Forever Waiting

by P. D. Stevens

  “I did. Why?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I find it very sweet and sad at the same time. Zaine, I’m sorry again. I know I messed up back then. But I was kind of messed up and hopefully I can make it up to you.”

  “Baby, you’re here with me, you’re having our child, and I could not be more happy than I am right now.”

  Zaine’s mom came downstairs. “Oh, what is that delightful smell?”

  “I made a quiche. Do you like quiche?” I asked, still anxious to please.

  “I love it dear,” she said. “Now how about you tell me more about yourself.”

  We made our way into the living room. Zaine brought in some quiche and we sat and talked for hours. She was so easy to talk to, and we had a wonderful flowing conversation. I told her about my family back home and she told me a little about her background and family too. At one point Zaine and Aaron disappeared and left us to get know each other. When I started to get up to get dinner started, Diane stopped me.

  “Before you leave me, sweetie, I just wanted to thank you.”

  I gave her a surprised look. What would she have to thank me for? “Thank me for what? I haven’t done anything.”

  “My son has never looked happier, and I think having you around has something to do with that,” she said. “So you have done something, you just don’t realize it. And when you have my grandbaby it’s going to bring new life to our family.”

  I was shocked, and stood staring at her. “How do you know?” I asked, then realized immediately what the answer was—Aaron. “I am going to kill him!”

  Zaine’s mother laughed. “Oh dear, don’t get mad at Aaron. He was never good at keeping a secret. When I asked him if there was anything new he blurted out that he was going to be an uncle. He’s very excited.”

  “We were going to tell you soon, I promise. I guess the secret is out.”

  Zaine and Aaron came up behind us. “What secret is out?” Zaine asked.

  Diane walked up to her son and gave him a teary kiss. “ I’m going to be a grandmother, and I am so happy for you! You two are going to make wonderful parents.” Aaron tried to head for the door, and Zaine looked at him like he was going to hurt him.

  “Oh, come on man! Can’t I tell you anything about my life without you blabbing it? This was our news, ass-wipe.”

  Aaron looked sheepish. “I’m sorry. Mom gave me that ‘I know something is up’ look and it just came out. But hey, at least you don’t have to plan some stupid way of telling her. How about we all go out to dinner to celebrate? I’ll pay. What do you say? I’ll call Tayla and we can pick her up on the way.”

  “All right! That’s enough groveling, Aaron. Just learn to keep your mouth shut from now on or we won’t tell you our next secret,” I said, rolling my eyes. His mother smacked him and told him stop and to walk her out to the car. She turned her head and winked at me and we headed out to dinner.

  We chose a quaint little Italian restaurant not far away from the house. It was one of Aaron’s favorite places to go, and the staff greeted him with “Mr. Brooks, so good to see you again sir” at least five times before we were sat at his “favorite table.”

  “Ah you have visitors with you tonight, and some very beautiful ladies, I see,” a stout Italian man named Enzo said, with the cutest accent.

  Aaron did the introductions. “This is my mother Diane and my brother’s girlfriend, Landrey.” Taking both of our hands he gently kissed them and started to walk us to our seats. Zaine sidled up beside me and took my hand from Enzo.

  I leaned over and whispered, “Please don’t tell me you are jealous of Enzo?”

  “No babe, just making sure he doesn’t get any ideas,” Zaine said, then winked. I rolled my eyes I took a seat next to Diane, and we looked over the menu.

  “Oh this looks good, dear. Eggplant Parmesan is my favorite. Do you like it Landrey?” Diane asked. “I don’t think I can eat the whole plate.” I said I would share it with her, smiling, but deep down I wanted a whole plate of pasta to myself. My appetite was out of control lately and I just wanted to munch all the time. I knew I needed to stop or I would end up like a beached whale.

  “Aaron did you get a hold of Tayla?” I asked. He placed his napkin on his lap, looked at Zaine, and then looked over at me.

  “She said she would meet up with us at the house. She had to stop and pick up something,” he said. I could see what Diane meant about him not being able to keep a secret. I could tell right away that something was up. First, Tayla never turned down a free dinner, and second, Aaron and Zaine kept on looking at each other like they were doing some Jedi mind trick. I ignored it and started to eat the salad that the waiter placed in front of me.

  When dinner was over, Aaron paid for the bill as promised and we headed to the car. While walking, we saw a long-legged women step out of a silver Mercedes and hand the valet her key. She turned around and my stomach lurched when I saw Stacy walking toward us. Zaine squeezed my hand for reassurance and Diane just gave a low muttered “Lord” next to Aaron.

  “Look who it is!” Stacy exclaimed in that fake, falsetto voice. “Diane, it is so nice to see you. When did you get into town?” She click-clacked her way over to us.

  Diane threw her best fake smile and said, “Oh, hello dear. How are you? I just got in this morning.”

  “Well, we have to go to brunch while you’re here. Zaine never mentioned that you were coming when he saw me at the market this morning.” Letting go of his hand, I looked at him with inquiry in my eyes. Stacy saw the movement and sneered at me. “Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t Zaine tell you we got coffee this morning? Whoops, my bad.”

  Zaine chimed in. “We never got coffee Stacy, you just happened to be in line behind me while I was getting a cup on the way out. Stop trying to cause trouble between Landrey and me.”

  Stacy drew herself up haughtily and replied, “I guess that’s the way it happened then, isn’t it, Zaine? But I don’t know who you’re kidding with this homely, classless girl you have on your arm. All she wants is your money. Getting pregnant by accident, my ass! This home-wrecker set you up. Do you honestly think she’ll make you happy? She doesn’t come from the class of people I do.”

  Diane let go of Aaron’s arm and stomped over to Stacy. “Listen here you little trollop. Landrey has more class in her pinky than you do in your entire body. If you don’t want me to smack that snide smirk from your face, I suggest you march your uptight tail inside and don’t look back. Her having my grandchild is no accident—it’s a blessing to our family.”

  Stacy recoiled, glaring at Diane first and then me. Without a word she walked away. As she was going into the restaurant, Diane called after her. “Stacy, dear. One more thing.” Stacy stopped and turned. “I never did like you, and the doctor did a horrible job on your nose.” We all laughed as she fumed her way inside.

  Aaron looked at his mother in wonder. “Mom! That was impressive. Where did that all come from?” he said.

  “I don’t have to pretend to like her now, because your brother finally saw the light. It was the perfect chance to let out three years’ worth of steam,” she said. I walked up to her and embraced her in a big hug.

  “Thanks, Diane. What you did was so sweet.”

  She started to giggle. “Landrey, I like you a lot sweetheart, but I have to confess I did that for both of us.”

  “Well, I know now not to make you angry,” I said.

  “Oh. I’m not angry dear. I’m content.” With that, we all got into the car.

  Tayla’s car was in the driveway as we pulled in. I turned to Zaine and said, “Tayla’s here. How did she get inside?” Once again the brothers played their Jedi mind trick.

  “Aaron gave her his key so she could get in,” Zaine said. I looked at the two of them, then decided it was hopeless to try to figure them out. Zaine opened the door, and I heard Tayla laughing with someone else, carrying on loudly.

  “So then I told him to leave because I don’t have time to b
e some dick’s sugar mama,” the second person said, and a big smile appeared on my face. Rounding the corner, there was Shay.

  Seeing me, she jumped up and yelled, “There she is! My bitch, my reason to breathe.”

  I remembered too late that Zaine’s mother was right behind me. “Wait a minute, how much have you guys had to drink?” I asked.

  Tayla came over and put her arm around me. “Well, surprise to you too! Here we are trying to bring you a gift,” she said, pointing to Shay. “And that’s all you’re worried about?”

  I whispered to her, “No, that’s not what I’m worried about. Zaine’s mother is here and you guys are acting like fools. I don’t want her to think you two are crazy.” I turned to look behind me, and realized that Zaine and Aaron had disappeared and Diane was coming around the corner.

  “Landrey. Honey, Zaine went to get some ice cream for us. I love a nice bowl of Ice cream before bed—it relaxes me,” she said. I already loved this woman. She reminded me of my mom a lot. Seeing my two tipsy friends, she said, “Ooh, who do we have here?”

  “Diane, this is Tayla, and this is Shay, my two best friends. Girls, this is Zaine’s mother, Mrs. Brooks.”

  “So nice to meet you girls, and please call me Diane.” Looking down at their drinks she smiled. “Are you ladies going to share some of what you’re drinking or do I have to be the prude of the group? Just because I’m older, ladies, does not mean I don’t like to have fun.”

  Clapping their hands in unison, Tayla and Shay grabbed Diane a glass of what appeared to be brandy. “Now we’re talking. We got us a new drinking partner!” Tayla said. Rolling my eyes, I ran upstairs and changed into some comfortable clothes, came back and wrapped myself in a blanket, and watched as my two best friends proceeded to be a bad influence to my boyfriend’s mother.

  Shay came and sat next to me while Tayla and Diane played a game of rummy on the coffee table. “You look bored to death, woman. It must suck not being able to drink anything,” she said sympathetically. “You all right? I mean, the last time I saw you I was putting your drunk ass in a taxi to take you home. Now someone’s tried to kill you, your cray-cray of an ex tries to win you back by attacking you, and you get knocked up. Can’t I take you anywhere?” Shay said with sideways grin.

  “Shut up!” I said, pushing her, and we both laughed. We joined Tayla and Diane in the game of rummy and it got ugly—or they got more drunk, more likely.

  “You cheated! You had that card hidden,” Tayla yelled to Shay.

  “Bullshit! I don’t have to hide any cards to whip your ass,” Shay replied. Diane started to giggle, then her giggle turned into a hard laugh with a snort, which made us all laugh.

  “Those boys have been gone a long time for some ice cream.” Diane said, wiping tears from her eyes from laughing so hard.

  “They have been gone for a while,” I agreed, since I was the only one sober enough to tell how long they had really been gone. “Do you think everything is okay?”

  “Don’t worry about my sons. They always did take forever to do something,” Diana reassured me. “They’ll be here eventually.” I was worried but had to realize I had to stop being scared about everything. Zaine was a big boy.

  Diane was tipsy and Tayla and Shay were now starting to speak in their own drunk language. It wasn’t even that late, and I figured I should try to get them to sober up a little, so I suggested a movie and grabbed some more blankets.

  About an hour later the front door opened and Zaine came in, ice cream in hand and stumbling. I walked over to wrap my arms around him and realized he was just as drunk as the ladies in the other room. Great.

  “Hey, baby. Where did you guys go get ice cream—China?” I asked, trying not to be annoyed. Zaine set the bag on the floor and pulled me in for a kiss. I could taste whiskey on his tongue, and his clothes smelled like cigars and his cologne. “I see you made a pit stop on your way to get ice cream,” I said as he kissed my neck.

  “You’re not mad at me, are you babe?” he asked.

  “No. I just wish you would have called. I was bored here,” I lied.

  Zaine pulled away from me to look in my eyes skeptically. “How can you be bored with my mom and your friends here? I left you in good hands.”

  Smiling, I dragged him to the living room where the three ladies that were my company were laying passed out, sleeping like babies. “My friends are a bad influence on your mom,” I said, grinning. “She started drinking with them. It was quite entertaining, actually.”

  “My mother got drunk with Tayla and Shay?” Zaine was incredulous.

  “Yep. And she was having fun too.” With a small chuckle, he reached into his pocket for his phone. “Who are you calling?” I asked.

  “Calling? I’m not calling anyone. I just wanted a picture of my mom passed out. Aaron and Ryan will never believe me. This is hilarious!” He snapped his picture and set his phone down. “My mom doesn’t usually have this kind of fun, so it’s actually nice to know she did.”

  I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Let’s get that ice cream into the freezer,before it melts,” I said. Smiling, he grabbed the bag of ice cream and we went into the kitchen. He took out several small pints, one of which caught my eye. It didn’t look like it was from the frozen section of a grocery store. I picked up the purple tub and looked at the name of the flavor. “I scream and cream,” I read out loud. “What kind of ice cream is this, Zaine? I’ve never heard of this flavor before.”

  “Aaron and I stopped by the bar, as you can tell, and on the way back we passed an adult novelty shop. Aaron wanted to stop in because he ran out of some special oil he likes to use…” I raised my eyebrows at him. “Don’t ask—I didn’t want to know, so I wandered to what I thought was a soda cooler to get a drink. They had these tubs of ice cream in there so I picked one up. The guy behind the counter told me that under the lid there’s a little booklet that tells you different ways to a eat the ice cream off of your partner, so I figured we could give it a try. You pregnant people do crave ice cream, right?”

  I nodded my head and felt my face flush. Eating ice cream off my man would be fantastic; him eating off it of me would be even better. “So when do you want to use this I scream?” I asked flirtatiously. Zaine looked around the room, then looked back at me.

  “Everyone is asleep. Why don’t we try it now? That is, if you’re hungry?”

  “Zaine, I am always hungry for you, so you don’t have to worry about that,” I said, licking my lips. We made our way upstairs with the ice cream. Zaine backed me up into the bed and I fell backwards.

  “I can’t wait to see what flavor this is, but I know the flavor that will be underneath the ice cream will be the best.” Opening the container with a sly look of anticipation, Zaine wasted no time. He slid my pants over my hips and threw them over his shoulder, then dove right in, parting my folds and finding my clitoris. He sucked it so gently it drove me crazy. He put one finger inside of me and moved in and out. The cold of the ice cream sent a shiver up my spine as he dished it out onto me. “Yum” was all he said before he dove in for his midnight snack.

  The next morning was interesting. I got up early and made some bacon, eggs, and waffles with fruit and coffee. I knew everyone but me was going to feel their Friday night. Diane was the first one to come into the kitchen. “I smell coffee,” she said, holding her head. I got her an aspirin and some water.

  “How are you feeling this morning, Diane? I hope my friends didn’t get you too intoxicated. They like to have fun, sometimes too much,” I said as I started to get her a cup of coffee.

  “I have not had that much to drink since the night before I married Zaine’s father,” she said. “I was so nervous I drank a whole bottle of gin, and I had all I could do not to vomit all over my wedding gown.” I looked at her, shocked, and smiled.

  “How did you get through the day?” I asked.

  “I knew I had to, dear. My family didn’t have a lot of money so I knew my mom would kill me if
I threw up all over the gown. Plus, I really couldn’t wait to see that handsome man at the end of the isle. God, he was gorgeous—still is. It’s too bad he couldn’t have been here with me to meet you and welcome you into our family. I know he’ll just love you.” I could see the love she had for husband in Diane’s eyes. It was so sweet.

  Zaine came in and wrapped his arms around me. “Is that waffles and bacon I smell?”

  “It is. How are you this morning?” I asked, fixing him a plate of food.

  “Well, I had the best dessert last night after dinner so I feel mighty fine this morning. How are you feeling? How’s our little man doing in there?”

  “I feel fine, but you know we could be having a girl. You don’t know it’s a boy.”

  “We have no women in our family besides my mom and my aunt on my dad’s side,” Zaine informed me. “Everyone has had boys, all of them.”

  Diane piped up from behind her coffee, saying, “It’s true, no girls. It would be nice to have one, but I have a feeling there’s a little man in there too.”

  “Well, we’ll see in about six months. I already feel like a cow, and I am starving all the time,” I said, putting a piece of bacon in my mouth. I set Zaine’s plate in front of him and went to the living room to check on my two troublemakers.

  I laughed so hard when I saw them. Tayla had her mouth wide open, drool dripping down the side of her face, and Shay looked at me through one eye. “Who hit me in the head last night?” she said, lifting her head slowly off the couch. I shut Tayla’s mouth and sat down.

  “Now that you’re not two sheets to the wind I can say ‘Yay, you’re here!’ How did you get here?” I asked.

  “Apparently I’m supposed to be one of the surprises from your man. He asked Tayla who you would want here if something life-changing was going to happen, and Ta da! Here I am.” I remember that he had said there were a bunch of surprises for me. I’d just figured it was little things. I’d never dreamed it would be my best friend.

  “I’m glad you’re here, and as you said last night, I’m knocked up. Can you handle being an auntie?” I asked.