Danielle: Shiiiit!
Malcolm: Red, breathe, baby.
Danielle: Oh God!
Malcolm: Baby, just breathe … come on, breathe with me.
Danielle: I need a fucking epidural!
Dr. Zara Harlow: I’m sorry, Danny, but it’s too late for us to give you one. You’re going to have to push this one out au naturel. And here I thought you were tough.
Danielle: Aunt Zara, I can’t do it.
Dr. Zara Harlow: The longer you fight it, the lower your baby’s heart rate is going to get. If it gets too low we’ll have to cut her out of you. Now, she’s stuck in your passage so this will get tricky. I really need you to push.
Malcolm: Danielle, just push. Come on.
Danielle: It’s not easy, Malcolm!
Malcolm: Danielle, I get that. Okay? But the baby’s heart rate is dropping.
Dr. Zara Harlow: It’s at 100. Nurse, get the surgery team ready. You hear that, Danny? You’re about to be cut open if you don’t push this little girl out. Or worse, she’s not gonna make it.
Danielle: Fuck!
Malcolm: Danielle, fucking push!
Danielle: Aargh!!
Dr. Zara Harlow: There you go! There’s her head … Come on, Danny, push her out, she’s stuck.
Malcolm: Danielle, please, please, push.
Danielle: Aargh!
Dr. Zara Harlow: A little more.
Danielle: Aargh!
Dr. Zara Harlow: Just a little bit more.
Malcolm: Come on, baby. Come on. Come on. Almost there, baby. Come on.
Dr. Zara Harlow: One more push, Danny. Let’s go!
Danny: Aaaaaaargh!
Dr. Zara Harlow: Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?
Malcolm
(ginger.)
“So how was it!” Jasmine asks as she rushes into the hospital suite, Marlon close behind her with a smile, carrying a bouquet of flowers.
“Piece of cake,” Danielle says as she leisurely sips on orange juice and leafs through a Hello! magazine. Red’s hospital suite is filled to capacity with family, so Angie Blair is directing traffic.
“Jasmine, please walk around the chair,” my mother feels she has to remind Jasmine.
“Oh, okay. Got it,” Jasmine says as she makes a show of moving her entire body away from it. My father has recently retired his post as Ambassador to the UK. Do you know what that means? Angie and Wynston Blair are living back in Boston. You can only imagine what I’m going through.
“Malcolm,” Queen Angie says, “has the nurse told you when Sunday Simone will be reentering her suite?”
“No, Ma.”
“Well, what did she say?”
“She said that Ginger needed to wash up. That’s it.”
“What time did she leave?”
“I’m not sure. I didn’t look at my watch.”
“So you don’t know when Sunday Simone left, you don’t know when she’ll be returning … was she even born?”
“Here we go …”
“I mean, you know nothing. Tell me, Malcolm, why did you come here today?”
Why … so when I say everyone is here, I do mean everyone: Cadence, Lola, Nat, Dena, Jacob, Winnie, all of our kids, Red’s parents, my parents, Jasmine’s parents (her mom was the one who delivered Ginger), Jacob’s parents, Nat’s parents, my grandparents, some cousins which include Jacob’s sisters and all of their families, my mother’s sister and brother, Rossi and Eva, Marla … everyone’s in this goddamn suite. (Jon’s outside in the car. And he’s been there going on two hours now, for good reason. He and I had it out here recently. But that’s another story for another time. Today is about Ginger.) Danielle’s family from Baton Rouge has been blowing both her and my cell phones up, trying to coordinate travel arrangements and hotel stays to officially meet the newest Blair baby. Baby girl is out getting pampered: washed up, dried off, powdered and dressed.
Elise and Jackson are talking to Nat’s parents. Jacob’s off to the side holding his brand new son, Jamie, who’s two months old. His father, Uncle Preston, is sitting beside him. Currently Jacob is parting Jamie’s hair to the side, just as Rena, who is standing over him, instructed. Marla’s watching from a few feet away, probably praying for a time when she, too, will have a baby’s hair to part. Her new spiritual guide said that should be soon. Winnie’s laughing with Jacob’s sisters and some of my other cousins. Jacob’s mom is whispering something to my dad and then looking at my mother. Dad has an ‘I know, I know’ look on his face. Everyone else is just scattered around laughing, talking, sipping mimosa, shooting the breeze. Neither Jacob nor Winnie acknowledged Jasmine and Marlon as they entered the room. I think everyone’s starting to finally get over that picture and the problems it caused yet again. It seems that everyone has stuck with their own family and their own lives. Finally, we have some semblance of peace around here.
I’m sitting beside Red’s hospital bed, fanning her while she continues to sip her orange juice and browse through her magazine. This is done according to my mother’s instructions after she observed that Red, a black woman, looked pale. As Marlon and Jasmine make their way over to us, they both have wide smiles fixed on their faces and Jasmine’s carrying a ‘Baby Bouquet’ of cloth diapers, BPA-free toys, Aveeno Baby products, sparkling apple cider and a dozen white roses. I stand to greet them, happy that they worked things out. I know this may sound crazy as hell, but I was against Jake and Jasmine breaking up their families in order to be together, I just couldn’t tell Jasmine that during our ride. She was my client; I wasn’t hired to tell her what to do, I was hired to get her out of trouble and try to keep her marriage together. My clients have no idea what a divorce could do to them financially and politically, so my goal is to always keep a struggling family intact. I’m glad Marlon and Jasmine are still together, though I’d never breathe a word of that to Jake.
“So sorry we’re late!” Jasmine says. “The meeting with The Board took longer than expected. We had to vote on a new member, that new state senator Elijah Benson and his wife. By the way, I vetoed them. I saw Elijah’s wife drinking white wine last month and she’s pregnant. I ought to call the cops on her. Oh, and guess who Marlon and I saw in the elevator just now? Demetrius Westlake, that senator from South Carolina. You remember him, don’t you Danielle?”
Ah, Demetrius. I look at Jacob and smile. He’s pretending like the name Demetrius Westlake means nothing to him so he’s purposely ignoring me. I know this because he just stuck up his middle finger in my direction.
Jasmine continues, “Doesn’t he help out at feminist rallies in Charleston sometimes? Anyway, he says he’s in town because his frat brother just had a baby and he’s the godfather. And get this: he, Jon, Matt and Marlon are in the same frat! Did you know that? Oh, and when I walked on the elevator, I overheard him making plans to head to Martha’s Vineyard this summer. You do know that’s where Marlon’s family always summers, though he and I have missed the last two summers thanks to the business.” She rolls her eyes.
“So come to find out Marlon and Demetrius summered in the same town but never ran into each other, and honestly, I never saw Demetrius there before either. Anyway, so nice of him to travel up here from Charleston. He brought a teddy bear and everything,” Jasmine says before coming over to me and pulling me into a big hug. “Mwah!” she says as she gives me a huge kiss on the cheek before turning to Red. “Girl, I am just so busy these days; I need a vacation. I’m just trying my best to hold this city together.”
“A baby girl,” Marlon says to me as we come into a half hug.
“Yes, sir,” I say as I pat him on the back.
“You’ll love every moment of it.”
“I already know.”
I, Malcolm Blair, have my very own ginger.
Sunday Simone Blair was born February 13th at 8:45 am, weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and possessing three or four strands of red hair. Good enough for me. Needless to say, she came out looking like her father, as any baby girl shoul
d. She also came out staring at Danielle with a ‘what the hell was the hold-up?’ look. Even Danielle said ‘who does she think she’s looking at?’ I do believe Sunny rolled her eyes as the nurse was carting her out the room for her first bubble bath. Good. Danielle’s met her match.
I’m sorry, but I must say this again: I have my own ginger. Damn …
As the suite is filled with small talk and laughter, Jasmine and Red are getting carried away with labor horror stories. Jasmine swears Pearl took thirty-nine hours to deliver, she doesn’t care what the clock said. Red swears Nicky was born ten pounds, two ounces though when he left the hospital he had shrunk down to just under seven. Marlon and I stand by Red’s bed while Jasmine scoots Red’s leg over and gets comfortable on it, unwrapping her Baby Bouquet to bring out the sparkling cider so that we can toast.
This is perfect. All of us are here and we’re happy. We’re just trying to make the best out of the life we were given and …
“Hello.”
Everyone in the room turns towards the door.
Jon.
“Jon!” Marla screams out. “The baby has red hair!” She claps and jumps up and down.
“She does!” Nicky screams out as he and his ‘best-friend’, Jacob’s son Ralphie, are watching a Pixar movie on my laptop.
“Yep,” Roman says as he walks over to Jon and gives him a high-five. Roman and Big J, the name Roman calls Jon, do this every time they come into contact with each other. Jon will do anything to get on my goddamn nerves. “Her hair is astonishing.” This is a new word that Cadence has recently taught Roman.
“It’s red, dad!” Nicky says.
“Nice,” Jon says as he gives an uncomfortable wave to everyone else as they all give him a ‘Hey, Jon!’ He looks at me and gives me a nod. I give one back. Yeah, muthafucka, don’t think this shit is over. But like I said, I won’t get into that today. He slowly walks into the room and now everything returns to normal. “Hey, Danny.”
“Hey,” she says with a smile and shake of her head as Jon walks over to join Marla.
So, like I was saying, everyone’s normal. Jacob and Winnie are on great terms and he hasn’t mentioned Jasmine to me at all. He has been spending more time with his father lately but other than that, things are normal. Jasmine and I go for rides at least once a week like I promised. I just need to think, she tells me. So we don’t really talk, just blast the music, crank up the heat, roll down the windows and cruise. All in all, everything worked out fine.
“Well, hello!”
Everyone in the room turns towards the hospital door again.
The Fultons.
“Well, young man,” Mr. Fulton says to me, a look of concern on his face. “How many of these you plan on having?” He ushers his wife into the room. “Feels like I’m up here every day.”
“My favorite couple,” I say as Mrs. Fulton walks over to me and gives me a hug.
“Mmm … you smell so good,” she says to me. I give her a wink. “Doesn’t he smell good?” she says to Mr. Fulton.
“Uh-huh. Now, listen here,” he says while giving me a half hug. Mrs. Fulton walks towards Jasmine and Danielle. “You’re gonna have to be tough on this little girl. Chances are, she’ll be a fox.”
“She already is,” I assure him in my most serious look and voice.
“Told you. Now, I’ve raised two girls so I have some pointers. Tell me when you’re ready.”
“Ready.”
“Point one—”
“Oh, there’s no fooling me,” I hear Mrs. Fulton say. Everyone in the room turns to look at her as she stands next to Red. “I may be old but I’m not blind,” she says to Red, who looks back at her, confused. “I just saw her last night. I said hello but she didn’t hear me.”
What is she talking about? I look at Red. What’s going on? Red gives me ‘the look’. Something’s wrong. Do something.
“You all want breakfast?” I say quickly to the room. “We can place an order at—”
“What are you talking about, Mabel?” Mr. Fulton says.
“Jasmine,” Mrs. Fulton answers. “She’s saying that you and I didn’t see her at the harbor last night.”
“Oh, after our pinnacle tournament? Sure we did.”
I look at Jasmine and she’s staring right at Marlon who’s looking confused. Oh, shit …
“That’s what I said.”
I steal a look at Jacob but he’s already staring at me, wide-eyed. Shit. I watch Uncle Preston close his eyes and then rub a hand over his face.
“So,” I say, “how about—”
“You jumped out of a town car,” Mr. Fulton says to Jasmine, “and you ran to that hotdog stand. Then you turned around with two hotdogs on a stick, and you gave that homeless man next to that trash can fire a few dollars. You pointed to the town car and he waved at it and screamed out ‘thank you’ to whoever was in it. You went back to the town car and you were switching so hard I thought you’d break a hip! I called out for you to knock it off and then—”
“Yes, Jasmine was keeping me company,” Red says calmly. “I kept having false alarms last night so Jasmine and I rode around the city.”
“Ah,” Mrs. Fulton says. “Makes sense.”
“Now that’s a friend,” Marlon says. I look at him and he’s smiling at Jasmine. “For you to eat a hotdog on a stick?” He turns to face everyone. “Jasmine just finished her first cookbook, all natural food, French and Italian delicacies. Danielle’s literary agency is representing her.” Everyone starts saying their congratulations to Jasmine. Everyone but Winnie.
“So, don’t ever tell anyone about that hotdog on a stick!” Jasmine says to us all before laughing. We all laugh with her, including me. Winnie is the only exception. Jacob smiles and runs a hand over his face. “And don’t tease me about it either!”
“Of course not,” Red says with the calmness of a serial killer. “The last thing we’d do right now is cause a scene.” I watch Jacob lower his head and close his eyes. “Now is certainly not the time. If anything, we can talk about that hot dog later, one on one.”
Silence.
And then the door opens. Thank God. Ginger saves the day. The nurse rolls her in and she’s decked out in her first outfit, complete with matching hat. And here’s baby girl, wide awake, blinking slowly while she glances around, as though unimpressed that she was delivered to the Blair family. Obviously, the Blairs don’t have that good of a rep in heaven.
“There she is,” I say as I head over towards her while she continues to glance around her. “I feel like I’ve waited all my life for this little girl.”
“Well, you’ll be waiting even longer,” my mother says as she scoots me out of the way. “Wash your hands!” she screams out. “Elise and Jackson get to hold her first, of course.”
“Oh, we were in the room during the delivery; we’ve already held her little baldheaded butt.” Elise says. “We’ll let the others have their turn.” She and Jackson take a seat on a sofa nearby, sipping on their mimosas.
“Well, nice to see that Elise and Jackson were immediately notified of the impending birth of Sunday Simone,” my mother says. “I, on the other hand, was called after she was born.” She cuts her eyes towards me. “But we’ll discuss that later. Come along, everyone.” And before I have a moment to object, everyone rushes over to see Ginger, excited to be able to hold her for the first time, making a line at the suite’s kitchen sink to wash their hands. Jasmine nearly sprints to the sink, accidently knocking Nicky over in the process.
“Relax, baby,” Marlon says as he helps Nicky up. “We’ll all get a chance to hold her.” Jacob and his father slowly get up from their seats to head over to the sink, Uncle Preston whispering something as they walk. I look over and see Red and Winnie looking at each other from across the suite before both drift their eyes over to Jacob. Oh, God.
“Give Sunny to Winnie first,” my mother orders Lola, who scooped Ginger up before anyone else could. I now see that my mother is looking down at a sh
eet of paper and what appears to be a list, a red pen in her right hand. “She signed up to hold her first.” She scratches Winnie’s name off.
“Fine,” Lola says as she walks to Winnie and slides Ginger into her arms. Winnie instantly smiles down at Ginger before giving her a light kiss on the lips.
“Danielle.”
Everyone in the room turns towards the voice.
Demetrius Westlake. He’s standing in the doorway holding a bouquet of flowers. “Congrats,” he says with a half-smile.
“Demetrius,” Red says with a smile of her own.
“I saw Mrs. Kyles and her husband in the elevator, she told me that you had a little girl.” He walks into the room, right past a glaring Jacob, seemingly not even seeing him standing there. Jacob clenches his jaw. “Congratulations,” he says to me, his hand outstretched for a handshake.
“Thank you,” I say as I shake it. Yeah … I’ve got a feeling this is about to go bad.
“Is she a redhead?” Demetrius asks me.
“She is.”
“Good job.” He lets out a small laugh.
“Glad you stopped by,” Red says in a cheery voice.
“Demetrius,” Cadence says as he walks over, a huge smile on his face. “I’ve been meaning to drop you a line, thanking you for supporting that bill I helped write last month.” The two of them shake hands. The Blairs are republican, Demetrius is democrat.
“Yes, Demetrius,” Lola says as she walks over, her arm outstretched for a handshake lest Cadence forget that his Congressional appointment is a joint venture between them two. “Thank you so much. It won’t be forgotten.”
“Of course not,” Cadence says.
“No problem at all,” Demetrius says as he shakes Lola’s hand. “Favors are the name of the game.”
“Absolutely,” Lola says.
“Anytime,” Cadence adds.
“Malcolm,” my mother says, her eyes stuck on Demetrius, “make yourself useful for once in your life and put those amazing flowers in a vase. Just throw away the flowers you brought in and replace them with Senator Westlake’s.” I watch her bat her lashes as Demetrius. “His look so strong … and sturdy.” He gives her a smile and a wink.
Forever. (This. Is. Not. Over. Book 3) Page 21