Never Again, No More 3

by Untamed

Aldris

  “Do you want me to drive?” Lucinda asked as we walked down the driveway toward my BMW 745i.

  “No, driving will keep my mind off of it,” I answered as we got in the car.

  She turned to me and grabbed my hand. “No matter what, I’m there for you. Everything is going to be all right because I’ve got your back, baby.”

  Her sentiments meant so much to me. I was grateful to have her in my life, and I leaned over to kiss her. “I love you so much, Lu. I really do.”

  “I love you too, papi.”

  “Please don’t say papi right now. Right now, that takes on a whole new meaning.” I groaned in frustration.

  My grumblings meant one thing: it was paternity test time. It would also be the first time that I’d seen Jennifer since we broke up, and the first time I’d lay eyes on the child she claimed was mine. Part of me was hoping that when I saw the child, I would be able to say I know for a fact this ain’t my baby because she’d be biracial or some shit. I just wanted this nightmare to be over with.

  I was happy that Lucinda was coming with me. I was thankful that despite my actions the night before, she’d forgiven me. I was so thankful, in fact, that as soon as she logged off from work, I made sweet love to her. Usually our lovemaking relaxed me, but afterward, the only one sound asleep was Lucinda. I faded in and out all night, having nightmares of every woman I used to date pop up with paternity suits. Then, like gremlins, they just kept multiplying! It all climaxed on my wedding day. Just as Lucinda was about to say “I do” the entire wedding party and guests turned into females—some I knew and some I didn’t—all claiming to have a baby by me. Lucinda ran out of the church in tears, and like zombies, the women all crowded me as if they were going to eat me alive. The point of the dream, I gathered, was that I was truly worried about how everything was going to affect my relationship with Lucinda. So far, she was by my side and I was eternally grateful, but we were facing so many unknowns that I would rather have faced as a married couple. That way, she couldn’t just up and leave me. It was a selfish thought, I know, but who wouldn’t be selfish when it comes to the person they love?

  When we arrived at the lab, I got out of the car and stretched to shake off my nerves. As Lucinda came around the back side of the car, I couldn’t help but to ogle her as she walked around to the driver’s side. Damn! I was already there for a paternity test, so sex should’ve been the furthest thing from my mind. But she looked damn good. Not that she didn’t on a regular day, but today it seemed she put a little extra effort into it. It was probably more to show off to Jennifer than for me, but I didn’t mind. I was just proud to have her by my side and helping me through this ordeal. So, if she wanted to show out a bit, she could. Either way, I would enjoy the show.

  Reaching up, she smoothed out my striped Polo shirt, then I straightened the leg of my jeans and fixed my baseball cap.

  “You’re fidgeting. I know you’re nervous, but I’m here for you. We’re gonna be all right,” Lucinda encouraged.

  With those words, I exhaled the nervousness. She always knew exactly what to say. Grabbing her hand, I held it tightly as we walked into the lab together.

  Once inside, I checked in with the receptionist, and before we could take a seat in the lobby, the nurse called us back. Good. I was glad to get it over with quickly because I didn’t want to sit in a waiting area while this situation ate at me.

  “You’re here for a paternity test with Jessica Brooks, correct?” the nurse asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, just follow me,” she instructed. I gripped Lucinda’s hand tighter.

  We entered the room, and I gasped when I saw Jennifer sitting there. She looked amazing. She’d even lost a few pounds since the last time I saw her. She was never overweight, but I could tell she was leaner, more fit. Her milk chocolate complexion and Taraji P. Henson inspired hairstyle coupled with her mid-thigh-length dress exuded a certain sex appeal. Her smile lit up her face, and her big brown eyes looked warm and inviting as she looked at her daughter, Jessica, who, upon first glance, looked just like a female version of me when I was six.

  “You’re Jennifer Brooks, right?” the nurse asked, bringing Jennifer’s attention to me and Lucinda.

  She looked at me and rolled her eyes. “Yes, and this is my daughter, Jessica.”

  “Hello, Jennifer,” I said through uneasy feelings.

  “Aldris.” She nodded at Lucinda. “Who is your company?”

  “This is my fiancée, Lucinda Rojas.”

  Lucinda smiled and waved. “Hello.”

  Jennifer snickered. “Ookayy. Hello,” she said as if something came across her mind that she didn’t want to say out loud. “This is Jessica. Jessica, this is Aldris and Lucinda.”

  Jessica smiled shyly at us. “Hi.” She turned to Jennifer and asked, “Mommy, is this my real daddy?”

  She sighed and looked directly at me. “Yes, he is.”

  “Then why do we have to take this test?” she inquired.

  “Well, honey, so that no one can dispute the fact that you are his child,” Jennifer said with finality in her tone.

  “What does dispute mean?” she asked.

  “It means to argue. No one can argue that you are not his daughter,” Jennifer answered.

  “Do you really think we should be discussing all of this right now?” I asked Jennifer, growing uncomfortable with the direction of the Q&A session.

  “I have nothing to hide, and I’m honest with my daughter. If she asks me a question, I’m going to answer her truthfully the best way I can,” she said with a blasé attitude.

  Lucinda turned me to face her. “Just let it go, baby.”

  I gently pulled her close and kissed her forehead. “You’re right. I’m just a little uptight,” I whispered before I sat down to fill out my portion of the paperwork.

  Once I finished the paperwork, within five minutes we were both done. The technician bagged and tagged our samples and told us the results would be back in forty-eight hours. I didn’t need the results to know that Jessica was my daughter. The moment I laid eyes on her, I felt an instant connection, not to mention she reminded me of myself at that age. In my gut, I knew she was my child, and that meant there was about to be trouble in the city.

  “Well, I guess I’ll see you two in court on Friday,” Jennifer declared condescendingly after we all reached the parking lot.

  “Why are you doing this, Jennifer? You could’ve come to me—oh, say six years ago—and told me about Jessica. Why do you want to disrupt everyone’s lives now?” I asked angrily.

  She was clearly taken aback by my comments. “Excuse me? I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.”

  “Oh, you’re going to tell me—”

  “Aldris, don’t do this now. Jessica is looking at you,” Lucinda interjected.

  I looked over at a scared and nervous Jessica. “I’m so sorry, Jessica. I wasn’t trying to be mean to your mother. I just—”

  “Mommy, can we go?” she asked hurriedly, interrupting me.

  “Get in the car,” Jennifer ordered, unlocking the doors with the key fob remote. Jessica jumped in the back of an Infiniti SUV and shut the door. “Nice going, Aldris. You’ve scared my child with your attitude. But you so have a habit of fucking shit up.”

  “I didn’t mean to, but I have a right to know, Jennifer. You owe me that much, and you know it.”

  “I don’t owe you shit,” she snapped.

  “Please, you two. Let’s not do this here.” Lucinda stepped in. “We’ll be in court on Friday, and everything will be answered then.”

  “As much as you are pissing me off by trying to check my behavior, Lucinda, you do have a point. Come Friday, every question will be answered. But that is just a formality. All three of us know that the little girl in this SUV is Aldris’. Now, you both can blow that out of your ass,” she shot back before getting inside her SUV.

  Jennifer sped off, leaving Lucinda and me flabbergasted by her v
erbal assault. After a few moments, we made our way back to my car.

  Once in the car, Lucinda looked at me. “I’m trying to be calm with her, but her attitude is going to piss me off, Aldris. Now, I wasn’t trying to step out of line, but if Jessica is your child, her mama is gonna have to check her attitude or she’s gonna get chin checked,” she fumed, her Spanish accent growing thicker by the word.

  “I know, baby. It’s gonna be all right. Don’t you worry about anything. Just concentrate on planning this wedding.” With that, I leaned over and kissed her.

  “How can I with this mess with Jennifer and this foolishness with Raul hanging over us?” she asked, rubbing her forehead. “I’ve still got to talk to my dad about Raul and go back to court about Nadia’s child support. My head is spinning from all the issues.”

  I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to me. “Let me stress for the both of us. You just focus on becoming Mrs. Sharper.”

  * * *

  Looking up at me, she smiled. “I love the sound of that.”

  Friday morning—the day of reckoning—was full of gloom. With Nadia off at school, the house was quiet. Usually, Lucinda would cook breakfast, but this morning our nerves were getting the best of us, so we settled on our morning smoothies to tie us over and continued on with our normal morning routine.

  We showered together—something we always did to keep us connected. There was something about bonding together through bathing and massage that seemed to link our souls together and release all our stress. But today, it was only a temporary fix. No sooner than we both dressed for court, the nerves were back again. You could almost sense the impending news in the air hanging like a thick fog. Lucinda and I had already discussed the fact that there was a strong probability that Jessica was mine; the resemblance was uncanny. I could see the pain and discomfort in Lucinda’s eyes as the reality set in. I wanted nothing more than to shield her from it and let her know that no matter what, she and Nadia were my life. But we couldn’t bring ourselves to delve any further into that conversation.

  Now was the time to find out if my life would be forever changed, or if I could breathe a sigh of relief. As we sat in the courtroom waiting on the judge to review the paternity results, I looked over at Jennifer, who was toying with some Dolce & Gabbana shades in her lap. She appeared to have done well for herself just by appearance alone. It was there in court that I noticed that she didn’t have a wedding band on her finger, and her husband had not been present at the lab nor in court today. Had she not married? Or was she now divorced? It was weird because Jennifer’s maiden name was Crawford, but both her and her daughter’s last name was Brooks.

  “Mr. Smith and Ms. Brooks, I have reviewed the results of the paternity test, and I find them to be in order. Therefore, without further ado, according to the results by 99.985%, Mr. Smith, you are the father of Jessica Brooks,” the judge said.

  It happened so fast that it took a minute to catch up with me. “Say . . . what?” I asked, looking at my attorney.

  “You are the father, Aldris,” he repeated to me.

  I loosened my tie and looked over at Jennifer, who was smiling with delight yet smirking at the same time. The look on her face said, “take that.” Lucinda held her head down, and I grabbed her hand.

  “I’m so sorry, Lu,” I whispered. She mustered a slight smile and squeezed my hand as a show of support.

  “Judge Chambers, in light of these results, my client is asking the courts for back child support for the past six years in the amount of $28,800, which averages out to four hundred dollars a month. We also seek continued child support at the legal limits of eighteen percent of Mr. Smith’s base pay. We ask that Mr. Smith provide health care coverage for Jessica and that a visitation schedule be set up by the courts,” her attorney stated.

  “Going for the gusto today, Attorney Philips?” Judge Chambers asked.

  My attorney looked at me, smiled, and then interjected. “Your Honor, my client has been more than willing to cooperate with Ms. Brooks. Please understand that he was blindsided by this suit. Mr. Smith and Ms. Brooks have not been in contact in over six years. He had no knowledge of a pregnancy or even the possibility that he might be a father. If he had, he has stated that he would’ve gladly been a part of the child’s life. Currently, he’s engaged and is fully supportive of his fiancée, Ms. Lucinda Rojas, and her daughter, Nadia Garcia, who both live with him. He is also a Big Brother mentor and has been for the past four years. Asking for back support for a child he was unaware of is unfair to my client and would impose a financial hardship on him,” Attorney Willingham countered.

  “Is this true, Attorney Philips, that Mr. Smith was unaware of the child or the possibility that your client was pregnant?” the judge asked.

  He looked nervous. “Yes, Your Honor. However, there were circumstances—”

  The judge put his hand up. “I don’t care about the circumstances. This child is six years old. If your client had made Mr. Smith aware, I believe based on his apparent character and their proven information that he would’ve been involved. I am dismissing back child support altogether,” Judge Chambers ruled.

  I wanted to smile, but I felt bad about being happy at the ruling.

  The attorneys went back and forth over paychecks and dragged our home lives through the mud. Come to find out, Jennifer got married a year after Jessica was born, and she and her husband had Jessica’s name changed to Brooks. They got divorced a year ago, citing the all-time favorite: irreconcilable differences. Jennifer had moved back to Atlanta, where she was a marketing director for Coke, making only a grand less than me. Once the judge heard all the evidence, he rendered his decision.

  “Taking everything into account, here is my ruling. I am ordering that Mr. Smith pay child support at sixteen percent of his current base pay for a monthly payment of $453.33. The first payment will be due April first. Each subsequent payment will be due by the fifteenth of the month. Back child support is not allowed. Ms. Brooks currently carries medical and dental insurance on the said minor child, and she will continue to do so. I am ordering Mr. Smith to add Jessica Brooks on to his current insurance as a secondary carrier and maintain a life insurance policy. It is also so ordered that the last name of the minor child be changed from Brooks to Smith within ninety days at the cost of Ms. Brooks, since it is without question that the fees are solely her responsibility. I am ordering visitation for Mr. Smith every third weekend of the month. Major holidays will be split between the parents. Mr. Smith, I am granting you Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, and Ms. Brooks, I am granting you Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Summer vacation will be split, with the second half of summer custody being awarded to Mr. Smith. Are there any other issues that I am not aware of?”

  Both attorneys shook their heads and simultaneously answered, “No, Your Honor.”

  “So be it. It is so ordered. Paternity results will be given to your attorneys before the end of the business day. Court is adjourned.” Judge Chambers banged his gavel.

  After we left the courtroom, I caught up with Jennifer in the parking lot. “Hey,” I called out to her as Lucinda and I approached.

  She put on her shades. “Well, hello to the Smith family. I see you got your day in court today. I’m sure you’re happy,” she sneered.

  “Jennifer, do we have to act this way? I just found out that I have a beautiful little daughter, and all I want to do is try to figure out a way for us to be involved with her.”

  “News flash, Aldris, I am already involved. You’re the one who has to get with the program,” she said harshly.

  Lucinda sidestepped me with anger in her eyes. “Look, chica, this is new to the both of us. You just ran to Georgia and slapped a paternity suit on my fiancé without so much as a word, and then tell him he’s playing catch up. You’ve disrupted our lives, when you could’ve told him this news six years ago. I think you owe us a lot more respect than what you’re giving us.”

  Jennifer cocked
her head to the side and removed her shades. “Look-a-here, little mamacita. First of all, you need to chill because I wasn’t talking to you. Secondly, you have absolutely nothing to do with this. This is between Aldris, me, and Jessica.”

  “Let’s get one thing straight right now, chick. Your business is officially my business because he is my fiancé. Hate it or love it, you have to deal with me.” Lucinda popped off with a finger point and a neck roll, steadily decreasing the space between them.

  “Ladies! Ladies!” I stepped between them to deescalate the situation. “Calm down. Jennifer, you have to accept the fact that I have a fiancée, and that makes her every bit as involved as me. Lucinda is going to be Jessica’s stepmother.”

  “Stepmother? Hell, she barely has a damn father! And up until the paternity test, I didn’t know a thing about no damn Lucinda, so both of you can jump on whatever banana boat it was that you rode over here on,” Jennifer shouted angrily.

  “Oh, bitch, no you didn’t,” Lucinda spat back, throwing her hands on her hips.

  I knew it was on and popping at this point, so I pulled Lucinda to the side, with her cursing in Spanish the whole way.

  “Why the fuck are you grabbing on me, Aldris? You need to get that bitch straight!”

  “Lucinda, for one, this is a courthouse, remember? For two, I want you to get in the car. It’s enough already, and I don’t need any more drama,” I tried to explain to her.

  Lucinda put her hands up. “Wait a minute, Aldris. So, I’m the one bringing the drama?”

  “No, no. I didn’t say that. I know you’ve got my back, and I have yours too, but at the end of the day, we all have to deal with each other. I’m asking you not to get on her level, and I’m begging you to get in the car,” I pleaded. “Please.”

  She threw her hands up and groaned in frustration. “Fine. I’ll get in the car.” Obviously unpleased, she snatched the keys from my hand and stalked to my BMW.

  I took a deep breath and walked back to Jennifer. “You know, it’s one thing to hate me, but it’s a completely different thing to disrespect my woman. Now, because we have a child together, I’m going to be calm about this, but I’m only going to say this once. Do not disrespect my fiancée again.”