FicWad

Changing Destiny
Chapter 5 - Spending Time Together

As Prince’s birthday approached, Lorna was able to make herself a routine with the Jackson family. She was now part of the family and everyday she would love the children even more than the day before. Of course she had observed Michael seemed to be a little happier too since she agreed to stay. She also noticed he kept himself very busy and it was beginning to worry her. She was scared he was going to burn himself out and as he had done it before from what she had heard.

On the evening before Prince’s birthday after he had gone to bed, Lorna decided she was going to have a talk with Michael in his working habits. Knowing where to find him, she walked to his den, which she would often describe it as ‘his office’. She knew he was there since he always went there on most nights after the kids were put to bed.

She tapped on the door and walked in without waiting for an answer. As she walked in, he jerked, startled by her entrance while he was in the middle of reading a letter he received from London.

“Is something the matter?” he asked, setting the letter down but still held it with one hand and removed his reading glasses with the other.

“Perhaps,” she answered. “Michael, when was the last time you relaxed?”

Michael blinked at her question. “Relaxed?”

“Yes, relaxed. I have noticed this past week, you’re barely sleeping and you’re constantly busy.”

“Well I do have to prepare for this concert tour,” he defended.

She walked further into the room and around the desk. “Michael, you’ll burn yourself out. You are not a young man anymore. You have to think about your health.”

“I am fit,” he protested, staring at her.

“Michael,” she said quietly. “Tomorrow is your son’s birthday. You had asked me to stay and while I had said that I’d stayed for the children, I also stayed because you are a good friend. You are the first person in a long time to be concerned for my well being.”

“Lorna in just under 3 weeks, we’re going to London to announce my tour. I need to make sure everything is ready.”

“I guess what they say is true. You are a perfectionist.”

“That I am. There’s been times in my past where I didn’t like how things went but I couldn’t go back and change it.”

She reached over and touched his hand. “I fear for you,” she said with sadness.

“Fear for me?” He noted how soft her hand was his. “Why do you fear for me?”

She kneeled on to her knees and moved her hand to his leg, close to his black jean knee. She had noted he was wearing a cream colored silk shirt, one that probably cost a bit of money. “I’ve seen too many people die or get really sick from burn out.”

He looked into her concerned eyes and saw how much she was really concerned for him. Giving a long sigh, he knew she was right. He was actually ahead of schedule and his son’s birthday was tomorrow. He let the letter, he was reading, glide to the desk and turned fully around to face her, forcing her to move back a bit. He grabbed her hands and stood, taking her with him. Perhaps it was time to take some time to relax like he once did.

“Michael?” She gasped as he pulled her to her feet. She wasn’t expecting him to stand up nor grab her hands, pulling her to stand. She felt herself being pushed back as he took a step forward. When she was far enough away from the desk, he stepped around the desk, still holding her hand and silently walked to the door.

“Michael, where are we going?” she asked when they were in the hallway.

“You’ll see,” he said. He continued on walking until they reached the foyer. He grabbed a jacket as it was a bit cold outside and he grabbed her jacket and helped her to put it on, which she allowed him.

“I really don’t understand.” She was completely confused now as he opened the door and led her outside into the cool night air. Though they were living in Los Angles, the temperatures at night for February could get chilly.

“Have you ever climbed trees?” he asked.

She blinked in confusion as he pulled her along. “I once did when I was younger, but I haven’t since moving to Vegas.”

Michael smiled as he continued to walk, taking her hand once again. Lorna glanced at their linked hands. She noted how pale his hand was compared to her more tanned hand. He continued to pull her until they reached the area where the kids’ playground was but soon passed it and stopped nearby a tree.

He turned to her. “Come on, this will be fun.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t been up a tree in many years. Perhaps it might be better if it was during the day.”

He smiled at her and pulled on her arm. He tugged a little too hard and she stumbled right into him. He caught her easily. “Where’s your sense of adventure? It’ll be fun. You want me to relax and one of my best relaxations is climbing trees.”

“Even for being 50?” She watched him nod.

“Lorna, I never had much of a childhood. Being a singer at a very young age, took my childhood away,” he replied. “Just climb, I’ll be right behind you. You can see there are foot ledges everywhere and even a rope if you feel like you’re about to fall.”

She was about to protest again but seeing the look in his dark eyes told her he wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer. Sighing in defeat, she turned away from him and slid her foot onto the first ridge that was built on the tree. She reached up for another foot ledge and got ready to pull herself up. As she used her arms to pull herself up, she felt herself tremble. It had been a long time for her to climb.

She gave a slight gasp as she felt his hands hold her waist to help steady her. She guessed he must have seen her tremble as she heard him speak in very soft comforting tone. She loved his voice. He did not have a manly voice like most men, but he did have a relaxing voice that melted her fears.

“I won’t let you fall,” he answered as he held her softly but firmly.

Lorna took a couple breaths and finished taking her first step up. She then reached up, taking another a step up and then another. When she was far enough up, he began to make his climb up. After she took her 15th step up, she began to get nervous.

“Where is the top?”

“Just a few more. Look to your left and you’ll see a place where you can sit. There’s enough room to sit two people,” he answered from below her.

She did as instructed and she could see there were two seats and they were built right into the tree. Each seat also had a support to prevent falling, but the feet would either have to dangle through the limbs or stretch out over the limbs. She looked up to see another foot ledge. She reached up and pulled herself up once again. Finally after two more steps up, she saw she was now able to stretch herself over to where the seats were. Her heart was racing like a racehorse. She was so nervous.

When her butt found a spot to sit she finally stopped and nervously grabbed the sides where the back support was. Her heart was still racing when Michael planted himself in the other seat. He gazed at her, waiting silently. He sensed her heart was racing as he could see she had a white-knuckle grip on the sides and her breathing was slightly faster too. He slid his legs to dangle between the limbs.

When he saw her breathing had slowed, he broke the silence. “I like to come up here sometimes to just sit and think. I once used to climb trees during the day; of course that was when I had no children to care for. But now I wait until they’re in bed before I come out here.”

A light breeze touched her braided hair. She looked up finally to see how high they were. She could see somewhat more of the property than from the ground. She took an intake of breath as the scene before was breathtaking. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed.

“That it is,” he commented, staring at her. From his point of view, the view was exceptionally beautiful. He tore his gaze from her and looked around. “Sitting up here was how the idea of doing one more tour came from.”

She blinked and snapped her head to him, never realizing his response to her comment of the beauty was more directed at her. “Really?”

“In fact you’re sitting right where I was when the inspiration came to me,” he nodded as he turned his eyes back to her.

“I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I wish I had half the talent as you.”

He softly smiled. “I have heard that from many people. Sometimes, I resent Joseph for forcing me to be the best, but other times I’m not.”

“Joseph?” she tilted her head. She still had a knuckle grip on the sides of the seat, which were smoothed out boards.

“He’s my father and never wanted us to call him ‘dad’ but by his first name.” His eyes took on a sad expression.

She shook head. “I’m sorry you had such harsh growing years.”

He nodded. “What was your childhood like?”

“Well I’m the youngest of four, three brothers and myself. Two I have mentioned to you and the third…don’t talk about him. My parents were loving parents and they did their best to have food on the table. Though there were some days they weren’t sure they would. But we did manage. My brothers were constant troublemakers. Of course that is boys for you, always into trouble…well most boys anyway.”

“I’ve done my fair share of annoying my sisters in my youth.” He nodded again with understanding. “What did you used to do?”

“I would play with my dolls and Barbies. Sometimes with my friends I would play make believe. Once becoming a teenager and toys and playing games were no longer the deal, I chased after the boys. Mind you I do have bad luck with men.”

“Oh? How so?” he asked. He leaned forward and touched one of her hands, lightly brushing his fingers across them.

“My first boyfriend, he was nice but we had to breakup because we moved here to the states. I did not want to leave him as he was first for everything, if you get my drift.”

Another nod came from him as his fingers found themselves under Lorna’s hand and gently slid under so she was no longer gripping the board, but touching his hand. Unconsciously, the more she spoke the more relaxed she was getting. “I know what you mean.” She was meaning her first boyfriend was the first person she had ever slept with.

“For awhile we mailed letters back and fourth but they soon stopped as he found someone else. Yes, I was somewhat crushed that he no longer wanted to wait for me. I’ve had a few other boyfriends since then but they left me high and dry after I slept with them.”

Michael shook his head, hating the thought of people mistreating people. He couldn’t believe guys would mistreat pretty girl like Lorna. She was special and those who mistreated her were jerks.

“When I would try to find out why, they would call me ugly.”

That one stung. It reminded him how his father would say things like that to him when he was going through adolescents. “You’re not ugly,” he countered. “Besides, beauty is only skin deep.”

“Why do men have to be such jerks? Not that I’m saying you’re one. You are one of the nicest men, I’ve met in a long time.”

Another soft smile graced Michael’s lips. “Thank you,” he said kindly. “I’m sorry for your past bad relationships. I do hope you find someone someday who can treat you well.”

“Yeah. I’m a single woman with nothing to show expect for the fact I lived in Las Vegas and now here in Los Angles with a wonderful singer and his beautiful children. I have no one to come home to.”

“Well I’m hoping that will change. You are welcomed to stay as long as you like.”

“Thank you,” she said. She looked around again. “It’s a good thing I’m not afraid of heights. If I was, there would have been no way in getting me up here.”

Michael chuckled. “Well I’m glad you aren’t then. You wanted me to relax and this is my best way to relax at this time of night.”

“So your kids are home schooled?”

Michael nodded. “Yes. Being who I am, I can’t take them to a public school. Besides, I do a lot of traveling.”

“So I’ve noticed. You’ve been nearly every place in the world. I’ve never really traveled before.”

“So you only lived in Ontario and Nevada?” he asked. He went to remove his hand but she quickly grasped, forcing him to keep it where it was.

Lorna quietly snorted as she realized she was holding Michael’s hand. She had no idea his hand was even there until that moment. She ungripped his hand and blushed. “Sorry.”

“No need apologize,” he said as he moved his hand to cover hers. “I was only trying to help relax you.”

She blushed more and lowered her head. “I guess I’m more nervous than I thought.”

“Why would you be so nervous?”

“Well, I’m sitting in a tree with you, many of your fans would scream at me right now if they knew and I haven’t been in a tree since I was twelve.”

Michael chuckled. “Yeah my fans do love me and I suppose that has been a long time for you.” He paused. “Tell me about Canada.”

She looked up at him. “About Canada? Umm…there’s so much, I wouldn’t know where to begin…oh wait. I can do better. I can show you. I saw you have a computer in another room, I could show you pictures even some pictures of myself.”

“How can you show me pictures of you? You lost everything.”

Lorna smirked. “Ever hear of Facebook or Photobucket?”

“Doesn’t ring a bell. I take it that these are Internet pages?”

Lorna’s smirk turned into a smile. “Yeah they are. I have some of my pictures on Facebook to show my facebook friends and it would not surprise me if some of my friends are fans of yours. And then I have a page called Photobucket, which allows me to load up pictures. With your permission, I could load up my Photobucket page and show you some pictures.”

“I’m not too fond of the Internet, though have gone on there a few times. I’m not really well inversed with web.”

“That’s ok,” she said. “A person has to learn sometime. And I’m sure with your busy schedule with being a single parent in raising three children can get tough. Of course there is fighting the damn media circus and show appearances.”

“I suppose you would like to show me now,” he said with a slight reluctance in his voice.

“That is if it’s all right with you. It’s your computer.”

Michael crawled up to his knees and moved over the tree limb to the foot ledges. Lorna saw he was going to climb down. Taking a deep breath, she knew she was now going to have to move as well. She took one look around seeing how breathtaking the scene was again before turning to slowly make her way to the foot ledges. When she got there, she saw he was already on the ground, waiting for her. To her shock, she had no idea he could move fast.

She took another deep breath as she made her first step down and then another. She continued to slowly climb down, knowing she was getting closer to the ground as she could feel Michael’s presence behind her. When she was only a couple steps from the ground Michael grasped her waist to help steady her.

The second she felt his hands; she gave a startle yelp and lost her footing. As she lost her footing, her body twisted around and she fell into Michael’s arms, facing him. He caught her easily though wasn’t expecting her to be startled like that. For a few minutes the two stared at one another, her arms were nearly wrapped around his neck. They stopped just in his hair as she could feel the soft texture. His arms were completely around her waist.

“Are you ok?” he finally asked.

“I think so,” she answered as she continued to star into his dark brown pools. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“I’m sure,” he lightly smirked, feeling the mood to tease. “But perhaps next time you won’t klutz out on me.”

She gasped. “I did not klutz out! You’re hands startled me.”

He lightly laughed. He loved to tease if he could get the chance. “You should have known I would have steadied you just like I did when you climbed up.”

At that moment, Lorna realized the position they were in. She was very close to him, and although the two shared a few comforting embraces, it did not compare to how close he was to her now. With him having white skin and not black and his face was partially sunken in, due to having to keep his weight down he was still fairly attractive. Being this close, she could smell his cologne and was beginning to really enjoy the scent. His face was so close; she could feel his breath on her face. They were close enough he could easily kiss her and she’d probably let him too.

Michael on the other hand, could smell the faint scent of her apple-scented shampoo. It was very alluring to him. To a point, it was very comforting to have his arms around a woman again. It had been so long since he actually hugged a woman and he found Lorna was quite the attractive woman and one perhaps he wouldn’t mind dating or something. But he knew he had to patient. Ever since Debbie Rowe, he had nearly closed his heart off to many women. He still loved them in general, but had yet to find a compatible match.

He loosened his grip on her waist and eventually released her completely. When he let her go, she forced herself to release him as well. She felt her heart sink with disappointment, but knew it was for the best. The two were only friends. She figured he probably didn’t see her any more than just a friend.

“You still wanting to show me your webpage?” he asked, disrupting her thoughts.

Lorna suddenly felt like kicking herself, remembering the reason why they got out of the tree. She gave him a nod and began to walk back to the house. They were soon inside and when their coats were off, he led her to the computer room.

He watched in fascination on her turning on the machine and logged in. Once on the net, her fingers danced across the keyboard, typing a web address. He was amazed at how fast she could type. Once the address was typed in and she logged in, Michael was able to see a bunch of names on one side of the screen. He grabbed a nearby chair, taking a seat.

He was able to see many pictures of Lorna when she was little and pictures of her and her brothers. His heart swelled with envy as she showed him each picture.

“You were quite cute,” he complimented.

“Thank you,” she lightly smiled.

Michael soon pointed to one picture on the page. “What’s that?”

Lorna looked to where he was pointing. “It was an elementary school play I was involved in called the Nutcracker.” She pulled up the picture so Michael could get a better look. In the picture it showed a girl and boy dressed as the Nutcracker and the girl who met the toy soldier with some other kids dressed in all sorts of candy and gifts. “I played the leading girl, mind you I can’t remember her name right now.”

“I’ve never seen a school play,” Michael admitted. “You looked like you had fun.”

“From what I can remember, I had a blast.” Lorna then scrolled down a little and clicked on a different link. It opened to whole different group of pictures. “Here are some pictures I’ve found on the web of different places in Canada. This one…” she clicked on it and when it loaded up, showed a very beautiful scenery picture of fall colors. “Are the types of scenery’s I really miss most.”

Michael looked at the picture with interest. “I’ve never seen trees with this much vibrant colors.”

“Yeah and many of those trees are called Maple trees. And those Maple trees can make the most amazing syrup and other maple products.”

“I don’t follow.”

She turned to him, noting how close he really was to her. But of course he had to be in really close so he could see the pictures better. “Have you ever heard of Maple Sugar or Maple Syrup?”

“Can’t say that I have,” he said as he looked at her. “But may have turned up in conversations before.”

“Well they are products created from the sap of the Maple trees. Every March, when the ground begins to un-thaw from the frigid temperatures, people go out and tap the Maple trees. Sap slowly flows out and drains into buckets in which would be set under where the sap is coming from. Once the buckets are filled enough, one takes the buckets and boils it off. It takes a lot of sap to make one liter of syrup.”

“How much?” he asked, very intrigued by the information.

“Well I’m not exactly sure how much but as an example, if you take a four liter pail of sap and boil it down, you will only get like two cups of pure Maple Syrup. And the reason for that is because the steam that comes off the hot sap causes much of the sap to evaporate.”

“That’s not a lot,” Michael commented.

“No, it’s not,” she agreed. “But the syrup is sooo good. I miss it.”

“Is there anything else that can be made out of this Maple sap?” he asked.

“Yes, there’s Maple Sugar, Maple cream spread…very good on toast and such and then there’s Maple snow cones.”

“Maple snow cones?” he blinked. “How is that made?”

Lorna giggled and smiled. “It’s when you take the fresh snow and pour the syrup on top of it and then eat it.”

Michael leaned back in his chair as he turned back to the fall scenery picture. “And Maple Syrup comes from some of those trees?”

Lorna looked at the picture again. “Yes. I’m sure in that picture there probably is Oak, Birch, Elm and other trees as well.” She moved forward and clicked on another picture, it was a picture of a beach with brown water in the distance.

Michael looked at it, sitting up. “Water is brown in Canada?”

“Only in certain areas where it’s more shallow and a lot of mud moves around with the tides. This picture I believe was taken on the East Coast near where they have the highest tides in the world. I have yet to pin point where this is from.”

“Very interesting,” he said as he clasped his hands together. “I never heard of water being a different color other than blue or sea green.”

Lorna smirked. “I have something to show you. One that I know you’ve never heard of but it’s very famous in Canada. It’s a natural tourist attraction.” She then pulled up some pictures she found on the Internet of rock formations on a beach.

Michael took an eager look at the photos she showed. The rock formations were found in New Brunswick Canada in a bay called Bay of Fundy, which was also in the area of having the highest tides in the world. The formation of the rocks made all sorts of shapes and even caves in the sides of cliffs. They were created from eons of tide evolution.

Lorna even showed some pictures of a tourist attraction from the fictional character called ‘Anne of Green Gables’ which was a story that was set in the 1800s, Canada, which was also another famous attraction many people liked to visit. For about two hours Lorna continued to show Michael pictures of Canada she found on the web and explained as much as she could of the areas she found. Michael listened as he stared at the pictures.

After awhile, he realized the time. “Goodness, it’s getting late.”

Lorna looked at the clock on the computer. “Good gracious, it is. It’s almost Eleven O’clock.”

Michael grasped her hand that was holding the mouse. He took her hand and brought to his lips and left a feather kiss on the back of her hand. “I would like to thank you for showing me these pictures of your country and answering what questions I had.”

Lorna wanted to blush, but she forced it down. She knew he was only being kind. He was very tender and feeling his lips on her hand, made her heart thump a little faster.

“It was a pleasure,” she said. “I love telling people about my home country. I would like to visit there someday.”

“Well perhaps we can go sometime,” he said as he released her hand. “I am really curious to see how Maple Syrup is made.”

“Yeah that would be nice. But with your busy schedule I doubt you will be to go.”

“What makes you say that?” he asked. He moved his hand over the mouse and clicked the ‘x’ at the top to close the Internet screen.

“The tapping starts next month a couple weeks after the trip to London,” she explained.

“Should that matter?” he asked. “The concerts won’t start until July, I think we could manage a trip.”

Lorna gasped. “Are you serious? You want to go next month?”

“Why not?” he asked. “I am really curious to see it. And I love seeing new things and new people. I haven’t been to Canada since the early 80s when my solo career really took off. I’ll let you make the arrangements and you can be the tour guide.” He smiled.

Lorna smiled. “What about the kids?”

“We’ll take them too. They always go with me wherever I go,” he said. “I’m sure they would enjoy a trip like that.”

“But it’s cold up there and I have heard you don’t like the cold,” she protested.

“Lorna,” he said, taking her hand again. “I’m asking you to take me to Canada, to see your home. We’ll manage with the cold. I am not worried about that. You just tell us what we need and I’ll get it.”

Lorna felt like crying, but she didn’t. He wanted to go and she could tell he wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer. For some reason, she had a feeling this was one of his many quirks about him. Though he was rich, money didn’t bug him. He also didn’t flaunt his money either. Yeah, he sometimes wore exotic clothes when he was in public for his fans, but she had also seen how much of a down to Earth guy he was. Though he showed his wealth in public when he made public appearances, he was not always like that at home.

She saw him wear baseball caps, cotton dress shirts and even sometimes-older jeans. He was a very nice man and was shocked he was available. One could easily fall for the man. Even she probably could if it weren’t for the fact that he was wealthy and she wasn’t. She didn’t find it was right.

Lorna finally nodded giving in to his request. “Alright, we’ll take a trip up there.”

He smiled. “At any time you can use the computer. Please, no need to ask. If you wish you may also set up an account on this one. This is my own personal computer. Only myself and my security touch it.”

“Michael, I couldn’t do that,” she gasped.

“I insist,” he said. “You have full rein of this computer. So how does make another account on a computer?”

She knew he was not going to leave room until the discussion was final. She turned to the computer and went into the settings of the computer. He watched in fascination as she created another account. She made her account limited for safety precautions. When the account was made, she could see there was now two accounts, one said Administrator and the other said her name. She quickly went and renamed the other one from Administrator to ‘Michael’. When it was done she logged off his account and turned off the computer.

Now that the computer was off, Michael stood. “You have a good night Lorna and I’ll see you in the morning.”

She gave him a nod and watched him leave the room. When he was gone, she leaned back in her chair and thought of what just happened. Michael insisted her on having an account on his personal computer and he also more or less insisted on taking a trip to Canada after the London trip.

That was going to be one trip she was going to have to plan very carefully. To show him how syrup was made, they were going to have to go someplace that wasn’t popular. Her mind began to wonder who perhaps she could call that she knew lived in Ontario. She remembered people did Maple Syrup in the region she grew up in, but did they still do that, she did not know.

Finally after several minutes of letting it sink in on what just happened in that last few hours, Lorna decided to also call it a night. Tomorrow was going to be busy. Prince was going to have some friends over and Michael would not be working either so that was going to be one day where she was going to be spending the day with Michael and the kids.

-
Author’s Notes: Just to let you all know, I am a Canadian, which is part of the reason why I set Lorna to be a Canadian. I would also like to point out I live nearby where they have the famous rock formations and they are called Hopewell Rocks.