by Rhonda Bowen
Sheree nodded.
“I understand your concerns about medications,” he said, leaning in. “I much prefer more natural methods myself. But we do need to make sure your hemoglobin count is where it should be, so that you and your baby can get enough oxygen and stay healthy.”
Sheree bit her lip, and he caught the scared look in her eyes. He reached out and grasped her hand.
“We’re going to make sure you and this baby are okay, Sheree,” he said with a smile. “I know you’re doing your best to take care of your little one, and we’re going to do our best too.”
JJ crossed and then uncrossed her legs in the chair across from him. He succeeded in not looking over at her.
“Is there anything else going on that you’re concerned about?” he asked, focusing on Sheree. “Any pains, discomforts, irregularities?”
Sheree bit her lip thoughtfully. “Just a little cramping in my stomach now and then. My doctor says it’s normal.”
“How often do you feel that?” he asked, making a note on the chart.
She shrugged. “Couple times a week, maybe less?”
“Does it keep you up at night?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Not really.”
He nodded, made a note on his chart, and then put it away. “If it gets any worse, you let us know immediately, okay?”
“Okay.”
The door opened again and a taller woman, similar in features to JJ but a little thicker, walked briskly into the room.
“Hi, I’m Sydney, Sheree’s sister-in-law,” she said, smiling tightly and offering her hand to the doctor. “How is she doing?”
“I’m Dr. Massri.”
JJ coughed as he shook Sydney’s hand.
“We’re going to run some tests to make sure, but I think she’s going to be okay.”
He turned back to Sheree. “Either way, I want you to make an appointment to come in this time next week, so I can follow up with you on your tests. And if you have any issues, you can call the hospital and they’ll page me.”
“That’s very reassuring of you, Dr. Massri,” JJ said.
He finally braved a look at her and forced his lips into a smile. “That’s what I’m here for.”
She held his gaze and . . . what? Was that . . . recognition?
But before he could confirm it, it was gone. He turned back to Sheree.
“So do you have any questions about your pregnancy?”
He knew it wasn’t really his role, since he wasn’t her OB and he hadn’t officially taken her on as a referral yet, but he knew taking some time to talk to Sheree about her pregnancy would make her feel more comfortable sharing any issues she might be having, which in the long run would make it easier for her to get the right care. Plus, based on the comment her sister-in-law had made when she got off the phone, it seemed like the baby’s father might not be readily available. If he could do anything to make her feel less alone and more supported, he was willing to do it.
He chatted with her, answering her questions and occasionally Sydney’s and JJ’s, until he heard another page for him from the hallway.
“So I’ll get the nurse for you,” he said, standing up. “And remember to make that appointment for early next week. Until then, take care, Sheree.”
Sheree beamed. “Thank you, Dr. Massri.”
“No problem,” he said with a smile.
“Yes, thanks a lot,” JJ added. He looked up just in time to catch a softness in her eyes. “I really appreciate you spending time to answer our questions. This pregnancy is going to be a first for all of us.”
He couldn’t speak, so he just nodded before ducking out of the room. When he was finally in the hallway, he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
He had seen her again, and now he had an updated image to add to the one that had floated in and out of his mind for several years. On top of that, he just might be seeing her a lot more often. He sighed.
Heaven help him.
Chapter 5
“You really appreciate him spending time to answer our questions?” Sheree snorted. “Why didn’t you just ask him for his phone number?”
“Huh?” JJ tried to play off a confused look, but she was too busy trying to recover from the shock. There was no way that the man who had just walked out of the room was who she thought he was. It was impossible. Even if the heavy thumping of her heart told her otherwise.
“Could you drool anymore over Mr. Doctor man?” Sheree asked.
“Please,” JJ said, looking anywhere except at Sheree. “I just thought it was nice that he hung around and took the time to explain things.”
“You thought he was nice to look at,” Sheree said with a smirk, sitting up as the nurse came in.
Okay, that too. But she would never let Sheree know that. Besides, she had a boyfriend. Sort of.
“Sheree, you’re crazy,” JJ said, pulling out her iPhone. “Sydney, can you tell her to stop?”
But when she glanced over, her sister was trying hard to fight a smile of her own. “Well, you were kind of staring at him.”
“I was not!”
“Oh yes, you were,” Sheree said, holding out her arm to the nurse so she could find a vein. “And I can’t blame you. He is one fine brother.”
Sheree squinted thoughtfully. “That is, if he is a brother. All that semi-straight hair and café-au-lait skin. Looks like he got some united nations going on up in there.”
“Oh geez,” JJ groaned, dropping back into her chair.
“Those were some long dreads he had,” Sydney said absently as her fingers flew over the keypad of her phone. “Kinda sexy. You like dreads, don’t you, JJ?”
“How do you get that I like dreads?” JJ protested.
“We had a neighbor with dreads, and you used to follow him around all the time,” Sydney said. She paused from her typing as if thinking. “What was his name? Mathew? Maizon?”
“Maseen,” JJ corrected, rubbing her temples. “And I never followed him around.”
“Maseen, Massri, sounds pretty close if you ask me,” Sheree said with a little chuckle.
Sydney snickered as well.
“I can’t believe it. You two are ganging up on me? Wasn’t it the two of you who almost tried to kill each other a couple months ago?” JJ asked, looking back and forth between her sister and her sister-in-law. “When did the two of you get all chummy-chummy?”
“Nobody’s chummy-chummy,” Sheree said as she held a piece of cotton down on the spot from which the nurse had just pulled the needle. “But since both of us are going to be in Hayden’s life for the long haul, we might as well try and get along with each other.”
“And when did this peace treaty start?” JJ asked.
“When Sheree wrote the check that covered all Dean’s medical bills,” Sydney said, folding her arms.
JJ raised an eyebrow at Sheree, who looked away and began to swing her legs off the bed.
“Yeah, well, a lot of good that did,” she murmured. “He still won’t talk to me. Isn’t even interested in seeing the baby’s ultrasound pictures.”
“Well, you did lie about being pregnant to get him to marry you, stole his money, and ran off with another man,” Sydney said dryly. “Can you really blame him?”
Sheree’s eyes fell to the floor. “Guess not.”
JJ thought she heard a tremor in Sheree’s voice, but she couldn’t be sure. Over the past year since Sheree had come into their lives, JJ had built up an image of her as this cold, heartless man-eater who was only out to milk Dean and their family dry. Her faith in God and her awareness of her own shortcomings had urged her to try and give Sheree the benefit of the doubt. It had been a challenge.
But seeing her struggle to get out of bed in the hospital room, tears in her eyes as she talked about Dean, was starting to break that image down. Now JJ wasn’t at all sure what to think of Sheree.
“Alright, don’t try to get up yet. Just sit tight for a couple minutes,” the nurse s
aid, easing Sheree back onto the bed. “You might feel a bit light-headed, so we’re gonna get a wheelchair to take you down to the front, then your sisters can take you home.”
“Sisters-in-law,” all three women said at the same time.
The nurse’s eyes flew open as she glanced around at all of them.
“Okay. So your sisters-in-law can take you home.” She shook her head as she exited the room, muttering something about “dysfunctional” and “family.”
They sat in uncomfortable silence for what seemed like forever, until an orderly came in with a wheelchair and helped Sheree into it. Then they traveled down to the lobby, waited for Sydney to bring the car around, and rode all the way back to the house in uncomfortable silence.
JJ sighed. If today was anything to go by, it was going to be a long four months.
Chapter 6
“JJ, five minutes!”
JJ groaned and put the pillow over her head, burying herself a little deeper between the blanket and comforter that sandwiched her body in the bed.
“JJ, get up. It’s nine a.m. We have to be in church in an hour.”
Sydney’s voice was like nails on a chalkboard.
“Go away,” JJ whined. “I’m tired.”
“Then maybe you should have slept last night instead of creeping in here at four in the morning,” Sydney said. JJ could hear the scowl in her sister’s voice.
JJ shifted onto her side but didn’t bother opening her eyes for her first lie of the day. “I was at the shop,” she muttered, referring to the clothing store she ran with their mother. A clothing store that she’d had to squeeze into the few free spaces left in her life since her music had taken over.
“Yeah, and I’m marrying LeBron James.” She heard her sister sigh before heading away from the bed. “Whoever he is, I hope he’s worth it.”
JJ didn’t bother to respond, partly because Sydney was already out the door and partly because she had in fact been with Rayshawn for part of the night before. Instead, she crawled out from under the covers, grabbed her robe, and headed to the washroom.
Fifteen minutes and a hot shower later, she heard a knock on the bathroom door. She found Sheree standing on the other side.
“Sorry, pregnancy bladder,” Sheree said, offering an apologetic smile. “Please don’t let me do stairs.”
Toothbrush in mouth, JJ stepped outside the bathroom and let Sheree in so she didn’t have to trek to the bathroom on the lower level. It had been almost two weeks since Sheree had moved into their home and JJ had gotten used to sharing the upstairs bathroom with one more female. After some time she heard a toilet flush. A minute later the door opened and JJ and Sheree exchanged places again.
“So what’s all the commotion for this morning?” Sheree leaned against the bathroom doorway as if she had nowhere in particular to be. “Everyone working this weekend?”
JJ spit her toothpaste into the sink. “Church.”
She went back to brushing, without noticing the confused expression on Sheree’s face.
“Church?”
“Last Saturday of the month, everyone goes to church together,” Sydney said as she passed by the bathroom on the way to her room. “Isaacs family rules.”
Sheree’s eyes followed Sydney, then looked back at JJ as if to confirm.
“Are you serious?”
JJ swished water around in her mouth then spit it out. “Yup. It’s our mother’s contribution to making sure we’re all saved.”
“Or trying to make sure.” Lissandra’s voice floated out from her bedroom.
“So you’re saying everyone in your family, all your sisters, even though you’re grown, you all go to church with your mom the last weekend in every month? Even if you don’t want to?” Sheree asked.
“Pretty much,” JJ answered as she rubbed moisturizer on her face.
“Why?” Sheree asked, her face scrunched in confusion. “Why not just say no?”
“You think we haven’t tried that?” Lissandra asked, coming to her bedroom door. “Our mother has found creative ways to punish us for our absence.”
“Like the silent treatment,” JJ said.
“Or the do-my-errands-for-a-month treatment,” Lissandra added. “Imagine having your mother call you every single day, several times a day, to ask you to pick up things for her, or drive her here or go with her there. And she’s not doing it because she can’t do it herself or because she wants your company, but because she knows just how much it will irritate you.”
“It’s not that we couldn’t say no,” Sydney said, coming into the hallway to join the conversation. “But it’s pretty much the one thing our mother has asked us all to do. And out of respect for her, and to keep the peace, we just do it.”
“It’s easier just to go,” JJ said.
“And everyone goes,” Lissandra said, heading back into her room. “Including you, Mrs. Isaacs.”
“Me?” Sheree’s eyes widened. “You don’t think . . . your mom can’t expect . . .”
“Isaacs family rules,” JJ said, leaving the bathroom. She stopped in front of Sheree and dropped her voice. “Besides, everyone will be there. Including your husband.”
“Estranged husband,” Sheree said dryly as she returned to the bathroom.
JJ smiled when she heard the shower. In a strange way she was starting to get used to Sheree being in the house, kind of like having a racoon in your attic. Sure, you would rather it not be there, but as long as it stayed out of your way, didn’t make too much noise and didn’t invite any friends, you could temporarily coexist.
They managed to make it to the Granville Park Adventist Church by ten fifteen, which JJ thought was pretty remarkable given their party of four and a half. JJ helped Sheree out of the car and let the woman lean gently against her as they followed Sydney toward the front steps.
As planned, they managed to make a quiet entry into the church sanctuary, slipping through a side door onto the bench with the rest of their family. JJ’s mother was already there—likely since nine, when they first cracked open the church doors. JJ’s younger sisters, Zelia and Josephine, sat on either side. JJ let Sydney and Sheree slip onto the bench ahead of her. She’d had an argument with her mother the week before over her singing career, one of several that in the last few months had created a chasm of tension between them. It seemed like every conversation they attempted to have of late had ended with Jackie voicing her disapproval of JJ’s new vocation. As a result, JJ was more comfortable keeping her distance.
Unfortunately, in this particular place, she would never be comfortable enough, no matter how far she sat from Jackie. It was ironic because this was the place where she had once found comfort when the rest of her world was spinning in chaos. There was something about being in church that made her feel closer to God, made her feel like he was really a part of her life, that he filled the space in her heart that was meant for him.
Of late, however, that space that she previously thought could only be filled by God was filled with loneliness and disappointment and the discontent of being on the downside of her twenties with almost nothing to show for it. As her sisters conquered their career dreams, got married, and moved forward with their lives, she felt like her life was stagnant. She had no thriving career of her own, just a job in her mother’s shop—a shop in which she had no stake, no ownership, and very little control. She had lost a chunk of her savings to the woman with the protruding belly leaning against her, and owned nothing more than a twelve-year-old car and one-third of an old house in Toronto. And then there was her love life, which had been nothing more than a series of unfortunate events that weren’t even interesting enough to provide good fodder for a girls’ night out. Yes, that had been her life. And though she had wanted to believe all the Bible verses that told her God had a plan for her, she couldn’t help but think that if what she was living was that plan, then the plan sucked.
She shifted restlessly in her seat. Discontent was a dangerous thing.
&nbs
p; It was what had caused Sydney to go off the rails just a year earlier when Decadent, the gourmet pastry shop she had poured her life into, had been sold from under her, and Sheree had run off with the proceeds. JJ knew what discontent could do, and she knew she would never—could never—do what her sister had done. There was a difference between taking the law into your own hands and taking your life into your own hands. Sydney had done the former, when she tried to get their money back from Sheree on her own and nearly killed herself when a car chase between her and Sheree put her at the bottom of the Kingston Harbour. JJ was just taking control of her life. Making some plans for herself. And who’s to say that wasn’t God’s plan after all?
The slight jolt of her sister sitting beside her after her extended break outside was enough to shake JJ out of her thoughts. She glanced over at Lissandra and wrinkled her nose at the mix of mint and cigarette smoke that tickled her senses. The permanent scowl that always sat on Lissandra’s face for church was in place.
“What did I miss?” Lissandra asked.
“Not much,” JJ murmured.
Lissandra let out a sigh. “I am so over this church thing with Mom. She’s getting one more year out of me and that’s it. As soon as I hit thirty . . .”
“Your butt will still be coming to church once a month,” JJ hissed. “You know Mom’s not letting you get away with that.”
Lissandra scowled. “Maybe if church was more entertaining it wouldn’t be a hassle. But honestly, you want me to get up out of bed on a Saturday morning for this? There aren’t even any good-looking men in this mug.”
JJ chuckled. She couldn’t disagree with Lissandra there. Church was definitely lacking in that department.
“Bathroom break,” Sheree whispered, getting up.
“Already?” Lissandra murmured as she made way for the woman to pass. “Geez, we just got here.”
“Well, it was a long car ride,” JJ said in defense of Sheree. She turned to the pregnant woman. “It’s on your left as soon as you exit the main doors. You want me to come with you?”
