by Teisha Mott
He had told Nathan about it that night, and Nathan was confused.
“What do you mean you ‘almost’ kissed her?” Nathan had asked. “How do you ‘almost’ kiss someone?”
“Just that!” He had pulled out the sofa bed -- it had gotten easier with practice. He glanced at Nathan who was flipping through the channels, apparently searching for 3ABN. Nathan was lousy at remembering what number corresponded with what channel. “We were sitting in her room talking, then she was looking at me funny and then...” He could not bear to continue.
“So why was it ‘almost’? Did she freak out?”
“No, I did. I got up and left.”
Nathan’s eyes widened. “You got up and left? What wrong with you? You are here every day pining over her, and now you got a clear signal that something is happening in your favour and you get up and leave? Why?”
Jeremy did not know how to explain it. Nathan thought he had lost his mind, and frankly, he didn’t disagree. But he had his reasons. “Because we have been talking and getting on. She has stopped telling me to go away... She has actually been nice to me over the past few days. That’s the kind of progress I like, and I didn’t want to ruin it.”
Nathan could not see any logic in what he was saying. “What are you talking about? How were you going to ruin it?”
“It was like Infierno all over again. If I had kissed her, she was going to be alright with it now, then tomorrow she was going to regret it and hate me all over!”
“How do you know that?”
Jeremy sighed. “Because I know her, Nate, and this time I have too much to lose if she hates me. I have a relationship with my daughter on the line!”
“But she wanted to kiss you!” Nathan pointed out.
“She wanted to kiss me in Infierno too, and look how that turned out!”
Nathan shook his head. “C’mon man, you are over thinking this, and you are being paranoid!”
“I’m being sensible!” Jeremy disagreed. “Trust me, I want to be with her. She is the only woman I have ever wanted to be with, but right now she’s pregnant and hormonal and she doesn’t know what the hellshe wants. I have to make the bright decisions for both of us!”
“So what you going to do?”
“Not a damn thing more that pretend tonight never happened!”
Nathan had thought he was insane, but now Jeremy was convinced that he had indeed made the right decision by not kissing her. Look how weird she was acting now. How much weirder would she had been if they had kissed.
Samantha sighed and pulled her earbuds from her ears. “How much further?” She asked. “My butt is cramped.”
“You want to stop for a while so you can stretch your legs?”
“No, it’s okay. Just keep going,” she told him. “Your mother might be cross if we’re late.”
She meant to put in her ear buds once more, but Jeremy stopped her.
“Hey, are you cross at me?”
Samantha wrinkled her nose. “No. Why you think that?”
“Because we were talking and getting on, and suddenly you just turned creepy quiet and started ignoring me. Did I say something to offend you?”
“Everything isn’t about you, Jeremy!” Samantha informed him. “Sometimes, I just like to be alone with my thoughts.”
“I see!”
The Rav4 was quiet again for a while.
“So have you had enough of your thoughts?” Jeremy asked. “You feel like talking to me for a while again?”
Samantha shrugged.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Not particularly. I have a headache.”
“Perhaps you have a headache because you have been blasting music into your ears for the past two hours,” Jeremy suggested.
Samantha didn’t comment. She thought he may have a point.
“I was thinking about baby names…”
“Why? You have another baby mother? Because this baby is going to be called Caitlin!” She fiddled with the air conditioning unit. The car was remarkably hot. She realised it was not such a pleasant thing to be pregnant in summer in a tropical country.
“I know you said so, but I have been looking up some names on the internet. I really, really like the name Jada!”
“Well, you can name your next daughter that!”
“I just thought that...”
“Jeremy for God’s sake!” Samantha snapped. “If you want to talk, fine, but come up with a different subject, because I told you already, I’m naming my baby Caitlin!”
“Our baby!” Jeremy thought. He glanced at her, as she stuck her ear buds back into her ears.
The car was silent again. She said he could talk about something else. Maybe he should raise their ‘moment’. That would be a good subject for discussion. Clearly, they had both made an unspoken pact not to talk about it. Jeremy really wanted to know whether she thought about it as much as he did. But perhaps bringing it up might not be such a good idea. She might get cross because they almost kissed. Or perhaps she might get cross that they didn’t have another moment. He thought of the church service that Nathan had dragged him to a few Saturdays before. The preacher had spoken about Joseph, the poor guy who had to run from Mrs Potiphar. The minister in his smooth, ecclesiastical voice had said that ‘Joseph was damned if he did, and even worse damned if he didn't’. Somehow, at that moment, he could certainly empathise with Joseph!
Soon, not soon enough, they pulled up to his house in Ironshore.
“Is this it?” Samantha asked, as they pulled into the driveway.
“This is it!” Jeremy confirmed. He pulled up next to his father’s Prado. “Welcome to my home...”
She got out of the Rav4 without waiting for Jeremy to come around and open the door for her. So this was it. Somewhere behind those walls was Jeremy’s family -- his parents and his sister. In her own private world, her family, too. Jeremy had talked about them, and they sounded so cool. She was excited to meet them, and she really wanted them to like her. But now, all she felt was fear. She had told Jeremy that she ‘liked to be alone with her thoughts’, but in reality, for the past couple of hours, Samantha had been having a private battle with her nerves. She had gone to the restroom at Juici patties and that was where it hit her. Jeremy said he was taking her to see them today because he had no choice. Was he ashamed to introduce her to his family? Maybe his parents thought she was some kind of cheap trollop, who had carelessly allowed their son to knock her up. She knew his father was a Supreme Court Judge. Was he going to judge her? His mother was great with little children. She had her own crèche. Would Mrs Malcolm take one look at her and know she was a fraud who had no idea how to take care of a baby? She wondered, as she washed her hands, and as she listened to her iPod while they drove along, why on earth did she ever agree to come on this trip?
Jeremy sensed her trepidation. “Are you okay?”
“I’m nervous... I mean, suppose they don’t like me?”
Well this was new. Here was Samantha being vulnerable. Jeremy thought he would have preferred to drive down with the vulnerable Samantha than the self-absorbed one.
“Trust me,” he assured her. “You aren’t the only one!”
She looked at him. “Why areyounervous? They are your family.”
Before Jeremy could respond, the front door flew open, and a teenaged girl in short shorts and a very old Izzy cami bounced out. She was tall and willowy with a not very pretty, but interestingly angular face and a chin dimple just like Jeremy’s. Jasmine.
“Jeremy!” She screamed. “Mummy! They’re here!”
She was jumping all over the place like a puppy that had been let out after being locked up for days.
“Hi Samantha!” She screamed, taking Samantha’s bag. “I’m Jasmine! It is so nice to meet you! You are so pretty! And look! You've popped! Oh my goodness!”
Samantha was a bit taken aback, as Jasmine reached out and touched her belly.
“Jasmine!” Jeremy chastised. “Don�
�t be touch-touching her!”
“Why not?” Jasmine argued. She turned to Samantha. “Do you mind if I touch your little bump?”
“Well I…” Samantha began.
“People are going to be touching you all the time!” Jasmine interrupted.
“Yeah, well you won’t be one of them!” Jeremy removed his sister’s hand from Samantha. “You don’t go around putting your hands on people like that. It is rude!”
Samantha looked at Jasmine’s mortified face, and could not help but smile.
“Jasmine, I hope you are not out here harassing your brother and his guest!” Joan Malcolm said, coming outside.
Jeremy looked at his mother all over in smiles and beams. She was clearly in a good mood today, which meant his father was probably being super nice to her. He usually was, in the days coming up to their anniversary, showering her with presents and compliments, and it was as though those few days provided absolution for all the other days when he was being a perfect dick.
“Mummy, this is Samantha,” Jeremy said, introducing them. “Sam, my mother, Joan Malcolm!”
“Nice to meet you dear!” Mrs Malcolm said. She gave Samantha a hug. “Look at you, rounding out so nicely. I am so sorry that Jeremy took so long to take you down to see us! We have wanted to see you forever!” She released Samantha and looked at her again. “Beautiful, beautiful girl! I’m going to be a grandmother!”
“And I’m going to be an Auntie! Yay!” Jasmine screamed.
Samantha smiled. So much for them judging her.
Mrs Malcolm took her hand. “Come, come,” she instructed, ushering them inside the house. “I have set up lunch around the back, and Jeremy’s father is really excited to meet you…”
Samantha followed Mrs Malcolm, as she led her through the house and out the back. It was a really nice house, she decided. It was two stories, with a sunken living room that looked like a page out of Martha Stewart homes and framed photographs of Jeremy and Jasmine all over the living room .
Judge Peter Malcolm was basking on a lounge chair on the back patio, and pretending to read a legal brief while in actuality he was staring over the 20-foot swimming pool and admiring his home’s phenomenal ocean view.
“Peter, Jeremy and Samantha are here!” Mrs Malcolm announced.
Judge Malcolm pulled off his reading glasses, looked at the two new arrivals and smiled broadly. Samantha was taken aback. He was absolutely gorgeous, and she realised that Jeremy was the dead image of his father. Just like Jeremy, he was over six feet tall, and built like a rock. They both had that smile and those dimples... Even the chin dimple was the same. And Judge Malcolm had presence -- that little extra something that drew a woman’s attention and incited a closer look. No wonder, according to Klao, all the young attorneys, fresh out of Law School were so smitten by him. Just from a smile, she could sense his charm and his svelte. This was going to be her daughter’s other grandpa, and she liked him. She really, really liked him.
“Daddy...” Jeremy greeted his father. He wondered whether he could offer a handshake.
“Son,” Judge Malcolm returned. “We are so thrilled you could come spend an afternoon with us!”
Jeremy did not respond to his father’s sarcastic tone. He glanced at Samantha, wondering if she had noticed. She was too busy smiling and sizing up his father. He frowned. He wanted lunch to go well, so why was he annoyed that Samantha seemed to be taken in by his father’s charming façade.
“Peter, this is Samantha!” Mrs Malcolm stated.
Judge Malcolm finally got out of his chair. He gave Samantha a huge hug. “Samantha!” He said. “It is my pleasure to finally meet you, my dear!”
“Same here!” Samantha said, once the Judge had let her go, and she could breathe again.
“Come, have a seat next to me!” The Judge led her to the patio table, where his wife had laid out quite an impressive spread for lunch. “I want to hear all about you. My ridiculous son kept you hidden so long that his mother was sure he had made you up, just as an excuse to stay in Kingston all summer instead of here with us.”
“We would have come earlier, but...” Jeremy began, but his father silenced him with a wave of his hand.
“No one is interested in your excuses, Jeremy! She’s here now, and that’s what matters, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir!” He took the seat next to Samantha as his mother poured five glasses of her special pink lemonade.
“So tell me about you!” Judge Malcolm said. “You are at NYU?”
“Was,” Samantha confirmed. “MA Econ. I have one semester left. I took the year off for the baby...” She blushed a little bit.
Judge Malcolm smiled. “Of course. Let me apologise on behalf of my son for putting you in this unenviable situation. Sometimes he just doesn’t think, and, voila, the outcome of his idiocy!”
Samantha glanced at Jeremy. He was biting the bottom corner of his lip. He looked embarrassed. “Well it does take two, Judge Malcolm!” Samantha pointed out. “We both made a mistake, but I think Jeremy has really stepped up and taken responsibility.”
Judge Malcolm took a sip of his lemonade. “Of course he has! If nothing else I taught him managed to sink in, I would have hoped that stepping up and being a man when he needed to be would have!”
“Well it certainly did!” Samantha smiled. “He has been very accommodating. He comes to the doctor with me… We even watched the movie together although he was traumatised. I hope he doesn’t faint in the delivery room.” She glanced at him, hoping for some kind of witty comeback, but got nothing. Alrighty then. Suddenly he had turned into Sulky McSulkerson. She hoped he wouldn’t be like that for the entire lunch!
“Well, let’s eat!” Mrs Malcolm’s smile was rivalling Dr Creary’s in width. Samantha took the plate Mrs Malcolm handed her. She looked at Jeremy. He suddenly didn’t look very happy. She wondered if he was offended by his father’s banter about ‘his idiocy’. She was certain the Judge was just teasing. He didn’t need to be cross. She decided not to take him on. If he wanted to fruff, that was his business. She was going to enjoy Judge and Mrs Malcolm and Jasmine’s company, not to mention the impressive feast that was laid out. Jeremy’s mother could definitely give Theresa a run for her money. Everything looked really good! She helped herself to a huge serving of chicken salad, that Mrs Malcolm had assured her was made with eggless mayonnaise. Clearly, she had put much thought into what to serve.
Samantha noticed that Jeremy was becoming increasingly quiet as lunch progressed. His father did not address him, and he addressed no one. As the judge drilled her on NYU, her family, her hopes and ambitions, she tried to bring Jeremy into the conversation, but all she got from him was a series of monosyllabic responses and an occasional grunt. Even Jasmine occasionally nudged him, asking why he was so quiet.
“So exactly how far along are you now?” Mrs Malcolm asked.
“Twenty-one weeks,” Jeremy told his mother, finally saying something. “We are due December 27.”
“This is so exciting!” Jasmine sighed. “A Christmas baby. I want a baby!”
“No, you don’t!” Jeremy glared at her. “What you want is to finish University and get married then you can start thinking about a baby.”
“Are you getting married?” Jasmine asked pointedly.
“How is that even an issue?” Jeremy bit.
“Because the rules should be the same for both of us!” Jasmine returned. “If you and Samantha don’t have to get married, then I don’t have to get married.”
“Jasmine has a point, Jeremy!” Samantha said.
“Well, I asked you before and you said you didn’t want to get married!” Jeremy reminded her. “If you have changed your mind, it would augur you well to tell me!”
Samantha looked at him. If that was a proposal, it was certainly not the kind she was hoping to get. Did she want to marry Jeremy? She smiled to herself. Samantha Persaud Malcolm. That certainly had a nice ring to it. They could have a small intimate family o
nly ceremony on a beach somewhere - maybe at Round Hill -- before the summer was out. Her bridesmaids would be Andie and Jasmine -- although if she left out Klao and Bianca, they would malice her for life. They wouldn’t have a honeymoon, but every year on their anniversary, Jeremy would take her back to Round Hill -- just like his father did with his mother. Then, as a special wedding present, Jeremy would tell her of his decision not to go back to New York, but to stay right there in Jamaica, and work at Persaud Financials in New Kingston. They would find a nice, two bedroom apartment in Millsborough, and Jeremy would go off to work in the day and she would stay at home and take care of Caitlin…
“Do you know if you are having a boy or a girl?” Jasmine asked, interrupting Samantha’s daydream. “I really hope you are having a girl!’
“Yes, we’re having a girl,” she said, and was pleased to see Mrs Malcolm’s face light up with a smile.
“A girl!” She repeated, as Jasmine clapped with glee. “Oh my word…” She reached across the table and gave Samantha a hug. “Oh my goodness, a little girl…”
Samantha wondered how different her reaction would have been if she had said they were having a boy. “My sister and brother were dead set on a boy, but it’s not like we can plan these things in advance.”
“Of course not!” Mrs Malcolm agreed. She noticed Samantha’s plate. “But why is your plate empty? Please, please. Eat. You have to feed my granddaughter well!”
“You should name her Lorraine,” Jasmine suggested. “That’s my middle name.”