by Kimmy Love
She had simply just wanted Ricardo there, and that was so much more. He would have been able to keep her calm, and instead of telling her what to do, he would have been able to remind her that she knew exactly what to do on her own. He was kind and patient like that. Needing someone was one thing, but Dee didn’t need him to live a happy life. It was like frosting on a cake. It wasn’t necessary to make the cake taste good, but it certainly helped it to taste better. She hadn’t even texted him since she left, not sure what to even say.
She opened her phone and pulled up their messages, the last conversation they had being Ricardo asking what kind of ice cream Dee wanted from the store. She smiled, remembering that night when she couldn’t satisfy any of her cravings. She texted, “I love you” in the outbox, deciding to delete it before pressing send, shutting off her phone and turning her attention back to the TV.
*****
Ricardo lay on the desk as he heard someone knock on the door. He liked laying on the desk, as it made him feel like a project himself. He hoped by laying there, he’d gain some insight into what he was supposed to do next. He was feeling lost and still hadn’t left Detroit, not sure what he wanted to do about Dee and his unborn baby. Now that it was getting closer to the due date every second, the baby could really come anytime within the next couple of weeks, Ricardo realizing it was probably best for him to just stick around.
“Dee?” he asked, getting excited and running towards the door. He was afraid to reach out to her, wondering if she would just turn him down after how he had treated her. He was still unsure about what he wanted to do next, but he had certainly hoped to see Dee again soon, at least.
“It’s me,” Anastasia said with a sweet tone, Ricardo disappointed that it was her knocking on his door. “I saw that you didn’t take the flight I booked you and you haven’t been answering my texts, so I figured I’d just come and check on you.”
“I’m fine,” Ricardo told her, laying back down on his desk. He clearly was not, but Anastasia was not who he wanted to see. He partially blamed her for Dee leaving, wondering if she hadn’t snooped and painted the nursery if Dee would have left in the first place.
He knew that they still needed to have a conversation about their status, though Ricardo really wasn’t sure what that was exactly just yet.
“I don’t understand why you’re still so upset about her leaving,” Anastasia said with an evil smile. His next child was due any day now, how could he not be upset that she left even though he wasn’t able to admit that he loved her when she asked?
Anastasia saw that there was a half-drunk bottle of rum along with a few glasses scattered around his desk. It was late at night, Anastasia probably coming straight from a mid-day flight from L.A. Ricardo thought it was strange that she had flown all the way there to see him, but he really hadn’t given it all that much thought, focusing mostly on his misery in Dee’s absence. She poured him a glass of rum and one for herself as well.
He reluctantly took it, even though he had realized that there wasn’t any alcohol that could actually numb his pain.
“One less child,” she said, clinking her glass against his. She smiled as she threw the liquor back. What on earth did she mean by that? One less child was the worst part of the split.
“Keisha is a very sweet girl,” Ricardo shot back at her. His face showed a clear sign that he was upset with what Anastasia had said. He set his glass down without taking a drink, walking out of the office so as to get away from her. Although he was her boss, Anastasia still held a certain power over him. Of course, he had thought what it might be like to pursue a relationship with her, but she was much too young for him, and he wasn’t interested in a vain person that was obsessed with wealth and fame. Dee’s modesty and desire to remain humble and out of the spotlight was certainly something that had attracted him to her in the first place.
Anastasia’s remarks and certain things she did made her seem desperate. She was incredibly organized, articulate, and knew how to get what she wanted, the reason that Ricardo had kept her around that long in the first place. Now that he wasn’t working on anything, and with a child on the way, he thought about just taking a year off to clear his mind. He wondered if he should tell Anastasia that right then, as he saw her walking down the stairs and over to him at the kitchen counter. He had been picking through a few nuts, bored and depressed, not sure what to do or how to get her to leave.
“I don’t like seeing you this upset. I know you like to be alone, but I want to do something for you,” Anastasia said seductively. Ricardo hadn’t seen her like that before and felt that she was coming onto him a bit, something that he had almost no interest in.
“I’m fine, I just need time to think,” he told her, getting a glass of water. When he turned around from the sink, Anastasia was standing incredibly close to him, trapping him against the counter a bit.
Anastasia leaned in and kissed him, Ricardo immediately pulling back.
“What are you doing? Are you crazy?” Ricardo asked in disgust. He started to realize that he might be the crazy one.
“No, you’re the crazy one. Come on, look at me?” Anastasia said with an attitude. Sure, she was conventionally attractive, but an attitude like that immediately turned Ricardo off. “You really want to go back to that girl that already has a kid and another one on the way? Come on Ricardo, I know you. You’re no family man.”
“I am the crazy one,” he told her. Not because he didn’t kiss her, but because he was self-destructing. He was happy with Dee and Keisha. He was excited when they came home and always looked forward to spending time with them. He had avoided the family life as much as he could, never pursuing starting a family of his own. Ricardo was realizing that wasn’t because he didn’t want that life, but felt it was because he didn’t deserve it. Ricardo was too hard on himself, and that critical thought allowed him to be a talented artist, but at the same time, he self-destructed a lot.
“Do you really want to be changing diapers forever? Ricardo, we could travel the world together!” Anastasia told him. Ricardo had already traveled the world, and while changing diapers wasn’t the most appealing activity to him, he would still do it every day if it meant he got to spend his time with his girls and his sons. He was offended that Anastasia had kissed him, but if she hadn’t, he might not have realized that Dee and her family was what he wanted all along.
“What am I doing? I threw it all away for nothing,” he said, setting his glass down. “I have to get out of here.”
Ricardo grabbed his coat and walked out of the apartment, knowing that he needed to go straight to Dee’s. He didn’t know the address, but he had driven by before and Dee pointed it out, hoping that he would be able to remember which one she lived in.
“Where are you going? She’ll never be able to give you what you actually want!” Anastasia cried as he ran out the door. Ricardo knew that by leaving, he would be on his way to get everything that he did actually want, Anastasia having no idea who he really was.
*****
Dee woke up in bed with a sharp pain in her stomach and her bed wet between her legs. She had that familiar feeling before and knew exactly what it meant. She looked over and saw that Sydney wasn’t there, now wanting her mom more than ever.
“Mom! My water broke!” Dee yelled from the other room. Sydney was staying at her boyfriend’s with Roman and Marge took Keisha for the night to give her a little break in her final days of pregnancy. She started standing up, realizing that the baby was coming quick. She felt further along already than she was with Keisha, not having that bad of contractions yet either.
She and her mom hadn’t been getting along the greatest since she was staying with her grandmother again, but right now, she needed her mother. She needed the woman that brought her into the world help her bring another grandchild in.
Dee wasn’t expecting for another two weeks, but with the baby at already 8 pounds, she wasn’t too frantic that it was a dangerous situation. Keisha was b
orn a week early, and her doctor had told her this might happen. She figured the baby was just as excited as she was to meet her, not able to wait inside her belly much longer. Dee instantly remembered that simultaneous feeling of happiness and fear all at once, the feeling that came along with being in labor. She was scared, of course, but she couldn’t be more excited either. She was about to meet the next love of her life, something not everyone would get to experience.
“What’s going on?” Janet and Nancy said, coming through her door. Dee stood there with wet shorts, and both women knew exactly what was going on.
“It’s happening,” Dee told her mother.
“Oh my! Get in the car, I’ll drive you to the hospital,” Janet said, grabbing Dee’s hospital bag she had packed and waiting by the door.
She changed her pants as quickly as possible, not caring that her mother and grandmother were standing there watching her strip down. “OK, I’m ready,” she told her mom, walking down to the car. The hospital she was going to have her baby at was about twenty minutes away, and Dee knew that she could make it that far.
At first, she felt oddly calm, but now she was starting to feel scared knowing that this was it. She was about to meet her little baby boy, something she didn’t know until now would ever happen. She got in the car and realized she would need to call Ricardo. She didn’t even know if he was in the city at the time.
“Ahh!” Dee yelled as she felt a major contraction hit her. She pulled out her phone, trying to find Ricardo’s number to call him. Janet backed out of the driveway, Dee sitting in the back, so she could stretch her legs.
“Man, people are crazy,” Janet said, referring to a man that was walking in the middle of the street. She honked, and the man looked right into their headlights.
“Wait Mom, that’s Ricardo!” Dee said. She was confused and looked at her phone. Had she already called him? She wasn’t quite sure what was going on.
“Ricardo, what are you doing here?” Dee asked, wildly confused.
“I was looking for your house! I couldn’t remember which one it was. Hi Janet,” Ricardo said, a smile stretched across his face.
“It’s happening now!” Dee shouted.
“I know, and I’m so excited! I’m so sorry that I made you wait this long, but it’s time to tell you that I love you!” Ricardo shouted in the middle of the street, him clearly not realizing that she was talking about the baby.
“No, our son! He’s coming out of me!” Dee shouted.
“What?” Ricardo asked, him being the confused one now.
“Get in the car lover boy!” her mom yelled at Ricardo out the front window as she beeped the horn. They needed to get on the road fast. Ricardo opened the back door and hopped in.
“I love you Dee,” Ricardo said, not afraid to let his true feelings out. “I’ve always loved you, I was just so afraid.”
“Ricardo, I’m scared,” she told him honestly. It wasn’t easy for her to open up either, especially when she was in labor. “I love you too though. I love you so much it hurts Ricardo.”
“I’ll be right here. I’m not going anywhere,” he reassured her. Dee was feeling so much better knowing that Ricardo was currently her support system.
“You hurt us. How can I trust you again,” she yelled before she let out a scream, feeling the contractions hit her hard.
“You and Keisha are everything that I’ve ever wanted,” Ricardo said, his face filling with tears now too. “I’m not me without you two anymore.”
Keisha wanted to keep talking, but she also was in a lot of pain. She started crying and leaned in to kiss Ricardo, feeling like everything had fallen into place. If only it had done that sooner, Dee might have saved herself a lot of agony.
“Just breathe Keisha, I’m here for you,” he told her, holding her stomach and kissing her cheek. She squeezed his hand, feeling the labor pains radiate from her knees to her heart. She kissed him back, sweating and nervous but feeling his hand squeeze hers was a reminder that they were in this together. She saw Ricardo again, the same one that had been there when she first moved in. When he was so inspired and clearly in love that Dee thought she had died and gone to heaven.
“Uh oh,” she heard her mom say from the front seat.
“What?” Keisha screamed.
“I’m running out of gas,” Janet said as the car slowed down. Dee didn’t want to panic, but there wasn’t much else to do.
Janet pulled the car to the side of the road, getting out to start flagging someone down.
“What are we going to do?” Dee yelled.
“It’s fine, I’m not going to let anything happen,” Ricardo told her.
“That’s all I want to hear you say,” Dee said back. She was in a lot of pain but being next to Ricardo filled her with love. Her body felt like it was on fire, ready to push a baby out. She had been through that experience before and knew that she didn’t have long before the baby came.
“I’m calling 911,” he told her as he pulled out his phone. Dee was just wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt. She saw that her mom had managed to flag someone down and held Ricardo’s hand for a few moments as she felt the worst contraction yet.
“It’s happening! He’s coming!” Dee said as she felt her baby trying to make his way out. It was a big baby already, but having already had a child, Dee was lucky enough to not feel the pain of pushing him out as much as the first time. As soon as she saw that mucus covered face, she didn’t feel anything at all other than love. Looking into his mouth gasping for air and his eyes still closed, Dee felt connected to something greater than her and Ricardo’s love. Their passion had transcended into this little boy, and there he was, screaming and ready to be alive.
Ricardo took his shirt off and scraped out as much mucus from his face as possible as Dee held him in her arms. She patted his chest a bit as he lay on her chest, and eventually, he started crying. Hearing that scream was the greatest noise that Dee and Ricardo ever heard.
Ricardo held Dee as she held their baby. Behind them, the sky filled with ambulance lights, the car filled with love.
THANKS FOR READING!
Authors Personal Message:
Hey beautiful!
I really hope you enjoyed my novel and I would really love if you could give me a rating on the store!
Thanks in advance and check the next page for details of my other releases. :)
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