by Dyanne Davis
“You believe me.”
“Yeah, baby, I believe you.”
Gabi closed her eyes and leaned into her husband’s chest. He’d just given her the second greatest gift of their married life, his belief in her in spite of everything he’d been told. This was what she had been waiting for, this moment. They were back. Nothing else mattered.
***
The first pain hit low in her back and Gabi moaned. Since she was already a week overdue, it didn’t take much figuring to know this was the real deal. Still, first babies took a long time. “Umm,” she moaned as another pain hit her and she bent over.
“Is it time?” Eric was at her side before the pain left.
She squeezed his hand as slight fear invaded her and she pushed it away. She knew this baby was her husband’s. She didn’t care what any tests said. But how would she dispute DNA? What if it still said the baby wasn’t Eric’s? Sure, he believed now, but would he believe then?
One pain came rapidly after another and Gabi knew it was time to go. This baby was rushing to be born, to put an end to the questions.
“I’m going to call my parents,” Eric said, reaching for the phone. “Their grandchild is about to be born and I don’t want them to miss it.”
“Eric, are you sure they’ll want to come?”
“You’re about to give birth to our first child, their grandchild.” He kissed her as another pain hit and she clenched her teeth in pain. “I want my entire family here…but if you don’t want them—”
“Call your parents,” Gabi mumbled, squeezing his hand.
***
This was it. Eric paced outside the room waiting for his parents. What if it isn’t? No, damn it. He pushed the voice away. This is my baby. I do have faith; this is my son. He saw his parents coming and rushed up to them. “The nurse will show you where to scrub up and you can come in. Gabi wants the entire family there. It’s your first grandchild.”
Ongela and Terry Jackson glanced at each other and Eric shook his head. “It’s mine,” he whispered softly. “This is your grandchild, your blood. I promise. Now come on and let’s watch my son come into the world.”
During labor Eric gave words of encouragement to Gabi, telling her how much he loved her, how much he loved their child. She wasn’t screaming out as much now, just holding onto him, wanting to look at him it seemed, and he knew why. She was a bit scared but it didn’t matter. Eric had no plans on getting a DNA test, or another damn test. He didn’t need anyone to tell him this was his child.
“Eric ?”
“Baby, don’t even think it. This is my son,” he whispered on her lips. “It’s mine, Gabi. It’s mine.” He kissed her. He couldn’t help grinning in spite of her pain. “I’m going to be a father, Gabi.” Tears rolled down his cheeks. “I’m really going to be a father.”
Eric glanced toward his parents. They were crying. He didn’t know if they were crying because they thought he was deceiving himself or because they wanted a grandchild so baldly. Either way it didn’t matter. The two most important people knew this baby was his, he and Gabi. Convincing anyone else wasn’t necessary.
“Push,” the doctor ordered.
And with a big push and a scream Gabi pushed his son out into the world.
A few minutes later the baby was placed in his arms. Eric could swear the baby was already smiling at him and holding on. Eric’s heart filled to overflowing. And gratitude for all the powers that be flooded him. True, he hadn’t been a big believer before, especially not in miracles, but this tiny, warm, brown body that he held in his arms was a miracle he and Gabi had created together.
“Let me see him,” Gabi asked and he smiled and laid the baby on her chest. Eric watched as she stroked the baby with her fingers. When Gabi held out a hand for his, Eric’s heart melted with love. If he thought he’d been whipped before, there was no hope for him now. He clasped Gabi’s hand in one of his and with the other he stroked his son just as Gabi was doing. Their eyes met and they smiled. They were a family. This was the reason he’d been saved.
The muffled cries from across the room eventually registered. Eric looked at Gabi, then his parents, and lifted his son back into his arms, cradling him gently, holding his tiny head in the palm of his hand. He carried the baby to his parents and placed him in his grandmother’s arms. Then he walked back to Gabi.
He bent to kiss Gabi lightly on the lips. Noticing her attention was averted, he glanced at her and saw the fear in her eyes as she watched his parents with their son. Eric straightened up slowly. He watched as his parents exchanged private glances.
“It doesn’t matter what they think.” He looked down at Gabi. “That’s my son.” Eric’s breath was coming in shallow puffs. He couldn’t believe his parents would be so insensitive to Gabi’s feelings. He stood beside Gabi, staring across the room at his parents who looked down at the baby, then back at Eric. Shock was clearly written on their faces. If Eric had known that would be their reaction, he would have never invited them to witness the miracle of the birth of his son. He squeezed Gabi’s fingers harder, trying to tell her with his touch that they didn’t matter.
Eric couldn’t believe it. His parents’ reaction was getting worse instead of better. They were looking at him so strangely that he had to fight the unwanted doubt. He refused to allow them to sway his own knowing.
He heard a moan from Gabi and glared at his parents. “No,” he shook his head at Gabi. “This is my son. I don’t have to believe or have faith. I know it!”
Tears were welling up in Gabi’s eyes. “Baby,” Eric said, “you need to have faith in me. I’m not lying to you. This is our son. Ours, Gabi, yours and mine.”
As soon as he could, Eric left the room, anger at his parents for hurting Gabi crushing him. He pointed his finger in their direction and motioned. He marched all the way to another wing before stopping.
“How could you have done that to her?” he asked. “You love her. How could you stand there and stare at my son with such disbelief in your eyes. That’s my son,” Eric said, wiping at the tear that had unexpectedly slipped down his cheek. “That’s my son in there, and you just ripped Gabi’s heart out.”
“Son,” his father laid a hand on his shoulder.
Eric took a step away from his father. “Dad, I can’t believe you. It doesn’t matter what the two of you think. I know he’s my son. And just like you’re the guardian of Mon’s heart, I’m the guardian of Gabi’s. I’m not going to let anyone hurt her again, not even me.”
“Eric, stop glaring at us. We know it’s your son.” His father laughed and hugged him and his mother joined in.
Eric pulled away and looked at both of them in disbelief. He shook his head. “I saw you, saw the way you looked at the baby. Gabi saw it too.”
“Yes, we were looking at him in disbelief because frankly, as much as I love Gabi, I didn’t believe that cock and bull story she’s been telling. She told me out of her own mouth that she was going to make you hurt. We discussed it. I knew she planned on having an affair.”
Ongela stopped at the look of pain on her son’s face. “What could I have done to stop her, Eric? She’s a woman and she’d been hurt by you. I just never expected she’d end up pregnant and then claim the baby was yours and have the nerve to stick to what had to be a lie.”
Eric backed, away his eyes narrowing. “She’s not lying,” he snapped.
“I know that now,” Ongela repeated. “Your dad and I both knew it the moment you put the baby in my arms. He opened his eyes and it took me back thirty years. It was your face I was looking at, yours. I’ve felt like this only twice in my life, once when you were born and a few minutes ago when you placed my grandson in my arms. That baby is yours, Eric. You don’t need DNA or semen analysis or any other test to tell you that.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Eric said quietly, awed that his parents believed, wondering if they were telling the truth.
“I have no idea how,” Ongela began. “Are you sure y
ou’re sterile? Maybe the labs screwed up. What am I talking about, maybe? They had to have gotten the tests wrong. You should have them repeated.”
“I took the test three times.”
“Then maybe it’s a miracle. I don’t know, Son, but that baby is yours! I felt it, I saw it. He’s yours, he’s ours!” Ongela cried. “He’s ours!”
Terry Jackson looked at his wife and son. “It’s not a miracle. The miracle is that Eric and Gabi got through this mess. But that baby in there, his being yours, there is a logical explanation. I know there is. But like your mom, I saw it too. He’s the spitting image of you. That little guy looked at me. Babies don’t even open their eyes a few minutes after birth. But it was like he wanted there to be no doubt about who he was. There’s something about this baby, some energy. I can’t explain it but he’s my grandson.” Terry looked at his wife. “Our grandson.”
Eric stood there trembling before his parents. “Are you serious, you’re not just saying that?” He wanted to bawl like a baby, something his brand new son hadn’t even done, but that’s what Eric wanted.
“About something this important I’d never lie to you, Eric, not about this.”
Eric held his father’s gaze. He worked his mouth but no words came out.
Terry smiled. “Just like I know when you’re lying, don’t you know me well enough to know I would not lie to you about this?”
Eric held his parents’ gazes for a long moment before he broke down. His father’s arms came around him and then his mother’s. This time Eric did not pull away; he held on to them and he cried and they joined in.
“I…I…I don’t know how it happened. I don’t care how it happened. I didn’t want you thinking I was deluding myself. I know that’s what you’ve been thinking, I know that, but I knew he was mine. Somehow the baby let me know it. I felt the connection one night while Gabi was sleeping. It was just me and my son, just the two of us, and I knew.”
Eric held his parents tighter. “I believe her,” he said, “I believe Gabi, not just about the baby. I believe she never cheated on me.”
He lifted his head and stared directly into his mother’s eyes. “Mom, I never cheated on Gabi. I came damn close but I never crossed that final line. And I found out how the condom and the panties got in the car.”
“Gabi believes you?”
“Yes,” Eric answered.
“Then none of the rest of it’s important. Explaining those things your wife found in the car is a lot easier than the four of us knowing our flesh and blood. Doctors have been wrong before and they’re wrong now.” Ongela wrapped her arms around her son. “Thank you for making us grandparents.”
A weight lifted off Eric’s chest. His parents believed him. He’d have to go back and tell Gabi. He turned and smiled at his parents before running down the hall. “I have a son,” he said and ran back down the hall to be with his wife and son. The guardian angel had been right all along. They’d needed faith.
***
Six weeks after Baby Terry was born, the proof Gabi had insisted on came. They took the envelope and the baby to Calumet, to his parents, and as a family they opened it together. Each of them smiled when the result was read. The baby was clearly Eric’s.
“You want to do another semen analysis?” Gabi asked.
“I don’t need that, baby. It’s only numbers on paper. I didn’t need the DNA, that was you insisting on proof. We’re not taking any more tests or anyone else’s word for things this important to us.”
“Not when we have this living proof in our arms.” Ongela kissed the baby’s pudgy cheeks. Then she flipped through page after page of baby pictures. In the six weeks since his birth, little Terry looked more and more like Eric every day.
Eric grinned at his parents, then at his wife. “As soon as we get home, maybe we’ll start working on that granddaughter you want, Mom.”
***
Gabi and Eric decided to put all their ghosts to rest. Her co-workers had asked repeatedly for her to bring the baby in. At first Gabi resisted. She’d learned a lesson about bragging about her happiness. Perhaps if she hadn’t bragged about what a great husband Eric was Jamilla wouldn’t have gone after him so relentlessly. Then again, who knew why she’d done it? Gabi had her family intact. She wasn’t going to allow bitterness over Jamilla to ruin it. Besides, Eric wanted to introduce the world to his son, so she’d given in.
The moment they stepped inside the door of the clinic, Tracie ran up to them, and it wasn’t to see the baby. Something big had happened.
“Jamilla was fired,” Tracie spat out before they could ask. “Mrs. Rivers called that TV show, Spouses Cheating, and they had her husband followed. He was found in a hotel room with Jamilla. She was butt naked in bed. Mrs. Rivers got the motel to give her the key. She opened the door and went in and the cameras followed.”
Gabi could feel Eric’s eyes on her. She turned to face him. “I didn’t have anything to do with it,” she said, puzzled. “I promise I didn’t, baby. When did all of this happen?” Gabi asked, bringing her attention back to Tracie.
“Last night, and don’t worry, Eric, I did it,” Tracie said. “I was sick and tired of watching Jamilla come on to the patients’ husbands. When I saw what she’d done to you and Eric that was the last straw. You remember telling me about the show, Gabi?”
Gabi nodded her head in the affirmative.
“It just so happened that one day Mrs. Rivers came in wanting pills for depression. We got to talking and she confessed that she thought her husband was cheating. I told her to call the TV show and they would have a private detective follow him for free.
“When it came out, Mrs. Rivers came up here and told on Jamilla. She had the tape and everything. She was looking to kick Jamilla’s behind. Doctor Tom held her back. He had to call the cops and everything. Then when things died down, he fired Jamilla right on the spot.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“You didn’t need to hear any of that mess. You and Eric are finally getting your life back together. My husband and I didn’t make it, but I’ve been rooting for the two of you.”
Tracie finally stopped and peeked at the baby. “And now look what you have, a beautiful new baby.” She held out her hands to hold Baby Terry.
Gabi looked at Eric. “I’m trying so hard not to gloat,” she told him quietly. “Karma is a mother, and I don’t want to have to pay for gloating.”
***
Eight months had passed since Eric had promised to work on the granddaughter and Gabi was pregnant. It wasn’t a fluke. He called his parents to tell them the news, but they were screaming at him, not allowing him to tell them his reason for calling.
“Turn the television on CNN,” Ongela was screaming with a sense of urgency in her voice.
“But, Mom.”
“Turn it on, Eric,” she screamed. “Now! Hurry up, this is important. Call Gabi.”
Eric hung up without even saying goodbye. He shook his head, changed the channel and yelled for Gabi. He held little Terry while Gabi sat beside him playing with the baby’s fingers.
“Darnell Washington has been taken into
custody. CNN has learned that for
the past two years Mr. Washington, a
laboratory technician whose specialty
is working with semen analysis, to check
for sterility, has been falsifying results.
He has been falsely reporting on the tests
ordered by doctors. It’s not known how many
men have been affected by this or what
repercussions may follow, as Mr.
Washington worked for the two largest
medical laboratories in Illinois and
specimens are sent there from all
over the country. When questioned,
Mr. Washington simply stated it was karma.
He’s sterile and his wife cheated on him
and attempted to pass the baby off as his.
When asked
if he felt possibly ruining the
lives of others justified his actions, he
reportedly said, ‘Someone ruined mine.’
We’ll have more on this story as it unfolds.”
Eric looked at Gabi and they laughed. This time there were no tears. The phone rang. When Eric answered, his father shouted, “I told you there was a reasonable explanation for all of this mess. I knew it. Oh, God, Eric, I’m so happy for you, Son. You have your proof.”
“I had my proof months ago, Dad. By the way,” Eric laughed, “tell Mom Gabi’s pregnant. This time we think it’s going to be a girl. Tell her to just have faith in that.”
Laughing harder, Eric turned from the phone. He hugged Gabi to him as they held their son between them and they both laughed. Then Eric saw Gabi mouth ‘Thank You,’ as she looked skyward. He might not have been a big believer before but he was beginning to be. He laughed again and said, “Thank You,” out loud, looking at Gabi and holding her hand. They’d made it in spite of the obstacles. And maybe it was someone’s faith that had enabled it, he didn’t know. He only knew he was truly fulfilled. Remembering his promise, Eric handed his son over to Gabi. He fell to his knees and thanked God for giving him the ability to give his wife babies. Then he added, “Most of all, God, thank you for the miracle of life itself.”
“Amen,” Gabi softly murmured.
Eric rose to his feet and hugged his wife and son to him as if he would never let them go.
The End
THE GIFT 219
Author’s Information:
Dyanne Davis is an award winning author. She lives in a Chicago suburb with her husband Bill, and their son Bill Jr. An avid reader her love of the written word turned into a desire to write. She retired from nursing more than a decade ago to pursue her lifelong dream.
Dyanne has been a presenter of numerous workshops. She has a local cable show, The Art of Writing in her hometown to give writing tips to aspiring writers.