The Cost Of Winning

ASHLEY'S POV :

As soon as I hear those words come out of Fianna's mouth , I know exactly who this woman is : her mother , Claudia , I think she called her . But what the fuck does she want , after all this time ?

"Now that's no way to talk to your mama , darlin'. What is your fella here gonna think?" she asks , in a voice that could put someone into sugar - shock . I look at her more closely , and realize that she must have looked very much like Fi when she was younger , but now she's trying so hard to hold onto that , she's basically turned herself into a caricature of what she used to be . She's obviously had at least one facelift , and there's so much silicone in her chest that she almost makes Fi , who's a 34D , look small - busted . I've known porn actresses with less augmentation than this woman has .

"You mean my egg donor , don't you ?" , Fianna practically growls . "You were useless as a mother even when you were there , and you never gave me a second thought after you left , so where do you get the stupid idea that I have any interest in seeing you now ?"

"And as for what I think , I'm pretty much wondering the same thing that she is ." , I add . "Why the sudden reappearance ?"

She turns her head , and gives me a big smile . "My friend Maureen used to keep me up on what she was up to , but she lost track after my mom passed away . Then I happened across the clip of the three of you at that awards show , and decided to get in touch again ."

"If that's true , then Maureen is the only one who ever heard from you ! If she talked to you about me , then you must have known when Dad died , and when Gran got sick , but you never bothered to even call , let alone try to visit ! And you blew off your own mother's funeral ! I seem to remember your words being , 'Have somebody let me know if I'm in the will , I don't have the time or the money to waste coming back otherwise .' So I don't have time for you now ."

"Now , baby , you don't mean that !" , Claudia simpered . "So if one of you will just go out there and pay the cabdriver , and get my bags , we can all go inside and talk about this like reasonable people ."

"Stop right there !" , I say , as Fi's mouth drops open in shock . "So you brought yourself , and your stuff , here , just assuming that you were gonna be welcome ? Kind of jumped the gun a little bit , didn't you ?"

She gapes at me , absolutely astonished . "But I'm the only family she has ! What else would you do ?"

"Oh , I don't know , maybe tell you to get the hell off of my property , and stay away from my family . That sounds pretty good to me , how about you , darlin' ?"

"I can't think of anything I'd like more , babe .", Fianna says , giving Claudia an unpleasant smile ; more a baring of her teeth than anything else . "You heard him , you pitiful excuse for a so - called parent , get the hell out of my sight , and don't ever come back !"

Claudia's expression changes , becoming less friendly , and more calculating . "Now , seriously , Ashley , how do you think that nice - guy image of yours is gonna hold up if it gets around that you've turned your girlfriend's mama out on the street , without a penny to her name , and nowhere to go ? And do you really think that it's going to help you cut down on all the negativity you're getting from your fans when they hear that you're going out with a selfish little brat who talks you into doing something so awful ?"

Before I can even begin to form a response , I see Fianna's hand flash out , and the next thing Bren and I are aware of , Claudia is on her ass in the yard , with blood running from her nose . "Don't you dare think you're going to stand here making threats and get away with it !" , she snarls , sounding almost possessed . "You calling me , or anybody else , selfish is like Adolph Hitler calling someone a racist ! Now get your skanky Botoxed ass off of our lawn and haul it back to whatever hole you dragged it out of , because you're not welcome here , and you never will be !"

She gets to her feet , and I hand Bren , who has gone completely goggle - eyed , back to Fi . "Here , love , take Bren back to the house , while I show her out ." I take her by the wrist , and start moving her back toward the gate . "You really should hurry , y'know . The longer you make that cabbie wait , the more it's gonna cost you ."

"But how am I supposed to pay him ? I don't have any money !" , she sputters .

"Totally not my problem . You should have thought of that before you were stupid enough to come here ."

As Fianna settles Bren on her hip , and is about to turn back toward the house , Claudia suddenly turns herself so that she's pressed up against my chest . She gives me a small smile , and practically purrs , "You know , Ashley , I'm really not so much older than you are . Actually , I think that our age difference is less than the one between you and Fianna . So why don't you and I go somewhere and get a bit better acquainted , then you'll see that I'm really not as bad as she wants you to think . I'm willing to bet that I have a great deal more experience in satisfying a man than she does ."

"Oh , I'm sure you're right about that ." , I reply , as I move myself around , so that I have her arms behind her . She starts to smirk , but it drops off of her face as I continue , saying , "And I'm also willing to bet that you have the diseases to prove it . Even if I were enough of a jerk to want to screw around on Fi , which I'm not , I wouldn't touch you if I was wearing a full hazmat suit ! Plus , I don't do cartoons , so lets go , you pathetic bimbo ."

She starts swearing at me , calling me several very colorful names , as I have to practically frog - march her back to the gate . I shove her out to the sidewalk , where I see a cab idling at the curb , and slam the gate behind her . She whirls back to face me , practically foaming at the mouth with rage . "You're going to regret this , both of you ! I'm going to ruin you , by the time I finish with you , neither of you will be able to show your faces in public again !"

"Bring it , witch ." , I reply . "But what I want you to understand is that I'm going to walk into that house , and I'm going to contact my lawyer , and have a restraining order filed against you . If you ever come near any of us again , I'll make sure you go to jail . And I'm going to be completely straight with you , as foreign as that concept probably is to you . I've never hit a woman in my life , and I've never had any use for guys who do , but if I ever see you anywhere near Fianna or our little girl again , I can't promise that you won't become the exception . That woman in there is probably the only decent thing you've accomplished in your whole miserable existence , and she became who she is without any 'help' from you , so why don't you do everyone a favor and go disappear back into whatever hellhole you came from ?"

I make sure that the gate is locked , and walk back to the house , as she screeches profanities at me the entire time . I pull the security camera up on the computer , and see her stand there for several more minutes , yanking on the gate and still shrieking , until the guy across the street comes outside with his two Rhodesian Ridgebacks , who are barking their lungs out . She scrambles back into the cab then , and it takes off , so I go into the kitchen , where Fi has settled Brenna into her booster seat with a bowl of blue Jello .

She gives me a faint grin , and says , "As near as I can figure , we owe Smidge at least a buck . I'm sorry I lost it out there , she shouldn't have seen that ."

I walk around the table and pull her into my arms , and I can feel her shaking . "Don't worry about it , babe , it's perfectly understandable . I wasn't expecting that any more than you were , so it's not like either of us had a chance to plan our responses ahead of time ."

Bren looks up from her Jello , and asks , "Who that was , Daddy ? Me thinks her scare Mommy , cause her was all shivvewy when us come in . Her dwops mines Jewwo , and has to gets some more . Yous needs to gives she tisses , so her wills feels gooder ."

She lifts her face up , and I kiss her , then walk her over to a chair . She sits down , and I crouch down between the two of them . "Bren , that was somebody who's not very nice , she made Mommy very sad when she was a little girl , and if you ever see her again , you need to tell one of us , and don't talk to her ."

"Ifs her were meanie to Mommy , me don'ts wike she ! No wills talks to she , never , never , never !"

"Is she actually gone ?" , Fi inquires , and I nod .

"Yeah , she stood outside the gate cussing me for awhile , but then Ron McCoy came out with Laverne and Shirley , and I think they scared her off ."

"Me wikes 'Verne and Furry , them's nice puppies ! Them wikes me to's frow them's ball , and them gives me puppy tisses ." , Bren announces .

"Yes , they're very nice , but they're also very big and loud ." , I explain . "If somebody doesn't know them , they might seem scary ."

I stay there until Fi calms down a bit , then I kiss her again , and say , "Just sit here and relax , babe , I've got a couple of things to take care of ." I walk into the living room and call Dina , filling her in on what's going on , and telling her what I'd like her to do . Then , I call Web , and ask him to take care of anything that needs to be done locally , and he instantly agrees . And after I finish up on the phone , I go to the computer , log into all of my accounts , as well as the ones for the band , and let everyone know what happened , and what sort of person she really is . Hopefully , if I beat her to the punch , she'll think twice about trying to cause trouble , and just slink back to wherever she's been .

*************************************************************************

It's been about three weeks since Claudia showed up , and unfortunately I was wrong . Even though I gave everybody the full story about her , she's still determined to make things difficult . She posted her own , completely different , account of what happened that day , and is trying to make herself out to be this poor , misunderstood victim , who was kicked out of Fi's life , and is basically being horribly mistreated by both of us . Most people can see it for what it really is , but she refuses to give up , so I've decided to play hardball . Fianna and I have gotten in touch with anyone she could think of who knew Claudia when she was still with Fi's dad , and I had Dina hire a PI to check out what she's been doing since then , hoping they can find something we can use to shut her down for good .

I'm sitting here on the couch with Fi , and Brenna snuggled between us , watching "The Neverending Story" , and my phone rings . I pull it out of my pocket , and see Dina's number , so I click on . "Hey , Dina , how's it going ?"

"Ash , I just talked to the investigator you asked me to hire , and he's found out some rather interesting things about this woman ." , she informs me .

"Great , does that mean we might actually be able to shut her up ?"

She pauses for a second , and then says , rather hesitantly , "Ash , before I say anything else , you should probably put this on speaker . This is something that Fianna needs to hear , and I don't really want to have to explain it twice ."

I sit straight up , suddenly worried . What the hell did she find out that could be that serious ?

Fi gives me a rather puzzled look , and asks , "What's going on , babe ? Is everything all right ?"

I lay the phone on the coffee table , and turn on the speaker . "I'm not sure yet , but apparently , we're about to find out ."

Notes