All the guests stiffened up and quieted as they heard the front door opening. “Hello,” Marlene said, and went over to hug Wendy and rub her belly.
It annoyed Wendy when people touched her stomach. Not only was she feeling the strains of having another individual grow inside of her, but she had also watched her stomach stretch out beyond recognition. Her hands, feet, and ankles were swollen; her back hurt, her head hurt, her legs cramped up, she had heartburn, and she couldn’t sleep well because the baby decided that he only wanted to kick during the night. On top of all of that, everyone she encountered—family, friends, and even strangers—took it upon themselves to rub her belly whenever they saw her and she just had to grin and bear it. She figured that she was getting paid back for all of the times she had done that to other expectant mothers.
Wendy had come over to her parents’ house with Kim because she thought she was going shopping for baby stuff with her mother and sister. Although Wendy had gone out and bought a fashionable maternity wardrobe thanks to Kevin’s Platinum Visa, today she wore just a plain, white maternity tank top with blue stretch shorts to make sure that she would be comfortable.
“Are you ready?” Wendy asked her mother.
Marlene stood with a big grin on her face.
Wendy glanced into the living room and saw that the furniture had been replaced with folding chairs and a futon. Marlene had borrowed some chairs from the church, and the futon had come from the basement, where the furniture was temporarily being stored. Wendy also noticed that there were decorations all over the place. “What is—” Before she could finish her question, the guests jumped out of their hiding places and yelled “Surprise!”
“Oh my goodness!” Wendy said, and covered her mouth with her hands. She was speechless for a moment. “I cannot believe you guys did this,” she said to her mother and sister with a smile.
“C’mon now, just because you said you didn’t want a shower you didn’t really think that we would give up that easy, did you?” Marlene stated.
Wendy shook her head in disbelief. “I should have known that y’all were up to something.”
Kim, still standing behind Wendy when everyone emerged, held out her hands in case Wendy was so startled that she fell backwards. Truth was, if Wendy had fallen, Kim would have been in big trouble. Her small frame could not have handled all of the weight her sister had adopted.
Wendy finally caught her breath and walked into the living room to greet the guests. “They set me up,” she said as she began hugging everyone. Marlene and Kim certainly had outdone themselves. There were pink and blue balloons all over the place. There were streamers, confetti, banners, and even a rocking chair in the middle of the room that had a sign on it: FOR PREGNANT WOMEN ONLY.
“I bet you had something to do with this too,” Wendy accused Gwen as the two women embraced.
“You know I’ll do just about anything for you, girl,” Gwen said. Yesterday she had done Wendy’s hair and put it up in a fancy french roll despite Wendy’s protests.
“Guess who?” Someone sneaked up behind Wendy and covered her eyes, not caring that she’d interrupted a special moment between Wendy and Gwendolyn. Gwen gave the lady a dirty look.
“I don’t know. Say something again,” Wendy requested. She didn’t recognize the voice.
“Don’t tell me you forgot about me that quickly,” the woman said jokingly before letting her hands go.
Wendy turned around, and her eyes got big. She was truly surprised to see one of her old friends, Natalie. “What are you doing here?” Wendy asked as she embraced her.
“Oh, so you don’t want me here? Is that what you’re saying?” Natalie teased.
“You know what I’m trying to say. I am so shocked to see you.”
“In that case, I suppose I’ll stay, then.” She smiled. “I see that someone has something cooking in the oven.” Like everyone else, Natalie took it upon herself to rub Wendy’s abdomen.
“Yeah, I don’t have too much longer to go.”
“I can see,” Natalie said, still touching Wendy’s stomach.
Wendy politely grabbed Natalie’s hand and squeezed it softly as people do when they are happy to see someone. It was the only thing she could think of to get her friend’s hand off her body. At that moment, Wendy swore to herself that she would never touch the belly of another pregnant woman as long as she lived. “I am still so shocked to see you. Are you still living in New York?”
“No, I moved back to town a couple of months ago because my mom is ill. I happened to run into your mother at Easton Mall. She told me that you were pregnant and that she and Kim were throwing a surprise baby shower for you. I gave her my telephone number and address and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Wendy hadn’t seen Natalie for over six years. She, Natalie, and Gwendolyn all had gone to high school together. Wendy managed to maintain her friendship with the two women despite the fact that they didn’t like each other very much. Gwendolyn had never trusted Natalie, and she didn’t like how Natalie always tried to be the center of attention. Wendy and Natalie had also attended Ohio State University together. After graduation, Natalie had moved to New York to pursue a modeling career.
The difference between Gwen and Natalie was that Natalie worked hard for the attention she got. For Gwen, attention came naturally; she didn’t go chasing after it. Not only that, she handled it humbly, unlike Natalie, who was vain. Ever since Natalie had her first car, her personalized license plate had the letters Q T PIE. Natalie could have invented the slogan “All Eyes On Me.” Natalie would never admit it, but she had always been jealous of the friendship Wendy and Gwen shared. That was why she didn’t mind breaking up their tender moment; she wanted her own.
“You look great,” Wendy said to her friend. Seeing Natalie was nice, but Wendy felt like a whale standing next to her. Natalie had on a tight spaghetti-strap shirt with capri pants and one-inch-heel sandals. She was tall and slender, with honey-colored skin. Her thick lips and small, narrow eyes gave away her mixed ancestry. Her mother was white and her father was black, although there was some Indian ancestry on his side of the family. Natalie had dark hair that she used to wear long. Wendy was surprised to see that she had cut it. “I love your hair.”
“Thanks. It’s very low-maintenance.” Natalie fluffed her fingers through her hair. “Your hair is cute too. Where’d you get it done?”
“Gwen did it for me. You know she owns her own shop.”
“Oh, I guess I’ll have to check it out sometime,” Natalie said, unconvincingly.
“I’m sorry to hear about your mom. What’s wrong with her?”
“She has cancer and has been having a tough time going through chemo. She’s been getting treatments for about a year now, but she’s getting progressively worse, so I had to make the move back this way, although I loved it in New York.”
“How was modeling going for you?” Wendy was happy that she could use being pregnant as an excuse for her appearance right now. There was nothing worse than seeing someone whom she hadn’t seen in a long time and they looked good while she looked like who-did-it-and- why.
“It was going okay. Not as well as I would’ve liked. I never made the front cover of any big magazines. Someone told me that I may be able to do some things locally, so I’m gonna look into it.”
“You two will have to play catch-up another time,” Marlene said. Everyone had been patiently waiting for Natalie and Wendy so that the party could start.
“Oh, sorry,” Wendy said. She had been so wrapped up in the conversation that she had almost forgotten there was a shower being held in her honor.
Natalie sat down on the futon next to Gwen. Although it had been years since the two ladies had seen each other, there was no love lost between them. They greeted each other, but it was more of a “Since you’re here I’ll tolerate you” hug than an “I’m happy to see you”one.
“Thank you so much,” Wendy said to her sister and mother as tears rolled
from her eyes.
“Hey, don’t you start that,” Kim said jokingly.
“I’m not crying,” Wendy said, and wiped her eyes. She very much appreciated her mother and sister. These days, it didn’t take much to make Wendy cry. It had to be the hormones because Kim hadn’t seen Wendy cry during her whole life as much as she had these last several months. Kim would not let her live down the day she went over to Wendy’s house and found her crying because she couldn’t get her hair to do what she wanted it to do. Kim had laughed so hard that Wendy had stopped crying and also laughed once she realized how ridiculous the situation was.
Kim kicked off the party by stating how excited she was about becoming an “auntie.” Everyone then took turns giving Wendy a baby blessing. The first game they played was “Name That Baby Food.” The guests were given a paper plate with eight samples of baby food. They were instructed to taste each one and write down what they thought it was. The person who could guess the most right was the winner. Wendy wasn’t eligible to win any prizes, so she didn’t participate. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to stomach the taste of baby food, although many of the women didn’t mind eating the fruits and desserts that they sampled. It was the vegetables, especially the peas, that distorted everyone’s face and had Wendy cracking up.
For the next game, Kim brought out a big bowl that had been filled with safety pins and rice. The object of the game was to see how many safety pins one could dig out in sixty seconds while blindfolded. Each lady was confident that she would succeed, but they were wrong. Although she couldn’t officially win, Kim made Wendy take part since she made a comment about it not looking that difficult. Everyone laughed hard as Wendy continued pulling out handfuls of rice from the bowl. When her time was up, she was sure that she had collected several safety pins. Contrary to her belief, there was not a single safety pin removed from the bowl.
Several other games were played and the ladies all had a ball. Wendy was having so much fun she didn’t even notice that her grandmother wasn’t there until Frances walked down the stairs.
“Hello, everyone,” Frances said in a bitter tone of voice. She had been upstairs in her room the whole time.
“Hey, Gramma,” Wendy said cheerfully. “Are you going to join us?”
“Oh, the shower was today?” Frances asked. “I had forgotten all about it. I’m sorry.”
Marlene and Kim both knew Frances was lying. Marlene had mentioned the party to her earlier that week, and she claimed she wasn’t going to come because they had kept her out of the loop when planning. She’d gone on and on about how she felt left out. She was still hurt because no one had told her about Terrance’s plans to propose to Kim on Christmas and everyone knew what was going on with Wendy and Kevin except for her. Although Terrance’s proposal to Kim had happened months ago, Frances couldn’t let it go.
When Marlene told her about the shower, Frances had said that she would probably be busy doing other things. Marlene knew she didn’t actually have any plans because she couldn’t go anywhere unless Marlene drove her. Marlene wasn’t in the mood for begging her mother’s participation, so she told her that if she changed her mind, she was free to join them. If Frances had truly forgotten about the shower, she would have been wearing her blue robe that she normally wore around the house. Instead, she was dressed in regular clothing.
“Well, that’s okay, Gramma. Have a seat,” Wendy invited her.
“I don’t know if I should. Your mama didn’t tell me about the party until Wednesday. By then, I didn’t have time to get you anything.”
“Gramma, you know I’m not expecting anything from you,” Wendy said honestly. She didn’t want to harp on the fact that Frances didn’t know about the party. If that was true, then she knew exactly why no one had told her. It was clear to see that Frances was getting ready to play the victim and try to have everyone feel sorry for her. Wendy was having a good time and didn’t want her grandmother’s attitude to ruin it, so she tried to ignore Frances’s behavior and make her feel wanted. “I’m just glad that you came down. C’mon and hang out with us. I think they’ve played all of the games, but we’re getting ready to eat in a few minutes.”
“Well, all right,” Frances said, and made her way to an empty chair.
During Frances’s grand entrance, Kim went into the kitchen to bring out the food.
“Hello, Sister Frances.” One of the ladies from church spoke.
Frances looked across the room and saw several church members there. She hadn’t thought any of them would come, since she hadn’t heard anybody at church mention a baby shower. She knew then that she needed to change her demeanor so they wouldn’t see how she acted outside of the church walls. “Oh, Praise God. It’s so good to see you all,” she said cheerfully.
“Are you feeling any better? Marlene was telling me that you’ve been having some chest pains,” another lady inquired.
“Yes, chile, I’m feelin’ much better. I’m blessed and highly favored of the Lord.” She waved her hand in the air like people did in church when they hollered Amen. Gwen, Wendy, and a few of Wendy’s other friends snickered. Watching Frances in action was pretty comical.
Kim walked out with the food just in time to see her grandmother’s performance. She looked at Wendy and shook her head. Wendy smirked at Kim as if to say Let the show begin.
“I take it you don’t know if it’s a boy or girl,” Natalie stated, noticing that everything was pink and blue.
“Actually, I do. I’m having a boy.”
“That’s what the doctor said. But she’s carrying that baby too high for it to be a boy. She’s having a girl,” Marlene interjected. She didn’t care what the ultrasound showed. She predicted a baby’s sex the old-fashioned way: Pay close attention to how the mother is carrying the child.
“My mother is in denial, as you can see,” Wendy said.
“Do you want her to have a girl?” Natalie asked Marlene.
“No, it doesn’t matter to me. I want her to have a healthy baby. I just know that doctors don’t always know what they’re talkin’ about.”
“Well, if it is a girl, Natalie would be a perfect name for her.”
Both Kim and Gwen looked at each other when Natalie spoke.
“Well, that’s not quite what I had in mind,” Wendy confessed.
“Okay, fine. You don’t have to name the baby after me since I’m already the godmother,” said Natalie.
Wendy forced out a chuckle, but she really didn’t think it was funny. She thought Natalie had some nerve expecting to be crowned godmother when the two hadn’t spoken for years. Wendy knew that Natalie was just being Natalie. She could be so self-centered sometimes that it used to drive Wendy crazy. They would have to start building a whole new friendship again. So much had changed since they had graduated from high school and college. Wendy was hopeful that before long, she and Natalie could be as tight as they used to be. However, Natalie still wasn’t in the running for godmother to her child.
“Sorry to tell you this, but Kim and I have already been selected as the godmothers,” Gwen announced purposely to get under Natalie’s skin.
“Oh,” Natalie said quietly.
“Why don’t you tell us what you plan on namin’ the baby?” Frances asked.
“I don’t really want to say yet. I haven’t settled on a boy’s name,” Wendy said truthfully.
“Oh, I’m sure you and Kevin have picked out some possibilities,” said Frances.
The mention of Kevin’s name infuriated both Wendy and Kim. At that point, Wendy felt like she could strangle Frances for putting her in an awkward position. Besides her family, Gwen, and a few others, the rest of the guests did not know that she and Kevin were separated.
Marlene could see Kim’s jaw tensing. She shook her head no to indicate that Kim needed to stay quiet and not make a scene. Wendy was now suddenly reminded of why she never wanted a baby shower in the first place. She didn’t want to talk about Kevin. She was hoping to get thro
ugh the shower without his name being mentioned. Leave it up to Frances to open that can of worms.
“Kevin—is that your husband?” Natalie asked.
“Yes. I guess it won’t hurt to tell you the names that we’re considering.” Wendy wanted to cry, but she wasn’t going to give Frances the satisfaction of embarrassing her that easily, nor was she going to risk her baby sister going to jail on her behalf. “The names we’re considering are Kevin Jamal Phillips Jr. or Kevin Michael Phillips,” Wendy said, trying to sound happy about it. She had been considering compromising and instead of having a junior, using her dad’s name for the middle name.
“What if it is a girl? Then what?” Natalie spoke again.
“I don’t think it’s a girl, but if it is, then I guess Maya Nicole.”
“That’s pretty,” Natalie confirmed.
Everyone else seemed to agree. The mention of Kevin’s name brought on other questions about him from Natalie. She hadn’t been around to know how long he and Wendy had been married, where he was from, or what he did for a living. Wendy knew Natalie was asking innocently, so she suffered through her questioning.
To break the cycle of questions about Kevin, Marlene announced that everyone should begin eating before the food got cold. The menu for that afternoon included a pasta salad, deli meats, cheese, crackers, pretzels, chips, and hot and mild chicken wings Marlene had made. Kim and Wendy had made a joke one time when Marlene had invited them over for dinner. Everyone knew that Marlene was an exceptional cook. Kim looked at Wendy and said that the food was so good, it made Kim want to slap the taste out of her mama’s mouth. Wendy laughed and said, “Go ahead.” It took a minute for Marlene to catch on to the joke but when she did, she laughed and told Kim that as long as she lived, she’d better not raise a hand to her. That was how good the wings were today. However, if Kim had the nerve to slap anyone, it would have been Frances for being ignorant.
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