“Yes, ma’am,” I said in a military fashion. “I promise to be extra careful. This is going to be our last getaway for a while, so I plan to relax and prepare myself mentally to come back and take on my new role as a mother.”
She still looked a little unconvinced. “I guess that will be fine. Like I said, be careful. I really shouldn’t be agreeing to this, but since the trip is next week and according to your exam today, you’re not close to a natural delivery, I’m going to make an exception.”
I reached up and hugged her. “Thanks. I really appreciate it. You’re the best. And because you’re the best, I’m going to let you deliver all of my babies.” I grinned.
“Yeah, whatever. You just take care of yourself.”
With that, she walked out. I got off of the table and put my clothes back on. I had to hurry and get to the store so I could pick up the items I needed for tonight. I had the perfect idea to surprise Darvin with the sex of our baby.
Later that night, I poured the honey glaze over the fresh salmon I was preparing, checked my French-style green beans, and cut into my red potatoes to make sure they were done. I put the freshly squeezed lemonade into the refrigerator, dusted my hands on the cloth, took off my apron, and went to my bedroom to get the decorations.
Darvin was due home in about an hour. I had to make sure that dinner was ready and the decorations were set by the time he got there. Little Junior was active tonight, slightly slowing down my pace. I don’t know why I didn’t guess he was a boy, if only by the kickboxing and movements that he made. He was an active little fellow.
I took out the pink bows, pink ribbons, pink balloons, the pink place settings and tablecloth, and started putting them in their appropriate places. I was going to trick Darvin and make him think we were having a girl, and even bring out some pink strawberry ice cream. I began to laugh at my own crazy idea. I would bring it around to the truth with a T-shirt that I had airbrushed for him, that said
JUNIOR
’
S
DADDY
.
If I knew Darvin, he would not get the hint and think that I was trying to appease him with the shirt because I knew how badly he wanted a son. So, in the event that didn’t work, I was going to just come right out and say it.
The hour went by faster than I realized, and it was about to be show time. I looked at myself in the mirror and admired how pregnant I looked. I was in full bloom, and for whatever reason, I had never felt sexier. The soft purple suede dress was form-fitting and exposed my swollen stomach. The short bob that I was sporting framed my round face, and the amethyst and diamond jewels that Darvin had given me a few years back were glistening against the light and the color of my skin, creating an almost angelic appearance, if I must say so myself.
When I heard the sound of the garage door, I quickly went into the kitchen and stood next to the counter so that Darvin could see me as soon as he walked in.
He entered the house, and just as he was about to call my name to let me know that he was home, he saw me. He slowly removed his suit jacket, and in the same manner, set his briefcase on the floor.
“Baby, you look beautiful,” he said. He allowed his eyes to roam the length of my body, and I, in turn, absorbed the attention.
“Thank you, sweetie,” I said, walking to him. I reached up and put my arms around his neck. He put his arms around me and allowed his hands to rest just below my waist. “How was your trip?”
We pulled back from each other, and I picked up his coat that he had let fall to the floor. “It was good. You know how it is. Revivals are revivals. I must say, though, God did an awesome work these last few days.” He paused.
“I wish you would consider going with me sometimes.”
I didn’t want to have this conversation right now. This topic always ended in an argument, and I was too elated to let that happen.
“Honey, I’m glad that things went well. And maybe after the baby’s born, I’ll consider traveling with you.”
That seemed to be satisfying, because the smile returned to his face. I was about to burst with the news if we didn’t get the night underway. I leaned in and gave him a long kiss.
“Mmmmmm . . . that’s why I rush home, baby.”
He inhaled the sweet-smelling aroma of the spices that filled the air, and started walking toward the dining room. We weren’t like the traditional family who only used the dining room for special occasions. Anytime we were eating dinner at home, we ate in the dining room. We were our own special guests.
He gasped at all of the pink decorations. He turned to me for confirmation, and all I gave him was a smile. He rushed over to me, picked me up, and swirled me around—all 170 pounds of me.
“A girl? Wow. Baby, this is great. We are having a girl.” He loosened his tie as he sat down in his chair. “I’m going to have another woman in my life.”
“Hey, wait a minute. I don’t know about all that,” I teased. “It’s only room for one queen in this castle.”
I took the glass covers off of the dishes that held the food and served Darvin his portions. I then poured his lemonade, repeated the same thing for myself, and sat down to enjoy the meal. He blessed the food and jabbed his fork into a healthy piece of the salmon.
He continued smiling. “I can’t believe it. A girl. It’s so surreal now that we know the sex. It’s like before we were talking about a person that didn’t really exist, but now we can put a name to her. This is so exciting, baby.”
I smiled and allowed him to ramble on and on about how great it was going to be to have a little girl in the house. It was all I could do to keep quiet.
I got up from the table, went and got the ice cream and T-shirt, and came back to present them to Darvin.
“Strawberry ice cream. You’re so cute.” He laughed. “Really cute.” He picked up the T-shirt and just as I thought, he thought I was trying to placate him. “Junior’s daddy, huh? So you got jokes?” He ate a spoonful of the sweet dessert.
“Darvin, it’s not a joke. At least the T-shirt isn’t. The rest is a joke.”
“I don’t understand. What do you mean the rest is a joke?”
I walked around to where he was sitting and leaned over him with my arms dangling across his neck. I kissed his neck and said, “It’s a boy.”
It took a second for it to sink in with him. He removed my arms and led me around to sit on his lap.
“Are you serious? It’s a boy?” The look in his eyes was mesmerizing as small puddles filled them.
I began to cry. “Yes. It’s a boy. I wanted to trick you with all of this pink stuff,” I said as I motioned to all of the decorations. “It’s the truth, baby; you’re going to be Junior’s daddy.”
“Are you sure? I mean, what if it’s a mistake?”
I went into the kitchen to get my purse. I retrieved the photos that Dr. Stenzel had printed and brought them back into the dining room. I returned to my seat in his lap and pointed to his son’s “package.”
“You see that right there?” I asked.
Realizing what he was looking at, he said, “That’s definitely a boy!”
He stared at the pictures for a second longer with pride all over his face.
I looked down into his eyes. “You are going to make a wonderful father, and I can’t wait to begin this new phase of my life. With you.”
He kissed me tenderly. I relaxed my body and allowed myself to absorb the moment. It was times like this when I realized that the love Darvin and I shared was real, and could weather any storm.
Chapter Twenty-three
Daphne
I sat in my living room twiddling my thumbs, trying to determine what I was going to do about what I’d just seen. I was coming home from a late meeting with one of my clients, and just before I turned into my driveway, I saw Michelle sitting in Darvin’s lap, kissing him. She was as big as their house, and poor Darvin probably had a blood clot in his leg from all of that weight stopping his flow. Lord knows I would not be that huge when I got pregnant with his baby.
Why did it look like they were celebrating? It wasn’t a special occasion that I could remember, and I couldn’t think of anything else that could give them reason to make merry. I was fuming, to say the least. Ever since my encounter with Solomon Andrews, I’d been in a terrible mood. I had not seen him since, and if I ever saw him again, it would be too soon.
My intention was to find out who he was and have him dealt with. I couldn’t afford for anybody to mess up my plan. I was too close to the finish line. But the pressing matter was trying to find out what Darvin and Michelle were celebrating. It was driving me crazy.
Listening to the clock tick the seconds away, I decided that the only way to find out what I wanted to know was to go directly to the source. I had been living across the street from them since I’d been back from Florida, and no one had yet to find out. Back in the day, everybody knew their neighbors, but now, everyone was so busy with their own lives that no one stopped to pay attention to who was living next door.
As for me, it also helped that I had a garage in the back of my house. It was meant for a boat, but I never used the side garage doors, so I parked in there. And since the houses in our subdivision were behind black iron gates, unless you saw someone coming home at an exact time, there was no way to ever really know who lived where. I had never really intended for Darvin not to know I lived across the street, but I had never planned to tell him either.
Tonight, it was time to make a friendly introduction. Darvin and Michelle had left their gates open, enabling me to sneak a peek at what was going on in their house. I’d gotten out of my car and pretended to get mail out of the mailbox, but took the opportunity to get a full view of what was going on in their dining room. What I saw made my stomach turn; Michelle putting her oversized lips on my man was the most disgusting thing I’d ever seen. When I was her assistant, I hardly ever saw them kiss.
That was partially because of me. I was causing so much havoc in their life that they only shared arguments, not kisses. That’s why I couldn’t understand why Michelle wouldn’t just go away.
I got up out of my thoughts and went into my bedroom to put on something attention grabbing before I went over there. I didn’t have much time, because I was sure that they were going to close their gate soon. It had to be an oversight; they never left their gates open. I selected a low-cut black sweater that exposed a dangerous amount of cleavage, a pair of jeans, and a belt to go around my waist. I grabbed a pair of four-inch Nine West pumps and went back into the living room. I stood there trying to think of what excuse I was going to make up for going over there. I realized that I didn’t have one. I only had the truth. I was going to shock the living daylights out of Michelle, and remind Darvin of how fabulous I was.
I grabbed my house keys from the coffee table and walked out of the front door. At the bottom of the driveway, I pushed the button on my remote that opened my own gates, checked for cars, and walked into the driveway of Darvin and Michelle. It had been a long time since I’d been in their house. At one point, I was welcomed in the same manner as Chanice and Twylah had been. That had changed.
I bounced up the steps to the front door and rang the doorbell. Silence.
I rang it a second time and waited, but no one came to the door. What could they be doing? I knew they were in there.
I rang it again. Still nothing.
This time, I walked down the steps to see if I could see anything through the dining room window. The lights were now out. I went back to the door and tried the bell again. And again. What in the world were they doing?
I looked at the intercom system on the wall, but I really didn’t want them to know it was me until they saw me. They would never answer the door if they knew I was out there.
Maybe that was it. Maybe they saw me walking up and had decided not to answer. The thought of that made me livid. My plan wasn’t working, and it looked as if I was not going to be able to do anything to disturb the happy home tonight.
I started walking back toward my house, and as soon as I got through the gates, they were closing behind me. Fuming, I whirled around, only to see Michelle standing in her doorway waving at me. If I had the strength of Iron Man, I would bend those gates, go up there, and choke her the same way I choked Twylah.
I could see that Michelle was not going to be easily moved. Nothing I’d done so far had worked. She wasn’t fazed for long at my return as my twin sister.
Now, looking at her smiling made me so mad that I started trembling. She had known it was me the entire time. And I was sure that meant she’d seen me coming.
I walked back into my house and slammed the door. Who knew what they were doing in there now? Images of Darvin and Michelle laughing and talking about me flashed through my mind. Were they over there making fun of me? Were they talking about how stupid I looked as I walked away? Or were they over there kissing again, now that they knew they couldn’t be interrupted?
So many scenarios played on the turntable of my mind, and were spinning out of control.
I went to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of Evian. I needed to refresh my body, because the residue of resentment had filled me. I went into the bedroom and kicked off my shoes and flopped down on the bed. What was I going to do?