Just Perfect! (Persaud Girl)

by Teisha Mott

  "You better run!" Samantha seethed under her breath, as she went to her own room. She grabbed her favourite Marc Jacobs tote, and stuffed her purse, health insurance card, and a whole bunch of paraphernalia into it.

  Damn that loose tongue Andie! She raged internally. The worst mistake she had ever made was telling Andie anything about Jeremy Malcolm. Okay, fine. The worst mistake she ever made was sleeping with Jeremy in the first place, but telling Andie ran a remarkably close second. She was determined to force Jeremy into their lives. Well, she had never bowed to her little sister before and she was not going to start now. And the little cockroach could not hide forever. She was sure she was somewhere in the house, and even if she wasn't, she had to come back at some point. She was going to give her an ass kicking second to none!

  Someone was knocking on her room door. Samantha's anger raised one degree. If it was ever Jeremy Malcolm trying to get into her room, this was the day she was going to go to prison, because she was going to stab him to death with one of the Chinese chopsticks she had used to fasten her hair.

  "What?" She yelled.

  "It's Nathan. Can I come in?"

  Nathan? That meant Andie was still in the house lurking somewhere. She opened the door.

  "Where is your girlfriend?"

  "I'm not telling you, because I love her, and I am going to want to marry her one day!" Nathan responded, coming into Samantha's room. "That, and I don't want you over Fort Augusta being anyone’s bitch!"

  "So Andie is the one who really went and told Jeremy about the appointment? What the hell is wrong with her tongue?"

  "Well, according to her, she is trying to do what's best for Sebastian. In her mind, that means making sure he has a present and involved father."

  Samantha rolled her eyes. "Is he gone?"

  "Nope! He's still down there, and you can trust me when I say I don’t think he's going away!"

  Samantha sighed and sat on her bed. "Good Lord, he's a frigging pain in the neck, isn’t he? How can you stand having him in your space every day?"

  "He just wants to help!" Nathan pointed out. "This should be an exciting time for both of you. He just wants to be a part of it."

  "This is not an exciting time for me, Nathan!" Samantha pointed out. "I am dealing with it, because I have no choice but to deal with it. This is the furthest thing from being an exciting time. I had planned every aspect of my life from I was fourteen years old. I pictured graduating from University, getting a job at BOJ and eventually being governor, getting married to this really great guy and then having a baby. I never imagined this... I never imagined getting pregnant from a one night stand -- or what Grandpa keeps calling 'a random hook-up'. I never imagined being a 22 year old single mother, graduate school semi-drop out, being stalked by Jeremy Malcolm of all people. This is a horrible, horrible thing that has happened to me, and Jeremy constantly hovering around is just a reminder that the one mistake I slipped up and made is going to stay with me for the rest of my miserable life, and this is so not exciting! As a matter of fact, it is the antithesis of an exciting time!"

  Nathan sighed. He looked at Samantha. Certainly she was taking this situation hard. And he could certainly understand why. He had known Samantha for four years now, and he had always seen a perfect girl, who got good grades, and was always pleasant and well put together. In all those years, he had never managed to catch her on a 'bad day' or an 'ugly day'. There were times he had wondered if she was real. There had to be something, he had thought -- some point at which she stopped being a perfect person, and start being a vulnerable, insecure, real human being. He had seen glimpses of it -- times when her grandmother Joyce had cruelly criticised her, and when she was dating Micah -- but all the time, she had managed to refit her mask before it crumpled and fell off her face completely. But now he was seeing her -- the real Samantha that he had never been privy to. He saw a scared young woman who was kicking herself daily, because in her own mind, she had fallen from grace. She made 'one mistake' she claimed, and that mistake was going to alter the course she had charted for herself eight years before.

  "Look," he said finally. "You and Jeremy are human and you made a mistake. It’s what happens to normal people and it’s not the worst thing in the world."

  "You can say anything!" Samantha scoffed. "It's not happening to you. When do you start your cushy job at Foreign Affairs again?"

  "Can I tell you something, and you and you won’t say I am preachy?”

  “Nathan, since you found Jesus, everything you say sounds preachy!”

  Nathan smiled. “Sorry. Maybe I missed my calling! Shoulda probably gone to NCU seminary instead of Graduate School."

  Samantha smiled back. “Okay, out with it. Preach to me, my brother!”

  “All I'm saying is that you spent all your life thinking you’re perfect, and that you can’t do anything wrong, and you made it your mission to impress people. But really, the only person worth impressing is God, and I can tell you that He isn't impressed by contrived perfection. He is more impressed by people who make mistakes, recognise that they have made the mistake, ask for forgiveness and press on, vowing not to make the same mistake again..."

  "Trust me, Jeremy is one mistake I can definitively declare I will never make again, and I am sure God is well aware of that!"

  "I am sure He is. And you know what is better? Sometimes the best things in our lives can come from our worst mistakes. It is all through the Bible. Jacob made a mistake. He tricked his brother and had to run away, and then he became Israel. Joseph’s brothers' mistake saved the family from famine... There is David. What a mistake he made watching Bathsheba bathe, but then the world ended up with Solomon! And even outside the Bible, too... Look at me. I made a whopper of a mistake, and got a beautiful girlfriend out of it.

  "I am not saying that God condones making mistakes, but I know He is definitely for learning from them and making the best of a bad situation.”

  Samantha looked at him. “That is way preachy, Nathan! Even for you!”

  “Whatever! All I am saying is that your mistake is going to give you an adorable son or daughter, who you are going to love for the rest of your life. When he or she is two and cute, you are going to wonder why you thought this was 'the antithesis of an exciting time'. You don’t know how this might turn out. Who knows? Maybe after all this, you could be great friends with Jeremy!"

  "Please! I am feeling bad enough as it is!”

  "Samantha, I like you, and I don't want to end up on what Jeremy calls your ‘axis of evil’, but I have to tell you that he is really trying. This baby has turned him into somebody I don't even recognise. He is in the apartment every night, reading up things on the internet, buying all sorts of books on fatherhood..."

  Samantha wrinkled her nose. "Really?"

  "Yes, really. He is doing everything he can to be a good father, and all he really wants to do is be there. I think you should give him a chance."

  "So you two have rekindled your little bromance I see!"

  "I wouldn't call it a ‘bromance’!" Nathan shook his head. "But if I am going to call myself a man of God, I have to be all about second chances, and you should be too. Jeremy wants to be here. He took a beat down from Phillip, and a whole lot of crap from you and he is still here! All he wants is a chance, and I think you should give him one. I am not saying you should marry him and have a bunch of other babies. Just be nicer to him. And you can start by letting him go with you today."

  Samantha rolled her eyes. She picked up her hand bag again and glanced at her watch. It was quarter to eleven. She had to get going, or she would be late. "Ok fine. Whatever. He can come. Anything so you can stop preaching at me." She ushered Nathan out of her room.

  "And Sam?"

  "Hmm?"

  "Please don't kill my girlfriend. I don't think I will be able to find another one that I love as much as her, okay?"

  "Well, because of you she has a free pass, but this is her last one!" Samantha warned. "You make s
ure you tell her that!"

  "Thanks!" Nathan smiled, showing off his dimples that Andie had fallen in love with almost three years before. "She's hiding out in the garden. I'll go find her and tell her that she is safe."

  Nathan took the front stairs, and Samantha took the back. She was going to let Jeremy come with her because Nathan had preached like Paul, but also because he had made some good points. Jeremy may have been conceited and pompous and arrogant, but at least he was there. At least he seemed to have more 'stick-to-it-ability' than Micah. And definitely on the bright side their baby, whether it turned out to be a girl or a boy was going to be cute. A cute baby would be much easier to deal with than an ugly one, unplanned or not.

  Jeremy was still in the kitchen when she entered. Evidently, Theresa had passed through, because he was eating coconut cookies and milk.

  "Jeremy, listen..." She began.

  "No, you listen!" Jeremy stood to face her. "I am sick and tired of your crap. That’s my baby in there, and I am going to the doctor with you to see if it is okay, whether you like it or not!"

  "But Jeremy..."

  "No! You don't talk. You let me talk. It is my turn to talk now!"

  "Excuse me?"

  "I have excused you enough, Samantha!" Jeremy continued to rage. "I have put up with you because I did not want you to get upset, and because they say you can’t argue with pregnant women, but I am not excusing you anymore. You are a very mean spirited person. You have been very, very unkind to me, and I don’t deserve it!"

  Samantha was shell shocked. "You have some nerve..."

  "No, you have some nerve! I know you are upset because you don't want to have a baby, and you have to take time from school and because I am the last person in the world you want to have a baby with, but this isn't only happening to you. It is happening to me too. My life and my plans have been shifted too, because of this baby. So whether you like it or not, we are in this together: you, me and Sebastian. We are going to get through this together. I am staying, right here, every day until I have to go back to New York for work, then I am coming right back when it is time for him to be born, and from now on, you are going to include me in everything. I am going to be a father, you are going to be a mother, and Sebastian is going to be our baby. And you are damn lucky for that because I am a good person. I used to be a pain in the ass, but I have grown and I have changed and I am going to be there, so you better get used to this face and these dimples because no, I am not going away.”

  Samantha looked at him. She did not know if she should laugh or smack him. She adjusted her tote over her shoulder. "Okay!"

  Jeremy was stunned. That was the last response he expected. "Okay?"

  "Yes, okay. If you are going to get all macho and 'Tarzan and Jane' and ‘yelly’ on me, then okay. You can come with me!"

  Well! Jeremy thought. That was easy! He should have thought to get all 'Tarzan and Jane and yelly' earlier. He tried to regain his composure. "Now that we have cleared that up, let's get going. Give me the car keys. I'm driving!"

  "You are not driving my car!" Samantha declared, leaving the kitchen.

  "You can’t drive in your condition!" Jeremy followed her to the backyard where her blue Rav4 was parked.

  Samantha glared at him. "What condition? I'm pregnant not incapacitated!"

  "Just give me the damn keys, Samantha!"

  "Whatever!" She really was not going to argue with him right about now. They were so going to be late for Dr Creary.

  She got into the passenger seat as Jeremy got behind the wheel. As they pulled out the gate and on to Norbrook Road, Samantha could not help but feel a little pang of something - contentment mixed with happiness. This felt kinda nice, she thought, being driven to the doctor by the father of her baby. It made her feel like one of those other women she had seen waiting at Dr Creary. They were there with their husbands who were fussing over them, and getting them juice and water... She hadn't really anyone fussing over her on her last two visits. The first time she had gone with Bianca, the second time with Andie... This was much different. She smiled to herself. It felt like they were Mr and Mrs Malcolm... Mr and Mrs Malcolm, driving to the doctor's to see if little Sebastian Malcolm was doing okay... 'Come in, Mr and Mrs Malcolm', Dr Creary would say, as she ushered them into her examination room... 'Mr and Mrs Malcolm, there is your baby on the ultrasound'... 'now at 18 weeks, Mr and Mrs Malcolm, little Sebastian should weigh about 3 ounces...' ‘It is perfectly okay for you to have as much sex as you want in the second trimester, Mr and Mrs Malcolm. As a matter of fact, I quite encourage it...'

  "Hey!"

  Jeremy's voice yanked her quite unceremoniously from her daydream. "What?"

  "What's the matter with you? Why are you just staring off and beaming like that?"

  "Nothing!" Samantha tried unsuccessfully not to blush.

  "What nothing?" Jeremy was clearly not as stupid Samantha thought.

  "I was just thinking..."

  "Thinking about what?"

  "None of your business!" Samantha was not sure if she was more annoyed by the 'thoughts' she was having or at Jeremy for harassing her.

  Jeremy's eyes narrowed. She had that look on. Like she was keeping a secret. "What you not telling me? Did it move?"

  "Did what move?"

  "The baby. Did he move?"

  "No!"

  "Has he ever moved?"

  "Not that I can tell... But the book says for first a first baby, I wouldn't feel him until closer to week twenty, so we have a few weeks left to wait..."

  "Just make sure he hasn't moved! I want to know the second he does."

  Samantha looked at him, still on his macho trip. She might as well indulge him for a few more minutes. "Okay."

  "I'm not playing with you!" Jeremy insisted. "When he moves you tell me first. Before you tell Andie or Bianca or Klao."

  "Fine!"

  "I'm serious. The very moment he moves. Not two days later, or two hours later, or two minutes later...."

  Okay, he was being annoying now. Samantha pulled her fingers through her hair. "I said I'll tell you the minute the frigging baby moves, alright? Stop harassing me!"

  Jeremy glanced off the road long enough to scowl at her. "Don't refer to our child as 'the frigging baby'! That is child abuse!"

  "Whatever!" Samantha closed her eyes and leaned against the window. She suddenly realised she was not looking forward to being spread eagle on a table while Dr Creary felt her up. She hoped Jeremy knew he was staying outside in the reception area, not coming into the examination room with her.

  Soon, they pulled into GynaeCentre, where Dr Creary had private practice. Jeremy circled the compound, trying to find a parking spot. Samantha glanced at her watch. They only had five minutes to get inside. She didn't mind. The quicker the appointment was over, the better.

  Finally Jeremy parked, and got out of the car. He ran around to her side to help her out, thoroughly enjoying his role as 'the dad'. She was acting annoyed, shrugging him off, just as she had seen a really, really pregnant woman do to her husband last month, but on the inside really enjoying as he took charge - taking her bag, ushering her from the parking lot...

  "And one more thing!" Jeremy stated, as they walked to Dr Creary's office.

  "What now?"

  "Bad Boys 2 is opening at Carib next Wednesday. Nathan is taking Andie. You and I are going too - on a real date!"

  Samantha looked at him. He had Will Smith's macho 'Bad Boys' scowl on. Only, he wore it much better than Will Smith. She had been dying to see Bad Boys 2. Bad Boys 1 was her favourite movie of all time! She had known that Nathan and Andie were going to see it, and had been looking for a way to crash their date without pissing Andie off. After all, she only had a little more than a month left with Nathan before she would leave for Columbia, and wanted as much alone time with him as she could get. She would love to go see Bad Boys 2 with Jeremy and Nathan and Andie. But there was no way she was going to tell him that! Instead, she gave him a withe
ring cut eye, and grabbed her bag from him.

  "I’ll go. But don’t push your luck!"

  ***

  "Unless your mouth is long enough to push me out of the room, you might as well draw it back in and stop suck up yourself, ’cause I'm not coming out!" Jeremy told her from his spot next to her on Dr Creary's exam table, where he was perched with a month old edition of 'American Baby' magazine.

  "Don't say anything to me!" Samantha snapped.

  "Alright..." He turned back to his magazine. It had an adorable little black baby on the cover – round face, bright eyes, chubby cheeks, not a stitch of hair... All it needed was a painted on curl to look like the little Kewpie doll Jasmine used to play with. He could only hope their baby would be as cute and chubby as that one. Although, judging by the pink smock thing this baby was wearing, it was a girl... Not that he was partial to a boy, but thanks to Andie and Christopher, he had not been able to imagine anything else.

  Samantha looked at him, all smug and manly, reading his stupid magazine with the cute baby on the front. She was pissed. She could not believe that he had wormed his way into the examination room. No! So he could come to the appointment. So she would involve him a little bit more in everything. So she would call him the moment the baby moved. So he could watch while Belinda, Dr Creary's nurse, took her blood pressure and temperature and weight, and he could wait outside the door of the ladies’ room while she peed in the cup. But no! No, he could not be in the room when Dr Creary was examining her! She would have to lift up the blue gown thingy to be examined, and for the ultrasound. He could not be around for that particular show! She had to get him out of the room before Dr Creary came! Perhaps she could try to reason with him.

  "It is not a good idea for you to be in here now!" She told him in the calmest voice she could find. "Can you please just wait outside?"

  "No! I want to hear everything Dr Creary is going to tell you!"

  "Jeremy, this is an Ob/Gyn's office!” She told him in a firmer voice. "This is no place for a man!"