Leon drew in a slow breath. “Do I need to get a stack of dollar bills ready?”
I paused long enough to bat my eyelashes at him. “You might want to make it two stacks. Tonight I plan to drop it like it’s hot.” I cooed and then dipped down, winding my hips seductively, giving my husband a quick demonstration. “Speaking of tonight’s entertainment . . . can I have some extra money?” I asked in a whiny voice.
“No problem,” he said, and reminded me of one of those bobblehead dolls. “I’ll transfer five hundred dollars into your account just as soon as I get done making breakfast.” He walked over and flipped the waffle iron and I gazed down at the golden brown cake.
“Thank you, baby.” I kissed his lips and gave him a little tongue, hoping he’d decide to transfer a little extra. My husband was rich but stingy at times. He said he didn’t get rich by letting his wife spend all our money. I guess there was some truth in that. My money was my money, but his money—Leon actually gave me an allowance, and a hefty one at that. It’s just with the lifestyle I was accustomed to, it was never enough. So in order to pull Leon’s purse strings, I had to serve up a little extra Ms. Netta from time to time.
“Baby, I won’t be too late. Zakiya’s planning to meet me after church and we’ll probably have dinner while we’re in Williamsburg.”
He nodded. “See ya tonight.” He kissed me one last time.
“Absolutely,” I purred.
I grabbed another slice of bacon and was walking through the foyer when my head started spinning. I reached out for the bannister and cried out to Leon; then I felt myself falling and everything went black.
I don’t know how long I was out before I finally opened my eyes and found myself in a strange room. I sat up straight and realized I was in a hospital bed. What the hell?
“Oh, thank you, Jesus! You’re finally awake!” Leon cried, then sprang from a tacky-looking chair in the corner with a sigh of relief.
“What happened?” I asked while I glanced down at the slender watch next to the hospital bracelet on my arm and noticed it was almost five-thirty. Had I really been out that long?
“You fainted, and scared the hell out of me. I carried you to my car and drove you straight to St. Mary’s.” He stroked my hair affectionately, then lowered his lips to my forehead. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been that scared before in my life.”
I heard a light knock at the door and then a woman wearing blue scrubs with a stethoscope around her neck burst into the room. “Well, I’m glad to see the patient is finally awake!” she said with a sincere grin. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired. Thirsty,” I mumbled. I quickly looked around the room for a mirror and was pissed there wasn’t one. There was no telling what kind of hot mess I looked like.
“Dr. Bey, what did the test say? What’s wrong with my wife?” Leon insisted and squeezed my hand.
“Uh . . . Dr.—” Before I could stop her from doing what I was certain she was about to do, Dr. Bey said the last thing I ever wanted my husband to hear.
“Congratulations. You’re pregnant.”
Leon’s eyes traveled from me to her. “What . . . did you just say my wife is pregnant?”
Bitch.
Leon stumbled over to the chair and took several deep breaths. Clearly, he was stunned to hear the words he’d been waiting a decade to hear. Words I never wanted him to hear.
“Whoo-hoo!” he shouted, and scared the crap out of me. Leon sprang from the chair, hurried around the bed, and hugged me close. I quickly put on a fake smile.
“Pregnant, huh? I had no idea,” I lied.
That thirtysomething–looking brunette smiled like she had just told me I had won the lottery. What I wanted to do was reach across that bed and slap the crap out of her for telling my business. Did she ever think that maybe I didn’t want him to know? Some people can be so inconsiderate at times.
She and Leon were talking while I lay there feeling sorry for myself. Why in the world did things like this always happen to me?
What I could never get Leon to understand was I never had any intention of being someone’s mommy. He wanted a wife and a mother to his children, but I was just too cute to be contained.
“. . . She’ll need to make an appointment to see an obstetrician. In the meantime, I want to start her on some prenatal vitamins.”
Prenatal vitamins? After that I really didn’t hear a word she said. This was like a bad dream or some shit. I was supposed to be in Williamsburg at the Hampton Inn with my legs in the air and Jrue on top of me, not lying in a damn hospital bed with an IV in my arm. Speaking of Jrue . . . I’m sure he was worried sick wondering where the hell I was. Thank goodness I left my phone off when I was at home. The last thing I needed was for Leon to have picked it up and accidently read some of the nasty text messages Jrue and I sent each other.
As soon as Dr. Bey left the room, Leon took a seat on the bed beside me, grinning like a damn fool. “Netta, I can’t believe it! We’re finally going to have a baby.”
I shook my head, still in a daze because this was not at all supposed to happen. “Yeah, I can’t believe it either.” Especially since I still planned to get rid of the baby next Monday. Someway, somehow, I would just have to fake a miscarriage or some shit. Then when I screamed at Leon that I was bleeding and he rushed me off to the hospital, I would have to threaten the doctor who examined me that if she breathed a word of what I had done, I’d sue her and the whole damn hospital. I remembered reading something about doctor–patient confidentiality.
“How about we go to Virginia Beach next weekend? I want to spend some time pampering my wife,” Leon suggested. “We can stay at the condo.”
“Pampering, huh?” I guess I could just enjoy the next week with Leon believing he’s about to become a father. Nothing wrong with milking it for everything that it’s worth. Then the following Monday I’d still sneak to the clinic in Norfolk and terminate the pregnancy.
Trust me. There was no way in hell I would change my mind. The sooner it was over, the better.
7
Nikki
“Something sure smells good.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Donovan. I had just removed a piping-hot pan of lasagna from the oven. “Dinner should be ready in a few minutes.”
“I can’t wait ’cause a brotha is starving.” He stepped over, kissed my lips, and I savored the feel of my man’s mouth on me. “While that cools I’m gonna take Aiden out on the porch and let him play with his ball.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” I nodded.
“Come on, Aiden,” Donovan called into the other room.
“Okay, Daddy!” Aiden yelled as he made a mad dash toward the door with Rudy at his heels.
After I heard the door shut, I popped some garlic bread in the oven and caught myself humming. The past week had been amazing. Donovan was back at the barbershop taking appointments and hanging out with his boys. And did I mention the sex? Ohmygoodness! The brotha was satisfying his wife on a regular basis, and in fact, he had been putting in a little extra. Just last night he sucked my toes until I had tears in my eyes! Nope, I don’t have any complaints at all.
But I’m not going to lie. There have been moments when I saw him staring off in space. And also he’s still drinking a little more than I liked, but at least he’s making an effort to transition himself back into the real world and make things feel as normal as possible at home with his family, and that’s all anyone can ask for.
The house phone rang and I walked over and grabbed it. I didn’t even bother to look down at the caller ID, but whoever was on the other end was bawling.
“Hello?”
“N-Nikki!”
“Netta, is that you?” My pulse started racing like crazy. I’ve known her a long time and I have rarely ever heard Trinette cry.
“Nikki . . . w-what am I going to do?”
She had me so scared I had to take a moment to catch my breath. I walked over to the kitchen table and to
ok a seat. “Calm down and tell me what’s wrong.”
“I really am pregnant!”
“Dammit, Netta. Don’t you ever scare me like that again!” I snapped. “Don’t you know you had me thinking something bad had happened?”
“Nikki, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m just so confused right now. I feel like I’m going to lose my mind.” She then blew her nose in my ear.
“Trinette Montgomery is pregnant. Ain’t that some shit.” Even though she had already suspected she might be pregnant, just hearing her confirm her suspicions was a shocker. Trinette and pregnancy were just two words I never expected to hear in the same sentence. “Are congratulations in order?” I asked.
“Hell no!” she screamed into the phone. “What’s there to be happy about? Other than you, nobody knew I was pregnant and I planned to keep it that way. Then before I could have the abortion, I fainted and Leon found out the truth. I should sue that hospital for telling my damn business.”
I was feeling brain overload. “Wait a minute . . . you scheduled an abortion?”
“Yes, of course. I told you I would. I mean . . . come on. What do I look like carrying a baby for nine months?”
Yeah, she did have a point. “So what are you going to do now that Leon knows?”
“Well . . . I had planned on still getting that abortion, b—”
“Hold up!” I shook my head. “Even after Leon found out the truth?” I told you that girl’s crazy.
“Would you just listen?” she hissed.
I blew out a long breath. “I’m listening.”
“Before you rudely interrupted, I was saying I had gone to get the abortion and I was lying on that table with my legs spread, then realized I just couldn’t go through with it.”
“What? You mean to tell me my best friend, the Tin Man, really does have a heart?” Oh, hallelujah! Trust me. It was a shocker, because the only person Trinette has ever cared about was herself.
“I know, right. But it’s all their fault. At the clinic, they make you wait so damn long before it’s your turn that you get to thinking, and I started thinking about my mama and how she had all five of us when what she should have done was aborted a couple of my brothers.” She gave a lackluster laugh. “Anyway, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It was like I suddenly got scared that God was going to strike me down.”
“Netta, I didn’t even know you knew who God was?”
“Come on, Nikki. I’m serious! I was on that table and started shaking; then the next thing I knew, I was running out that room like Flo Jo and grabbing my clothes.”
I couldn’t help it, I started laughing. “Good for you. You know how I feel about abortions.”
Trinette blew a frustrated breath in the phone. “I know, I know, but now what am I going to do? Leon thinks I’m carrying his baby.”
“Are you?” Because inquiring minds wanted to know.
“I don’t know,” she groaned. “I seriously don’t know. My gut says this baby belongs to Jrue. Hell, the way that dude was stroking me deep, he was shooting damn near more bullets than Leon.”
That girl was forever giving me too much information. “Does Jrue know you’re pregnant?”
“Hell no, and I want to keep it that way, but I don’t know how I’m going to get around it. Eventually I’ll start showing and then the truth will come out for sure.”
I shook my head because only Trinette could get herself in a mess like this. I told her that at some point her past would catch up with her, but as always she thought she was unstoppable.
“I just can’t believe this is happening to me,” she wailed.
I rose and started setting the table for dinner while she talked about all the reasons why a baby was not something she needed in her life. I have to admit that for once Trinette was right. She doesn’t need a baby, because her ass was way too selfish. To be honest, I feel sorry for Leon. He’s a good man and all he has ever done was loved that girl with everything he’s had, yet all she does is run over him. Ain’t nothing worse to me than a weak man, and Netta is definitely Leon’s kryptonite.
“Trinette, it could be a lot worse. At least Leon is excited over the news.”
“Yeah, but . . . what if the baby isn’t his?” she asked, and I could hear the fear in her voice.
“Do you think he would even know the difference?” Goodness, I couldn’t even believe I had said that.
After a long pause, Trinette started laughing. “You’re right. That baby could come out looking like Shemar Moore and Leon would swear up and down the child got his good looks from him.”
I laughed right along with her and was glad to see her coming out of her shell. Nothing was worse than a depressed Trinette. I remembered that one time Leon had found himself some balls and ended their relationship. I had never seen Trinette so broken up over that man. Especially after the way she had been treating him, messing around with everything with three legs and a lucrative bank account. Eventually she had come to her senses and begged Leon to take her back. If he had asked me, I would have told him to make her ass sweat for a while, but not Leon. The second she promised to be a faithful wife and sit down and have some babies, he took her back with open arms. Trinette had been faithful for a year and a half and then look what happened.
“Ohmygoodness! Nikki, you’re so right. I don’t even know why I’m tripping. Leon loves me too much to question anything! He’ll fall in love with my child and would do anything in the world for me. I’m definitely having him hire a full-time nanny to help take care of this baby.”
I rolled my eyes. Now that’s the Netta I know.
“What did the doctor say about your kidney?” A couple of years ago Trinette had done an unselfish act of donating one of hers to her mother.
“She said something about my kidney not being directly involved with the reproductive system, but there’s still a chance that a full term pregnancy may cause a strain on my remaining kidney.”
“Oh no! That doesn’t sound good.”
Trinette blew out a dismissive breath. “I’ll be fine. Dr. Brown said she’ll keep a close eye on it. But since I’m in such good health she didn’t seem overly concerned.”
I had to smile at the suddenly positive attitude. “Well, then that’s one less thing we have to worry about.”
I heard laughter on the porch and remembered my husband was waiting anxiously to eat. “Look, I better let you go so I can get dinner on the table. I’m happy for you, Netta. Just hang in there and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” I hung up the phone and grabbed the tossed salad from the refrigerator and carried it over to the table. Once everything was ready, I stepped out onto the porch and was surprised to see Lorenzo Wade standing there. He and Donovan owned the barbershop A Cut Above the Rest. He looked spooked when he saw me.
“Hey, Nikki.”
I took in his freshly creased jeans, wifebeater, and clean white Air Force Ones. He was a tall, cocky dude with peanut butter brown skin, short dark hair, and a beard that he kept fresh. Lorenzo and Donovan had been friends since high school. I could only stomach his cocky attitude in small doses. But if he’s the reason why my husband was laughing, something I hadn’t heard in a while, then I guess I would learn to tolerate Lorenzo just a little more.
“What’s going on? You here for dinner? I made plenty.” I even gave him a half smile. That fool looked dumbfounded.
“Uh . . .” His voice trailed off as he glanced nervously over his shoulder at Donovan, who was sitting on one of my wicker chairs, playing ball with Aiden.
“Nah . . . baby. Lorenzo just stopped through for a sec to holla at me.”
Something was going on. Donovan was looking everywhere but at me. Lorenzo, I noticed, kept glancing down at the corner. I followed the direction of his eyes and at the end of the block I saw a familiar white car with tinted windows pull to a complete stop. Lorenzo saw it, too, and started grinning like a damn fool.
“Yo, Donovan, I’m gonna run up the street for a se
cond. I’ll be back.” He tried to sound as convincing as possible, but I knew better and he knew it, too, that’s why he dropped his head and hurried off my porch and down the sidewalk.
I felt my eyebrow inching up. “What’s he up to?”
Donovan met my gaze with a blank stare, then handed Aiden to me. “If Tammy calls, he’s over here having dinner with us.”
“Say what?” I said with attitude. “So now we’re covering for folks?”
I leaned over the edge of the porch so I could see past my neighbor’s large tree. Lorenzo made it down to the corner and hopped into the passenger’s seat. As the car drove slowly past my house, I felt like my jaw hit the ground.
“What the . . . ?” I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Did those two know his wife was crazy?
I turned and followed Donovan and Rudy into the house and lowered Aiden to his feet. Instantly, he raced over to his toys. “Do you know whose car he just got in?” I asked, and with good reason.
My husband headed into the kitchen shaking his head. “Nah, he’s seeing some chick and asked me to cover. All I know is she’s picking him up on the corner.”
A smile curled the corners of my mouth as I walked into the kitchen and washed my hands. Lorenzo wasn’t meeting some chick. That white Impala with the tinted windows belonged to Tristan.
8
Trinette
For the past two weeks I have been trying to think of a way to end my relationship with Jrue. Yet every time he touched me, and I felt all eight inches of that chocolate goodness sliding inside of my body, for the life of me I could barely find the strength to even whisper his name. I knew I had to end the affair and focus on my husband and the baby, but part of me wanted to hold out until the last possible second. Mainly because, dammit, it wasn’t fair. I had finally found a man who made me feel like the woman I knew I could be. He is the man I had been waiting all my life for, and what happened, I can’t even have him. I swear to you someone up above is truly testing me.
Consequences Page 5