by Tiece
“Okay baby,” she responded, and with that they ended their call.
***
Within the next hour, Sheila had pulled up to her parent’s house and was now letting herself in with the house key that she still had. She sniffed the air, smelling her mom’s infamous, blueberry pancakes. Anytime that smell hit her nose it made her smile thinking of times when she was much younger, and in the kitchen helping her mom cook.
“Hellooooo,” she called out.
“We’re in here,” her dad yelled.
Sheila stepped into the kitchen with a smile on her face. “Smells good in here,” she said.
“It does,” Samantha agreed greeting her big sister with a hug. “What’s up, Sis?”
“Nothing much,” Sheila responded. “You know I wasn’t missing mom’s good ol’ cooking this morning. Hey dad,” she said walking over and kissing him on the cheek.
Greg smiled at his daughter. “Hey baby girl.”
Sheila looked around. “Where’s mom?”
“She just walked upstairs. We’ve been in here helping her cook this morning.”
“Dang, I missed that.” Sheila said with a playful roll of her eyes. Those were always her favorite memories. “I see she cooked eggs, grits, pancakes, and sausages. That’s good.”
“Same thing I was thinking.” Greg chimed in with a smile on his face. It was good to see his girls there with him.
“How is she doing?” Sheila questioned.
“She’s good this morning.” Greg replied.
“Well, that’s good to hear.” Sheila said. She knew that her mom had been in remission from the breast cancer for a couple of months and that was a blessing. It was just after she went into remission for that, she started feeling bad from something else. “I’m going to go up and get her. I’m famished,” she added while picking up one of the sausage patties and biting it.
“No, sit down here with your sister. I’ll go get her.” Greg said, and then exited the kitchen leaving the girls to chatter amongst each other.
***
Minutes later, Greg stepped inside of the bedroom where his wife was at. He startled her when he opened the door.
“Honey, you scared me,” she said trying to hurry up and put her wig back on to cover up her bald head. “Next time knock, so I’ll know it’s you. I don’t want the girls to see me like this.” She said. For the past couple of months she’d fooled Sheila and Samantha good by wearing wigs. They were so caught up with what they had going till they just didn’t notice. She also had to give props to Joanne; because she’d handmade each wig to make sure that it looked just like her real hair.
“I’m sorry, babe.” Greg said as he looked at his wife with a loving face. What the girls didn’t know was that Mrs. Grand had gone into remission from having breast cancer, but then a couple of weeks later she’d found out that she had a tumor on her brain. “I just came up to tell you that Sheila has made it here.”
“Good,” she said applying her MAC make-up around the dark circles under her eyes. “I want to spend as much time with them as possible.”
Greg smiled as he looked over at his wife. To him she was still beautiful. They’d spent some great years together. It was hard for him to stand there and picture life without her. Regardless of what he’d done or how Mrs. Grand felt about him, her and their girls always came first.
“So, how do I look?” She asked as she turned to face him.
“You look good,” Greg said. “Are you sure you wanna do this now? I mean, this morning?” He questioned with a saddened look on his face.
“Yes, I think it’s time to tell our girls that I only have about a six month’s chance of living with this illness. I refuse to do any more Chemo and spend my last day’s sick and shut in. Plus, I’ve held this secret long enough. It’s time for them to know.”
Greg wrapped his arms around her as the tears escaped his eyes. “We’ll do this together. You’re won’t be alone.” He promised her as they stood there for another five minutes hugging each other. The feeling of defeat had already started to sink in, but Mrs. Grand was going to live the remainder of her life in a happy space up until the last breath left her body.
***
Meanwhile on the other side of town, Stephen was pulling up in front of a nice, brick home with a two car garage. He looked over at Nina with a smile on his face.
“What?” Nina said as she looked at the big house sitting directly in front of them.
“Surprise!” He said while laughing at her perplexed facial expression.
“Stephen, don’t play with me.” Nina said almost instantly feeling the butterflies as they started turning in her stomach.
“I’m not playing. This is our new house.” He informed her.
Nina’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?!”
“I wouldn’t joke around with you about this. I don’t feel like getting slapped.” He teased.
“Right,” she agreed with a smile. For a minute or two, she sat in silence trying to take it all in. “Oh my God.” She said in disbelief as the tears wailed up in the corner of her eyes. “Wait till I tell Red about this.”
“Wait until the kids see it. And guess what?” Stephen questioned. “We have an in-ground pool in the back yard.”
“Shut Up!” Nina exclaimed like this was a dream come true. She reached for the door latch and quickly got out of the truck. Stephen decided to get out too. He stood outside of his truck as he watched Nina run up to the front door of the two story house. “Oh my God,” she said again. This time the tears started to fall. “I can’t believe this.”
“Well, believe it.” He said. “I’ve been working on closing this deal for the past month. Finally, we came to negotiate some decent terms along with a great price for the house. Now, it’s time you come off of that voucher.” He told her.
“Thank God,” Nina said as she kissed him softly on the lips. The neighborhood they lived in wasn’t bad, but she was more than ready for them to move.
Stephen pulled out the key to unlock the door. He glanced over at Nina with a smile then said, “Let’s take a tour inside of our new home.”
“First, let me give you this,” Nina said reaching over and hugging Stephen around the neck. They shared a very affectionate kiss. “I love you,” she said.
“I love you more,” Stephen responded.
***
Scarlett and Troy pulled up in the parking lot of Scarlett’s doctor’s office. She looked over at Troy and nervously smiled. He smiled back at her. He’d been more than supportive of her and wasn’t about to turn back now, regardless of what the test revealed.
“So, you ready for this?” She questioned already feeling some type of way. They didn’t even want to receive the results in the mail. They preferred to get the results during her sixteen week check-up since she had to come in for a visit anyway.
“I’m about as ready as I’ll ever be.” He noticed the uneasy expression on her face. “Don’t look like that.” He said reaching over and rubbing gently down her smooth cheek with the back of his hand.
“I can’t lie, babe. “I’m a little nervous. What if this baby is Luke’s? He is already messaging me and talking crazy.”
“That’s because he can’t have you.” Troy explained. “Once you left him that day after finding out about his father, he knew it was over. Since then he hasn’t been able to do nothing, but drive himself crazy. His father is now going through legal woes behind that dirty shit he pulled. So, you can imagine what Luke is going through. You should know that right now in his state of mind he isn’t going to cut you any slack, for the simple reason that you’re not cutting him any.”
“You’re right.” Scarlett agreed. “But, can he really take my baby like he said he would?”
Troy laughed. “I don’t know why you worry yourself about that foolishness. I hate to go over to that nigga’s house and beat his ass for acting so immature. He can’t take our baby unless you’re proven to be an unfit mother. More importan
tly, he can’t take a baby that doesn’t belong to him.” He assured her.
Scarlett smiled. “You’re always so optimistic.” She said leaning over and kissing him softly on the lips.
“The more you hang around me, the more positively you’ll start thinking too. I keep telling you that you can’t let life continue to drag you down. You’re too beautiful and smart for that.”
“I know,” she said having to remind herself at least three times a day. Being with Troy was definitely a joy within itself. He was more than enough man for her and she was more than grateful that she had decided to just leave Luke alone.
“Make sure you’re wrapped up. This cold November weather ain’t no joke and you don’t need to be catching a cold right about now.” Troy told her as he got out of the car so that he could open up the car door for her.
As Troy made his way around the car to the passenger side, Scarlett grabbed her scarf off of the backseat. She glanced down noticing that she’d gotten a text message. She looked down at it to see that it was Luke text messaging her. She irritably shook her head, and then opened up the envelope.
Have you gotten the results back yet? I’d like to know as soon as you know. Luke
She hated that she had even mentioned to him that she’d be going in for the results that morning. He was probably going to text her until he knew what the deal was and nothing was more aggravating than that. Luke had turned out to be something else when he couldn’t have his way. After seeing that Scarlett wasn’t going to take him back he started threatening to take the baby if it was his. This in turn only made it easier for Scarlett to move on. She just prayed over and over again that the baby wasn’t his.
Troy opened up the passenger car door for her. “Come on, babe. Let’s get this over with.” He said grabbing her hand to help her out of the car. The minute Scarlett was on her feet, Troy placed his hand on her belly while rubbing it, and then he kissed her softly on the cheek. A part of him was just anxiously waiting to find out if he was indeed the father to this baby.
***
Thirty minutes later, Scarlett and Troy was inside of one of the rooms inside the doctor’s office waiting for the doctor to come in. Scarlett sat up on the exam table as Troy sat in a nearby seat.
“Calm down,” he told her. He could see that her nerves were rattled as she sat there fidgeting with her fingers.
“I’m calm babe,” she responded with a fake smile.
Troy just shook his head. He knew how sensitive she was and the last thing he wanted was for her to be upset and caught up in her feelings.
“I’m just so ready to get this over with.”
“I know, babe.” He agreed then added, “Me too.” Just as he said that, the doctor stepped into the room. She was a pretty, Arabian doctor with a small red dot in the center of her forehead.
“Hello Scarlett and Troy,” she said with a smile on her face. She loved to see them together. He always showed up to her check-ups and held her hand every time they’d listen to the baby’s heartbeat. It was rare to see such young love.
“Hey Doctor Bhalla,” they spoke almost in unison.
Dr. Bhalla glanced down at the paperwork in her hand. “So, you’re here for your sixteen week’s check-up.”
“Yep,” Scarlett said.
“You’re also here to get the paternity test results and to find out the gender of your baby, right?”
“Yep,” Scarlett said again as her heart sank down to her feet. The moment was finally here and she was scared as hell to find out.
“Okay, lay back for me.” Dr. Bhalla instructed as she lifted Scarlett’s shirt once she was laying all the way back. “Oh I’m sorry, do y’all want the results first?”
Scarlett looked over at Troy. He just smiled at her like the choice was hers. “Weeeeeell,” Scarlett apprehensively dragged. “Let’s check the baby first.” She said just wanting that genuine moment with Troy holding her hand as they peacefully listened to the baby’s heartbeat first.
“Okay,” the doctor said as she prepped Scarlett for the sonogram. Troy got up and walked over to Scarlett and held her hand. This was always a bonding moment for them. In no time the baby was shown on the screen. The sound of the baby’s heartbeat was loud and strong. They could tell that he or she had already started growing hair, and surprisingly the baby had its thumb in its mouth.
“Awww,” Scarlett said. This was the first time that they’d seen this.
Troy smiled. “That’s my baby.” He said just above a whisper.
The doctor smiled at them and said, “That is your baby.”
Scarlett’s eyes widened like she was making sure of what she’d just heard. “Say what now, Dr. Bhalla?”
“I said that the baby is his.” She said pulling out the paternity test results and handing them to her. Scarlett took the papers to read over the results for herself as the Doctor looked over at Troy. “You are the father.”
At just that moment, Scarlett’s eyes started to shed happy tears as Troy kissed her softly on the lips. “I told you.” He said with light laughter. The feeling he had was priceless as he sat there smiling from ear to ear. “Can we get the gender now?”
“Weeeeeeell,” the doctor said as she moved the instrument around on Scarlett’s belly bump. “It’s a girl.” She said with a smile.
“Awww,” Scarlett said full of joy.
Troy was more than excited. He was not only about to have a daughter, but he was also engaged to marry the woman of his dreams. Life couldn’t be better for him. He smiled as he thought about his mother. She never steered him wrong, even in death. The bond they shared was like no other and he was sure to have the same type of bond with his own kids. He then grabbed Scarlett’s phone as the doctor wiped the lubrication off of her stomach.
“What are you doing, babe?” Scarlett asked.
“Putting an end to this other situation that we have,” he said and sent Luke a text message that read.
The paternity results are in and you’re NOT THE FATHER. You can now move on and leave me and my family alone. Don’t text, call, come over, or speak with my fiancé. She wants nothing else to do with you. I hope that we don’t have to have this conversation again. I respected the situation at first out of respect for my lady, but I won’t be so nice the next time. O’ and don’t let the signature fool you. This is Troy not… Red
“What’d you say to him?” Scarlett asked as she sat up.
“I said what needed to be said a long time ago, that he is not the father.” Troy told her with a calm smile spread across his face.
“I’m so glad that this is behind us. Say it again, babe. I just need to hear it again.” Scarlett said feeling elated.
“He’s not the father. I am,” Troy playfully said, and then kissed his fiancé on the lips. One way or the other, he was determined to give his family a happily ever after.
***
Inside the hospital, Gwen sat waiting for the nurse behind the front desk to give her an appointment to come back for another check-up the following month. She was just ready to get the hell out of there. She didn’t like hospitals and wasn’t trying to stay no longer than she had to.
As she stood there partly leaning on the counter, she thought about Scarlett and Troy getting the paternity tests results back. Lord, I hope that’s his baby. She thought. All she wanted was for them to be good. She then looked down at her cell phone. It was Anton calling so she quickly answered it.
“What’s up, son?” she answered.
“Hey ma,” Anton spoke. “Are you finished with your appointment?”
“Yep,” she responded.
“What’d the doctor say?”
Gwen sighed. She hated being treated like a baby, but she answered anyway. “Everything is about as good as it’s gonna get.” She responded with an irritated shake of the head. “Come on, lady.” She told the receptionist. “I gotta get out of here.”
“Ma, what’s wrong? Why you sound so anxious?” Anton questioned.
> “I’m just ready to get out of here. I hate hospitals.” She said. “So, how was your night? You did go meet with Samantha’s old snooty ass mama didn’t you?”
Anton laughed. Gwen never cared what she said about people. “I did and it wasn’t bad. She actually accepted knowing that Samantha and I are dating now.”
“That’s a first,” Gwen said knowing all about Mrs. Grand and the way she looked down on her kids.
“Yeah, I was surprised too.” Anton said then added. “But honestly, she seems like a different person now.”
“Well I’m glad to hear that, son. I would’ve hated to have to go over there and kick her ass.”