes, we met because you were looking for his killer, yes, you married me to save me, but even then you knew that wasn’t the real reason was it?”

“What do you mean? I knew I couldn’t kill you.”

“And why did you know that Danny? It was because even then you were in love with me and you wanted to be with me, try to build a life, you knew there was something good between us. Ray told me as much earlier today.”

“Ray, what does he have to do with this?”

“I went to see him today, that’s why I was late getting home, I was so shaken by what Theresa had told me, I needed to get his perspective and his advice. He was a big help. Plus, I have a confession to make.”

“What’s that Babe?”

“I was afraid that you would want to leave me because of the truth. Ray made me see that would never happen. He told me how happy you were on our wedding day, how much in love with me you were. Our love has nothing to do with the circumstance we met in, our love is our fate.

Danny lets out a small laugh, “My fate, right. This little truth of Theresa’s makes me see that nothing before you in my life was real and true. All my life I was just a pawn in someone else’s game. My mother used me and groomed me to be the head of the family, Theresa used me and convinced me she had feelings for me, just to satisfy her own sick lust for power, hell, Mick even used me to get what he wanted. Michelle you and our life together is my only truth. My entire life has been a game until you.” Danny breaks down in broken sobs, Michelle kneels in front of him just holding him and letting him cry.

“Danny, we are going to be fine, let the past go, it doesn’t matter, our love is real and true and it’s not going anywhere, you are not anyone’s pawn anymore.”

Danny looks into Michelle’s eyes, his eyes full of pain, love and raw need, he pulls her into a tight embrace, “Michelle”, his voice a mere whisper, “please, just love me.”