The Story of My Life (Read 31,265 times)

[Kpatch]

Chapter 11c


“Never’s a long time Victor, and it’s going to be a very sad day if you die without making peace with your son,” Maggie told Victor.

“It’s not my choice. It’s his!”

Speaking softly, she said, “Sorry to tell you this, Victor, but you’re wrong. It is up to you. It’s always been up to you. Even before I knew you very well, I could see how much Philip wanted to please you, how much he wanted your respect and approval. You know, he and I talked a lot when he lived at my house with Melanie.”

Raising an eyebrow, he said, “He talked about me??”

“Not specifically, but there was always something. Whenever your name came up or he would talk about business, it was obvious how much he wanted to succeed — more for you than for himself, I thought. Yet, you’ve never given him the approval he seeks, even though you've told me what a great job he's doing, it seems you've never told him, and that makes me so sad. He’s a good man, Victor. He has all your good qualities, and, as far as I can tell, none of the bad ones. So even if you’re not proud of him, I am.”

“You don’t understand,” Victor said in a voice that was quiet yet forceful. “There was a time when Philip would have begged me to let him keep his job, but not anymore.” Tears welled in Victor’s eyes and he looked down at his laptop. Maggie watched him without saying anything as if she knew he had more to say. He inhaled a halting breath. “I have no control over anything anymore, Maggie. I’m becoming irrelevant.”

“Oh my love, you’re not irrelevant, and you never could be—not you. But you have to know that you never had control over Philip. You can’t control your children any more than you can control anyone else. And the harder you try, the more distant your children will become. Look at Kate. Philip has no relationship at all with her anymore.” She glanced toward the door. “I hope Philip can forgive you one day for making him choose between the job he loves and the woman he loves. Everyone deserves a second chance, even curmudgeons.” She smiled sadly. “But you only get so many. At some point, time runs out.” Maggie reached for Victor’s hand across the table and squeezed it affectionately. “Don’t wait until it’s too late, my love. You will regret it.”

[heroicmuse]

I"m glad Victor was willing to be vulnerable with Maggie. Now he needs to talk properly to his son.

[André DiMera]

I’m so glad that Maggie told Victor all this. I hope he listened!

Can we please have previews, Kpatch?

[melly]

Good for Maggie. Someone needed to have this conversation with Victor a long time ago!

I get the loss of control that Victor is feeling, but that doesn’t explain the years of disapproval, IMO. Definitely limits my sympathy for him.

[sportsgirl]

It sounds like Maggie may have gotten to him. Perhaps he will finally treat Philip the way he should be treated.

[mae00]

I knew if anyone could get through to Victor, it would be Maggie. I'm so glad that she used Philip's relationship with Kate to make her point too.

[doolfan4life]

Hopefully this changes his tune and he doesn’t fire Philip after all

[fluffysmom]

Great conversation between Victor and Maggie. I liked her saying some things he needed to hear. I liked Victor's vulnerability for a few moments.

Will there be previews Kpatch?

[Kpatch]

Thanks for reading and commenting, everyone! Here's a taste of what's coming up this week.

-Back at the condo, Philip, Chloe, and Parker struggle to come to grips with their new reality, especially when it becomes clear that Parker heard the argument over the loudspeaker.

[sportsgirl]

Oh no..I wonder how the whole thing will affect Parker.

[fluffysmom]

Poor Parker! It's going to be a rough week.

Thanks for the previews Kpatch.

[melly]

Hasn’t our boy Parker acted out before when Grandpa Victor wasn’t nice about Chloe? We may be in for quite a scene from little Parker!!

Thanks, boss!

[Kpatch]

Chapter 12a


Philip and Chloe entered the condo with Parker, who immediately ran to his room. Philip looked over at Chloe. Exasperated, she called out, “Parker? Angel, come back here.” She touched Philip’s arm. “I’ll be right back.”

A moment later, she entered Parker’s room. He was on the floor playing with his toys. Chloe got down on the floor and rubbed his back. “Are you hungry, angel?”

“Leave me alone,” Parker mumbled without looking at Chloe. She looked toward the door where Philip was standing. He came into the room and got down on the floor as well. He picked up a doll he’d given to Parker a while back, one that Mary recently suggested he use to help him act out his feelings. “I love these GI Joe dolls too, Parker. Reminds me of my time in the Marines.”

“Don’t touch my stuff,” Parker said, grabbing at the doll and pulling the head off the GI Joe. “Look what you made me do!”

Philip inhaled sharply and glanced at Chloe as she wiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Philip picked up the pieces. “It’s okay. I can fix this for you, buddy,” he said. “If you want to play by yourself for a while, that’s fine, but maybe we can talk first.”

“I wanted to play with Gramma Maggie, but you wouldn’t let her.”

“That’s not exactly true, angel,” Chloe said softly. “Grandma Maggie and Grandpa Victor had other plans tonight and—”

“Just Grandma Maggie! I don’t wanna play with Grampa Victor. I hate him!” Parker shouted.

Philip and Chloe glanced at each other again. “Hey buddy, remember our no-yelling rule?” Philip said. Parker didn’t look up. “And it’s wrong to hate people. Grandpa Victor doesn’t mean half the things he says. And, look, even if me and your mother may argue with him, he still loves you. He loves all of us.”

“He fired you,” Parker stated angrily.

Rubbing his head, Philip paused to think. He’d been trying to tell himself that Parker didn’t hear Victor and Chloe over the paging system, but now it was clear Parker heard plenty. Trying to sound lighthearted, he said, “It was probably time for a new job anyway.”

“You don’t need to worry about that, Parker,” Chloe chimed in. “We’ll be fine, we will. It’ll be like a new adventure.”

Pouting, Parker asked, “Am I gonna hafta go to a different day care?”

“Oh. Um.” Chloe looked at Philip for a moment. “Eventually, yes.”

“That means Grampa fired all a’ us.”

[melly]

Parker has a point....and I hate for him to have to switch daycares right now. That’s stinky for the poor kid.

[heroicmuse]

I'm glad Parker is expressing his feelings. Pulling heads of dolls and yelling is better than hitting anyone.