Unmasking Charlotte (a Taboo Love series) (27 page)

Still Calvin…

A few more days go by and I still haven’t found the courage to call Charlotte even though I’m dying to know how she and the baby are doing. It’s now Sunday and I’ve been guilted into going to my parents’ house for the usual Sunday dinner. I really want to skip it because I’m really not in the mood to have my ass handed to me again.

Just yesterday, I had Nick and Parker show up at my place to ream me out. Not one of the finer points in our over ten-year friendship. I think that had to be the first time that they actually ganged up on me to tell me how much of an asshole I was…and am still being. Like I didn’t already know that. Shit.

I literally have to force myself to walk into my parents’ house. With shoulders slumped, I trudge into the kitchen where everyone is flitting around. My mother is cooking. My dad is picking at food as it comes out of the oven or off the stove. My grandfather is sitting at the table with Carla. He is reading the newspaper, while she is busy texting on her phone.

Everyone looks up when I walk in. The look my grandfather gives me is the worst. Complete disgust and disappointment. He just grunts, shakes his head, clucks his tongue, and then looks back down at the paper. My dad is still angry with me and hasn’t spoken to me since the wedding. I believe his words were “My son would never speak to a woman like that.” My mother seems to have a bit more sympathy for me, but she has definitely given me her fair share of jabs over the past couple of weeks. My sister has steered clear of me, also; what her reasoning is, though, I have no idea. My mom told me that Charlotte chewed her out, which makes me seriously happy.

“I brought pastries from the bakery,” I mumble, holding up the white box by the ribbon it’s wrapped in.

My mom is the only one who acknowledges me. She gives me a small smile and motions toward the fridge. “You know where to put them.”

I sigh and put the box in th
e fridge. The tension is so thick between my father and me that you could cut it with a knife. He purposefully keeps his distance and refuses to look at me. Damn, that shit hurts. My dad has never distanced himself from me like this, ever. And to know that I’ve seriously let him down really fucks with my head. Can we ever get back to the way we were? Or has this damaged our relationship permanently? God, I hope not.

Dinner is torture. My mom goes on and on about Charlotte and the baby, about the baby shower that Delilah’s planning, about the theme of the nursery that Charlotte chose for the nursery she’s putting together in the spare room of her apartment, and about different names that she is considering. My heart breaks multiple times throughout dinner and I barely eat anything on my plate. A few times, I actually get choked up and have to excuse myself to go to the bathroom to get myself under control. Which is actually where I am now, staring at myself in the mirror. What the fuck am I doing? I should be there with her for all of this! I should be helping her pick out baby names and nursery themes. We should be living in the same fucking place! Goddammit! I gotta get out of here. I have to call her. I have to fix this.

When I come back to the table, I grab my uneaten plate of food and bring it to the sink.

“Mom, I gotta go,” I rasp and start for the door.

“Oh, Calvin, wait! I want to show you one more thing before you leave!” she calls after me, gets up from the table, and chases after me.

She catches me in the living room and grabs my hand before I can go any further.

“Can’t it wait?” I ask, trying not to sound exasperated.

“No, come on,” she smiles and tugs me up the stairs.

I follow, wondering what in the hell she has to show me up here. She stops in front of the spare room door that is not usually closed. Now, there is a sign on it with a stork that says “Nursery.” Aw, shit. I hang my head and pinch the bridge of my nose. She’s killing me.

“
Honey, I know you love Charlie and your baby. I just want you to know that I do, too, and I want what is best for all of you. You need to fix things with her because she needs you, more than you know,” my mom says softly. “I went to the doctor with her and her mom the other day when she went for her first ultrasound.”

I’m pretty sure my heart stops beating. I missed an ultrasound? I promised her that I’d be at every single one. The pain in my chest is sharp. I press my hand against it. My mother chose that moment to open the door to the nursery. My breath catches at the sight before me. It’s painted a bright yellow with a classic Winnie the Pooh mural o
n the wall. I take a couple of stilted steps into the room. The second thing I notice is that there are two cribs. That’s odd. Then I see two bouncy seats, two car seats, two swings. Oh hell fucking no!

“Why…why is there two of everything?” I choke out.

My mom goes over to the dresser and picks up a picture frame. She walks back over to me and hands it to me. I stare down at the black and white grainy ultrasound picture. I swallow hard as my heart rate picks up and my breathing becomes shallow. It’s pretty damn clear why there is two of everything. Charlotte and I are having twins. If a black man falls in a nursery, and there’s no one around to witness it… TIMBER! Yeah, my pansy ass faints, and there are plenty of witnesses. Great, just fucking great!

I have no idea how long I am
out for, but someone decides it’s funny to wake me with smelling salts. My eyes fly open as soon as the pungent smell hits my nose. I look up to see my dad smirking over me, holding the little white capsule.

“Welcome back,” he muses.

I push up to my elbows and glance around to see my mother, grandfather, dad, and sister all standing around me where I’m lying on the nursery floor. All four of them fight back laughter. Assholes.

“How long was I out?”

“Oh, a good few minutes,” my dad says.

“Shit,” I grunt, as I push myself into a sitting position.

Then it hits me. The reason I passed out in the first place. Twins! I drop my face into my hands. Oh god, twins! How are we going to handle twins? I have to talk to Charlotte! Now. I shove to my feet and head for the stairs.

“Where are you going?” my dad calls after me.

“I gotta get my family back,” I reply and race out to my truck.

First thing I need to do is show Charlotte how serious I am about wanting to be back in her life. I’m going to Babies-R-Us to get car seats for my truck. I need to turn my spare room into a nursery, also. If Charlotte decides not to take me back, I am still going to want to see my kids. I send Charlotte a text when I get to Babies-R-Us.

Me: Baby girl, can we talk?

It takes several minutes before she replies, and what she says nearly brings me to my knees.

Pinky: No. I don’t need u. I will raise these babies on my own

Calvin
: Please, Charlotte, I need to apologize, I was wrong

Pinky:
Don’t care

Calvin
: I love u, Pinks. Please, just let me come over and talk to u

Pinky
: No. Don’t text me anymore

“Goddammit!” I bite out, not realizing that there is a mother and her two year old standing right next to me.

She gives me a look like “Hey! Watch the mouth!”

I give her a sheepish grin. “I’m sorry.”

The little girl in her arms is looking up at me with big brown eyes, so innocent.

“That was a bad word, don’t say that, okay?” I say to her seriously.

She just nods and her mother gives me a gentle smile.

Charlotte

I’m sitting at my parents’ kitchen table when Calvin finally - after weeks of nothing – texts me, wanting to talk. Well, guess what, buddy? Fuck you! I reply that I don’t want to see him and I don’t want him to text me anymore. When I look up from my phone, I see my dad, who is sitting across from me, watching me with a small frown on his face.

“Is that Calvin?” he asks. I nod and set my phone on the table. “I don’t want to talk to him.”

“Sweetheart, you’re going to have to talk to him sooner or later,” my dad says softly.

“This is the first he’s contacted me in weeks, so now he can wait until I’m ready,” I say coldly.

“I know you’re upset with him…”

“He walked away from me because he thinks I lied to him. Not to mention the fact that he thought I tried to trap him by getting pregnant! I’m not just upset, I’m hurt. How could he not find the compassion to understand why I kept that from him? And how could he accuse me of being so manipulative and conniving?”

“You should have told him,” my dad says.

I sigh. We are the only ones here. My mom is out food shopping and my brother, Tommy, is back at college.

“Okay, fine, maybe I should have, but that’s beside the point. How are we supposed to get past this? I mean, his whole family knows about my past. His father tried to put you in jail!”

“His father was only doing his job, and he wasn’t happy about what he was doing. I could see it on his face. He didn’t want to have to defend that scumbag, DeShawn,” my dad replies. “Calvin King Jr. is a good man, and he did what he could to not have me sent to prison. I’ve gotten past this, now you need to as well.”

I sigh. “I guess.”

“Your Calvin is a good man, too. He is just feeling hurt and betrayed by someone he loves dearly. It must’ve been a shock for him to find out that you kept such a huge part of yourself from him, that you didn’t trust him enough to share every part of you with him,” he says, slipping his hand over mine where it rests on the table. “You both have things to apologize for and now that he’s trying to reach out to you means that he wants to make things work between you two.”

“Why did it take him so long to finally contact me, though?” I ask with a frown.

“He probably didn’t want to say anything else that he couldn’t take back. I’m sure he was angry for a while and after that faded, he probably needed to build up the courage to reach out to you.”

I sit in silence, thinking about everything my dad has said. I rest a hand on my ever-growing stomach, the one that’s holding not one, but two babies.

“Those babies are going to need their father, and you are going to need him, too, sweetie,” my dad says, somehow knowing where my thoughts are going.

“Alright, I’ll call him tomorrow,” I say.

My dad smiles wide and squeezes my hand. “Good girl. I think that is the right choice.”

Chapter Thirteen