“Oh does he now? How can that nigga say he loves you when he is still married?”
“That’s none of your business,” Rebecca said.
“Oh, did I strike a nerve? Calm down. Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t you go to bed alone every night and you wake up every morning, by yourself. From the way you answered the phone just now, you thought I was him. Probably sent him home with your scent and thought he was calling back. I know that voice, don’t I?”
“Screw you!”
“That’s what I want to do to you right now,” the caller said.
Rebecca should have hung up the phone but instead she stayed on the phone and had phone sex with the woman that she should be over.
Kevin pulled into his driveway full of rage. After checking on her and telling the nurse what time she could report the next day, he went into his office.
He did a lot of shuffling that evening with his accounts and managed to open up two accounts for Donnell and Kayla. He wanted to make sure that his kids were taken care of, no matter what happened between him and Cheryl. He had also managed to sign three more companies to his agency and had at least three more on the horizon. The merger in Atlanta was well on the way to being finalized and the office was almost ready to be open. As he was closing the door to the office, the phone rang.
“Yes, this is her husband. What can I do for you? You can’t be serious. What time? Ok. See you then.”
He walked back towards his bar and poured himself a drink. He walked upstairs and saw her sleeping. His conversation with Rebecca instantly came to mind. Anger was starting to build the more he looked at her. You little bitch. He drank the last of his liquor and walked back downstairs. He picked up the phone and called Rebecca but she wasn’t answering. He decided to check the computer to see if she was online, but she wasn’t answering her IM either.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!”
He threw the glass against the wall. Kevin trudged back upstairs and into the guest room. He lay across the bed, but sleep was eluding him.
He must have finally dozed off, because the alarm woke him up. He walked into her room and looked down on her.
“The doctor wants us there by ten.”
“What?”
“The doctor called. He wants to see you,” He announced with attitude.
“Rebecca, will you just come on. Get up and get ready.”
“My name is Cheryl,” She said and got up and went into the bathroom. She threw up all of dinner from last night.
“Are you ready?” Kevin said, while knocking on the door.
She walked out and brushed past him. As she walked down the steps she felt as if she was about to topple over. The unmistakable feeling of nausea overcame her. Kevin caught hold of her arm as she swayed.
“Look, get it together. I don’t want nobody thinking I threw your dumb ass down the steps,” Kevin asked.
She yanked her arm away and continued down the stairs.
After riding for almost ten minutes, Kevin spoke up.
“We need to talk. Are you listening? The doctor said that your tests came back and he said one test came back positive. You’re pregnant.” He waited for a response.
“Did you hear me? I said you were pregnant.”
“I’m not deaf, I heard you,” She said as she swiped the tear away
“Well?”
“Well, what?”
“What do you have to say?”
“About?”
“Jesus Christ! Didn’t you hear me! I said you are pregnant, as in going to have a baby.”
“You don’t have to yell, I am sitting right here. Don’t worry, I’ll make a decision.”
“Decision about what?”
“Just don’t worry yourself about it.”
They arrived at the doctor’s office ten minutes later and before the truck had hardly stopped she was out and going through the doors.
They waited in the waiting area for the doctor to speak with them. The wait wasn’t that long, but to her it was like eternity.
“Good morning Cheryl. How are you?”
“Can we get this over with?” she asked the nurse.
“Sure, just let me get your chart and while I do that can you give me a urine sample?” He handed her the little cup and off she went. She came back and looked at him while handing him the cup and announced, “If I am pregnant, I do not wish to continue with the pregnancy.”
“I’ll let the doctor know you have something to talk to him about,” The nurse said as he left the room.
Kevin bolted from his seat, “What the fu…I mean, what are you talking about?”
“Sit down and stop pretending,” she said while staring at him.
Dr. Abalone walked in. “Good morning. Now, you know why you are…”
Cheryl cut him off. “I already know I don’t want to keep this baby.”
Dr. Abalone sat down and leaned back in his chair. “Let’s calmly sit down and talk things through.”
“I have already decided.”
“I haven’t,” Kevin said.
“So what?” she yelled back.
“Mr. and Mrs. Goldman, I am sure this is a shock, but let’s…”
“No, I don’t want anything from him.” She buried her head in her hands.
Dr. Abalone looked first at Kevin then back at her. “Let me speak with her,” he told Kevin.
In a huff, Kevin left the room.
“Mrs. Goldman, why are you so upset?”
“You don’t understand. I can’t have this baby. I just can’t. He doesn’t even love me. Please just find me some place I can go to get rid of it. Please.”
The doctor left her alone. Kevin burst into the room and grabbed her up from her seat.
“You can’t do this!” he screamed.
“Get your hands off of me!”
Dr. Abalone walked in. “I will have to ask you to take your hands off of my patient.”
“Look, I’m your husband and the father of this child.”
“You’re half right. You’re the father of this child. You haven’t been a husband for years. Don’t even make me laugh with this show you are putting on for the doctor.” She pulled away from him. “Dr. Abalone, I will call you tomorrow,” she said as she walked out.
She turned, leaving Kevin standing in the office. He followed and when they walked through the waiting room, all the women looked up at him. As he caught up to her outside, he said, “How could you do that, you aren’t considering it?”
“No.”
“Look this is not a decision you make on the spur of the God dammed moment.”
She kept walking, totally ignoring him and his curse words.
The ride home was quiet and heavy with tension. They walked into the house, her hurt and him fuming. She knew the entire time she was pregnant. The vomiting was the first clue and her cup size was another. She knew the day she tried committing suicide. A woman knows two things. One, when her husband is cheating on her and two, when she is pregnant. Sadly, both in her case were true.
“Cheryl, you need to slow your roll. We need to discuss this.”
“Why? There is no discussion needed. I am not keeping this child, end of discussion.” He grabbed her arm.
“Stop it,” Cheryl screamed. “You lay up with some other bitch, fuck me occasionally and now that I’m pregnant, you act like a caring husband! Fuck you!” she kept flailing her arms until she broke free from his grip.
“Stop acting like a child! We had sex, you are pregnant and now, without consulting me, or even telling me, you are deciding to get rid of our child without even a second thought.”
“Did you consult me before you started fucking some other woman! Let’s see, that would be no!”
“You are fucking unbelievable, you know that?”
“And so are you,” she shouted back. She stormed upstairs and he went into his office. Suddenly he came upstairs, slammed the door open, startling her. He walked over to her and pulled her from the chair.
>
“You will not get rid of this child, do you understand me?”
“Or what? I’m not keeping this baby, end of story.”
“No. Wrong answer. You won’t speak to me any kind of way, do I make myself clear?” he said as he slammed her into the wall.
“If you get rid of my child, you will be sorry.” He gave her enough of a shove that she fell backwards into the chair.
Two weeks after that doctor’s appointment she awoke to the sun shining bright. She had not meant to sleep this long. She needed to be ready for her day. She went into the master bedroom and noticed that the bed was already made. It was past eleven so Kevin must already be gone to the office. She went downstairs and noticed there was no coffee, which could only mean one thing. He didn’t stay there last night. Kevin loved his morning coffee. The fact that none was made meant that he was having coffee elsewhere that morning.
Chapter 35
She walked into the appointment by herself. She couldn’t even bring herself to tell Dee about this mess. Just as she walked in, she walked out an hour later, by herself. She was there for blood work, which took much longer than it should have, but it gave her the opportunity to think things through. She thought about the ups and downs of having this child, she couldn’t believe she was rethinking her decision. If nothing else, this child would know that it would be loved just like Donnell and Kayla.
She walked in and Kevin was waiting in the dining room.
“Where have you been?” She continued like she had not heard a word. She went upstairs.
“I said where in the hell have you been? Answer me!” He demanded. She continued walking.
“You better answer me!” he said from the bottom of the stairs.
“None of your business,” she shouted back.
“Who in the hell do you think you are!”
“Whatever, Kevin.”
She heard his heavy footsteps behind her but she kept walking.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” he said while grabbing her arm.
“Get the hell off of me!” She shouted and walked into the bathroom and shut the door. The door came flying open.
“Who…!” He had slapped her twice before she could even register a thought.
“Get off of me!” she said while pushing back against him.
“I’m going to ask you again, where have you been?”
He had grabbed her hair and was yanking her backwards as she tried to cover her face.
“None of your fucking business.”
“Really? Let me take a wild guess. Did you get rid of the baby?”
“What if I did?”
“Did you?” he shouted.
“Fuck you,” she shouted back.
He hit her so hard that she flew backwards against the wall. She scrambled to steady herself.
“You better answer me, or so help me.”
“If you really want to know, call a private investigator.”
“I already did you bitch, and he followed your ass to the clinic. You got rid of my child even when I told you not to.” He punched her in the face.
“What? You are crazy. Following me around?”
“Because your trifling ass can’t be trusted!”
He punched her so hard that her head hit the wall and she saw stars. She slumped down to the floor. She woke up in the bathroom, not realizing where she was. She got up and looked into the mirror. She had a small cut on the side of her head and a small knot under her eye. She knew she was in trouble and nothing that she could do in this marriage would resolve the issue of Kevin being a man with a problem, namely her.
Chapter 36
“Hello?” her voice quivered.
“Hello my sweet.”
“Do you know who this is?” she asked.
“Of course, I told you I would never forget you, Cheryl.”
She started crying.
“Honey what’s wrong?”
“He, I mean, we…he. I need to get out of here, can I come see you?”
“Sure but what’s the matter. Do you need me to come and get you?”
“No, I’ll come to you.” She stopped crying long enough to get directions again. She got dressed and realized that she needed to cover up the marks as best she could. Makeup could only hide so much; hopefully glasses would hide the rest.
She walked into his office and waited while the pretty young receptionist checked in with him. She asked her to follow her into the back. “Shut the door please,” Matthew said when she entered.
“Very cute young lady.”
“Yes, but not gorgeous like the woman in front of me.”
“You’re much too kind.” She said, while holding her head down.
“Take off your glasses, stay a while.” She instantly started to cry.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he came over to her, trying to lift her face with his hand.
“I’m pregnant.” He gathered her in his arms. He pulled her glasses off and saw the bruise.
“How in the hell did that happen.”
“He hit me. He thinks I had an abortion and he slapped me around a little bit.”
“A little bit? That Motha…”
“Don’t…he didn’t mean to do it.”
“Do not defend him to me.”
“I’m not,” she whimpered.
“Yes you are. He means it and you can’t tell me he doesn’t. Why else would you try and cover the bruises up?”
Her hand went to the place on her face and she tried to turn from him.
“It’s okay, Cheryl. I’m here.”
He took her into his arms and held her close.
“I’m sorry,” she said, while pulling away from him.
“Nothing to be sorry about. What are you going to do about the baby?”
“I am going to have it. I couldn’t go through with the abortion. No matter how I feel about him, I couldn’t murder an innocent child. This child doesn’t deserve to be put to death because it was conceived this way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing.”
“No, not nothing. What do you mean?”
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” she said.
“But you did. Now tell me. Does he force you to have sex with him?”
She started bouncing her leg.
“Answer me.”
“Kinda.”
“The answer is either yes or no.”
“Sometimes?”
“How often? Don’t protect him,” Matthew said.
“I’m not.” After a short pause, she continued. “I don’t know how many times.”
“So if you don’t sleep with him, he rapes you?”
“No.”
“Yes Cheryl.”
“I’m his wife for God sakes.”
“When a woman says no, or indicates no, and a man does it anyway, it’s called rape. So he rapes you.”
She bolted from the chair. “Stop saying that. I’m his wife and I should be willing whenever he says. That is my responsibility as a wife.”
“Bullshit!” he shouted.
“Let me explain, he does…” she spoke softly
“Stop it!”
“Stop what?”
“Protecting him. He doesn’t deserve anything from you but a police report.”
“I won’t do that,” she yelled back. Suddenly the door opened.
“Mr. Perry is everything ok?” the receptionist asked.
“I’m sorry Karen, yes, everything is fine.” She closed the door again. Cheryl got up to leave and Matthew stepped in front of her.
“Look Cheryl. Sit down for a minute. I don’t like seeing you like this. From the first night I saw you, and the way he was dogging you, I didn’t like it. It took all I had not to run up on that nigga.”
“Don’t do this.”
“Do what? Tell you how much I care for you. Tell you how I can’t get you out of my mind. Tell you that I know you have feelings for me too. Tell you that ever since tha
t kiss we shared, I have wanted you. I have wanted to make love to you, to hold you, to protect you.”
“Stop it! Just stop it.”
“Let me help you. Let me help you leave him. Come with me. You won’t have to raise your children alone. I can help you.”
He placed his hand on her stomach. She slapped it away.
“You don’t know a damn thing about me, let alone my children. You have no idea.”
“Well tell me what I need to know.”
She stood again to leave.
“I should not have come here. This was a mistake.”
Matthew blocked her path.
“Please move.”
“No, I can’t’,” Matthew said. She moved to his left and so did he.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I care about you.”
“Whatever. How can you care for a person you don’t even know. What is this really about? Sex? Do you want to have sex with me? Okay, come on? Let’s do it.”
She started unbuttoning her blouse.
He walked back behind his desk.
“Cheryl, stop it. If I had wanted sex, you wouldn’t have left me that night when we kissed. Right now, I know you are going through some things, and I want to be your friend, nothing more, but in time, yes, I want to explore the possibilities. Look at me, I care for you and for right now, that will be enough to hold me. Whenever you need me, I will be there for you. Take this.”
He reached in his desk and held out another business card. “Every number that I use is on this card. Use them whenever you need me.”
She took the card and placed it in her pocket. He leaned forward, taking her hand in his.
“I mean it, just call me and I will be there, no questions asked.” He touched her face and then drew his hand away quickly “Let’s sit down and discuss how you could get this man out of your life.”
“Do you know a hit man?” she said.
“I might,” he said.
“Jeez, I’m only kidding,” she said through a half smile.
Chapter 37
Kevin was home fuming. He knew she went to get an abortion, the P.I. told him that, and now she was nowhere to be found. It turned his stomach to know that Cheryl would bear his next child and not Rebecca. No matter, he would deal with that later.
Let Me Just Say This Page 15
