“It’s all good. She’ll come around. But, anyway, what’s going on with you, being that I haven’t heard from your ass in a few weeks?” I asked him.
“I just been stressing lately because this shit with Yessenia has been taking a toll on me, man. I really feel like bailing, but I kind of blame myself for her being in this predicament,” he said, then ordered another shot.
“It’s not your fault, Keem, and you need to stop blaming yourself for her decision to take a life,” I told him, keeping it real with him.
“I know, man, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling just as guilty as she is,” he stressed.
He had been stressing since it all happened, and had even been depressed. What kind of friend would I have been if I had turned my back on him? I needed Jakiyah to understand that it wasn’t fair to ask me not to be friends with my best friend anymore. If she decided to forgive Yessenia, I wouldn’t judge her. I wouldn’t tell her that I thought that she shouldn’t write or visit Yessenia. Instead, I would be supportive. The woman whom I want to spend the rest of my life with was that woman who could tell me when I was wrong but could support me while I righted that wrong. That was the woman who Jakiyah was, but I didn’t know what the hell had been going on with her lately. I wanted to believe that the pregnancy was to blame for her being so argumentative and not conversational, like she used to be. I needed her to have this baby so that I could get my baby back.
“Fuck!” I mumbled under my breath when I caught sight of Kim and a few of my other coworkers walking in the bar.
Kim then walked right over in my direction. I honestly wasn’t in the mood for her bullshit. I was tired of telling her that I didn’t want anything to do with her.
“So, I got all your messages to leave you the hell alone, and I haven’t contacted you since, so why the hell did you report me? That’s some punk shit, acting like someone is obsessed with your ass. Trust when I say the dick wasn’t all that, and payback is a bitch,” she said before walking back out of the bar.
“Whoa. What the fuck was that about?” Keem laughed.
“That shit is not funny, man. This chick was harassing me after I kept telling her ass that I had a girl,” I told him.
“Well, did you tell her before or after you smashed that you had a girl?” he asked.
“Before and after, I think. Shit, I was drunk.”
“I can’t believe you cheated on Jakiyah after that shit Tamara put you through. I guess you just attract crazy broads.” He laughed.
“Whatever, man. Let me get my ass out of here, before I need a cab,” I told him.
When I got home, Jakiyah was in the kitchen, cooking dinner, and she seemed to be in a good mood. I wasn’t going to spoil it by saying anything to her. So I forced myself not to address her, but I wanted to. I was tired of this shit, because she really had no reason to be upset with me. I went upstairs, stripped out of my clothes, and took a shower to try to clear my damn head. While I stood under the streaming water, I decided I would go back downstairs to talk to her and see if we could get back to how it was before she received that damn letter. When I got back downstairs, I saw Jakiyah sitting on the couch, crying. She was looking at some papers in her hand, and all I could think was, What now?
“Are you okay?” I asked, figuring she must have received another letter from Yessenia that had her upset.
“You bastard, how could you?” she cried, throwing the papers at me. She raced upstairs.
I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. That bitch Kim had set me up. She must have followed me from the bar. I had thought I heard the doorbell when I was in the shower, but I wasn’t sure, but indeed, I had. That bitch had given her a printout of all our text messages, minus the ones with me telling her ass that I was involved with someone and it couldn’t happen again, because I had made a mistake while drunk. I went upstairs to try to talk to Jakiyah. She was packing a bag to leave, and my heart dropped at the thought of her leaving me.
“Jakiyah, don’t do this please. Let’s just sit down and talk about this,” I pleaded.
She didn’t respond. She just walked over to the dresser, took off her engagement ring, and left it on the dresser. She walked back over to the bed, grabbed her bag, and left the room. As much as I wanted to follow and beg her, I just figured I would let her go and cool off. I made sure to call Ty to let him know what had happened and to ask him to give me a call and let me know that she had made it safely to his mom’s house. I didn’t know what to do with myself at this point. I knew that I had fucked up and might have lost her for good for one night of some not so good sex.
Chapter Fifty
Jakiyah
When I left the home I shared with Qua, I was pissed off, and I’d just known that I was done with his ass. Two days had passed, and I hadn’t heard from him. He hadn’t been blowing up my phone with calls or text messages, and I had started to think that he was with that bitch, and I’d started to worry that he was done with me too. I had talked so much shit the night I got to my mother’s house, so I couldn’t even beg Ty to call him to see what was up with him. That would just make me look stupid.
I’d been having some cramping all day, and I just wanted to call Qua to tell him that I wasn’t feeling well. Then I realized I had lost that privilege, as he was probably hurt that I had taken my ring off. I had every right to be upset with him, but I should have at least heard him out—even if nothing he said would have changed how I felt about him sticking his dick into another woman. I simply should have handled the situation better. Did he deserve another chance? Probably not. And he should have been kissing my ass right now. Still, I honestly thought that he was fed up, that my ass had probably pushed his ass into the arms of that bitch.
“You need to stop wobbling around here, sulking, and call that man, before that girl lay it on his ass so good, you not going to have to worry about walking down the aisle with that man,” my mother said after walking into the kitchen.
“Mom, I’m not calling him. He cheated on me, remember?” I said to her, knowing I wanted to call him.
“I didn’t say that he didn’t, but I heard you for two days around here talking about how you were done with him and you didn’t want nothing to do with him. But let me be the first to tell you that your actions are speaking much louder than those words of yours,” she said.
She went on. “You expected that man to be here, kissing your ass, didn’t you? Since you been pregnant, I have watched you push that man away and argue with him about just about anything. Again, I’ll be the first to tell you that without communication, the relationship isn’t going to work. I don’t condone cheating, but you have to take responsibility for the part you played in it. And with that being said, go and call that man.” She laughed as she walked out of the kitchen.
I wanted to call him so bad, but something in me just wouldn’t allow me to make that call. He was the one who had cheated on me, so I just couldn’t do it. It bothered me that he wasn’t begging for me to come back, when he was in the wrong. And I swear, it caused me to have so many thoughts going through my head right now. I went up the back stairs to take my ass to my old room, where I had been sleeping for the past few days, because I was starting to feel pressure from this damn baby. I decided to lie down and to try to take a nap. Just as I was about to doze off, Qua walked in, looking sexy as hell, knowing his ass wouldn’t be denied, since he was looking that damn good. I was trying to pretend that I was still mad at him, when all I wanted to do was smile. He was standing there, and now I didn’t have to call him.
“Jakiyah, I know you probably dislike me right now, but I came here to say that I’m sorry. I don’t want to give no explanation as to why I did it. No excuse is going to make you feel any better, because the fact remains that I cheated on you. I waited a few days before coming to ask for your forgiveness and to promise you that it will never happen again. I want to be your husband, and I want you to be my wife. So I was wondering if you could put this ring back on and make
me a happy man again,” he said. Then he got down on one knee, with the ring in his hand, and reached for my hand.
“Jakiyah, the way your ass been around here, sulking, you better take that damn ring and put it on your finger,” my mom said as she stood in the doorway. Ty stood next to her, shaking his head.
I wanted to scream from the top of my lungs that I forgave him and that I was going to marry him, but I took a few minutes and pretended that I was thinking about it. He turned around, took a bag that Ty had in his hand, and handed it to me, saying it was a peace offering to help with my decision to forgive him. I opened the bag and couldn’t help but smile when I saw the vanilla-bean ice cream and a bag of party mix.
“Yes, Qua, I will put the ring back on, but we still have some things that we need to talk about,” I told him.
“I agree that we have to talk. So you go ahead and eat that nasty-ass concoction of yours, and we can talk after,” he said.
Qua and I had a very long talk, and I agreed that I would stop lashing out at him and would talk to him instead. We even talked about the Keem situation and his continuing to be friends with him. Although I wasn’t ready to be friends with Keem again, I agreed that he could be Qua’s best man, like he wanted, when we got married. I let Qua know that if he ever pulled a punk move again and cheat on me because we got into it, I was going to stop his ass from breathing, and I meant it. I packed up my little overnight bag, and I followed him back to our house, smiling all the way that he had come to me and had proved that he had made a mistake but that his heart was with me and only me.
I had forgotten to call April back. I had snapped at her earlier because it had seemed like she was taking Qua’s side, and I didn’t want to hear what she was saying about me, as it was the truth. She was the only friend that I had left, besides Chanel and Desi, and I loved her like a sister, so I didn’t want to lose her.
When I got home, all I wanted to do was soak in a tub of water, but I knew that Qua wasn’t going to allow it. So I took a shower and waited for him to finish his. Then he ordered out, and we found a movie we wanted to watch and sat and ate dinner in front of the television. Once Qua started massaging my feet, the movie started watching me. I fell asleep with my foot still in his hand. I woke up, like, three times that night to use the bathroom, because the baby was sitting on my bladder. After the last time, I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I turned the television back on and watched Flashpoint until I eventually fell asleep again.
Chapter Fifty-One
Qua
As promised, my mother was flying in today. I was getting ready so I could pick her up at the airport, as her plane was landing at noon. Jakiyah had been having contractions for a few days now. When she went to the doctor yesterday, she was already dilated one centimeter, so she’d been trying her best to walk the baby down, because she said she was ready. I had told her to let me dick her ass down, but she was all scared that I might hurt the baby, so I’d told her ass to keep walking then.
Once I picked my mom up from the airport, I had to break the news to her that my dad and his wife, Emily, were flying in tomorrow and would be here until Jakiyah had the baby. She was cool with it: she said that she didn’t have any problems with him or his wife and felt that the wife didn’t care for her. I just hoped that they got along. Even though my dad and his wife would be staying at the hotel, I still wanted them to come by the house to have dinner and to spend some time with us.
When we got back to the house, Jakiyah was attempting to make lunch for us, but I could tell that she was in a lot of pain. My mother told her to sit down and handed her a bottle of water. I wanted to take her to the hospital, but she said that her contractions were too far apart and that she didn’t want to go to hospital, just to sit on a bed, in pain. I grabbed a Corona from the fridge and joined her on the couch. I put her feet on my lap, and I rubbed her belly. I was nervous as hell, but I wasn’t going to let her or my mom know it. I’d grabbed the Corona to try to calm my nerves. I couldn’t believe how calm Jakiyah was being. This was her first child too, but I couldn’t tell.
“Babe, you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” I asked her again nervously.
“No, I’m going to wait it out. My doctor said that I shouldn’t go to the hospital until the contractions were at least five minutes apart,” she said, but I really didn’t care what the doctor had to say, because her ass was in pain.
“Jakiyah, I really don’t care what the doctor said. If you’re in pain, I think that we should go. I’d rather we be safe than sorry,” I told her.
My mom stepped into the room just then. “Qua, she’s fine. Come on and get some lunch. And if it makes you feel better, after we finish lunch, we could pack a bag for Jakiyah and the baby, just in case it happens tonight,” she said, then went back into the kitchen to set the table for lunch.
After lunch, I followed Jakiyah to the bedroom so that she could pack a bag. Once again, I stood back in awe: she was a pro at this. She smiled when she saw that I was hold Pampers and, like, five outfits for the baby in my hands.
“Silly, we are not taking those to the hospital. The Pampers are fine, but just grab a few onesies, some socks, receiving blankets, and that green and yellow sleeper right there,” she said, coaching me as I put the other things back and got what she wanted to go in the bag.
I was a newbie for real and needed to learn, and quickly, because my li’l man or li’l princess was going to be here soon.
“Babe, do you need these too?” I joked, holding up a pair of her thongs, which her ass had stopped wearing when she became pregnant.
“Stop playing, Qua. You know you love these,” she said and laughed as she showed me her granny panties.
I grabbed her and pulled her into my arms, being gentle. I held her and whispered thank you in her ear for having my baby. She was about to make me the happiest man in the world, because she was making me a daddy. And I was going to be the best daddy, even though I didn’t know how. I figured I would follow in my dad’s footsteps, because he was a great dad.
“Come on. Let’s go downstairs before your mom thinks we abandoned her to do naughty things.” She laughed as she pulled me out the door.
Later, we were all sitting on the couch, watching Madea’s Family Reunion, when Jakiyah yelled out in pain. I jumped up, in panic mode, and panicked even more when she screamed that her water had broken. My ass was losing it, and my mother had to tell me to calm the hell down, and she didn’t even curse. I rushed up the stairs to get the bag Jakiyah had packed, then rushed back downstairs to help Jakiyah to the car. My mom followed right behind us.
“Qua, stop pulling me and wait a second,” she said, bent over, trying to wait for another contraction to pass.
“I’m sorry, bae,” I told her, rubbing her back, as we all waited for the contraction to pass.
We couldn’t get to the hospital fast enough. I tried to be sympathetic toward her because she was in pain, but I wasn’t going to take too much more of her telling me to shut up. At a red light, I looked back at my mom, and she basically gave me that look that warned me not to say a word. So instead of talking, I grabbed Jakiyah’s hand, like I had seen done in so many movies, and tried to soothe her as best I could. When we pulled up to the hospital, I parked the car and helped her out, while my mom grabbed the bag. At one point, we had to stop again to let another contraction pass.
As soon as we got to the emergency entrance, they put Jakiyah in a wheelchair and wheeled her up to labor and delivery. I started to get excited, because it was happening. I stepped out for a second to call Jakiyah’s mother and Ty. I had honestly forgot to call sooner and let them know that we were on our way to the hospital. Her mom said that Ty was at her house and that they were on the way.
After I got off the phone, I stepped back into the room, and they were just putting Jakiyah on the monitor. Last month she had said that she didn’t want any medication during childbirth, but she was in a lot of pain, and I thought that she was going
to need something, because she was banging her head against the pillow. The nurse told her to do her breathing exercises, but she wasn’t trying to hear the nurse. So I stepped closer to the bed, took her hand again, and told her to do the breathing exercises, but she cursed me out.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Jakiyah
I was in so much pain that I wanted to rip the damn IV out of my arm and slap the shit out of this nurse and Qua’s fucking ass. I knew this shit was going to hurt, but I had had no idea that the pain was going to rip through my ass the way it was doing, and as much as I didn’t want medication, my ass was singing the medication song. When I saw my mother come into the room, I let go of Qua’s hand and started balling my eyes out for my mother. But another misconception that I had was that I thought Mama could make it feel better. I cursed, I screamed, and I cried for them to just take this damn baby out of me, because I couldn’t take the pain anymore. I heard my mother ask the nurse if they could give me anything, and she said that I had to wait until the doctor came and examined me. I lost it.
“I been here over thirty minutes now, so where the hell is the doctor?” I yelled at her ass.
“Babe, calm down,” Qua felt the need to say, and I gave him a look that shut his ass up quick.
Another doctor walked his ass in like he didn’t want to be there, and I was pissed off that my doctor couldn’t be here for the delivery. He told me to relax my legs so that he could do a vaginal examination, but I had to wait, because the contractions were really coming, like, seconds apart. When he said that I was dilated ten centimeters and I was ready to push, I was pissed. I wasn’t ready to push. I wanted something to make the pain go away, but he said pain medication couldn’t be given now. I swear, if I didn’t want this baby out of me, I would have closed my legs tight and told him to get out of my face.
Fifteen minutes later, I swear, I felt like I had been pushing forever, and his ass saying, “Just one more push,” was starting to get on my damn nerves. I had already given his ass at least six pushes. After one more big push, the baby was out, and it was a little boy. Once they removed him from my chest, I passed out. That was how tired I was, but I was proud of myself for getting his ass out. When I woke up, I was out of the recovery room and was now in a private room, and all my guests had gone, except for my baby daddy, who was sitting in the chair, admiring his son. He looked up at me with a smile so big, it warmed my heart, and I knew I needed to apologize to him for how I had treated his ass, because most women didn’t get this lucky.
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