“Hell, I can’t shoot you for the same reason you can’t shoot me. Contrary to popular belief, I love my daughter and I’ve never seen her as happy as she was with you last night. I can’t take you from her. And you’re Clarence’s son. I couldn’t and wouldn’t do that to him, either.”
I looked up at him. “You gonna tell Renee about this? About me coming here to kill you?”
“You gonna tell Renee I used to be Jaywalk?”
Neither of us answered the other.
“You really didn’t know who I was when you met her?” he asked.
“I didn’t.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Life is something else. Clarence’s son and my Renee. Well, if you’re anything like your daddy, you’ll be good to her.”
“I’d give my life for her.”
He patted his protruding belly. “Well, I haven’t had breakfast. Wanna join me? I know this great little café a couple of blocks over. We can get to know each other since we’re gonna be family.”
I nodded. “Yeah. My car’s across the street. I’ll follow you.”
He smiled. “Still don’t trust me, huh? Don’t wanna ride with your future father-in-law?”
“Baby steps.”
He laughed. “You know what? I like you, even though you just tried to kill me. You’re a real man, unlike that midget Renee was married to before.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I terrorized his ass, then.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “You did?”
“Yep, and I loved every minute of it.”
“Yeah, I like you, Lorenzo.” He extended his hand to me. “Welcome to the family, son.”
I grasped his hand, and said, “Thanks.”
39
Now…
Once in the car, I sat quietly in the passenger’s seat while Lorenzo drove. Every time I glanced at him, he’d be wearing this expression on his face like he was deep in thought. I wanted to say something, but didn’t exactly know how to go about accusing him of trying to kill my father without it sounding like I was accusing him of trying to kill my father. But I couldn’t just let it go.
“Zo, I know you know—”
“It’s over.”
“It is?”
He nodded.
“So…you’re not going to—”
“No.”
“And he knows—”
“We reached an agreement over breakfast. A truce.”
“Zo, did you know who he was when we met?”
He pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store, turned the car off, and looked me in the eye. “No, Doc. I didn’t know until I saw those pictures at your mom’s last night. I promise you that. Please believe me, baby. I wouldn’t lie to you about something like that.”
“Zo…”
He leaned in and kissed me. “I love you. He loves you. And because of that, it’s over. It’s over.”
I nodded.
*****
I could feel Lorenzo darting his eyes from the road to me and back. We’d just left the doctor’s office, and I was fighting back tears.
“You okay?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No.”
“How do you feel?”
“Scared. Confused. You?”
I turned to see the uncertainty on his face as he said, “Same. But we’re going to make sure, right? That’s where we’re headed now. To get more tests done, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
He grasped my hand and squeezed it. “All right. We’ll find out for sure and go from there. I’m with you every step of the way, Doc. No matter what, I got your back, baby. Okay?”
“Okay.”
*****
“Are you sure?” I asked.
The pretty woman in scrubs nodded and handed me the lab papers. “Yes. Positive.”
“I really thought Dr. Hall was wrong, out of her mind.”
“No, your doctor was right, and so were her tests.”
I looked from her to Zo and back. “But how?”
She gave me an amused look. “I would think you, of all people, would know.”
“I mean…Cass, I tried for years with Robert. We didn’t even use any form of birth control for the last eight years of our marriage. I have a hormonal imbalance. My periods are so short, I didn’t even realize I’d missed one. And I’m old as hell. I mean, how?”
She shrugged. “I guess that imbalance is gone.”
“My blood pressure—”
“Is fine,” she interrupted. “But we’ll keep a close watch on it.”
“I’ve been off the meds for a couple of months, so that’s good.”
“It is,” she agreed.
“I can’t believe I was having headaches because I’m pregnant. It sounded so crazy to me when Dr. Hall said she thought that was what it was. I mean, I know some women tend to get headaches early in their pregnancies because of the surge in hormones, but it just never occurred to me that was what was going on with me.”
“And don’t forget part of your problem is you’re dehydrated. You’ve got to do better with drinking water, Renee.”
“Don’t worry. I’m buying a case of water on the way home,” Lorenzo said.
I sat there for a moment with so many thoughts occupying my mind. “Cass, I’m almost thirty-seven. Am I too old? Wait, I have patients who’ve delivered at older ages than that. Hell, Janet Jackson was fifty when she had her baby. Oh! I drank some wine a couple of weeks ago. Just one glass. Do you think it’ll hurt the baby?” I rambled.
“Renee, come on. You do this for a living. You know that one glass of wine is not going to hurt the baby.”
“Baby…” I said, turning to Lorenzo, who sat right next to me in Cass’ office. “Zo, we’re going to have a baby.”
He nodded and smiled. “I know, Doc.”
“How do you feel about it now that we know for sure?”
“I didn’t wanna get my hopes up at first, but now? I feel like I have a second chance to get this right. I feel like the luckiest man in the world. And baby, I didn’t think it was possible, but I love you more now that I know you’re carrying my child.”
As he pulled me into a hug, I leaned into him and whispered, “I love you, too.”
“You know what else?”
“What?”
“I’m glad I got you another car. My child is not riding around in a damn Honda.”
I rolled my eyes.
On the ride home, while Lorenzo went on and on about us getting married right away and me cutting back at work—neither of which I planned to protest—I thought about the fact that I was six weeks pregnant. Me. I already knew miracles could happen, I just didn’t know they could happen to me.
Six or seven months earlier, I’d snuck Lorenzo into Genesis to do STD testing on both of us, because we were having so much sex, I thought I was developing a latex allergy (It bothered me so bad I even started using vinyl gloves at work, just in case) and wanted to make sure we were both disease-free before we stopped using condoms. And after that, we went all willy-nilly with our sex because I didn’t think birth control was necessary. Now I was pregnant, and if this baby wasn’t a miracle, I didn’t know what was.
I let my tears flow as we pulled up to the gate of our house, the house our little boy or girl would grow up in. I thought about my past, my pain, and the love Lorenzo gave me that cancelled all of that hurt out. My worst day with Lorenzo was better than my best day with Robert.
“Baby, why are you crying?” he asked, as he pulled to a stop in front of the house.
“Because I’m happy, Zo. I’m so, so happy.”
As he leaned over and brushed my lips with his, he said, “So am I, Doc. So am I.”
40
Seven and a half months later…
“Ohhhhhh! Zo! Why?! Why’d you do this to meeeeee!” I screamed, as another contraction hit. “Where the hell is Cass at?! Did you even call her? She needs to come get this baby out NOW!”
Zo leaned in cl
ose to my ear. “She’s on her way, baby. Just breathe. Breathe like we practiced. Inhale—”
“Zo! I can’t breathe, shit! I’m gonna die! There’s no way I can survive this! I owe every patient I ever told to breathe through this an apology. Ohhhhhhhh!”
“Sweetie, it’s going to be okay. It’ll all be over soon. Cassandra will be here shortly. And it’s not like you can’t deliver the baby yourself,” my mother said soothingly.
I loved and respected my mother, so I didn’t respond to her at all, because whatever I said was definitely going to hurt her feelings.
My life had come full circle, so to speak. There I was, sitting in the same tub where I had delivered little Loren, with an anxious Zo by my side. My mom and Zo’s mom were in the bathroom with us. So were my sisters. Since the bathroom was so ridiculously huge like everything else in that house, it wasn’t crowded.
Daddy and Ryan and Mel were downstairs, awaiting the arrival of the first Strickland grandchild.
I turned to my sisters, who both wore horrified looks on their faces as they huddled way across the bathroom from me. “Angie, don’t let Ryan do this to you. Don’t do it. It hurts. It hurts like hell. You’re gonna die. You won’t survive this shit. You won’t. Nicky, just stay engaged. Don’t even get married because the next thing you know, you’ll gain forty damn pounds and be in a tub fighting for your life like I am. Although I was pregnant when I got married, but whatever. And—ohhhhhhhh, shit! I need some medicine! Zo! Why the hell didn’t you talk me out of this home birth mess? I thought you loved meeeeee!” I wailed, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and between labored breaths, hissed, “I hate you for doing this to me.”
He pressed his mouth to my ear, and whispered, “You know you wanted this D.”
I would’ve laughed or hit him had I not been on the brink of death. Thankfully, at that moment, Cassandra finally showed up. “About time!” I shouted. “You got a damn epidural in that bag?”
She smiled, turning to Zo. “Pain’s pretty bad, huh?”
“Yeah, she’s cursed everyone out, but I seem to be her main target,” Zo said, trying to shake his hand free of mine.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I snapped.
“I’m just tryna give Cassandra some room, baby.”
“She can work around your big ass. Don’t fucking move!”
“Damn, okay. Shit…” he mumbled.
“Got me in this tub about to decease. I should’ve thought through this better. This baby is probably gargantuan just like you, and that’s why—oh, shit! Here comes another one! Cassandra! What the hell are you doing?!”
She held up a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff. “About to check your blood pressure. Has the water helped with the pain at all?”
“Hell, no! That’s another damn lie we need to stop telling people.”
“Well, it might be because you’re so worked up. Try to relax,” Cassandra suggested.
I sat up straight and stared at her. “Cass, I just almost slapped the shit out of you. How in the holy hell can I relax when my damn pelvic bone is opening as we speak? A bone. Opening. Oh, and let’s not forget I’m about to have to push a whole human out of my body. You see the size of my husband? That’s whose seed is inside of me!”
“Okay, okay, sorry.”
Somehow, my blood pressure was normal. A few seconds later, she snapped on a pair of gloves, and said, “Open your legs so I can check you.”
I squeezed Lorenzo’s hand tighter as I reclined a little in the tub and opened my legs.
A second later, she said, “You’re at eight centimeters right now.”
I shook my head. “Ain’t no way in hell, Cass. I’ve got to be at ten. Shit, Zo, take me to the hospital. I can’t do this without drugs. Mama! I want my mommyyyy.” That’s when I started full-on crying. So did Nicky’s perpetually-engaged-with-no-wedding-date-in-sight butt. Mama rubbed my shoulder and said something in an attempt to comfort me, but it didn’t work.
Angie whimpered, “I’m so scared.”
“Hell, you should be!” I shouted. “Don’t you let Ryan put no light-skinned babies in you. It’s gonna hurt like a motherfucker when it’s time for it to come out!”
An hour later, after I had uttered more profanities than I had in my entire life and then apologized to my mother and mother-in-law for it, falsely vowed to never have sex with Lorenzo again, begged Cassandra to get a kitchen knife and cut the baby out, asked my mother and Lorenzo’s mother why they would endure this torture more than once, and cried more tears than I knew I could produce, our nine-pound son was born.
Hours later, after Lorenzo had cut his cord like a pro and I had triumphantly breastfed him, his daddy sat on the side of our bed cradling him in his arms with tears in his eyes.
“So, what do you think, Daddy?” I asked.
He looked up at me and smiled. “I think he’s perfect. Thank you, Doc. Thank you so much. I know it wasn’t easy for you.”
I returned his smile as I gazed at the little boy with a head full of thick, black hair. “It wasn’t, but the crazy thing is, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
He gave me a serious expression. “Hell, no. This is it. You damn near drove me crazy with the mood swings while you were pregnant. You actually cried because I wouldn’t put salt on a piece of cake for you. Do you remember that?”
“Vaguely.”
“And then you threatened to withhold my pussy from me today.”
“You do have to wait six weeks though, you know?”
“That’s another thing. Nope. Little man is it. We’ll find him some playmates or something, and he can always play with Loren.”
“So in six weeks, if I offer you some birth control-less coochie, you’re gonna turn it down?”
“Hell, no!”
We both laughed.
I watched Lorenzo kiss our baby’s forehead, and said, “I love you, Zo, and you too, Little Zo.”
Lorenzo scooted closer to me and kissed me. “We love you, too, Doc.”
Sneak peek from Be with Me (Nicky’s story), coming soon:
1
Nicole
I took a deep breath, unlocked the door, then stepped inside to find him sitting on the sofa, laptop balanced on his thighs. He glanced up at me and smiled, muttered, “Hey, how was work?”
“Tiring. Had a long day. Sooo glad it’s Friday,” I said, as I plopped down beside him. “How was yours?”
“Tiring, had a long day. Still working,” he mumbled, his eyes glued to his laptop.
“Hmm…” I hopped up and headed to the kitchen, found one of my wine coolers near the back of the fridge, dug in a kitchen drawer for a bottle opener, and was guzzling it down when I felt his big hands on my hips and his lips on my neck. I grinned and then brought the bottle back to my lips, finishing the cooler as he moved his hands to my breasts and squeezed them through my blouse.
“I need to throw this away, baby,” I murmured, as he slid his mouth from the side of my neck to the back of it.
He responded by moving one of his hands from my breast and taking the bottle from me, making use of his long arms to pitch it in the trash can. Then he wrapped his arms around my waist and led me to a counter. I leaned over it as he pulled my pencil skirt up around my waist. He pushed my blouse up my back and over my head, dragging his tongue from just above my ass to my neck before moving my panties to the side and gliding inside of me.
I released a low moan as I clawed at the countertop, glanced over my shoulder at him as he slid out of my wetness and back inside with his eyes closed.
“Ooooo, baby!” I whined, as he delivered slow, languorous thrusts, rubbing one hand up and down my back, while gripping my hip at the same time.
“Shit…” he replied.
I closed my eyes, leaning forward and pushing my ass out at him, knowing that would make him deliver harder, deeper thrusts. Soon, he was driving into me so hard that the kitchen was filled with the sounds of our moans, our labored breathing, an
d the glorious squishy sound of his shaft sliding in and out of my wetness. Faster and faster he thrusted, causing throngs of pressure to gather inside of me, making me drag my nails over the countertop as an incendiary orgasm ignited deep within my core. My knees buckled, and he slid out of me, turned me around, and lifted me from the floor, wrapping my legs around him and swiftly entering me again. His mouth found mine, and our tongues tangled as we kissed each other greedily. Gripping my ass, he pushed my pelvis into his, thrusting so deeply that I yelped into his mouth. It hurt in the most delicious way, and I was soon on the edge of another orgasm. I gripped his shoulders tightly as he circled the flesh of my neck with his tongue, and moments later, we were both roaring as we climaxed together.
*****
We were in bed now, having enjoyed another round of sex and both fallen asleep. I was lying on my back while he slept with his head on my chest and his hand between my legs, his fingers inside of me. I didn’t want to move, but I had to pee and I needed to shower because I smelled like sweat and his cologne, both scents that, along with the awareness of his fingers inside of me, made me want more of him. Nevertheless, I eased from under him and tip-toed to the bathroom. I’d barely stepped into the shower when he joined me.
He backed me up against the shower wall, and said, “Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to clean up? I would’ve done it for you.”
I smiled as he dropped to his knees, lifted my leg, and covered my yoni with his mouth, licking and sucking until my legs quivered, then once again, he lifted me, this time using the wall as leverage as he thrusted inside me.
Finally, an hour later, I slipped out of Damon’s apartment, locking the door behind myself. It was time to go home to Travis.
Believe in Me (Strickland Sisters Book 2) Page 20
