Enlightened (Red Flags)

by C. C. Brown

  "It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Bradley," I responded, feeling awful for her.

  She wanted nothing more than to have her family whole and functional again, but from where things stood through Jason's eyes, that just wasn't going to happen.

  "Come on in," she said, gesturing for us to enter the suite.

  I looked over to Jason who looked at me apprehensively, but took the first step and walked in.

  "Your dad is in the room. Come on back."

  We followed Mrs. Bradley back to the room and the sickening twinge in my stomach that I had felt earlier was back, sending it into violent convulsions. The air suddenly got thick and I found it hard to breathe. Jason seemed to be experiencing the same feelings that I was, as the hair that came down over his forehead was now stuck to his brow with the help of excess perspiration.

  Mrs. Bradley looked back to the both of us and smiled. She knocked on the door before twisting the door knob and letting herself into the room. A few seconds later, Mr. Bradley stood before us, and I watched as Jason stared into his dad's eyes, expressionless and cold.

  "Son…" Mr. Bradley said, not sure if he should hug Jason, shake his hand, or do nothing at all. He opted for the hand shake, which Jason returned.

  "Nice to see you, Cara," he said, lightly smiling in my direction. His greeting for me was nothing out of the ordinary. He wasn't overly warm and receptive to me back in Heath, so I took no offense to his demeanor now.

  "Hi, Mr. Bradley," I responded, unsure if I should hug him or not. I settled on a handshake, but he pulled me in for a hug, surprising the hell out of me.

  "I didn't know you'd have anyone with you," Mr. Bradley said, sounding annoyed at the fact that I was there. He looked over to his wife, but didn't say anything to her. "Come on in, Son."

  Jason looked at his dad with barren eyes. "We can talk right out here," he said, not budging in the least bit.

  Mr. Bradley looked over to me and then back to Jason. "Well, I think this is a conversation to be had with family. No offense, Cara."

  "None taken," I quickly responded.

  "She is family so she's staying," Jason quickly replied, tightening his grip on my hand. "Say what you have to say with her here or I go."

  I swallowed hard as I watched Mr. Bradley stroll out into the living room of the suite and grab a folder from the table. He walked it over to Jason before taking a seat on the couch.

  "What's this?" Jason asked, unlocking our hands to open the folder and glance at the documents.

  "Accounting reports for San Diego Bradley. You know, my company that you decided to shit on."

  Jason peeled his eyes from the papers and slammed them down on the table in front of him. He locked eyes with his dad as they shared the same angry scowl aimed at one another. I slowly stepped back until I was standing next to his mom, who looked like she felt as sick as I did.

  "You've been blowin' up my phone to chastise me about Bradley? You're un-fuckin'-believable."

  "Jason!" I shouted, hoping he'd remember that, even through his anger, this was still his dad that he was talking to.

  "Here I was thinkin' you wanted to talk about us, but I should have known better. All you've ever cared about was your company and your money. What the hell would have changed that between the gala and now?"

  "Part of what is affectin' us is Bradley. You've gone off and deliberately tried to sabotage my company. Profits are down dramatically thanks to this Tranny character you've put in charge."

  "You're a shrewd business man, why weren't you watchin' it?" Jason asked, in a condescending manner than even made me cringe. "Everything is all about you, this business, and your stature because of it. I would think you'd have eyes on all aspects at all times."

  His dad stood and moved in front of Jason. My heart beat picked up as I tried feverishly to catch my breath. I didn't want to see a physical altercation between Jason and his dad. I had seen enough with him and Jacob to make me sick for weeks. To watch a father and son throw blows was something that I had no desire to see.

  "You're a spoiled little shit and that's part of the fuckin' problem. I hear you sold the house. Congratulations! Where'd you go?" The level of sarcasm in his tone, mixed with the high degree of southern drawl, made me grimace. This wasn't going very well, and I couldn't imagine it getting any better.

  "Damn right I sold that house. I don't want anything from you. I'm moving on to bigger and better things, and I can honestly say that I'm doin' it all on my own."

  "A damn basketball team?" Mr. Bradley's brow furrowed and he laughed wickedly. "Son, there is no longevity in a semi-pro basketball team. When that fledgling league folds, you're goin' down and all your money is goin' with it. Don't look to me to help you pick up the pieces."

  "I won't be needin' your help!" Jason yelled. He was beginning to turn red, showcasing the fury coursing through his body as he readjusted his position and stepped further away from his dad. "I'm well aware that you've never done anything for me that was for my benefit, so why the hell would that change now?"

  I heard Mrs. Bradley sniffle and after looking over to her and seeing tears roll down her face, a few trickled down my own. It was so heartbreaking to see a father and son at each other's throats. My dad and Ryan had an amazing relationship, and it burned on the inside watching Jason stand toe to toe with his dad, screaming back and forth at one another. I wanted so desperately to step in the middle of the two of them and demand that they apologize and hug it out, but my better judgment told me it was best to stay out of it. Instead of playing referee, I put my hand on Mrs. Bradley's back and gently rubbed, hoping to alleviate some of the ache that we were both feeling.

  "What's the deal? I've been goin' to my meetings and I swore to myself that if I ever spoke to you face to face, I'd ask you, why? Why you've always put me last? Why you've always favored Jacob over me? What the fuck is the deal, Dad?" Jason yelled at his dad with a scorched tongue. Both men stood peering at each other with malice in their eyes. They weren't any closer to solving anything.

  "Why don't you ask your fuckin' mom?" Mr. Bradley growled. We all looked at Mrs. Bradley in utter confusion. "You're the golden boy, the perfect child, and it's always been that way with her."

  My heart lurched as I listened to what sounded like a seriously sick level of jealously from a father over his own son.

  "Jacob felt it. I felt it, too. You could, and apparently still can't do any wrong." He ran his hands over his hair, something I was used to seeing Jason do when he was angry and flustered. "You have no idea how hard it was for Jake growing up. If it weren't for me, he would have had no one. I watched you do all kinds of shit growin' up, but your mama was always there to shelter and protect you. I swore to her that you'd find yourself in a dump truck worth of trouble if she didn't step back with that shit. We almost divorced at least three times over you and your shenanigans."

  "What the fuck does that have to do with me?" Jason yelled. Tears pricked his eyes and as he tightly closed them, a few escaped, rolling down his now fire red cheeks.

  My own tears picked up, but I did nothing to try and contain them. My heart was broken for everyone in the room. This entire family needed some serious help, but I wasn't sure if they would ever be truthful with themselves and actually get it.

  "Jason is my baby!" Mrs. Bradley yelled, moving closer to where the men stood. "It was never my intention to alienate you or Jake, but when I saw the treatment that the two of you gave Jason, I had to protect him. You sure weren't going to do it."

  "You went overboard, Tina. That's how we each ended up with a kid. At times I wondered if you even realized Jake was yours, too, or that you had a damn husband."

  "Of course I realized that. I love both of my boys. Jake knows I've always been his mama."

  "But you were there for Jason much more. He fed off that shit, too. This fucked up situation is your doin'."

  Mrs. Bradley threw her face into her cupped hands and sobbed uncontrollably. Needle-like pricks hit my back
and made me move over to Jason's side, hoping that the touch of his body would alleviate the uncomfortable feel taking over my own.

  "This is all a case of finger pointing and jealously by two adults--two adults who should love their kids unconditionally," I said, no longer able to keep quiet. "You two seem to have been at this for so long that you have no idea the level of damage that you've caused your sons. They are broken because of you."

  Mr. and Mrs. Bradley looked back and forth between me and each other. Both of them looked guilt-ridden, but neither said a word. Jason stood with his eyes closed, breathing hard, but not speaking.

  A cell phone rang, bringing us all back into the moment. Mrs. Bradley moved across the room and dug into her purse, pulling her phone out and bringing it up to her ear.

  "Hello?" she said tentatively. I watched as her eyebrows rose in shock and she stuttered through her next set of words. "O--okay. Yes--yes, we're here. Take your time. See you when you get here." The three of us stared at her anxiously, wondering what seemed to have made her so flustered. "That was Mr. Miller. Stacey's in the hospital. She went into premature labor."

  All air escaped the room as it suddenly seemed to go black. A hammer-like pounding beat against the walls of my head as the dreaded words replayed over and over. An already bad situation was about to get worse. I threw my hands over my heart as it beat with the ferocity of a pack of rabid dogs. Stacey was about to have her baby, and somehow, I couldn't shake the feeling that my life was about to change because of it.

  Chapter 22

  "Cara… Cara!" Jason shouted. I looked into his sad brown eyes, but couldn't bring myself to move or speak. "We're gonna go to the hospital. You can take the Raptor back to the house and I'll call you when she has the baby."

  I snapped back into the here and now and just as I realized what he was saying, my face frowned in disgust. "I'm going with you," I said. "There's no way I'm gonna sit in that house, twiddling my thumbs, and wondering if that bitch is going to forever change my life."

  A spark of surprise rushed through Jason's eyes as he took a quick step back from me. "You still think that there is a chance that her baby is mine, don't you?" My breathing picked up and I wanted so badly to say no, but I couldn't… I couldn't shake the fact that an inkling of me still thought that there was a chance that Stacey's baby could be his. He shut his eyes and angrily bit down on his bottom lip.

  "I have no fuckin' clue how to make you see me for what I am. I love you and I'm devoted to you." He grabbed me by the hand and pulled me towards the door. "I can't wait 'til she has that damn kid. We're gonna settle this shit once and for all."

  We hurried out to the Raptor, his parents not far behind, loading up their own car. Jason sped down the freeway, angrily gripping the steering wheel as he switched lanes much too frequently for my liking. His dad was behind him, driving much of the same, and for a second, it made me laugh to see that, as much as they were at each other's throats, the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree.

  My phone rang and I looked down at the caller ID. Chelsea was calling and for a minute I thought about ignoring it, but with the amount of stress that she had been under lately, I knew if I ignored her, she'd just keep calling. I took a deep breath and answered.

  "Hello."

  "Cara. Where are you? Mila and I were going to see if we could pry you away from Jason for a girl's night. I need it."

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I really didn't want to fill Chelsea in on where I was headed. She could be so overbearing and judgmental and right now, I really didn't need it. "I can't. I'm busy right now."

  She laughed. "Okay. Look nympho couple, you have the rest of your lives for that. Come out with us. I need to relieve some stress."

  "Chels, I can't," I said hurriedly.

  "Whoa! What's the matter with you? Are you and Jason back to fighting?" I kept quiet, hoping she'd get the hint. "Cara! Cara, seriously, if you two are fighting, just leave."

  "We're not fighting, Chelsea!" I yelled. "We're on our way to the hospital. Stacey is in labor."

  She gasped and then went silent. Chelsea at a loss for words was definitely different. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.

  "Cara, you must be some sort of masochist. Why the fuck would you go to the hospital to watch Satan's sister have her baby?"

  "Because, Chels, it'll kill me to sit around knowing that this is happening and I'm off somewhere else, having it take over my thoughts. I'll call you when I know something."

  "Cara--"

  "Bye, Chels."

  I hung up the call and sat back in my seat, watching as we zoomed past the other cars on the freeway. Jason looked over to me with stern eyes, but he didn't say anything.

  Pulling into the parking lot of the hospital, Jason parked in the first open space that he saw. He jumped out of the truck, and I did the same, not waiting for him to come around to my side and let me out. We didn't wait for his parents. Instead, he took my hand and quickly walked us into the hospital.

  "Labor and Delivery," Jason spat out at the front desk receptionist. She gave us directions with a cheerful smile on her face, but our panicked expressions, and deep breathing didn't match, making her pull back on her glee.

  We hurried up the elevators and through two sets of double doors, finally making our way into the Labor and Delivery ward. A middle aged nurse, wearing stork covered scrubs greeted us at the desk. She had the same level of joy on her face as the receptionist from the ground level, but after taking in the expressions on our faces, she quickly turned serious.

  "How may I help you?" she asked, looking back and forth between both of us.

  "Stacey Miller," Jason said. "I think she's here and in labor."

  "Are you family?" the nurse asked, looking at us both with a concerned look etched on her face.

  Jason looked over to me and then back to the nurse. "No. We're not."

  "Okay. Well in that case, you'll have to wait in the waiting room. Please follow me." The nurse led us down the hallway and stopped just before the last door on the right. Go ahead and take a seat. As soon as family or the mother okays you into the room, we'll come by to get you."

  I looked at Jason and shrugged my shoulders. He pushed open the door and my earlier dream came flooding over me, numbing my legs and causing me to slightly stumble.

  "You okay, Cara?" he asked as he helped me up.

  "Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, not sure if it were true or not.

  The bright florescent lights glowed, causing me to scrunch my eyes upon entrance into the room. There were informational posters plastered to the walls, but there was one main difference--we weren't alone. Amy, Stacey's stalker friend, was sitting in the room, playing on her phone. She looked like a deer caught in headlights when she looked up and saw Jason and me standing there. I led the way into the room, pulling Jason behind me, and sat down in the seats directly across from her. She nervously sat in her chair, unsure if she should say anything or not. The awkwardness filling the room was beginning to give me a headache, and rather than sit there and torture myself, I cut through it, surprising the hell out of her.

  "Did you bring Stacey in? Is she okay?"

  Amy's breath hitched in surprise and she cleared her throat. "Um…" she swallowed, "Yeah. She was cramping really bad so I brought her to the hospital and they admitted her."

  "How long has she been here?" I asked, trying to get any information that I could.

  "At least a couple of hours. The doctors are watching all sorts of stuff, so I called her dad and I guess he's on his way."

  Jason looked up at Amy, but didn't say anything. Just as he stood and began pacing the room, his parents walked in. He and his dad made eye contact, but didn't say anything to one another. I watched his mom move over to him and gently rub his back, but she didn't take him in her arms like she normally did. This scene was all sorts of fucked up. Here I was, standing in the waiting room with my boyfriend, as his ex-fiancé lay in a bed, about to deliver a baby that I wasn't
sure if my boyfriend had fathered or not. His parents might as well have been strangers to him because the tension that came with their arrival sucked the air right out of the room.

  I let out a deep breath and sat back in my chair, throwing my head back and hitting the wall. Time felt like it was standing still, and the longer I sat in the room, the more claustrophobic I felt. The somersaults taking place in my stomach forced me to lie down, so Jason sat with me and held me in his arms.

  Waking up to the sound of the creaking door, I sat up out of Jason's arms and found Chelsea, Hunter, Mila, and Ryan walking into the room.

  "What are you guys doing here?" I asked, genuinely shocked to see them. Chelsea pulled me up and into her arms. Mila came to her side and they enveloped me into a group hug.

  "You didn't think we'd let you go through this alone, did you?" she asked with a look of consternation on her face. "You may be crazy as shit, but we love you, and we'll be here for you, Cara. Always."

  Mila nodded her head and then pulled me in tighter. I let out a couple of tears. Chelsea and Mila, whether they agreed with my decisions or not, were there for me. It felt amazing to have unconditional love showered over me, and for a brief second, I looked over to Jason's parents who were sitting together on the other side of the room and wondered why they couldn't feel the same thing for their own kids.

  Jason, Hunter, and Ryan huddled together near the door, chatting quietly. A smile passed over Jason's lips and it felt good to see him look relaxed and carefree. Our day had started out so beautifully, but in a matter of hours, it had gone from carefree to calamitous.

  Ryan and I made eye contact and he excused himself from the conversation and pulled me away from the girls.

  "How ya holdin' up?" he asked, pulling me into a hug.

  I wrapped my arms around his chest. "I think I'm okay," I muttered.

  "You don't have a damn thing to worry about, Cars. I know you still have a slight doubt about Jason and the baby--" I looked up at him, causing him to stop. "Jason told us." I put my face back into his chest. "That's normal and fine. But he is one hundred percent confident that it isn't his and I believe him. Just try your best to relax."