All she knew was that it was all a complete blur in her mind.
She knew a little more than eighteen years ago she'd had a son. She'd given birth to a huge, healthy boy, and they'd brought him to her in the hospital, fresh and scrubbed and the most beautiful, delicious-smelling thing she'd ever known. He'd been crying as they wheeled him into her room from within the little transparent perambulator, and the sound had pierced her heart with its impossible beauty.
She'd taken him from the nurse's arms and cradled him to her breasts. It shocked her how immediately he somehow found where to latch his tiny mouth, and he lay quiet against her, feeding and content. The sensation of breastfeeding was unlike any other she'd experienced before. Something so very right... It made her feel warm inside, it felt like a gentle tugging and she felt it everywhere in her body, and it had the sensation one experienced when taking a good tranquilizer. She felt sleepy and relaxed. She wanted to tell the nurse how she felt but she was scared the woman would confuse her feelings with sexual gratification; so she said nothing, just sat in awed, blissful silence, stroking his surprisingly full head of hair and urging him to drink and taking little kisses at the top of his head, the hair so soft and fine it made her want to cry.
My baby, she whispered over and over. I'm going to be a good mother to you.
And only two weeks later, he'd been taken away from her.
The parts of her life with his father she realized somehow she'd naturally and effectively blocked from her mind. It was just a blur. Another woman was involved, she remembered... But she couldn't remember the exact words of the conversation....
"Leaving the country... I want my son with me... You'll never see him again, bitch...."
Somehow she'd lived her life. She had a decent job. Decent schooling. A little house in the suburbs on a somewhat lonely road where somehow progress still hadn't filled in the numerous fields around her small neighborhood.
But her life had been plagued by dreams. In those dreams she could still smell her infant. Could still taste his skin from the soft kisses planted on his miniature face. In dreams, she chased him forever. Please, she screamed. Give me back my baby.
Please. Give him back.
***
All she knew at that moment was she was trying to disguise her hands from shaking at the wheel. It had all gone too fast.
She still could see those strange words in front of her face from the letter she'd received.
"Your son is 18 now and he wants to meet you. He wants to stay with you for a while. His flight leaves at..."
He'd held up a sign for her with her name in the airport. She saw before her an eighteen year-old boy in jeans and a t-shirt. He was at least six feet tall and towered over her. His hair was somewhat wavy and he wore it longer at his ears and neck. His body was lanky with a hint of muscle definition. He was a little bow legged. And his face...
She couldn't help thinking in her mind that she thought she understood how people felt when they set eyes on Michelangelo's David for the first time.
Simply, all that needed to be said was he was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen in her life.
She could smell him in the car. He smelled so delicious again somehow, but this time it was different. He wore perhaps a dab of cologne. He was a little sweaty from perhaps being in her state, which was well known for its merciless heat. People needed time to get acclimated to the climate. The scent was somehow extremely pleasant to her.
But it soon became apparent he didn't want to be there at all. She could read his body language. He was angry and sullen and withdrawn.
Oh God, she thought in her head. How will I ever manage this. How to explain... She'd written letters over the years. She'd begged. She'd never been allowed to see him again.
She told herself just to get through the drive home. The little attempts at conversation she was making were failing miserably. At one point he'd turned his head to her, and their eyes locked. Anger and coldness flashed within the depths of his eyes.
He hates me, she thought.
She was trying to ignore the reactions in her body when he'd looked into her eyes. A thought had flown into her mind. How could something so beautiful and perfect and handsome have come from me...
She felt guilty. Extremely guilty. Extremely sick in the head. When he'd met her stare, she'd felt everything inside her opening... There was a strange pressure in her stomach. Her body tingled.
She realized, Oh my God. I'm sexually attracted to my own son. What in God's name is wrong with me...
At her house, before she was able to turn off the car, he'd opened the door and was walking swiftly up to her door, a single duffel bag of clothes and a few things slung over his shoulder. He hadn't brought much. I need to wash his clothes, she thought anxiously. She was terrified to ask him. Terrified he'd read her feelings on her face and detest her even more.
***