“Hey,” she said sweetly when she got into the truck. Instead of replying, I leaned over and gave her a long kiss on her soft lips. I thought about what my brother said earlier and I wondered if I really was in love with her. I know I love her without a doubt, but being in love was something different altogether.
“Are you ready to do this?” I asked her.
“Not really, but I’m ready to get it over with,” she said nervously.
We drove to her parents’ house in complete silence. I held Brooklyn’s hand the entire time because I could tell that she was scared. When we pulled up to the house, she was literally shaking.
“Calm down Brook, it’s going to be alright,” I assured her even though I wasn’t sure myself.
I got out of the truck and walked around to open the door for her.
“I gotta throw up,” she said as soon as she stepped out. I rushed to her side and pulled her hair back just in time. I don’t know what she had to eat, but it all came back up on the sidewalk.
“You good now?” I asked when she was done.
“Yeah, I think so,” she replied.
I got a bottle of water from my truck and tried my best to wash away the stains on the concrete. She ate a few mints that she retrieved from her purse right before we walked up to the front door.
“Ma,” Brooklyn yelled when we walked in. I took a few minutes to admire their home. The living room was huge with windows that went from the ceiling to the floor. It was tastefully decorated in earth tones and it had a cozy feel to it. I knew that Brooklyn’s mom was a nurse, but I didn’t know about her dad. Whatever it was, they were doing it big judging by this house.
“Hey, my baby,” her mama said when he walked into the living room. She froze momentarily when she saw me, but she still smiled and said hello.
“Hey, is my daddy here?” Brook asked.
“Yeah, he’s in the room watching TV,” her mother replied.
“Call him out here, I need to talk to y’all,” Brook said nervously.
“What’s wrong baby?” Her mother said walking over to her.
Before I knew it, Brooklyn threw herself into her mother’s arms and broke down crying. Seeing that had me even more nervous than I was before.
“Bryce, come out here!” Her mother yelled.
After a few seconds, Brooklyn’s father came walking from the back of the house.
“What’s going on? What is my baby crying for?” He asked concerned.
“I don’t even know. Let’s sit down and talk,” her mother said.
“How you doing man?” Her dad said extending his hand out to me. I shook his hand and returned the greeting right before Brooklyn and I sat down on the sofa. They sat across from us on the love seat and waited for someone to start talking. When I grabbed Brooklyn’s hand, they looked at each other and then back at us.
“Okay, now I don’t know what’s going on, but somebody needs to tell me something,” Brooklyn’s dad said.
“And what’s up with this?” Her mom said gesturing at us holding hands. Brooklyn was quiet and I felt her hand trembling in mine. She looked like she was about to break down again, but I started talking before she did.
“Mr. & Mrs. Andrews, I know that this is hard to hear because it hard for me to say, but Brooklyn and I are having a baby. She’s nine weeks pregnant,” I blurted out nervously. Brooklyn grabbed my hand even tighter once I revealed the not so good news.
“Oh Brooklyn, no. Why didn’t you come to me when you were ready to start having sex?” Her mother said as she covered her face with both of her hands.
“Damn,” her father sighed as he too covered his face with his palms.
“I’m so sorry, please don’t hate me. I never meant for this to happen,” Brooklyn cried.
“Baby we will never hate you. I can’t say that we’re not disappointed, but that will never change how much we love you,” her mother said. Her father wasn’t interested in talking to her, he started interrogating me instead.
“What’s your name and what do you do for a living?” He asked me.
“My name is Dominic. My brother and I own a trucking company, Robert’s Trucking,” I replied.
“Robert’s Trucking? That’s the place with the blue and white trucks?” He asked.
“Yeah, that’s us.”
“I see y’all trucks around a lot,” he said seemingly impressed.
“Wait just a minute. Aren’t you engaged to be married to Tiffany’s cousin?” Her mother asked. This was a subject that I knew would come up eventually, but there was no way for me to get around it.
“Yes ma’am,” I replied honestly.
“Well, I don’t know what you thought Dominic, but Brooklyn is not having an abortion. I don’t believe in them. She made her bed and she’s going to lie in it right along with you,” she ranted.
“Oh, no ma’am, I don’t want her to have an abortion. I want her to have my baby. I’m fully prepared to take care of both of them,” I replied.
“How many kids do you have?” Her father asked.
“I don’t have any kids. This will be my first one,” I told him.
“Look Dominic, I really don’t know you, but you seem nice enough. I’m saying this to you as nicely as I can. Behind this one here, I will fuck something up,” Brooklyn’s mother said pointing to her.
“I understand,” I replied.
“No, I don’t think you do. I’ve seen your girlfriend and she seems like a piece of work. But one thing she better not ever do is come for my baby. You are the one that cheated on her so she better make sure that whatever issue she has is with you.”
“Yes ma’am,” I replied humbly. “I’m going to be honest with her about everything.”
“And since you’re making all of this money my baby or my grandbaby better not ever want for anything. We gon’ have a problem if they do,” her father said.
“I’ll make sure that Brook and my baby are good and that’s a promise,” I replied.
“You got a business card or something?” Her father asked.
“Yes sir,” I replied. I reached into my wallet and handed him and his wife one of my business cards.
“1002 I-10 Service Road,” her dad said reading my business address from the card. “Now I know where to go if I have to whip somebody’s ass.”
“I promise you that you never will. Married or not, I’m going to take care of my baby.”
“That’s one promise that I’m going to make sure you keep,” her mother said seriously. “Who else knows about this?”
“Nobody, y’all are the first ones we’ve told,” Brooklyn lied.
I understood that she didn’t want to implicate her cousins so I remained quiet.
“Well, your brothers are going to have a fit, but we have to tell them,” her mother said.
“Can we do that tomorrow? I don’t feel good and I’m not in the mood to deal with Bryce,” Brooklyn said.
“Tomorrow it is, but you can’t keep putting it off,” her father said. “And I’ll be the one to deal with Bryce if need be.”
I sat around and talked to Brooklyn and her parents for a few hours longer. They were surprisingly cool despite the circumstances. Of course, Brooklyn was nervous about talking to her brothers and I understood just how she felt. I was dreading going home and having the exact same conversation with Kennedi. It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it. I just wished that the somebody didn’t have to be me.
CHAPTER 25
BROOKLYN
It was after five in the afternoon when I rolled out of bed on Saturday. I ended up staying the night at my own house so that I could be there when we talked to my brothers. I didn’t get any sleep last night because my nerves were all over the place. That and the fact that Dominic kept calling me all night made it impossible to rest. I don’t know what part of the house he was in, but we talked on the phone up until about six that morning. He still hadn’t talked to Kennedi about me being pregnant. He said as soon as he cam
e home she started bitching about him being with his brother so much so he never got the chance. Once she finds out that I’m pregnant, she’ll know who he was really spending all of his free time with. My mama told all of my brothers that she wanted them at her house as soon as they came from work. That really wasn’t unusual because she made requests like that all the time. Most of the time she called them over when she cooked something that they liked. Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of those times. I was scared to death to face them, but none of them scared me more than Bryce.
“That damn baby got you sleeping like crazy,” my mama said when she walked into my room.
“I didn’t go to sleep until after six this morning,” I replied. “I didn’t know that it was this late.”
“Well, come downstairs and get you something to eat. You already missed breakfast and lunch” my mama said laughing.
I got up and did my usual hygiene routine even though it was in the afternoon. Once that was done, I made my way downstairs to see what smelled so good in the kitchen.
“I can’t believe you’re cooking gumbo and it’s not even a holiday,” I told my mama when I lifted the lid off of the huge pot. Gumbo was a traditional Louisiana meal that took forever to make. Most of the time my mama only cooked it on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“Yeah, I’m doing whatever I can do to soften the blow of the news that we’re about to deliver to your brothers,” she said smiling. I lowered my head in embarrassment since I was the cause of all of the soon to be drama that was sure to come.
“Pick your head up. You don’t have anything to be ashamed of. A lot of girls get pregnant long before the age of eighteen, myself included,” my mother said. My mother had Bryce when she was only sixteen and my daddy was eighteen. According to her, she had a lot of help from her family and that’s mainly how she was able to stay in school and follow her dream of being a registered nurse.
“I just don’t want to be a burden on anyone. If I have to sit out of school for a semester, I will,” I replied.
“Hell no, you will not. You are going to school every semester even if I have to take a leave of absence until you finish. First thing we need to do is call Dr. Martin to get you an appointment. You know he delivered all of my other grandbabies. I just hope he delivers me a boy this time. I’m sick of all these girls,” she replied.
“Dominic says he can put me under his company’s health insurance if I want him to,” I replied.
“He doesn’t have to do that. We still have you covered under our family plan. It looks like he’s prepared to step up to the plate and I admire him for that much. I just don’t want it to be any drama where his girlfriend is concerned. She definitely doesn’t want it with this family,” she said.
“I don’t know how that’s going to turn out. She just lost a baby a few months ago and that was her third time being pregnant.”
“This is all so crazy to me. He’s about to be married, but having a baby with you. I hope he doesn’t think that you’re going to be his mistress. That shit is not happening at all,” she said while rolling her neck.
“I’m not trying to be anybody’s mistress. As long as he takes care of my baby, I’m fine. We already talked about that long before I even got pregnant,” I replied.
“I guess we need to set aside time for us to meet his parents. After all, we are going to share a grandchild. Does his brother have any kids,” she asked.
“No, this is going to be their first grandchild.”
“At first, I really thought it was the brother that you were into. I mean, he did let you drive his car and all. Then I saw how well y’all got along so I just figured you had a crush on him. I would have had to kick his ass though because he’s too old for you,” she said seriously.
“No, David is just real cool. We clicked the first time we met. I used to spend a lot of time at his house with Dominic though,” I confessed.
“Yeah, obviously you spent too much time at his house with Dominic,” she said laughing. “For some reason, I always thought that Kevin would be your first.”
“I don’t know why everybody can’t seem to understand that Kevin is just my friend. I mean, we kissed a few times, but that was it,” I lied. There was no need to divulge all of the information when it wasn’t needed.
“I guess, but he’s crazy about you. His little feelings are going to be so hurt,” my mama said.
For some reason, Kevin’s feelings never crossed my mind until now. My mother was right, he was going to be devastated. There was nothing I could do to change my predicament so it is what it is.
“Here, put something in your stomach,” my mama said as she sat a steaming bowl of gumbo in front of me. She didn’t have to tell me twice. I grabbed a spoon and dug right in. She laughed when I got up to get seconds. When I went back a third time, she was cracking herself up laughing.
“Girl, you are most definitely eating for two,” she commented as I cleaned the bowl for the third time.
“That was good,” I commented rubbing my now full belly.
I went into the living room to watch TV until it was time for the fireworks to start. After lying on the sofa for a few minutes, I drifted off to sleep with the remote still in my hand. I looked at the time on the cable box and saw that it was almost eight o’clock. My heart dropped when I heard my brother Jaden’s voice coming from the kitchen. He must have come in when I was sleeping because he wasn’t here when I went to sleep.
“What’s up Baby?” He said when I walked into the kitchen.
“Nothing, what’s up with you?”
“This gumbo is what’s up with me. I was wondering why mama called us over here, but now I see why,” he said as he continued to feed his face.
“Where is everybody else?” I asked referring to my other brothers.
“Caleb and Brian were about to go get something to eat before they came over here. I just called and told them that mama threw down with this gumbo so they’re on their way. Bryce was with Tiffany’s stupid ass the last time I talked to him,” he replied all while still eating.
“Ma,” I heard one of my brother’s yell when he walked through the door. All of my brothers still have their house keys so knocking was out of the question.
My mama never answered, but Caleb walked into the kitchen followed by Brian.
“Hey, my Baby,” Caleb said as he picked me up and swung me around.
“Boy put that girl down,” my mama said when she walked into the kitchen. It was a good thing that she came when she did. A few seconds more and Caleb was about to be wearing the gumbo that I’d consumed earlier.
I rushed out of the kitchen to the bathroom in the hall. As soon as I lifted the lid on the toilet, I was bent over it throwing up. I was so tired of being sick and I wondered when it all would end. There was no way that I could go through seven more months of feeling like this.
“You alright Baby?” Caleb asked when I walked back into the kitchen.
“Yeah, you almost made me pee on myself,” I lied.
“Well, I’m glad I put your ass down when I did,” he laughed.
I walked off in route to the living room when Brian called me out.
“Where are you going Baby? You are not gon’ sit in here with us?” He asked.
“No, I already ate,” I said as I kept walking. I couldn’t face my brothers. It just felt like they knew I was hiding something every time they looked at me. Maybe it was my conscious, but it was hard for me to be in the same room with them.
“It’s alright Baby, I’ll be the one to tell them,” my mama said sitting down next to me. She was always good at reading my emotions and this time was no different.
“Okay,” I replied softly.
After a few minutes, I heard my father walk into the kitchen and things got really loud then. He and my brothers would talk about everything from sports to cars and they were always trying to over talk each other. When they were done eating, they all came and sat around in the living room.
&nb
sp; “Where’s Bryce?” My mama asked my brothers.
“I don’t know, he said he was coming once he dropped Tiffany off at home,” Jaden replied.
“Good, I don’t need her nosy ass all in our business,” my mama said turning up her nose.
“What business?” Caleb asked looking at her.
“We’ll talk, let’s just wait until Bryce gets here,” my daddy said.
My heart started pounding in my chest and I felt like I was about to start hyperventilating.
“No, y’all got me curious now. I want to know what’s going on. Y’all can tell Bryce once he gets here,” Jaden said sounding slightly aggravated.
“Look, this is not easy for any of us, but what’s done is done. I don’t want no drama and no bullshit behind this,” my daddy said in his usual no-nonsense voice.
“We don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Caleb said confused.
“Brooklyn is pregnant,” my mama blurted out.
“What!” Jaden said standing to his feet. “Who is she pregnant by?”
“Boy sit your ass down. Standing up like you about to do something,” my daddy yelled.
“Man, I can’t believe this shit,” Caleb said with his head lowered.
“I just want to know who the nigga is,” Brian said while pacing the floor with Jaden.
“Don’t just sit there all quiet now. Who the fuck are you pregnant by?” Jaden said yelling at me.
“Don’t holler at her,” my mama said jumping to my defense. “Y’all are acting like y’all have to take care of the baby or something.”
“I knew this shit was going to happen. I saw the way she started dressing,” Jaden said angrily.
“I’m still waiting for somebody to answer my question. Do you even know who the baby is by?” Brian asked me.
“Yeah, I know who my baby is by,” I replied.
“Okay, we’re listening,” Caleb yelled.
“I’m pregnant by Dominic,” I said just above a whisper.
“Who? I know you didn’t just say what the fuck I think you said,” Jaden said walking up on me.
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