by Melanie Rose
I sat up and drank from the glass of water he had brought us along with breakfast, but never got around to drinking, then offered it to him, which he killed off in one big swallow. He curled up next to me with his head on my breast and started rubbing my belly. “You don’t think we’re hurting the baby, do you?” he asked me thoughtfully.
“No, not at all, babe. They’re in there all warm and surrounded by our love. How could anything possibly be wrong with them?”
“You know there’s more than one in there, don’t you?”
“It’s a surprise.” Was all I whispered as I fall fast asleep.
Later that afternoon after helping the kids with their homework, Jay made a call to Bobby for me. He had to leave the room because I was practically breathing down his neck, but when he returned, he verified for me that Bobby was in fact still single and that he would be joining us in Vegas in a few months.
My birthday was coming up, so we were going to drop the kids off with his parents (since they lived there) and have some grownup fun by ourselves for a few days.
“I think I’ll invite Maya to tag along then, so the two of them can get acquainted. Can you make sure he spends a lot of time around her for me please?”
“Already ahead of you. We’re all set to have dinner together the night we arrive. Did I do good or what?” he said all proud of himself.
“You did your part perfectly, babe. I really, really hope this plan works for Maya’s sake.”
“With you steering the ship… that really shouldn’t be a problem, love.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
WITH THE TWINS SAFELY TUCKED away at their grandparent’s house in Vegas for the next few days, Jay and I headed back to the airport to retrieve Maya. I had a really good feeling about this weekend. Even my younger brother Joel was supposed to drive up to celebrate my 36th birthday with us. Maya ran up to me in the baggage claim terminal and engulfed me in a warm hug the moment she found me in the crowd. She had absolutely no idea what I was scheming and with any luck, I will not make things any worse for her by interfering in her love life.
Jay had reserved us a huge 4-bedroom penthouse suite to share at a fabulous casino off the Vegas Strip that was tucked away amongst the city’s outer red rocks so we could all be in close proximity to one another. With that grand of a space, our entire party would be more than comfortable. With three extra rooms and two pullout beds in the living room, no one would have to concern themselves about sleeping on the hard floor or on a roll-away bed like in the good old days. Besides, I needed Maya around Bobby as much as possible and this was the ideal way of doing it without being extremely obvious. At least with Joel here, it would not appear as if I had set them up on a double date.
“Wow, Jasmine you’re exquisite. How far along are you now?” Bobby asked me politely when we went down to greet him in the lobby.
“Seven and a half months,” I said, cradling my belly proudly.
“Are you sure, sis? Looks a lot more like nine months to me. Unless you’re carrying twins again or you could always shoot for triplet’s this time,” my brother said jokingly.
“Shut up! I’m not that big and I don’t know how many we’re having. We want it to be a surprise.”
“You’re a lucky man, Jay. Your wife is even more beautiful in her current condition. Pregnancy suits you, Jasmine,” Bobby told the two of us.
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Jay beamed, planting a kiss on my lips before continuing. “Bobby, let us introduce you to Jasmine’s brother, Joel and her best bud, Maya. Joel, Maya, this is a good friend of mine, Bobby.” They all shook hands, but I couldn’t help but notice that Maya and Bobby’s handshake lasted a couple of seconds longer than Joel’s had. Interesting!
Stage one of my plan was complete.
“Guys, let’s go drop your bags off in the room. Ladies, we’ll meet you right back here in a little while,” my husband finished, giving me another quick kiss before leading the fellas over to the elevators.
“Have you ever been here before?” I asked Maya after the guys were gone.
“Where has Jay been hiding his friend, Jazz?” she asked me, not hearing my initial question.
“What? Oh Bobby… he travels around a lot,” I rattled off quickly, keeping my response vague, trying desperately to hide my smile at her sudden pique of interest. I didn’t want to build him up in her eyes just yet.
“He seems charming. This is going to sound strange, but it feels like I know him from somewhere. I usually don’t like white guys, but I think I might have to make an exception in this case.”
“Hey, you’ve never been disappointed in me and I’m half white.”
“That still remains to be seen. Your husband’s black, your best bud is black. Face it girl… that makes you honorary black.”
“Thanks, I guess,” I said, unsure of how to respond to that remark. I never saw the color of people’s skin while growing up. Being mixed with white and Filipino certainly had one advantage… I don’t discriminate.
“So, give me the lowdown on him.”
“Well, let’s see. All I can basically tell you is that he’s never been married, I don’t believe he has any kids either, and that he lives somewhere in L.A.,” I said to her like I didn’t know anything about him. I purposely left out the part about him being on Jay’s old coaching staff since I needed her to like him for him first, not because of his high paying job. He could tell her himself about that part later if he chooses.
Is that right was all she replied to me. I could see the wheels in her head spinning around again, so I left that topic alone so I didn’t appear too pushy, causing her to become suspicious of my plan.
“Have you ever been to this casino before?” I asked her again.
“No, but this place looks huge. It has a nice feel to it though. There’s magic in the air today. Can you sense it? Hopefully, I’m not just imagining it and the place doesn’t rob us blind while we’re here.”
“What else do you want to do besides gamble?” Do you want to check out a show or something?” I said probing; I needed more info if there was any chance of moving onto stage two of my master plan.
“I want to dance. Are there any nice clubs in here?”
“Of course, what kind of place would this be, if it didn’t have everything you ever wanted inside of it,” I replied, not expecting her to catch my double meaning. Which she didn’t, of course. If all goes well, she will be happier than she has been in a very long time.
Later that night, we all headed over and tried our luck at blackjack. We had a whole table to ourselves, so I was able to get Maya to sit next to Bobby without much effort. Jay just smiled at me as I continued to play matchmaker, even though he was my partner in crime. They had no problem making conversation amongst themselves. They had quite a bit in common. Everyone ordered themselves drinks except for me, of course. I was stuck with water.
Joel disappeared from our group a little while after having dinner. He liked to play in the poker room, so that was where you would usually find him when he came up missing, so I thought nothing of his disappearance. He wasn’t much of a club hopper so the rest of us headed upstairs to get changed without him before heading out to enjoy everything that Sin City had to offer.
Maya brought her outfit into my room so we could get dressed together. She threw on the shortest skirt I had ever seen. She was going to get a hell of a lot more attention than just Bobby’s in that skimpy thing. I almost said something, but I held my tongue in the end. Maya zipped me into something more appropriate for a pregnant person, but I still showed enough thigh to cause my husband do a double take when I reentered the room.
I also didn’t miss Bobby’s eyes pop when he saw Maya’s skirt or lack of. Jay crossed the room and twirled me around like a ballerina. You simply take my breath away was all I heard as he stared me up and down. I just smiled shyly at him in response. I still wasn’t used to all the attention he gave me. I could have dyed my hair blue and Diego never would have noticed a
difference.
Maya was checking Bobby out before we headed back downstairs. A good sign. Then I caught Bobby watching Maya out of the corner of his eye. An even better sign!
I could hear the music from the club before we even rounded the corner. We shuffled through the heavy crowd towards the bar to get ourselves some drinks first. “What can I get you?” the guy behind the counter asked Jay.
“Let me get three beers and a water.”
“Can you make that water a ginger ale instead please?” I chimed in before the bartender could walk away.
“Someone’s living on the wild side tonight,” Jay said teasing me, nuzzling his face into my neck. I had barely drunk anything but water since I had found out that I was pregnant, but tonight was special and called for something extra.
“Hey, down boy!” I said, nipping his bottom lip. “Later.”
Bobby pulled Maya out onto the dance floor. They looked so cute together. “It seems to be going according to plan,” Jay whispered to me, interrupting my people watching.
“Has he said anything to you about her yet?”
“Only that he felt like they’d meet before… in another life maybe.”
Another life alright! Neither one of them had any idea just how close to the truth they really were.
“Maya said the exact same thing to me. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
Whisking me out onto the dance floor for a little while, we partied it up before we took our leave. Wanting to give the other two some time to enjoy themselves, Jay and I went outside by the pool and sat with our feet in the water, underneath the moonlight.
I felt a cold shiver run through me as one of the last photos taken of my father alive came floating to my minds surface. This was the last place we had been together in my originally life, I recalled. We used to come here every summer since this particular casino was built to celebrate Father’s Day and my birthday together. The memory was blurry, but I could see my father sitting in that Jacuzzi over there as clear as day, looking up at me as I snapped the picture. That was all before Jay came back to life and I traded husbands, but it hurt my heart all the same.
“Are you alright, love? You seem a million miles away,” he said, intertwining our hands together.
“I was just thinking about my dad.”
He didn’t comment nor did he need to. He knew that I missed him dearly. Instead, he just wrapped a strong-arm around me and held me tight.
Checking on the others… they appeared to be having a great time without us. I don’t think they even noticed that we were gone for a little while. “We’re going to head down to The Strip. You guys want to come?” Jay asked them both.
“Sure, let’s go,” Maya said, grabbing Bobby’s hand and tugging. “Let’s paint the town red, baby!”
He just let her pull him along as we made our way to the valet. I let Bobby sit up front with Jay so I could get a better look at my best bud. She was definitely feeling the buzz from all the alcohol she had drunk tonight.
Damn girl, slow down and don’t blow this you idiot! Guess I better to get some freakin’ water into her ass before she ruins her chances with him altogether.
We reached the center of The Strip before I could make much of an impact. I just hope that it would be enough to mellow her out some as we wandered into the Las Vegas version of France. “You two go ahead and enjoy yourselves. I want to show Jazz something really quick,” Jay told them as I wondered what he was up to this time as he pulled me away from our group to ride up the Eiffel Tower elevator.
I had never been up here before. I was excited to finally see the view from the top. We stepped out onto the platform to the most amazing sight. I could see for miles around us, all the people enjoying The Strip below, the glorious fountains dancing happily in front of us, as well as the black pyramid with its beacon of light, beaming up to the heavens above. It was just beautiful.
“Happy Birthday, love,” Jay said before he kissed my forehead. “One day, I promise that I’ll take you to Paris so we can experience the real thing, but until then, I hope that this will do for now.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small white jewelry box. “It’s not technically your birthday for another five minutes,” he explained after double-checking his watch. “But this can’t wait another second!” He cracked open the lid and pulled out a long shiny gold chain. He placed it over my head and let it hang over my heart for a moment before continuing, “This way, your dad will always be close to you, no matter where you are.”
At the end of the necklace was my dad’s charm. I had found it while cleaning out a dusty, old plastic tub of his stuff from on top of the refrigerator right after he had died. He had worn it all my life. I can remember playing with it every time he picked me up when I was a little girl.
His chain had become frayed, so he took it off while he searched for a replacement... but that never happened. He died before he got the chance to. My mother didn’t even know that I had this. I kept it for myself, thinking that I would wear it someday… and finally here it was, a year and a half later, hanging beautifully around my neck.
It was a solid rope chain with no clasp just like my dads had been. That way nothing could be added or taken away from it. The charm itself was two pieces: the first was his initial “B” for Buddy and the second was his zodiac sign, Leo. Tears of joy spilled over my lashes, ruining my makeup, but I didn’t care. “It’s perfect. Just perfect. How did…” I was so choked up that I couldn’t finish my own sentence; so instead, I hugged him to me as tight as I could. No words could have expressed the gratitude that I felt right then.
My cell phone interrupted our moment. It was Joel wanting to know where I was and met up with us about half an hour later. He walked straight up to me. “Happy Birthday, sis,” he said, then took a huge step immediately off to the side.
My eyes grew large as Vivian; my other best girlfriend appeared from behind him. My brother was a big dude, so he had completely concealed her presence from me. Maya and I jumped at her, screaming, and bouncing around like small children, while crying and grasping one another.
I hadn’t seen her in almost seven years when she had picked up and moved to Texas unexpectedly to do some soul-searching of her own. She had a very bad habit of disappearing on you. The instant she touched me, a flash of an unborn baby popped into my brain. The initial image shocked me, causing me to pull back from our happy circle, just to look at her better.
“Happy Birthday, Jazz! Mind if I crash the party?” Vivian asked, unsure if she was welcomed.
“Oh my God, bro. Where ever did you find her?” I said, still holding onto Viv’s upper arm.
“Actually, I found him,” she cut in. “He said he was meeting you here, so I rode up with him. I had to hide from you all until midnight, of course, so I didn’t ruin the surprise. Jazz you look great! Congratulations you two.” She directed to both Jay and me.
“We should be congratulating you as well. I thought you couldn’t have kids?” I blurted out.
“What! How did you even know I was pregnant?”
Damn. How did I know that? I guess telling her that I saw your unborn baby growing inside of you when you touched me, would have been the wrong answer, huh.
“Mother’s intuition,” Jay said, saving me. I smiled as if I agreed, but I had no clue. Viv wasn’t able to have kids just like I wasn’t able to… until now that is.
Shit! I must have somehow changed that too.
“You guys want to go outside and walk around. It’s nice out there right now,” Joel asked.
I guess he figured with all the excitement from our little reunion that we could all use some fresh air. Jay bought a flower tiara with long hanging pink and purple ribbons from a street vendor and placed it on top of my head. I felt like a real princess living in a fairytale. My life had made a complete 360. I went from being hopeless and tired, to deliriously happy in a single heartbeat and was grateful for every nanosecond of my new life because si
lently I knew that I could loss it all just as quickly as it came.
We walked around until the wee hours of the morning, popping in and out of casino after casino. By the time my feet hurt, everyone but the pregnant women were too drunk to drive back to our hotel, so I drove one car while Viv drove my brother’s truck. No one was ready to go upstairs but me. I was tired and my back was starting to throb. I told Jay to stay downstairs and have fun with the others, but he insisted on at least walking me upstairs to our room first.
I plopped myself down on the bed with my legs dangling over the edge. Jay took my shoes off for me and then stripped me out of my clothes with ease. Scooting back, I crawled under the covers and made myself as comfortable as I could. We had slept naked every night since I had woken up married to him, so I didn’t think too much about putting pajamas on now. He laid himself behind me spooning and stroked my belly, but the warmth of him alone was enough to put me straight to sleep.
Jay got back as the sun was coming up. I felt him slide into the bed next to me as he pressed the front of his bare body against my back and draped a hand up, over and around our unborn child. He held both of us in his long strong arms; protecting us even in our sleep. “We missed you,” I whispered.
“I’m here, love. Go back to sleep. I’m sorry I woke you,” he whispered back into my ear as he drifted off.
I never knew marriage could feel like this. I regretted my other two within weeks of saying “I do” but with Jay, the thought of being apart from him scared me to death. Now that I have him, I wouldn’t be able to function if we were ever separated. I guess if you are lucky enough to be married to the right person; marriage is a blessing, not a curse like I had once thought.
Who knew!
By morning, I felt revived so I decided a drip in the pool would be a nice way to start off the day. Everyone slept in or had a hangover except for Vivian, so she came with me. “I’ll sit with you, but I’m not getting in the water,” she told me before we went downstairs.