FicWad

Changing Destiny
Chapter 4 - Convincing to Stay

It was a sad day for everyone. Prince, Paris and Blanket were especially sad and their lone faces brought Michael’s mood down as well. But he was already sad as it was. Even the staff at the mansion felt gloomy. Today was the day Lorna was going to leave and head back to Canada. Just as she promised the kids, she stayed with them for the week and it was now time to go. She did hate to leave them, but she needed to patch things with her brother.

When she had contacted her brother again, Michael wasn’t home. Of course, she had no idea what he was doing but he was doing some last minute things he had to do before announcing to the world he was going to do one more tour called ‘This is It’. It was going to be his final tour. He had plans on making a new album and perhaps a couple more after that, but his touring days were going to be over. He no longer could take the stress of the tours. As usual his family was going to be there to back him up. They always were there for him.

When he had returned home from visiting his mother, he was met with a very sad Lorna. It didn’t take him long to realize she had another talk with her brother and it did not go well. He comforted her as much as he could without drawing too much attention to the kids. He didn’t want them to see how much Lorna was upset about her brother.

Now the day had arrived that she was going to leave, Michael really didn’t want her to leave, but knew he had to let her go. Breakfast was particularly quiet and once breakfast was done, Lorna left to pack her things. Michael was going to accompany her to the airport to see her off.

As she was packing, a quiet knock was heard, she walked over to answer to see three crying faces staring at her.

“Don’t go,” Blanket whispered.

“It’s so much fun having you here,” Prince said. “It won’t be the same without you.”

“Yeah,” Paris said, nearly choking on her words.

“Oh kids,” Lorna said, feeling the sadness. “I know you don’t want me to go, but I did ask a promise and it must be kept.”

“Promises are known to be broken,” Paris argued. “We really don’t want you to go.”

Lorna hugged each of the children. “I will promise to visit and call you everyday. Maybe you can come and visit me in the summer time or something.”

“That would be nice,” Prince said.

“Children,” the Nanny called from down the hall. The woman could see the children from where she was standing. “It’s time for your morning studies.” The Nanny needed to do something to distract them so the younger woman could get her things packed and get to the airport. Her plane was leaving at noon.

The children groaned and with moped faces, turned and walked away. Lorna hated to see them go like this, but she had to get her things ready. Michael had insisted on paying for her flight and he also insisted on having her fly first class. He wanted her to hold on to her money so she would have a place to stay when she got to her destination. Lorna didn’t want his charity as he already did so much for her, but he wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.

All too soon, she was all packed. One of the staff offered to carry her things to the car. She was going to miss staying at the mansion and having servants around. She was getting used to the idea of feeling as if she was rich. Everyone had treated her like she had lived there for years. Even Michael treated her like she belonged there.

When she climbed in the car, an SUV, she was surprised Michael was sitting in the seat beside her, wearing all black with white trimming. He wasn’t wearing his traditional sunglasses. She guessed he was wearing black so when she got out, people wouldn’t notice him. She didn’t blame him. With a sad smile, she was happy to see he wanted to see her off. The ride was silent as one bodyguard sat in front with the driver. She suspected the driver probably was a bodyguard as well.

When they arrived at the airport, Michael unbuckled his seat belt and turned his body to look at her. He gently grasped her hand, and raised it up to his lips, giving the back of her hand a light kiss. “It’s been a pleasure to know you,” he said quietly. “I wish this day didn’t have to come.”

“Me, too,” she replied with a light blush. Feeling his lips touching her hand, made tingles spark through her. “Thank you for everything. These past weeks have been one of the best since before Mom died.”

He nodded. He stretched over and hugged her lips were near her ear. “Please stay,” he whispered. “The children have grown very fond of you.”

“Michael,” she whispered back in his ear. “Thank you for the offer, but…” she forced her tears down. “I need to patch things with my brother. He doesn’t even know I’m coming.”

He pulled away. “I had to try,” he tried to smile but the sadness on seeing her leave wouldn’t make the muscle move. “You have my number, don’t hesitate to call for anything, including money.”

“I will. You’re a good friend Michael Jackson and I’m proud I was able to meet and get to know the real King of Pop.”

“And I’m glad I found a new friend who can see past the fame and glory. I do have many friends but they are all wealthy.” He pulled her close again and kissed her cheek.

Lorna felt herself in wanting to melt. He had been so kind to her and gentle. She had to marvel how attractive he was even if he was now white instead of dark. The kiss he gave her was only a light one and quick, but tender, and it was all she needed to know that he was being sincere.

When he pulled away, she reached for the handle of the door to open it, but noticed her hand was slightly shaky from his forwardness. Hiding her trembling hand, she managed to open the door, and got out. A bodyguard would have opened it for her, but she insisted not to as it could draw attention and she didn’t want that. Before she closed the door, Michael stopped it.

“I’ll stay here until the plane takes off just in case there’s a delay,” he offered, hoping she would change her mind.

She nodded and allowed him to close the door.

“Mr. Jackson, do you think that is wise?” the driver asked.

“I will not strand her here in case there is problems,” Michael insisted. There was a moment of silence as Michael watched her take her luggage and go into the building. Suddenly a dreadful feeling came over him. “Can one of you go with her? I will feel safer if she’s not completely alone.”

“Any particular reason?” the passenger asked.

“She was kidnapped once, I would hate to see it happen again.” This was the first time since he met Lorna she was away from the safety of his security.

The passenger nodded and got out, heading inside to look for Lorna. Being a security guard as long as he had been, he knew to stay close but not to make it look like he was following her.

-

Once inside, Lorna waited in a line to register herself so she could go to the waiting room to board. As she waited, she reached her hand instead her pocket of her blazer. To her surprise, she felt something she knew wasn’t in there before. Pulling it out, she gasped. There in her hand was note rolled around a wade of bills. Michael must have handed it to her when he hugged her. She looked at the note around the money and did her best to read what it said.

‘Take this as a token of good faith. I don’t want you to feel stranded. If you ever want to return, just let me know and I’ll take care of it. Love always, Michael.’

Her eyes felt like they were going to fill up with tears. She knew the ending tag line was just a platonic gesture. He loved all his fans. She continued to read the note over and over again as she slowly came closer and closer to the counter. As she read the note, her mind played over the fun she had with the children. How they played outside everyday when it wasn’t raining. And the day it did rain, She would play hide and seek with them. During the hide and seek, even Michael joined in. She got to see how playful he really was.

He had so much love for his children; it would make her cry nearly every night, as she never had that kind of love from her father. Never once did she hear him raise his voice to the children nor did he ever threaten to slap them in any way. Even the staff would not strike them. But yet the children were such good children. No matter what an adult asked of them, they did it without question.

She gasped unexpectedly. The realization slammed into her like a ton of bricks to the point where she could barely breath. She loved those children. And it wasn’t a kind of love for children that she had shown to other children. It was a true divine love as if the children were her own, though they were not.

She felt her heart begin to ache for Paris, Prince and Blanket. Her mind snapped to the last look she received from them as she was packing earlier and it was breaking her heart. She couldn’t leave them. She looked up suddenly and realized it was now her turn.

“Miss,” a woman said behind the counter. “Do you have a ticket?”

Lorna looked at the note and then at the woman again. She suddenly put a set determination on her face as her heart ached more at the mention of a ticket. Lorna couldn’t leave.

“Screw the ticket!” she blurted, grabbing her luggage and rushed out of line, leaving the woman speechless. Lorna wasn’t going to leave those kids. She loved those kids and she wanted to see their smiling faces once again. As she moved towards the exit a man suddenly came out of nowhere and stopped her.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

She looked up to see one of the bodyguards. “I need to see Michael right away.”

“He’s still in the parking lot, waiting for the plane to leave. But you need to get in line, the plane leaves in less than an hour.”

“I don’t care, I need to see him now!”

The bodyguard raised his hands in defeat. He wasn’t going to defy her. “Would you like me to take your bags?”

“Please. I can move faster.” At the moment she was grateful he was nearly six feet tall. He took her bags and the two walked towards the exit. Once outside, she ran over to the SUV. She guessed Michael had seen her coming as he pulled himself out of the car with a confused look on his face.

It was a cloudy day so he wasn’t too worried about his lupus at that moment, though he knew he needed to not stay in the open for long as he wasn’t wearing protection for his skin.

“Michael!” she yelled, drawing his attention from his thoughts about his illness. Why was she running?

She stopped just before him, almost out of breath. “I can’t leave,” she admitted. “I can’t leave your children. They mean too much too me now. I love them like they were my own.”

Michael’s eyes widened, shock evident on his face, though his mouth to form a big smile. He reached forward, grasping her hands before giving them a tug, pulling her body against his in a gentle embrace. “They’ll be overjoyed.”

By this time the bodyguard had finally reached them with her luggage in hand.

Michael pushed her to arms length. “What about your brother?”

“There’s always visits. You and your kids have become too important for me to leave. I can’t leave them…I won’t leave those kids.”

The bodyguard smiled at Michael as Michael looked at him. The tall man walked to the trunk of the car to place her bags back in. Once they were in, Michael helped Lorna into the car and then got in himself. It was a good thing too. Just as he was about to climb in, he heard a couple girls scream out his name and then say ‘I love you’.

The girls started to rush over to the SUV when the bodyguard got in and the driver pulled away. Michael waved to the girls and gave them a blow kiss, showing he saw them. He watched as one of them wanted to faint.

Lorna looked to the girls. “That was a close call,” she said.

“That it was,” Michael agreed.

“Sir, you should have stayed in the car,” the driver announced.

“Wanting to know what Lorna wanted was too important. Can I use a cell phone?”

The guard in the passenger seat handed his boss a phone. Lorna was perplexed in what Michael wanted with it. She knew he did not own a cell phone, or at least from the look he didn't.

“Hi, Debbie,” he said into the cell. “Can you please have the children standing at the door? I have a surprise for them.”

Lorna blinked at the awareness of what he was doing. He wanted the kids to see she was returning. She watched as Michael hung up the phone and handed it to his guard again.

He turned his head to look at her. “I’m glad,” he said.

She nodded and remembered the money. She reached into the pocket and pulled out the money. “I believe this is yours, you little sneak.”

Michael smiled as he closed her hand around the money. “You keep it as your own personal fund.”

“Michael, I can’t take handouts.”

“It’s not a handout,” he argued. “It’s a friend giving another friend some money. There is no harm in that, now is there?”

“No, but…”

“You keep it. I will call the airport later and asked if your plane ticket can be transferred to another type of ticket.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well next month I will be taking a trip and your ticket could be transferred to that trip.”

“A trip with you? Michael, I would not want to impose.”

“Lorna, if you’re going to stay with me, I would like you to accompany myself and the children to London.”

“London, England?” she gasped.

He nodded. “Yes and be there for me when I announce my upcoming tour.”

“You’re going to do a tour?” she asked. “When? And you want me to be there with you.”

“I’m going to do ten concerts in London, in July. Everything is already scheduled, I now just need to make my announcements.”

Lorna’s eyes widened. “So that’s what you’ve been doing all this time. You’ve been making plans for this concert.”

Michael nodded with a smile. “It’s called ‘This Is It’ and it’s going to be the final concert tour. I may release more albums in the future, but my touring days are going to end. I don’t think I can take the pressure of concerts anymore. I would be grateful if you were to come with me.”

“I’ve never been to London.”

Michael gave a slight grin. “Does that mean you’ll come with me then?”

She smiled. “I would love to go.”

“Good. It’s settled then.”

Michael turned to allow a comfortable silence to rein in the car. The two security guards looked at each other with a smirk. They had both been around Michael Jackson long enough to see the signs. He liked the woman more and more each day.

Before long they arrived at the mansion. Michael looked at Lorna and grasped her hand before she could unbuckle her seatbelt. “Can you do me a favor?”

Lorna looked at him with surprise and question. “What is it?”

“Can you just stay here for a few minutes while I talk to the children. I would like to see their reaction when they see you and as you can see they are waiting for me to step out.” He watched her nod; he released her hand and then got out.

“What’s with the lone faces?” he asked his children as he approached them.

“We miss Lorna,” Paris said.

“Well I have a surprise for you,” he said.

“What surprise is that?” Prince asked taking a step forward.

“You’ll see.” Michael looked at the car. “You can come out.”

Lorna opened the door and stepped out with a bright smile.

The kids all gasped. Wasn’t Lorna supposed to be at the airport? But she was now there in front of them and just over an hour ago, she had left for the airport. What was going on?

“I don’t get it,” Blanket said. “I thought she was leaving.”

Lorna walked to Blanket. She bent down to the boy as the bodyguards pulled her luggage out of the car. She rested a hand on Blanket’s shoulder. “I was,” she said. “But then I realized how much I was going to miss the three of you and I couldn’t stand leaving you. So I’ve decided to stay.”

“For how long?” Prince asked.

“Well your father did offer me to stay, so I will for as long as you three wish me to stay.”

Three faces suddenly all lit up with bright smiles and were quick to hug her. “We don’t want you to leave, ever!” Paris nearly yelled.

The pressure of the children hugging her, forced Lorna to lose her footing and she toppled to the ground with the kids on top, crying for joy.

“I love you all,” Lorna laughed.

Michael softly laughed, not wanting to break the moment. He loved seeing his children happy.

“Mr. Jackson,” Debbie said. “Miss McCall will remain with us?”

Michael turned to her. “Yes and I have asked her to come with me to London and she agreed,”

Eventually the kids piled off, allowing the poor woman to stand. The very second, she was off the ground; she was pulled into the house before she had time to react. With Paris and Blanket pulling on each arm and Prince pushing against her back, the three did not want to let her out of their sight, in case what was happening was just a dream. Michael followed with laugh, releasing some of his high squeaks.

Throughout the entire afternoon, the kids would not let Lorna leave their sight. Michael was impressed at how well the kids were keeping an eye on the woman. She was an amazing woman. He loved how she cuddled the children like they were hers and how she took special care in making them happy. When it came time for bed, the kids asked for Lorna to also tuck them in as well as their father.

Lorna was more than happy to obliged to their will. Lorna first said her good nights to Paris and then to Prince. She paid a little extra time to Blanket, as he was the youngest. When she went to say good night to the boy, he asked if she could read him a story. Lorna agreed.

Lorna was in the middle of reading a small little story when Michael walked in and heard her read to his youngest son. Just the sound of her voice reading made his heart soar. He was very happy to have her now live with them. He waited quietly as she continued to read until the story was over. She reached over and lightly kissed Blanket’s forehead. She stood to place the book back on the bookshelf when she saw Michael standing there.

She slightly blushed, knowing he had heard her. He walked past her and gave his son a kiss as well and wrapped the blankets around his son. With the good nights done, Michael walked over to Lorna and the two left the bedroom.

“You have a nice reading voice,” he complimented once Blanket’s door was closed.

“Thank you,” she blushed again. “How long had you been standing there?”

“Long enough to know you have a sweet voice,” he answered.

“He wanted me to read him a story,” she said. “I love those kids.”

“And they love you in return. They have never had a mother, only the Nanny.”

“That’s a shame,” she said. “Their mother should be in their life.”

“Debbie Rowe didn’t want to,” he answered. “And now I don’t even speak with her anymore.”

Lorna nodded. “But it’s still a shame.” She had a feeling that was another touchy subject and she figured it was probably best to change it. “What about my ticket?”

Michael smirked. This woman knew when to leave things alone. “Already switched. While you and the children were playing, I took the liberty of calling the airline. The day we go, one of the security guards will go and switch the current one for the new one. I should warn you, my children wear masks or veils.”

“Yes, I had heard about that,” Lorna said. “Why do you do that?”

“I do not want the media to surround them. So I keep them hidden. There are so many celebrity children who are thrown in the spotlight for no reason and I do not wish it upon mine. I get tabloid garbage, I don’t need them to be placed in it.”

“I don’t blame you there. I can’t understand why the media can’t leave you celebrities alone.”

“I’ve often wondered that myself, but we are what we are.”

The two walked down the hallway, heading downstairs, and only stopped when they were at his private den. Michael entered the room and then offered Lorna in. Once the two were in the room, the pop star closed the door lightly and walked over to the leather sofa that was in the room and sat down. Lorna watched how casually he moved about in the room. She had known him enough now not to be formal around him. She had seen him do quite the unusual celebrity things.

As he sat on the couch, he grabbed some peanuts from a jar on the table beside the sofa, and he started to toss one in the air to only catch it with his mouth. He was really good at doing it, something she was terrible at. She decided to sit cross-legged on the floor near the sofa.

“Did I hear correctly earlier when Prince said I would be around for his birthday?”

“Yes,” the pop star answered. “In fact it’s next week. His birthday is on the 13th, and he’ll be 12.”

“Wow, I thought he was 12 now,” she commented. “Didn’t realize he wasn’t.”

“He has grown up so fast.” Michael stopped tossing the peanuts into his mouth and started to eat them normally. Seeing that she was on the floor, he raised one leg up on the sofa and rested an arm on. “It seems like yesterday he was born.”

“Yeah, children do grow up fast,” Lorna agreed. “One minute they are cute and innocent and the next they are grown and having sex.”

Michael nodded. “Unlike when I was young, sex wasn’t a common thing to speak about but today they have it plastered all over the streets, the TV, even in books.”

“I’m sure you probably had gotten letters from crazed fans about sexual fantasies.”

Michael gave a nervous giggle and hid his face with one hand as a blush crept to his cheeks. “Oh, don’t remind me.”

Lorna saw his blush and gave a slight smirk, it wasn’t often she seen him embarrassed. She crawled over closer to the sofa, forcing him to look at her.

“Any plans for Prince’s birthday?” she asked. She looked into his deep, dark brown eyes and felt trapped by them. The eyes were full of life, love and pain.

“Up until last year, I always gave him a birthday party. This year he would like it to be something different.”

“Well he will be a pre-teen. He’s getting too old for childish things, though in his father’s case, one is never too old for childish things.”

The pop star smirked. “That is so true. Prince would like to have a sleepover with some of his friends.”

“Will your family come?”

“I know Janet will be here and probably LaToya as well, but Joesph, my mother and my other sister, not so sure. They don’t celebrate birthdays.”

“What about your brothers?” she asked.

“Sometimes they do come and sometimes they don’t. Depends on their busy schedule, though they always leave a gift for the kids and give wishes. But you have to realize my family is Jehovah’s Witness. Though my brother Jermaine is a Muslim.”

“Bummer,” the woman answered. “I have nothing against religions, but Jehovah’s can really get on my nerves sometimes.”

“Oh? How so?” he asked, he popped another peanut in his mouth.

“Don’t get me wrong here, as I can see you were once one, but when they start knocking at your day almost every other day basically asking for you to join them, it gets quite annoying after awhile.”

“I see,” Michael nodded. The room went into a comfortable silence.

Lorna decided to lie down on the floor before her back started to bother her again. The carpet was a nice soft one that she felt like she was nearly lying on feathers. And soon began to doze off.

“Lorna,” a voice called to her.

Lorna opened her eyes and looked at Michael as he had a concern look on his face.

“Are you feeling alright?” he asked.

“Yes, why do you ask?” she asked as she sat up.

“You look like you were falling asleep on my floor.”

She looked at the floor and then slightly turned her head. “Sorry,” she lightly blushed. “I guess your carpet was so soft, I forgot where I was.”

Michael lightly laughed, letting out some of his squeaky giggles along with it. “Yeah, I suppose it is soft.”

“Yeah.” Lorna stood up from the floor. “I think I will turn in for the night, I really don’t want to fall asleep on your floor.”

Michael stood as well. “Perhaps you can help me to plan Prince’s birthday tomorrow.”

“I would love to,” she said.

She gave him a smile and then walked out, heading to her now permanent bedroom.