A Fair Trade - Ch 3

Lydia woke with a start, pulling herself up in her bed and glancing at the clock. It was just past 6 in the morning and usually she would have been woken up by Lucy by now. She rubbed her sleep crusted eyes and yawned widely, causing her to wince in pain from her forgotten cut and her fingers to gingerly touch the wound. The events from last night came back to her and she couldn’t help, but look around the room for her now husband.

She frowned when she didn’t find him and wondered where he could be. Did he ditch them as soon as they had both fallen asleep? Lydia couldn’t understand the pain that she felt at the thought of the obnoxious poltergeist leaving them. She rubbed her chest, then pushed away the covers and got out of bed.

The young mother made her way to her daughter’s room and peered into her crib. She panicked when she saw that Lucy was not in her bed. Her thoughts franticly turning to the worst-case scenarios. Oh my god, where could she be?

Lydia hurried out of the room and into the living room, where she saw the tv still on and an unfamiliar big black lazyboy in place of one of her chairs. She slowly made her way to the chair and relief washed over her. There in the chair was Betelgeuse stretched out and snoring away with her tiny daughter splayed out on his chest, her little snores echoing his larger ones.

The urge to capture the moment struck her and she rushed to get her camera before either one of them woke up. She came back with her device in hand and started quietly snapping away with it. It felt good to be behind her camera again and to hear the soft clicking that followed her every move. She couldn’t believe she had stopped something that she loved so much. She swore to herself that she would never let anyone take what she loves away again.

A sigh pushed between her lips, while she moved quietly around the chair, hitting all of the angles with her lens. Lydia hoped that the pictures would come out, unlike the photos of the Maitlands, which had no feet and all sheet. It really would be hard to explain how her daughter was just floating in mid-air, plus, it truly was a beautiful shot and would be a shame for it to end up going to waste.

Lydia pondered if it would be different since Betelgeuse himself wasn’t like the rest. She had to keep reminding herself that Betelgeuse was more than a regular entity. He was a very powerful poltergeist, who’s powers held no bounds. He was feared and contained for that very reason, though looking at him laying with a baby sprawled crossed his chest, he really looked harmless and dare she say ordinary. The poltergeist just looked like any other father falling asleep with their kid, which since they said I do, Lucy was in fact his child and he her father. Her stomach did somersaults at the notion and she bit the inside of her cheek as she thought on that.

Lydia had been positive that he would have bailed on them as soon as he said his I dos, especially with all the spouting years ago about his damn freedom, but the dead man had surprised her by staying. Why? Why did he stay when he had the chance to run? He was now a free man and yet he stayed. This man was a walking contradiction, though maybe that’s what he wanted people to see. Maybe what she was seeing was the real Betelgeuse. A smile formed on her face at her idea of being one of the few to see the real Betelgeuse and she couldn’t help but like it. She shook her raven head at her thoughts, not wanting to think more on the feeling she had just experienced. Lydia carefully and quietly turned from the scene and made her way to her room to put her camera away, then to the kitchen to start breakfast.

Several minutes had passed, when a giggle floated into the kitchen followed quickly by a deep and gravelly laugh. In all of her 5 months, Lydia had never seen her daughter become so taken by someone so quickly. Usually it took some time for her to warm up to people, but the poltergeist had plucked her right from her arms straightaway and Lucy hadn’t made a single complaint. What was so beguiling about this dead man? It was like he was the flame and they were the moths. Had he always been this fascinating and charming? Had she just been too much of a teenager at the time to recognize this side of him or was there something more to it?

She heard his heavy footsteps coming from the direction of the living room and slowly making their way to the kitchen. She pushed her thinking to the side and continued to get things ready for breakfast.

When his footfalls stopped, she cocked her head over her shoulder and spotted the poltergeist leaning against the doorframe with Lucy sleepily clinging to his side. Lydia’s mind went blank for a few seconds as she took in the poltergeist in the morning light. He wasn’t wearing either of his suits, but a fitted white tee shirt and a pair of black and white stripped sleep pants. Lydia had to admit that the man’s suits did not do him any justice and made him look out of shape. What she was seeing now was anything but. ‘Wow, he sure looks good for a dead guy.’ She mused silently to herself, as the said dead man sent her a lazy grin and greeted her. “Mornin’ Babes.”

Lydia gave him a nervous smile and greeted him back, before pointing at the high chair “Morning. You can put LuLu in her chair” then she pointed to the full coffee pot next to her “There’s coffee if you’d like some.”

He gave her another grin before moving to put Lucy in her seat, then made his way slowly to where she was. She stiffened when he saddled up behind her and reached up to grab a mug from the hooks above. Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw him grinning like a mad fool as he carefully pulled himself away. “Excuse me, Sweets.”

“Where did you get the manners?” Lydia quipped to the man next to her.

Betelgeuse snored as he poured himself a hot cup of coffee “I’ve always had them, Babes. I just use them when I feel they are deserved.”

She couldn’t argue with that and just replied with a quick okay, before grabbing the plated food and moving to the table to set them down. She went back to grab the bowl that had Lucy’s rice cereal and finally sat in the seat next to her daughter. Turning to the poltergeist, she pointed to the food “I wasn’t sure if you’d be hungry or not, but if you are, please dig in.”

He gave her another grin and rubbed his belly “I’m always hungry and I’ll eat anything you give me, sweetheart. I do mean anything…” He leered sleazily at her, then laughed as he dished himself some food.

Lydia rolled her eyes at his dirty meaning ‘And here I was thinking he was a freaking gentleman.’ She released a small snort and turned to Lucy, who was watching Betelgeuse with all of her attention. Clearing her throat, she called Lucy’s name to draw her notice and began to feed her cereal.

Sometime later, Betelgeuse’s rough voice sprang out and asked a question that he must have been dying to ask from the very beginning. “So, Babes, How’d ya hook up with that piss ant from last night? You don’t look like the type to get mixed with that type of guy.”

Lydia’s head came up sharply as he voiced his enquiry, a frown marring her lips, while she took her time before answering him. “I met him after I was out of college. I had some of my work in a gallery and it became a big success. I was introduced to him by a friend at one of the gallery parties.” Her somber eyes turned to the dark liquid in her cup and she swirled it around, while she spoke “I thought he was a nice guy, but I was wrong, so terribly wrong. I…never thought that I would be one of those women that gets sucked in by some abusive twat. I thought that I would be able to recognize the signs and avoid a relationship like that.” A snore left her as she continued to stare at her cup “By the time I realized, I was so isolated and scared that I wasn’t sure what to do.”

She glanced at Lucy for a few seconds, then went back to her cup. “When I found out that I was pregnant I was so happy and I thought that Luke would feel the same. He didn’t though. He demanded that I have an abortion, but I told him I wouldn’t do that; I couldn’t do that and we argued. When I wouldn’t back down on the subject, he kicked the shit out of me. I don’t remember anything after that. I don’t even remember driving to the hospital, but according to the nurses I did. I stumbled into the emergency battered and bloody and collapsed right on the floor. I had my purse with me and they were able to figure out who I was. My parents were still on my emergency contact list, I never thought about taking them off and to be honest it never crossed my mind. The hospital called them to let them know that I was there. They called the police too, but I was too scared to tell them who did it to me.”

Her eyes misted over and it became difficult to talk. “You know I always thought Delia didn’t care a lick for me, but that day, I had never seen her so upset. She looked at my dad and told him to go get her some coffee, which he reluctantly did of course. As soon as he left the room, she turned to me with her hands on her hips and asked me right out if it was Luke who did it to me. I was still too scared and refused to tell her. Delia has never been very warm and motherly to me, but I’ll never forget what she said. She looked me in my eyes and said, “Lydia Deetz, you tell your mama who did this to you, so mama can fix it!” I was so shaken from her words, Delia had never called herself my mother, sure she said stepmother, but it was never just mom. I hadn’t realized that she did have maternal feelings for me. All I could do was just nodded my head and I told her the truth. After my confession, she convinced me to tell the police, so they could arrest Luke for what he had done. The police left me with the paper for the protection order and Delia helped me fill them out, since the hand I usually wrote with was broken and in a cast. We got a judge to sign the protection order and I went home with Delia and my dad. I stayed there until Lucy was born, then decided that I hadn’t seen a hide or tail of Luke since the incident and thought that maybe I was rid of him. Don’t get me wrong, I was still cautious at the time, you know looking over my shoulder and making sure the locks were changed and kept locked, but I began to feel safe and fell back into that security. He must have been watching me that whole time and was just waiting for me to let down my guard. Last night was the first time I’d seen him since then.”

Silence stretched between them for some time, before the poltergeist spoke and it was not what Lydia expected, “I don’t really remember much about my life before I died. Sure, I remember my death and that I was a right prick at times, but the rest is a fucking blur. The only other thing that I remember is an oath I swore to myself. I swore that I would never raise my fists in anger to any women or child. I can only reckon that I’d seen some shit in my mortal life that no one should see and a part of that stayed with me even in death.” His cold hand reached over the table top and touched hers, causing her to gazed up at him. “What he did ya babes, you don’t have to worry any more. He’ll never get the chance to hurt ya again.” He snapped his fingers and a bunch of papers appeared out on the table in front of her.

Lydia looked down in surprise and gingerly picked up one of the papers, reading it carefully. To her astonishment it was a termination of parental rights and it was signed by Luke. She looked over at her husband and raised the papers in her hand. “Is this really his signature?”

A sneer ripped out the poltergeist and a pure look of disgust hit his features “Damn straight it is. It’s the least the little bitch could do for ya.”

All she could do was nod her head as she put down the termination papers and picked up one of the other papers. This one was their marriage certificate for the mortal world. She frowned and asked him why they needed this “Why would we need this?”

Betelgeuse drank his coffee and kicked back “We live in the mortal world, sweets and I assumed that it would make shit easier for you and me.”

Lydia noticed that it said Benjamin Geist for the groom, instead of Betelgeuse. Her brow rose as she questioned him “Why isn’t your name on here and why Benjamin? Was that your name when you were alive?” She didn’t need to ask him where the Geist part came in, that was clearly self-explanatory.

He just shrugged his shoulders and continued leaning back in the chair. “Hell, if I know. It was the first name that popped in my head. For all I know It could have been. As for why, it’s easier to have an alias to get around the mortal world. Plus, the less people who know my real name the better.”

What he said made sense and Lydia could find no way to complain about it. She set down their marriage certificate on top of the termination papers and grabbed the last bundle of papers. Her hands shook as she read what they were and turned her surprised eyes to his. “Why?”

The poltergeist’s light brows rose and he gave her a look of you really have to ask, but answered her anyway “She is my kid after all and it would make sense that I would want it to be legal in the mortal world.”

Lydia didn’t know how she felt about all this. It was not what she had expected. Hell, he was not what she expected. Just who was this man she now called her husband? She shook her head and set down the adoption papers with the rest.

“Ya done Babes?” He asked her, while cocking his blonde head to the side.

She gave him a quick bob of her head and Betelgeuse snapped his fingers, making the papers disappear. He then turned to look at the watch on his inner wrist and stood up, snapping his fingers once again and changing into his striped suit. He made his way to her and bent down to give her a quick kiss on the cheek, before straightening. “Well Babes, work calls. I’ll be back later tonight.” He made his way to Lucy, kissing her on the head and ruffling her already messy hair. “I’ll be back kid. You be good for your mama.” Lucy just babbled wildly and giggle up at her new father. He let out a laugh of his own, before winking out of sight.

Lydia’s eyes lingered on the spot where he had just been and reached up to graze the place where his cool lips had landed. The skin tingled under her finger tips and she couldn’t help the twitch of her lips and the bubble of laugher that spilled from her smiling mouth. That man was always catching her off guard and throwing her for a freaking loop. He definitely was not what she expected and the more she learns about this man, the more she questions what she really knows about him. Just who did she marry and what the hell did she get herself into?

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