by RM Johnson
85
“Okay, we’ll race as soon as I come back,” Nate said two hours later to Nathaniel, who was playing with a pair of his toy cars.
Nate got up off the carpet to answer the doorbell.
When he opened the door, Tabatha stood in front of him. Without warning, she slapped him hard across the face, staggering Nate a few steps backward.
“Monica will be getting her shit on Thursday, motherfucker. Make sure you or that bitch ain’t around.”
Nate rubbed his stinging face, speechless. He watched as Tabatha glared at him evilly, backed away from his door, then turned and walked to her car, climbed in, and drove off.
86
Nate sat on a stool in a small bar off Clark Street, having a scotch neat.
“Nate.”
Nate turned around to see Lewis and another man, who shared Nate’s skin color and had similar features.
“This is Trevor Morgan,” Lewis said.
Trevor extended his hand for Nate to shake.
Nate looked at it, then spun back around on his stool. “We aren’t here to make friends. What are you having?”
“Whatever’s on tap,” Trevor said.
“Same here,” Lewis said.
They took the stools next to Nate. Lewis sat between the two men.
After their drinks came, Nate took another sip from his glass, then turned halfway on his stool to eye both Lewis and Trevor. “So who are you?” Nate asked Trevor.
“I used to date Daphanie before you.”
“Dated.” Nate chuckled. “I thought people were supposed to give up dating after they got married.”
There was a look on Trevor’s face that asked how the man knew this about him.
“He has ways of finding stuff out, man,” Lewis said to Trevor.
“I do my research, Mr. Morgan,” Nate said. “So you have a wife, but you were dating Daphanie. You don’t have any children, but you say she’s pregnant now with your child. What makes you think that?”
“Because the day you threw her away, told her you were going back with your ex-wife, we had unprotected sex.”
“And Daphanie and I had been having unprotected sex for the four or five months prior to that,” Nate said, taking another drink of his scotch. “So what?”
“She told me I was the father.”
“She told me the same thing.”
“I told him you all gotta get a test done,” Lewis said.
“And I told you she won’t submit to that. I asked her already,” Trevor said. He turned to Nate. “Why don’t you ask her?”
“There’s no reason, because I know who the father is. Me.”
“Then why in the hell did she tell me it was me?” Trevor said.
“Because, like you said, I threw her away. At that time she knew she couldn’t be with me. She obviously didn’t want to raise a child without a father, so knowing that you would want the child, she told you it was yours.”
“That’s bullshit,” Trevor said.
“You gotta get proof,” Lewis said.
“Why?” Nate said. “From my point of view, there’s nothing wrong with the situation. Daphanie is with me, and she says the child is mine.”
“But what if it’s not?” Trevor said. “So she doesn’t have to submit to a test now. But I will not leave this alone. When she has that baby, I’ll get a fucking court order, and she will have to take the test. And then what will you do if you find out it’s not yours?”
Nate downed the last of his drink, flagged down the waiter, and said, “Give me another.” He then turned to Trevor. “I don’t believe you, going through all this. Do you have any children out there?”
“No. I don’t have children,” Trevor said, seeming to take offense.
“Have you ever gotten a girl pregnant? Even as a teen?”
Trevor rubbed his chin, thought about it. “No.”
“Then what makes you think you’re even capable of getting Daphanie pregnant?”
“What the hell are you trying to say?” Trevor said, standing from his stool, trying to move around Lewis. Lewis stood as well, and stepped into Trevor’s path.
“I’m saying that you might be sterile,” Nate said.
“I’m not. But what about you? Lewis told me you always wanted children, but you don’t have any, either. And you said you were having sex with Daphanie for four or five months, and only after I had sex with her one time does she come up pregnant. Maybe you ought to get yourself checked.”
Nate slammed his glass down on the bar, spilling half of it. He stood from his chair.
Trevor continued to glare at Nate.
Lewis stood between them. “Hold it. Maybe you both ought to get checked. Since Daphanie ain’t taking no test, you might be able to find out what you need to know without her.”
Nate and Trevor stared at each other for a moment, then they both sat.
“Will you do that?” Trevor asked. “I just want to find out what’s what.”
“Only if we use the doctor of my choosing,” Nate said.
87
That night, Daphanie had made Nate and Nathaniel dinner. Afterward, she put Nathaniel to bed and came back downstairs to watch TV beside Nate.
She rubbed her belly like she had been with child for eight months. Her stomach was as flat as it had ever been.
“I hope it’s a little girl,” Daphanie said. “I would love to give Nathaniel a sister. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
“Yeah,” Nate said, staring at the TV, his eyes glazed over. He thought about just coming out with everything. Telling Daphanie that he knew Lewis, that he knew about her scheme, and that he’d had a meeting with Trevor. But if he told her that, he would have to demand that she take the test. She would get defensive. She would deny everything Trevor had said. And she still would not submit to the test.
Her argument would be, how could he marry her if he didn’t trust that the child she was carrying was his? She would say something about how him wanting her to take the test would ruin forever what they could have. That would be why she wouldn’t take it. And to some degree, Nate would feel she was right about that.
“You thought about names yet, babe?” Daphanie asked.
“Uh, no,” Nate said, still deep in his thoughts.
She stood from the sofa, grabbed the glasses that had been filled with juice. “Well, I’m gonna go up to bed.”
“No,” Nate said, snapping out of his trance. “I have a big day tomorrow. Lots of stuff I have to do. Would you mind heading home tonight?”
Daphanie smiled sadly. “Of course not.”
The next day Nate performed the demeaning task of beating off into a plastic cup, then handing it to a lab worker, who tried to look as though she didn’t think what she was holding was disgusting.
Nate had been sitting in the waiting room, wearing a suit, his legs crossed, reading an Esquire magazine, for a little over an hour now.
Trevor sat in row of chairs against the wall as well, just four empty seats down from Nate.
They had agreed that they wanted to be called into the doctor’s office together and have the lab results read to them aloud. It needed to be done that way so they’d both know for sure.
“Mr. Kenny. Mr. Morgan,” Dr. Phillips called from behind a counter. “You both can step back.”
This was a test for which results would normally take more than a few days, but because of Nate’s money and influence, he was able to get personal treatment from the doctor and immediate results.
Nate and Trevor walked through the door that led to the lab area and back offices of the clinic.
Holding two manila folders in his hand, Dr. Phillips walked both men back to his office and had them take seats in front of his desk.
The doctor sat behind his desk and opened both folders, pulling out a single sheet from each and setting them on his desk before them.
“Gentlemen,” he said, slipping on a pair of reading glasses. “We have the results here.”
/> Nate swallowed hard. He felt his hands coating over with nervous sweat.
“Whose shall I read first?”
Nate was scared silent.
“I’ll go first, Doctor,” Trevor said.
Out of the corner of his eye, Nate could see Trevor looking at him, but Nate did not return his stare.
“Okay,” Dr. Phillips said. “Mr. Morgan, you’re fine. Your sperm count is good. Actually, it’s pretty high.”
Nate heard Trevor let out a huge sigh.
“Thank you, Doctor,” Trevor said, sounding relieved.
“Mr. Kenny,” Dr. Phillips said. “You next?”
“Yes.”
Dr. Phillips looked down at the lab sheet, then back up at Nate. The doctor removed his glasses, then said, “I’m sorry to inform you, but you have azoospermia.”
“What!” Nate said. “What the hell is that?”
“It means the results found no sperm whatsoever in your semen.”
88
Dr. Phillips spoke to Nate for another fifteen minutes, and asked if he could do a quick physical exam on him. Nate allowed him to.
After the exam, as Nate zipped up his pants and tucked in his shirt, Dr. Phillips said, “Well, it’s one of the things I thought it could’ve been.”
“What’s that?” Nate said, very concerned.
Dr. Phillips snapped off the exam gloves and dropped them into a small wastebasket. “It’s a condition called varicocele. It usually occurs during puberty, and if left untreated it can cause infertility. Basically, varicocele is an enlarged mass of veins in the spermatic cord in the scrotum. It could cause pressure, oxygen deprivation, heat injury, and toxins, but it hasn’t really been determined which of these symptoms causes the infertility.”
“So?” Nate said.
“Don’t worry. It’s an easy fix,” Dr. Phillips said. “It’s a quick outpatient procedure. I’ll tie off the veins, and after a month or two you’ll be back to normal.”
“You mean I’ll be able to have children?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Dr. Phillips said, smiling.
When Nate walked out of the doctor’s office and into the parking lot, he saw Trevor stepping out of his car. The man walked over to Nate.
“I’m sorry about your diagnosis.”
“It’s no big deal,” Nate said. “I need some simple surgery, but then I’ll be fine.”
“That’s good,” Trevor said, looking up as if checking for rain. “So, this proves the baby is mine, then.”
“No,” Nate said. “It just proves the baby isn’t mine.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Trevor said. “So what do we do now?”
“We don’t do anything,” Nate said, fishing his car keys out of his pocket. “This is no longer my problem. And once I let Daphanie know exactly what I think about her, she won’t be my problem, either.”
“But what am I supposed to do? She won’t submit to a test. I know Daphanie, she’ll always say the child is yours, even after you tell her it isn’t. She’ll have the baby and never let me see it.”
“Like I said, that’s your problem now,” Nate said, walking off.
Before going home, Nate stopped to have a few drinks and think about exactly how he would approach Daphanie with this shit.
Half an hour after Nate left the bar, he was standing in the center of his living room. Something didn’t feel right. It felt as though someone had been there. Then he remembered, this was the day Monica was supposed to have come to move her things.
Had she actually come and had her things moved that fast?
Nate climbed the stairs, hoping for some reason that she hadn’t.
He stepped into their bedroom, and the nightstand they shared when they were married was gone. He walked to the closet, slid open the doors, and one half was bare. All Monica’s clothes were gone, her shoes—everything.
Nate walked over to the bed, lowered himself onto the edge of it. He dropped his face into his hands, realizing this time he had lost Monica forever.
89
Daphanie filled Brownie’s champagne glass with more sparkling grape juice, then topped off her own glass.
“I wish I weren’t pregnant so we could celebrate with the real stuff,” Daphanie said with a laugh. “But if I wasn’t pregnant, I guess there wouldn’t be a need to celebrate.” She raised her glass. “Toast!”
“It just doesn’t seem right, Daph,” Brownie said.
“It was going to be me and Nate anyway, if his wife didn’t come back into the picture.”
“But she did.”
“And I took her right back out of it. All this happened for a reason. Now toast, dammit,” Daphanie said, raising her glass again. “To my new life as Nate’s wife and mother of his child.”
“No,” Brownie said, setting down her glass and standing with her purse. “I can’t do it. You shouldn’t be lying to that man. You can’t pull this off. The minute the baby is born, he’s going to know.”
“How?” Daphanie said, setting down her glass. “Trevor and Nate practically look like brothers. If the baby looks like Nate, why would he even question anything?”
Brownie stood, her arms crossed, shaking her head. “And you don’t feel the slightest bit of guilt about any of this?”
Daphanie picked up her glass and took a drink. “Nope. I don’t.”
“Fine, Daphanie. It’s your life. You do as you like,” Brownie said, heading toward the door. The buzzer rang before she reached it.
Daphanie walked over, pressed the intercom button. “Who is it?”
“It’s Nate.”
Daphanie turned to Brownie and took her finger off the intercom button. “Speak of the devil,” she said, smiling to Brownie. Pressing the button again, Daphanie said, “What are you doing here, Nate? You never come by unexpected.”
“Buzz me up, Daphanie.”
“Okay, okay.”
“I need to be getting out of here,” Brownie said. “I’m not as good as you. That man will take one look at my face and see that something is wrong.”
“No. Just stay to say hi, then leave. He’ll be up in a sec.”
Brownie huffed and shook her head again.
A knock came at the door. Daphanie opened it to see Nate. She gave him a hug and a quick kiss before letting him in.
“Brownie was just leaving, but she stayed to say hi.”
“Hey, Nate,” Brownie said, quickly glancing at him, then averting her eyes.
“Hello, Brownie,” Nate said, walking past her into the living room.
Brownie hugged Daphanie. When she stepped back, she held Daphanie by the shoulders and just stared sadly into her eyes.
Daphanie smiled. “I’ll call you later,” she said, then closed the door after her friend stepped out.
“Champagne. You’re celebrating?” Nate said, pointing to one of the glasses. “Aren’t you supposed to be pregnant?”
“Supposed to be?” Daphanie chuckled. “Can’t fake a pregnancy. And that’s just sparkling grape juice.” She walked over to Nate, wrapped her arms around him again. “This is such a surprise. I wasn’t expecting to see you till later. What brings you over?”
“Why would you do this?”
Daphanie looked up at Nate. “Do what?”
He pushed her arms from around him. “Tell me that baby is mine, when it’s not?”
Daphanie all of sudden felt sick, weak, and frightened. How did he know? Was it Lewis? It could’ve been, but she didn’t think he’d do that. Trevor! She thought. But how in the hell did he get to Nate? She had to pull it together, and now.
Daphanie chuckled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nate.”
“Stop lying to me,” Nate said, walking away from her.
“I’m not lying. Whose baby could it be, then, if it’s not yours?” Daphanie asked, wanting to see just how much Nate knew.
“Who the hell is Trevor?”
Daphanie shook her head. “Nobody. A guy I used to date before you. But
he’s married. He’s not the father of—”
“You slept with him. We met. He told me you two had sex.”
“Yes. The day you dumped me for your ex-wife. I was free, I could have sex with whomever I wanted after you did me like that,” Daphanie said spitefully.
“Yes, you could. But it was unprotected sex, and you got pregnant by him.”
“Why are you saying that?”
“Because that’s what he told me!”
Daphanie walked over to Nate, stood in front of him. “I left him for you. While we were together, he always talked about wanting to have a baby. But he was married. That was ridiculous. He called again, thinking that that one time was going to be more. I told him I was pregnant, and he automatically assumed it was his. I met with him specifically to tell him it wasn’t.”
Nate turned away from Daphanie again. “I want to believe you, Daphanie.”
“You can,” she said, walking around him, looking up in his face again.
“Why? Because you’d never lie to me?”
“That’s right. What we have is too important to do that. I love you too much for that. And what kind of woman would that make me, to tell you this baby is yours if it’s not?”
“That’s a good question. A lying, worthless, filthy bitch, I suppose.”
“What?” Daphanie said, outraged. “You don’t come up in my house, calling—”
“Daphanie, the baby is not mine,” Nate said calmly. “It’s impossible.”
“No, it’s not impossible!” Daphanie screamed.
“I’m sterile!” Nate yelled.
Silence.
“I was tested. I saw a doctor. I’ve most likely been this way since my teens.” Nate shook his head sadly, but did not look away from Daphanie. “Why would you do this? Why would you tell me such a lie? I left my wife for this.”
