“I am too,” Dylan cooed. “That means we’re going to be new mommies together.”
“I know, gurl, I’m so happy! But anyway, y’all want something?” Tee-Tee rose from the bed. “I’m gettin’ ready to go get me something to drink.”
“Get me a bottle of water, please.” Billie went into her purse and grabbed a dollar bill.
“You want something,” Tee-Tee asked Dylan.
“No, I’m good.”
“All right. I’ll be right back.”
Standing at the vending machine, Tee-Tee inserted his money into the machine and pressed E10 when he noticed Angel getting off the elevator.
Dirty dog
, Tee-Tee snarled, rolling his eyes.
“What’s going on, Tee?” Angel approached him with a look of worry on his face. “Is she okay?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Tee-Tee eyed him up and down.
“Is the baby cool?”
“Yep.” Tee-Tee stood back on one leg and popped his lips.
Angel let out a sigh of relief, unaware that Tee-Tee had beef with him.
“Good. What room she in?” Angel asked.
“Angel,” Tee-Tee placed his hand on his hip, “we not cool.”
“What?” Angel screwed up his face.
“Did I stutter? You heard me,” Tee-Tee replied mockingly.
“Yo’, I ain’t got time for this.” Angel waved him off, not in the mood for a bunch of back and forth. “Just tell me what room she’s in.”
“So you can yell at her some more? I think not,” Tee-Tee checked him. “Personally, I don’t see why she wanted Billie to call you in the first place. ’Cause if I were her, I wouldn’t want to have shit to do wit’ yo’ ass.”
“Well, you ain’t her,” Angel shot back.
“You damn right I ain’t.” Tee-Tee countered. “That girl has been going through hell, and all you’ve been concerned with is yourself. Do you know how hard all of this has been on her? She loves you beyond belief and although she doesn’t talk about it, I know seeing you with another woman has been torture. And although it’s been over between y’all for some time now and my cousin knows she will never get you back, she’s still been tryin’ to make things right with you. And what do you do? Give her yo’ ass to kiss. So why don’t you do Dylan and your baby a favor and turn around and walk right back outta here ’cause you’re more drama than she needs right now.”
Angel clenched his jaw and swallowed hard. Outside of his sister, nobody ever stepped to him to tell him off. Most people were afraid of him and had every reason to be, but he couldn’t front. Every word out of Tee-Tee’s mouth had been the truth, and Angel couldn’t fight it or argue with it. He hadn’t been there for Dylan like he should have. Hell, he hadn’t even been to a doctor’s appointment with her and because of their miscommunication, he’d missed the first four and a half months of her pregnancy. And now after being so busy tryin’ to prove that he was over her, he’d almost pushed her to the brink of losing their baby.
Angel couldn’t fight it anymore. The hold Dylan had on his heart strings would always outweigh the strong feelings he had for Milania. But for his own sanity, the well-being of Dylan, and the health of their baby, Angel had to learn how to balance his emotions for both women without hurting them until he figured out what to do next.
It would be a difficult task, but he had to do it. The first step to doing so would be to stick his tail between his legs and leave like Tee-Tee had suggested. Maybe some time away would give Dylan a chance to cool off and clear her mind. By doing so, hopefully, she’d see that Angel wasn’t trying to disrespect her but ride for his fiancée like he would’ve done for her.
“Just tell her I’m sorry,” he said genuinely from the bottom of his heart.
“Mmm-hmm,” Tee-Tee grabbed his bottle of water, turned, and walked away.
“What took you so long?” Dylan asked as he walked back into the room.
“The machine got stuck,” he lied, avoiding eye contact.
Lying was something Tee-Tee hardly ever did ’cause he was a tell-it-like-it-is kinda girl, but to him, the added stress of having Angel around was just no good for Dylan in his opinion. She needed to rest and get her mind right, and with Angel all up in her grill, she would never get things back on track. For now, what Dylan didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.
“Where the hell is my bottle of water?” Billie gave him a once-over glance.
“Shit, my bad. I forgot. Here, you can have mine.” He tried to hand it to her.
“Do it look like I wanna taste yo’ husband’s dick on my lips?”
Dylan held her stomach and cracked up laughing.
“Heffa, please. You wish you could get a taste.” Tee-Tee stuck his index finger in his mouth and slide it back out slowly.
“Stop. You gon’ make me go into premature labor,” Dylan giggled uncontrollably, still holding her stomach.
“That’s his ass. He get on my nerve,” Billie said, checking her cell phone which was ringing.
It was Cain calling. Instead of answering, she sent him to voice mail.
“Who was that?” Dylan asked, being nosy.
“Cain.”
“Why you ain’t answer?”
“’Cause he’s only callin’ to say something to me about going off on Becky,” Billy said simply.
“Why you go off on her now?” Tee-Tee laughed.
“’Cause the kids came home today and told me that sleazeball had the nerve to ask them kids to call her mama,” Billie shouted, feeling her body tense up all over again.
“Oh, hell, no!” Tee-Tee shot up. “Where my Vaseline at ’cause we about to go body slam this ho!”
“No need. I already bodied her ass, and if Cain keep callin’ me, his ass gon’ get it too. Besides, I ain’t got time for neither one of them.”
“Okay, Dylan, are you ready?” Dr. Crane reentered the room.
“Yes,” she replied, excited as the nurse squeezed a cold, clear, jellylike substance on her stomach.
“I think I used some of that last night,” Tee-Tee smirked, winking his eye.
“I just bet you did,” Billie shot him a look of disgust.
“Do you wanna know the sex of the baby?” Dr. Crane asked.
“Ah, duh, team girl over here, holla,” Dylan raised the roof.
After a few minutes of silence the doctor said, “Sorry. Seems like we won’t be able to find out today. The little one is not being very cooperative, but from what I see, he or she is progressing very well.”
“That’s all that matters anyway,” Billie gazed in amazement at the screen.
“Can I see?” Dylan said, dying with anticipation.
“Of course,” Dr. Crane turned the screen to face her.
“Holy shit balls,” Dylan shook her head in amazement. “I’m having a baby, you guys.” She teared up.
“The heart looks good, and the spinal cord is perfect. Everything is just fine,” Dr. Crane assured her once more.
“Thank you, Dr. Crane,” Dylan pursed her lips together and cried.
“You’re welcome. A nurse will be in in just a second with your discharge papers.” He gave her a warm smile before leaving.
“Okay,” Dylan’s chest heaved up and down.
“You all right?” Tee-Tee poked out his bottom lip making a sad face.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “I just wish Angel was here, that’s all,” she wiped her eyes.
Tee-Tee swallowed the lump in his throat. Maybe sending Angel away wasn’t the best idea. But the deed had already been done, and if he told Dylan the truth now, she’d get upset and Tee-Tee couldn’t risk her experiencing any more pain that might harm the baby.
“You know we got yo’ back,” Billie kissed her on the cheek, thinking it would be a cold day in hell before she spoke to her brother again.
“I know. It’s just so funny that most of my life I’ve spent my time tryin’ to find some man to take care of me, and now I have to take care of somebody else. Like, how am I gonna raise a child? Before I became a somewhat responsible adult, my role models were Britney Spears wit’ her shaved head and Lindsey Lohan who now looks like something out of
The Lord of the Rings
.”
“Stop!” Tee-Tee snorted. “You’re going to be a great mom.”
“I hope so. I just know that whatever kind of mother I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be ten times better than what Candy was to me. I’m gonna do whatever it takes to provide for my baby. I’m gonna pinch pennies, and I’m gonna save. Well, I don’t really know what pinch pennies means, but I’m gonna save,” Dylan pointed her index finger to prove her point. “Like, do I actually have to pinch pennies?”
“No, honey,” Billie inhaled deeply. “No.”
“C’mon, girl,” Tee-Tee giggled. “Let’s get you dressed. I know that baby of yours is dying for some Popeyes chicken.”
“Hell, yeah!” Dylan pumped her fist in the air with excitement.
The clock hanging from the wall opposite Billie’s bed read 3:15
A.M.
, but sleep was the furthest thing from her mind. After getting Dylan home from the hospital, she came home and prepared dinner for her kids since it was the chef’s day off. Then she went straight to work deciding which new pieces to put on display at the St. Louis Art Museum since she was their new curator and finding donations for her Inner-City Kids’ Scholarship Foundation.
This was an everyday routine for Billie. Her life was always hectic, but the sick thing about it was she enjoyed it. Billie got off on being pulled into a million different directions. It made her feel needed and like she was contributing something to the world. Unlike the 1990s R&B singer Karen White, she wanted to be equivalent to superwoman. She wanted to do it all, take care of her kids, decorate her house, be a good wife, dedicate time to her friends, and add a little sparkle to the universe through art and fashion.
Knox exited the master bath, dressed in only his boxers, and stood speechless. Since he’d gotten home from his night job as a bartender, Billie had been in bed with her glasses on overseeing paperwork for her various philanthropic work. Every night it was the same routine. He’d come home, and she’d be enthralled in paperwork. Knox was happy that she took time to help others, but Billie sometimes forgot that their relationship needed work too.
“You not done wit’ that stuff yet?” Knox said, walking over to the bed and climbing in.
“No,” Billie answered, not even bothering to look up.
“It’s,” Knox gazed up at the clock, “3:25, Billie. Enough is enough. It seem like every time I see you, you got some sort of paperwork in your hand.” He took some of the papers off her lap.
“No-no-no,” Billie snatched them back. “Just give me like thirty more minutes and I’ll be done.”
“Fuck a half an hour. I want some head now.” He placed her hand on his rock-hard penis and smiled.
“Man, please, you better get yo’ ass away from me.”
“No, seriously, I really think you should give me some head. Jesus just put that on my heart and told me to tell you that.”
“Baby,” Billie doubled over laughing, taking off her glasses, “not now. I’m tryin’ to finish this,” she protested.
“I understand you got a lot on your plate, but Billie, c’mon, you ain’t gave me no pussy in almost three weeks. Shit, in a minute my dick gon’ fall off.”
“You really need to stop exaggerating.” Billie resumed working. “Sidebar,” she quickly changed the subject. “Do you know what the twins told me today?”
“What?”
“That Becky asked them to start callin’ her mommy.”
“What?” Knox screwed his face up, surprised.
“Yeah, that’s the same thing I said. Can you believe that heffa?”
“What you do?”
“I called and chin checked that ho. I told her she better have her own pack of wolves ’cause these bebes over here are all mine.”
“Wow, that’s crazy. Did you tell Cain?”
“Yeah, after I got done dealing with Dylan.”
“What he say?”
“That he was gon’ talk to her. Whateva
that
means,” Billie pursed her lips.
“Well, that’s all that can be done about it now, so don’t even trip. The kids know who their mama is. Besides Kyrese, Kenzie, and Kaylee ain’t going for that no way. Now back to you,” Knox scooted closer. “You gon’ give me some or what?”
“Really, Knox? Nooooo,” Billie eased away.
“Word?” he spoke, stunned.
“I’m not sayin’ it like that. It’s just that I’m—”
“What? Let me guess, you too tired?” he remarked.
“Uh, yeah.” She looked at him as if he were dumb.
“A’ight, Billie.” He rolled over to his side of the bed.
“What?” She raised her hands up, confused.
“Ever since we got back from the honeymoon, you have shown me zero amounts of affection. Our sex life has gone down the toilet. Shit, when was the last time you even hugged me?”