by Katie Dowe
“Is someone there with her?” he asked.
“A friend of ours. I wanted to go but I have the twins supervising.” She told him gently. “I will let her know as soon as she is able that you called.”
“Thank you.” He paused again and Jennifer waited. “I will come there as soon as I am able but I don’t know if she wants to see me.”
“I am sure she would.”
“Thank you.”
Jennifer put away the phone her expression thoughtful. “Thanks Mrs. Morgan,” she smiled at the nanny as she brought back in a freshly bathed and clean Janice to put her inside her crib. Elise was giving Joel his supper before she gave him a bath. “Okay my love let’s go and put you down to get your nap.”
*****
It was a girl. An eight pound two ounces wriggling mass of energy with curly black hair and who looked exactly like Clive. As soon as she saw the baby she started crying, the relief profound as she realized that she would not have to do a DNA test. The baby was her husband’s child and as much as she did not think she wanted to go back to him, she was glad she could spare him that heartache of the child not being his.
“Honey, you okay?” Marissa asked her in concern as she watched the tears coursing down her cheeks. She had not been allowed to stay in the room with her but had been able to come in as soon as she had given birth. She was cleaned up and they had put her in a soft pink robe that looked great on her.
Carolyn nodded. “I did something foolish sometime ago,” she smiled as the nurse took her daughter from her to go and put her in her bassinet in the nursery. She told Marissa what she had done and why. “I was going to do a DNA test to find out if the baby is Clive or that other person's. I did not want to have to hurt him anymore than I already did.”
“Are you going to call him?” Marissa asked her, having absolutely no judgment.
“I have to, he is now a father.”
Chapter 9
They came home that night to the news that Carolyn had a girl and they were both resting in the hospital.
“Why didn’t you call us?” Cara asked Jennifer accusingly.
“Because Carolyn and I both decided that you needed that time alone and besides she had more than enough people to be there with her.” Jennifer told her firmly, nodding to the maid as she took their bags.
“How is she?” Matthew asked her taking the jacket from his wife.
“They are both doing well and the doctor said that they will be coming out tomorrow afternoon all being well.” She had brought down the twins who had just gotten up from their naps and Matthew had both of them in his arms.
“Do you think we could go and see her baby?” she asked looking at her husband.
“Considering it is now after visiting hours I don’t think so.” He told her gently. “Why don’t you video call her?”
“Okay. Do you know if she called mom?” she asked turning to Jennifer.
“She called her mother and her husband,” she said meeting the girl’s gaze. “Clive will be coming over tomorrow.”
*****
“She is beautiful,” Cara said looking at the baby on the screen. “You have a name yet?”
“We decided to go with Cara-Lee,” she told her sister.
“You gave her part of my name?” Cara said tearfully.
“Yes it is my way of saying thanks to you for putting up with me and not booting me out.” Carolyn blinked back her own tears. “I know at one point you thought I was after your husband but I just wanted what you have and I thought your life was so good and mine was so mundane and boring. But you deserve everything you have Cara and I want to thank you for putting up with me for so long. Can you forgive me?”
“For what?” she said airily. “You said ‘we’; does it mean that you are going back to Clive?”
“We are going to talk and try and work things out but it’s tentative. I really do want even half of what you have with Matthew, it is something completely beautiful.”
“I know.” Her husband had gone into the children’s rooms with his sister to get them settled for the night. He had left her to give her some privacy to talk to her sister. “If there is anything you need you can always count on me to be there Caro.”
“You have given me so much already. Cara-Lee and I have more clothes than we could ever need and I know you put some money in my account.”
“That’s what sisters are for.”
*****
“How about Jeremy or Jackson?” Cara asked her husband as they lay in bed later that night. She had finished talking to her sister and had called her mother and they had spoken for some time.
“Not sure about Jackson but think Jeremy is a very good name.” he told her softly. He had not planned on making love to her for the night but she had changed his mind as soon as they were in the bed and she had reached for his penis, stroking it to full attention. “Jeremy Logan” he sounded out the name. “I like it.”
“I am getting jealous. I think I want to see our son now.” She murmured snuggling closer to him.
“Soon,” he murmured holding her close. “Your sister patching things up with her husband?”
“It seems that way. They will be talking so that’s a start.”
“I will send a car to pick him up from the airport.”
“Thanks baby,” she lifted her head and took his lips with his.
“What are you doing?” he whispered raggedly against her mouth.
“Going for round two.”
*****
Jennifer made sure everything was okay for when Carolyn came home from the hospital. Matthew had to leave for his trip but said he would see them when he came back home on Wednesday. Clive was due in later in the afternoon and she had also set up a guest room for him near to Carolyn’s and the baby’s room. There was a banner with a welcome home sign for both of them.
“My niece,” Cara murmured looking down at the adorable little girl in her arms. Carolyn was settled comfortably on the bed and Jennifer was doing what she was so good at, instructing the maids where to put the stuff from the hospital and the light supper she had ordered up for Carolyn. “She has your smile Caro but everything else is Clive.”
“I am so happy for that.” Carolyn said with a heartfelt sigh. Aside from feeling a little sore she was raring to go and felt as if she had not popped out an eight pound baby. She had spoken to Clive on video calling and he had stared at their daughter as if he could not believe it but she had seen tears of gratitude in his eyes.
“Jennifer,” Carolyn called as the woman made to leave the room.
“You need something else?”
“I need to thank you for being my friend and being here for me like you have been.” She reached for the woman’s hand. “I will never forget you.”
“You are talking as if this is goodbye,” Jennifer said brusquely with a soft smile on her face.
“Not in the least.” Carolyn told her.
“Okay dear Cara and I will be leaving you to get some rest and Matthew told me to see that you get off your feet and get some rest too Cara.” She told the girl firmly.
“My husband dictating all the way from Germany,” she said with a grimace putting her niece back into the crib. “I will see you later Caro.”
*****
Clive could not stop looking at his daughter. He had been anxious all the way from the airport and had been wondering what sort of reception he was going to get. But he had come into the room as he was escorted up by Jennifer and sent up some refreshments and Carolyn had been receptive, even softly apologetic.
“She looks like me,” he said in wonder as he stared down at the little girl decked out in pink with a pink bow in her curls. “I am sorry I was not here for you.”
“You are not to blame Clive.” Carolyn pulled her robe closer to her and went over to sit beside them on the sofa. Jennifer had peeked in a little bit to find out if they were okay and if they needed anything. Cara had gone for a drive with Marissa to give them some
space to sort things out.
“I am sorry I am not the husband you wanted,” he looked up at her. He had been trying to figure out where he had gone wrong with her and he remembered her telling him that he lacked excitement and drive and he figured that maybe she was right. But all he knew was that he loved her and did not hold it against her that she had gone out and had an affair.
“Please don’t say that,” Carolyn felt her heart constricting. “I am the one who is sorry and I want us to try again and this time I want us to make the effort.”
“You mean that?” he stared at her in wonder.
“Yes. I mean it.” She sighed. She had been doing a lot of thinking while she had been in the hospital and she knew she wanted Cara-Lee to have both parents living together under the same roof. She had looked at her sister’s life and had wanted it and with shame she realized that she had lusted after her sister’s husband as well, not in the sense that she wanted to be with him sexually but she figured she had wanted someone as handsome and as sexy as he was. Clive had always been there for her and she was still in love with him but had let the envy and jealousy take hold of her. Now she had a daughter to think about and her daughter was going to need her dad. “I want us to start fresh. I was thinking of staying home with her for a few months, thanks to Matthew and Cara we can afford to do that.” She said with a smile.
“I don’t know how I feel about accepting money from them Caro,” he said with a slight frown.
“I said the same thing and Cara reminded me that we are family and that’s what family does.” She said with a smile taking her daughter as she started fussing. “I think she needs to be fed.” He watched as she took out a plump breast and his daughter’s eager mouth zoomed in on the nipple sucking on it greedily.
“I missed you,” he told her softly.
She looked up and caught the look in his eyes. “I missed you too.” She whispered and met his lips halfway as he kissed her softly, his mouth hungry on hers.
*****
Jennifer made arrangements for dinner, a pleased smile on her face. She had not been to see William in a couple of days but she had told him of the situation and he had been very understanding. She was looking forward to seeing him on Wednesday and she just might have a sleep over if she was invited to do so. She was going to have to tell her brother and Cara about him but she was still not ready yet.
She smiled with satisfaction and went upstairs to check on her niece and nephew as she had promised Cara she would. She felt needed and it made her so happy, this was what she was born for after all.
*****
“Your sister looks happy,” Marissa commented as they made their way back from the drive in the countryside. She had stopped by the center briefly but had been doing most of the work from her office at home. She was due to deliver her baby any day now and she had been given specific orders by both her husband and the doctor to get as much rest as possible.
“She does,” Cara looked at her friend briefly. “But you don’t.”
“What makes you say that?” she asked keeping her head straight in front of her.
“Because I happen to know you and I can see you are not yourself. Come on Marissa we are friends so tell me what’s going on.”
“I sat there in the hospital with your sister and I have been around your very beautiful children and realized that I have been missing out.” Her hands clenched slightly on the steering wheel.
“You mean not having kids?”
“I told myself that I was better off not getting pregnant but my life is empty Cara. I am all shopped out and the apartment runs itself. I feel useless.” She blinked as she felt the tears coming. “John has his children and grandchildren who hate my guts and who do I have?”
“Is it too late for you?” Cara reached out to touch the girl’s hand. They had reached the gate which opened automatically allowing her to drive in. They stopped near the front door and the butler came out just then but Cara shook her head.
“I am in my thirties girl and that is late thirties and John does not want any more children. Can you blame him? He is going on seventy! I love him but I find myself wondering what on earth I was thinking?”
“You were thinking that you wanted to get out of the situation you were in. You were thinking of finding a better way of life and nothing is wrong with that. You were thinking of survival girl and we all do that.”
“Yet you manage to find a hottie who is also loaded.” She looked at her friend and smiled sadly. “Not most of us get to have it all girlfriend but you seemed to have done so.”
Cara did not know what to say to her. She was the third person to have told her that and she was feeling a little dejected that her sister and her friends were so unhappy.
“I am going to be okay,” Marissa was hasty to assure her friend. “It’s just that I made a decision and I will have to face the consequences of it.”
“Or you can turn it around.” Cara told her softly.
“What do you mean?”
“You can adopt honey. You would make a perfect candidate to adopt a child.”
“I am not sure about that.” She said uncertainly.
“Think about it.” She said patting the girl’s hand before getting out of the vehicle.
*****
“You had better get your broke ass away from here Malcolm,” the teenage girl with the bulging belly in front of her told the boy who was young as or a little older than her as he walked behind her. She had been coming to the center ever since she was two months pregnant and her mother had turned her out of the house. She had started helping out and both Christine and Jeanette had persuaded Cara to let her stay until she had the baby. She was due to give birth in August and had already planned on giving the child away.
“Baby please listen to me. I promise that I am going to be getting a job soon with Joe’s mechanic and I can spring for an apartment for us.” Malcolm said still trailing behind her.
“I will believe that when I see it,” she said with a snort flicking back her raven black weave and coming into the center, closing the doors behind her. Janet Wellington had gotten pregnant when she had decided to give it up to her boyfriend of two years and was now facing the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy and living with her cousin and her two kids in the projects. She spent most nights sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the small place and since lately her cousin had been hinting that she had found a new man and he wanted to move in. She had no idea what she was going to do and where she was going to live.
“Malcolm trying to persuade you to let both of you be parents?” Christine asked her as she came inside the room where the toddlers were playing with their toys.
“I ain’t listening to him one bit Miss Christine,” Janet picked up a toy and handed it to one of the toddlers, a smile on her face. “He wants us to pretend that we are going to be a family and that everything will be okay but I know better. Mama warned me not to get pregnant and I did not listen and look what happened. I am putting up this kid for adoption as soon as I deliver and that’s that!”
*****
“Are you going back to him?” Cara fastened the sides of the diaper on her niece and smiled as the baby reached for her thumb, holding it tightly into her fist. She was only two weeks old but was striving so much.
It was almost her due date and she was starting to feel very heavy and lethargic, sleeping more and more each day. It was a beautiful Wednesday afternoon and Jennifer had gone to do her usual round at the hospital. Clive was sitting by the pool, giving the sisters some privacy.
“I think we need to.” Carolyn said quietly, passing the pink and white onesies to her sister to put it on her daughter. She never believed it was possible to feel such love for another human being and she could not think of herself without Cara-Lee. “We have been doing a lot of talking Cara and I really want my daughter to grow up with her dad.” She took the freshly bathed and powdered baby and settled her in her arms to be breastfed. “Do you remember w
hen we used to live in our old neighborhood? And we would see the baby mama drama?” she asked her sister.
“We would tell ourselves that as black women growing up there that would never happen to us.” Cara said quietly touching the little girl’s cheek tenderly. She looked so much like her father and had the same quiet demeanor. “He has forgiven you for what happened?”
“He said it was partly his fault but I don’t want him blaming himself Cara, we have choices to make and I made a very foolish one.”
“So what now?”
“I am going back home with him and we are going to try and make this work,” she winced slightly as the little girl pulled on her nipple eagerly. “I have seen how you are with Matthew and I must admit that I have not been doing my part.”
“I am hoping you will stay until I have my baby,” Cara told her quietly.
“Definitely,” she said with a reassuring smile. “I would not miss the birth of my nephew for anything in the world.”
*****
The center was broken into that night. The door was hanging off its hinges when Christine got there with Daniel and Jeanette came out at six thirty to find that the dogs had all been drugged, they were still asleep when she woke up that morning. She did not go over the center to see if anything was out of the ordinary and it was not until Christine came that she realized that the two incidents were linked.
“All the food stuff that we got from the wholesale downtown is gone and the clothes as well,” Christine went through the rooms in a daze. She had already called the cops and had also called Cara albeit reluctantly. “The computers and the clothes that we had packaged out for distribution all gone. Who could have done something like this?” she asked as Jeanette wandered behind her. They were going to have to close the place and they had been doing so well.
“Is Cara on her way?” Jeanette asked picking up pieces of broken glass that had been a delicate light blue vase that had been given to them by a very grateful mother. Such needless destruction, she thought as she stepped over the broken glass to pick up papers strewn all over the floor.