by Kiki Leach
Sheila eyed him up and down and stood back. "I don't believe that."
"Believe in Christmas miracles. Believe in this." He pulled a tiny branch of mistletoe from his pocket and held it over their heads.
Sheila bent her head back and knit her brows. "Where did you get that?"
"Tis the season." He bent forward and kissed the center of her throat.
Her eyes fell shut and she felt like fainting. Instinctively, she lifted a hand to the back of his head and pulled him closer. "Nathan." He draped his other hand around her waist and shoved her back against the wall.
Just then, Melanie rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks upon seeing them together. "Oh," she called out.
The second she heard her voice, Sheila snapped out of what she had been feeling and shoved him away. She straightened her dress, then gave Melanie a quick smile and headed off into the kitchen.
Nathan slipped the mistletoe back into his pocket and wiped his mouth. "I didn't mean for you to see that," he said.
"You were meaning for somebody to see it." She walked over to him and clutched her purse beneath her arm. "But I didn't come in here to talk to you about that. First, I wanted to thank you in person for getting Vanessa to change her mind about me coming. And second, I need you to know that I--"
Before she could finish, the doorbell rang. Vanessa hurried out of the kitchen to answer it and was pleased to finally see someone she had actually invited because she genuinely wanted them to be there, Nikki.
"Thank God," she said, throwing her arms around her.
Nikki laughed, but stopped the moment she caught first Nathan, and then Melanie's eyes across the room. She ripped out of Vanessa's embrace and soured. "What the hell is Oscar's wife doing here? And with Nathan over there? Why is he here, V?"
"Ummmm..." Vanessa lowered her voice. "You know, I don't really want to go into all of that right now, but if you could just be civil with the both of them for the time being, it'd really help me out." She leaned her head out of the door. "Oscar didn't come with you?"
"No," she said. "He's caught some bug that's going around, so he stayed behind, which is probably a good thing."
"Damn good thing. Damn good thing." She closed the door and pulled Nikki into another room. "I would've warned you about Melanie, but her being here was sort of last minute."
"It's okay, I can handle her. Just... has she said anything to you about me since she's been here?"
"No. In fact, she hasn't said much to me at all since she's been here, which is perfectly fine with me, by the way. She did get me a gift though."
Nikki leaned in and shrugged. "Why is she here?"
"She and Nathan are suddenly all buddy-buddy now. Apparently, he took her home after we all left the bar that night and they've been 'in touch' ever since. I don't know what it all means, but to be perfectly honest, I don't really care all that much. I'm just glad that you're finally here so that we can sit at the table, eat, and I can finally make my announcement."
"If it's that you're pregnant, Vanessa--"
"I'm not pregnant! Look, let's just get in here and get started, alright?" She snapped her fingers. "Vamanos!"
Part Eight
As everyone gathered in the dining room and took eye of their respective settings, Maurice took his place at one end of the table while Vanessa took her place at the other. They smiled at one another, feeling more in love than ever and about ready to explode from happiness, never noticing that most around them were feeling less than the same.
While Nikki took her seat between Gina and Alexis (who did all she could to keep from saying even a single word to her), she kept an eye on Melanie, who had been placed across from her and just a few chairs down next to Nathan. It took everything for Melanie to keep from looking in the eye of her husband's current mistress, and in attempting to dodge her glances, somehow caught the glance of Sheila, who after watching her lean in a little closer to Nathan than she felt was necessary and whispering something in his ear, began eyeing her with immediate suspicion.
Vanessa picked up her glass and clinked the stem with the edge of a fork. "First of all, I want to say 'Merry Christmas' and I hope we all have a hell of a happy new year. This one has been trying and painful and in many ways, it's one I'd like to forget even happened. But there's also been a lot of good that's come from it." Her smile grew the second she eyed Maurice. He winked. "So much good that's come from it, and so much of which I'd never change or trade in for anything in the world. So as much as there are pieces I'd like to forget, there's also pieces that I'm going to treasure for the rest of my life." She placed her hands over her heart and smiled again. "Anyway, let's say a prayer and then dig in."
"Vanessa, what about your news?" Alexis insisted.
"It's coming," she promised. "I just want everyone to have something to eat first."
"My God." She fell back against her chair. "You're pregnant."
"I'm not pregnant!" She threw her hands up. "What the hell is that about, is it the dress? I'm not pregnant -- I'm not having a baby, not right now. Look, the reason Mo and I wanted you all here, well, some of you here, is because we wanted you to know that we're getting married." She threw her hand inside her bra and ripped out her ring. "See?" She flashed it across the room before placing it on her finger. "I was hoping to make a huge deal about the size of this ring, but since everybody thinks I'm pregnant, we might as well just put it all out on the table right now."
Alexis brought her hand up to her mouth. "You're getting married?"
"Yes. We don't know when, we don't know how, but it's happening--"
"My baby girl."
Alexis pushed back from the table and walked over to Vanessa, fully embracing her and getting a better look at the ring. Nikki soon followed, as did Sheila and Gina. Alexander stood up and shook Maurice's hand.
Feeling more out of place than ever as she looked around at them all showing a form of affection for each other, with the exception of Nathan who remained in his chair, Melanie slid back from the table and stood up. "This really seems more like a family moment," she said, clutching her purse tight as it began to fall open. Sheila's eyes darted to a lengthy pink and white box sticking out from the corner of it; a box that looked much like one she had purchased only days ago. "I didn't really mean to intrude."
"It's fine," said Vanessa, peeking over Sheila's head. "Whether you like it or not, you've managed to become a part of this group too."
"Not exactly by choice," she muttered. Nikki eyed her for a split second before turning away. "I should probably go."
"You can't go back out there before we've even had any food. That just defeats the entire purpose Nathan begging me to let you come."
Sheila's ears perked up ad her brows flew up. "What?" she asked. She rounded the table and stood over Nathan, who kept his eyes focused down on his empty plate. "You begged Vanessa to let her come -- Why?"
He peeked up at her and in noticing the fury on her face, tried to relay the truth as best as he could. "She didn't have anywhere else to go. And since she couldn't get in touch with you--"
"How does she even have your phone number--?" She looked up at Melanie and flinched. "How do you even have his phone number?"
Nathan jumped up to block her view of Melanie. "Does it really matter at this point, Sheila?"
"I'm just wondering how you two went from basic strangers to you begging V to let her come here tonight. First, you tell me that she learned about this dinner from Mo, and now I find out that she was only invited because of you--"
"You know what, this has opened up an entirely huge can of unwanted worms that no one asked for -- OKAY!" Vanessa clapped her hands. "We are all going to sit down and for once, be civil while we eat. We're not having another Hamptons fiasco or another reunion. We're all going to talk to each other like normal people and eat our food like normal people and then you all are going home like normal people, and that's it. That is it. Because I refuse to end this night on a sour note, I refuse.
It belongs to me, and it belongs to Mo and I'll be damned if I let any of you people and your run of crazy ruin that for us anymore than what you have already, alright? So take your seats, shut the hell up, let's say a prayer and eat." She turned her focus to Maurice and sneered. "You're the one who told Melanie about the dinner?"
"V, it slipped out when I was getting coffee--"
"Whatever, let's just sit down."
After looking around at each other, everyone did as asked and reclaimed their chairs.
Once the prayer was finished and everyone had fixed plates, the first few seconds of sound that could be heard throughout the room consisted of various amounts of food being chewed.
"This is a damn good bird," said Alexander, referring to the turkey. "And the ham is moist."
"I used the recipes you sent me a few months back," he said, while continuing to dig into his plate.
While they continued discussing food, Alexis began to question Vanessa about plans for her upcoming wedding.
"I don't know anything yet, mother. We've both been so busy over the last few months that--"
"Months? Have you two been engaged for that long?"
Alexander glanced at Vanessa and softly shook his head.
"We just didn't want anybody finding out about it too soon."
"We're not just anybody, Miss Thing, we're your family. Some of us."
"I know that, but with everything following Nikki's play, it got too crazy to even mention a wedding to anybody. We just wanted to have some time for ourselves to enjoy."
"I understand that," she said. "I also understand that you not telling us because of what happened is a polite way of saying that if Nikki hadn't flashed her cooch across a certain portion of the tristate area, you would've told us sooner."
"MOTHER!"
Alexander handed Gina his plate. "Get to the kitchen," he told her.
"But--"
"Now."
She grumbled while getting up from the table and stomping off into the other room.
When the door swung shut, Nikki thre her napkin on the table and sat back in her chair. "Alexis is right, V," she said. "If what happened that night never did, you'd be telling us about your engagement long before tonight. And I'm sorry that it happened and all that it's caused for you, but it also wasn't my fault."
"I know that, Nik--"
"Don't coddle her," Alexis jumped in. She turned in her chair and stared directly at the side of Nikki's face. "Because from what I was told, nobody forced her into those wild positions with that married man."
"What happened with Oscar was private," Nikki shot back, throwing her hand down on the table. "We didn't know we were being filmed and William is lucky that I haven't sued his ass for invasion of privacy."
"You were caught having sex with another man inside of his home, dear. What the hell kind of privacy do you think you deserved in that?"
"Alright, let's stop this, now, okay?" said Alexander. "Your daughter asked you to be civil and you can't help in being the opposite."
"I was only pointing out the obvious," she told him. "We would've known about this months ago, had it not been for that night."
"That's part of what I meant in leaving some things behind, mother," snapped Vanessa. "And you know now, which is the only thing that matters, so can we just eat?"
"I wouldn't mind getting back to the food," started Melanie.
"Thank you--"
"But I just have a question first. If you don't mind."
Vanessa threw her fork on the plate and sat back. "What is it?"
"I'm just curious since everyone thought that you were pregnant, if that had been the case, what would you do with the baby?"
Vanessa glowered. "What the hell kind of question is that?"
"An honest one, really. I'm just curious because even though I'm 99.9 percent sure that you would keep it, there are some women in your situation who wouldn't feel the same way; even if they're so completely in love with the man they're having said child with. In fact, I know of maybe one or two in this very room."
Nathan looked over at her and shook his head. "Don't do this, Melanie."
Sheila glared at them both, attempting to read their gestures and mannerisms.
Melanie leaned into Nathan's ear and muttered, "I don't think I have a choice."
And she didn't believe she did, not anymore. Her fuse had already been lit, the trigger had once again been pulled; and the pipe bomb that was planted inside of her the night she saw her husband live, in color and on a screen as large as the Upper West Side itself having sex with Nikki, had finally blown to pieces.
"I think you need to leave," said Nikki.
"I don't think I'm ready to go just yet."
Nathan sank down in his chair like a disciplined child. "You're starting to make me regret asking V to let you come."
"I've been regretting you both ever stepping foot inside of my house since the very second you got here!"
"I'm just wondering why nobody else thinks these two being so buddy-buddy is strange!"
"Sheila!" Vanessa called out. "Who cares, let it go!"
"No, I'm curious about that too, Vanessa." Nikki leaned down on the table. "I know that you've been limited on friends for the last few years, Nathan, but the last person I ever expected you to bond with would be--"
"The wife of the man you can't seem to stop screwing?" said Melanie.
"My. God." Vanessa dropped her head in her hands. "Even on His day, even on His day..."
Nikki stood up straight and split her lips into a wide smile. "You're so unbelievably bitter. You had convinced yourself that telling him about my abortion would send him running back to you and now that it hasn't--"
Vanessa's head shot up and she turned her eyes to Nikki. "Wait, what?"
Maurice dropped back in his chair and covered his mouth. "Shit."
Vanessa, now in a state of complete confusion, lifted from her chair and raised her hands. "You were pregnant with Oscar's baby? When the hell was this?"
Nikki lowered her head. "Not long after we were together. That time I spent in Connecticut was me recovering from what happened."
"Oh my God," she breathed. "How the hell did Melanie find out about it?"
"The woman we saw her with on the street, Jill Schaffer? She used to work at a clinic and must of told her."
"Jill never said a word to me about you having the actual abortion," said Melanie. "She told me enough and I put the pieces together myself. Pieces that you have yet to deny."
"Okay, so let me get this straight." Vanessa crossed her arms. "You were pregnant with Oscar's kid, and then you had an abortion. Did anybody know about this during the time it actually happened?"
Maurice leaned forward and rested his hands on the table. Vanessa immediately drew her attention to his change in posture, and when she realized he was attempting to avoid eye contact, she shook her head.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," she said. "She told you?"
"She knew that I wouldn't judge her for it--"
"I wouldn't have judged her for it! I might have smacked her around a little bit, but I wouldn't have judged her for it!"
"Vanessa, I didn't tell you because I know how you feel about abortions."
"Nik, I know that what I choose to do with my body isn't the same as what you choose to do with yours. I'm not judging you for that, I would never judge you for that or any other woman. I just wish that you could've told me about it so that I could've been there for you when it happened. Going to Mo of all people is odd to say the least, but I guess it's a good thing that you at least told somebody willing to keep it quiet for you."
"It wasn't my place to tell you about it, V."
She pointed at him. "We'll deal with what that means later. In the meantime..." She turned to Melanie and Nathan and pointed to the door. "I want you both outta here, now."
Nathan's mouth fell open. "I've been sitting here as quiet as a damn mouse the entire time."
"YOU
are the reason SHE is here." She pointed. "You're the reason all of this mess happened, yet again! You're like that dog we can't take on trips or leave home alone because you rip through the entire house! You're also the reason Sheila won't stop asking so many damn questions about things nobody gives a damn abou--" When she turned to Sheila's chair, it was empty, as was her plate. "Where the hell did she go?"
Alexander got up from the table and headed into the foyer. "Her coat's gone," he said. He checked the knob on the door. "It's warm, so she must have just left."
"Well, that's just great. The one person I had actually managed to make progress with, and now she's gone." She threw her napkin on top of her plate and moved around her chair. "I'm done. I'm completely done. Christmas dinner is over. I want you all gone."
"Vanessa--"
"No, mother, you know what, it's obvious that we can't be in the same room with each other, so there's no point in continuing to try. At this rate, I'd be perfectly fine with Mo and I just getting married in front of strangers at city hall." She backed away from the table.
"V!" Maurice called out.
"Nope!" She threw her hand up, paced through the foyer and headed upstairs to her bedroom, slamming the door.
Maurice pressed his hands together and squeezed them so hard that they started to turn red. "Well, it's been real." He sniffed. "I think you all could just do me the favor of showing yourselves out."
Melanie leaned in. "I'm sorry, Mo--"
"Yeah," he replied dismissively.
She bobbed her hand, understanding of his tone and got up from her chair.
Nathan watched her grab her coat, then returned to Maurice. "I didn't mean for any of this shit to go down like it did," he said.
"You never do. Doesn't keep shit from happening whenever you come around."
They stared at each other for a long time before Nathan finally got up from his chair and joined Melanie at the door.
She bent toward his ear. "I need to talk to you about something important."
"I can't right now," he said, "I should probably head out there and find Sheila."
After throwing on his coat, he headed out the door and into the night. Melanie did the same, though she wouldn't take being dismissed by Nathan as easily as he had hoped.