by Beth Rinyu
“Hello, Renee,” Tommy said. His smile was a mile wide.
Her smile back was just as big. “Oh, hey, Tommy.”
Oh, no, no, no! I thought to myself. I could tell that Dailan was reading my mind. He looked at me and laughed. “Get him away from her,” I mouthed the words to him. I couldn’t take the flirting between the two of them anymore. I took Ella from my sister and brought her into the house for her nap.
My mother and Annette were inside talking. “Oh, there’s Princess Ella,” my mother said. “Your sister grabbed her and I didn’t even have a chance to see her.”
“Well, get your kisses in now, because she needs a nap. She has a major attitude today.”
“Oh, my baby girl doesn’t have an attitude,” my mom said as she kissed her on the head.
“Would you guys just mind keeping an eye on the kids while I get her down for a nap? I put Dailan in charge and well…”
“Oh, say no more!” Annette said as she and my mother walked out the back door.
Ella tried her best to wiggle her way out of my arms, but I wasn’t giving in. I heated up her bottle and took her upstairs. It took me five minutes to change her diaper with her screaming and rolling over the entire time.
“Oh no, Miss Ella, you can have a fit all that you want, but you are taking a nap.” I sat down in the rocking chair and she immediately calmed down when I gave her bottle. She tried fighting it as hard as she could, but within a matter of minutes, her eyes were closed and she was fast asleep. I placed her in her crib and kissed her on her forehead.
I looked out her bedroom window, into the backyard. I couldn’t get this morning out of my mind. Running into Jonathan again was my biggest fear. Add his mother to that and it became a nightmare. I still didn’t tell Dailan and part of me wondered if I should. He seemed to have so much on his mind with work and I didn’t want to add to that. I rolled my eyes and shook my head when I saw my sister hanging all over Tommy. She flung her head back and began to laugh at something he said as he placed his hand on her arm. I took a deep breath and headed down the steps. Something told me that I would need a drink or two or more by the time today was over.
Chapter 12
Nicole
After all of Ryan’s guests had left, and he and Ella were fast asleep I decided to have that much needed drink, maybe a little too many much needed drinks. Donna and her husband Michael were still over and, much to my dismay, Tommy and my sister. Donna had just put Anna, her baby, down to sleep in Ella’s pack and play.
My sister and Tommy had graduated from flirting to totally hanging on each other. I downed a wine cooler a little too fast to try and deal with their public display of affection. “I’m gonna throw up,” I whispered to Dailan.
“Well, then, maybe you should take it easy on the drinking.”
“That’s not why I’m going to throw up,” I said as I watched my sister sitting on Tommy’s lap.
Dailan laughed. “Oh, relax. You know she won’t last for long with Tommy.”
“Yeah, well I need another drink.” I motioned for Donna to follow me in the house. I had told Donna all about my little run in at the bakery when she first got to the party. As expected, she had some choice words about both of them.
“What is up with your sister?” Donna asked.
“I don’t know. But the two of them are making me sick!”
I took down the bottle of tequila from the cabinet.
“Are you feeling adventurous?” I asked as I held up a shot glass.
Donna smiled. “Nicole, we will not recover from this as fast as we did when we were younger, you know?”
“Who cares!” I poured us each a shot and sprinkled salt onto our hands. “Ready?” I asked.
We both lifted the shot glasses up to our lips and chugged them down. “I’ll have another,” Donna said, holding out her glass. Several shots later, and Jonathan and his mother and Tommy and my sister were just an afterthought. Donna and I remained inside while the others were outside. We couldn’t control our laughter, giggling over the dumbest things. Dailan’s cell phone began to ring on the kitchen counter. In my drunken state of my mind, I decided to answer it. “Mr. O’Maley’s line. May I help you?” Donna and I both began to giggle again.
“Um, Nicole?” Even in my drunkenness, I knew that raspy voice – Rachel Wiser. What the hell was she doing calling my husband at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night? “Why the hell are you calling my husband?” I slurred.
Donna looked at me and mouthed the words, “Who is it?”
“Rachel,” I mouthed back.
“Bitch!” Donna screamed as we both began to laugh.
“Umm, Nicole. Is Dailan available?”
“No, he is not.”
“Well, can you let him know that Mr. Allan needs him to be at the office at seven a.m. sharp tomorrow for an emergency meeting?”
“Whatever,” I said, hanging up the phone and dropping it on the counter.
“Can you let him know that Mr. Allan needs him…” I began to mimic her as Donna filled my shot glass up and we both began to giggle once again.
We finally staggered outside. I was so dizzy that I fell right onto Dailan’s lap. “I have the best husband in the world!” I shouted as I sloppily kissed him.
“Nicole, what the hell were you drinking, tequila?”
“Mmm hmm and lots of it,” Donna slurred.
“Oh God, I think it’s time for us to go,” Michael said giving Donna the once over.
“I’ll help you get the baby, Michael,” my sister volunteered while Tommy got up and followed her like a puppy dog.
I wrapped my arms around Dailan’s neck. “Hey, I want you to fuck me tonight.”
Dailan laughed. “Nicole, the only thing you will be doing tonight is sleeping off all the tequila you just drank.”
“No, no, no. Come on; let’s do it right here.” I moved my hand down his pants as he quickly removed it.
“Oh, Nicole, I would love to, but not when you’re like this.”
“Dailan?”
“Yeah?”
“I think I’m gonna be sick.”
I turned my head and threw up into the grass. Dailan held my hair back until I was done.
“That’s attractive,” Tommy said. He and my sister walked back outside just as I was finishing.
“I need to get her to bed. I’ll be right back.” Dailan made sure that I was done throwing up before he picked me up and carried me up the stairs. The whole room was spinning as he helped me get into my pajamas. My head hit my pillow like a lead weight. “You are one crazy girl, Nicole,” Dailan said as he kissed my head. Those were the last words I heard before I passed out cold.
I awoke the next morning to the ringing of Dailan’s cell phone and a pounding head. I felt like I wanted to die. “What? What time?” Dailan looked at the clock and jumped out of bed.
“What’s the matter?” I asked trying my best to adjust my eyes to the bright sunlight streaming in.
“Apparently, I’m supposed to be at a meeting that I knew nothing about.”
Shit, shit, shit! I suddenly remembered the phone call from last night. I sat up as Dailan rushed around to get ready. “Dailan, I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I took the message last night and I guess I forgot to tell you.”
“You guess you forgot to tell me? What the fuck, Nicole! Do you have any idea how important this meeting is?”
“I’m sorry. I just got so mad when I heard that she was calling you that I just started drinking more and kinda forgot.”
“Who is she?”
“Rachel.”
“Nicole, you really need to get over it,” he said as he grabbed his phone and walked out the bedroom door. I waited until I heard the front door close before I ventured out of bed.
I need to get over it. Fuck him!
If he only knew one half of the hell she had put me through, then maybe he would see that it wasn’t so easy just to get over. I rubbed my temp
les as Ella’s screams came through the baby monitor. All I wanted to do was crawl back into bed, but I couldn’t. My current hell was about to begin.
Chapter 13
Nicole
The past...
I was six months pregnant and thankfully, I was really not showing. I had my first ultrasound and found out that I was having a boy. Tisha had become my rock. I didn’t know what I would have done without her. I found myself calling her for every little thing, but she didn’t mind. My father spoke to me only when necessary. My mother did her best to try and be there for me, but I could tell she was afraid that she would piss off my dad by doing so. My sister was still going ahead with her grandiose wedding plans, even though my father had lost the big job that he was promised by Jonathan’s dad.
I was finishing up the school day. I tried my best to forget that it was Valentine’s Day and tonight was the Senior Winter Formal. I sat in history class, listening to my teacher go on about World War II, not paying attention at all. I placed my hand on my belly and smiled when I felt a little flutter. My teacher finally stopped his rambling and gave us free time to begin our essay that needed to get done over the weekend. I scoured through the pages of my history book, trying to find a starting point.
“Oh my God, you should see how hot I look in my dress,” I heard Rachel say to her little puppet, Kirsten.
“Rachel, you could wear a paper bag and still look hot.”
I rolled my eyes and did my best to ignore them. “Yeah well, as long as Jonathan thinks so, that’s all that matters.” Suddenly, my ears perked up.
“Aw, Rachel, I think that’s so sweet that he came all the way home just to take you to the formal,” Kirsten said loudly, clearly for my benefit.
“I know, right?” Rachel giggled. “It took me hours to pick out that dress, but it’s perfect! Hey, do you know that they make maternity gowns?” Rachel asked as they both began to laugh loudly.
I closed my eyes, trying my best to ignore them. “Hey, Nicole, did you hear that? You could have gone to the formal after all. Well, that is if you could have found a date that would be willing to take your prego butt.”
My eyes began to burn with tears, but I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of seeing me cry. I bit my lip and continued to write my essay. It was as if my baby knew that I needed some cheering up. I felt another flutter that helped me endure Rachel’s endless taunting.
I gathered all of my belongings for the weekend from my locker and headed out to the parking lot. Tisha was picking me up. We were going to my doctor’s appointment and then out to dinner. I wrapped my coat around me and walked through the parking lot, finally spotting Tisha’s car. I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw Jonathan’s Mustang taking up two spaces. I walked faster, trying to avoid seeing him. He got out of the car just as Rachel came running up to him and threw her arms around him. “Hey, babe!” she shouted loudly enough for me to hear. I continued to look ahead and was happy when I heard the car doors slam and the revving of Jonathan’s engine. I tried to walk faster, knowing that he was coming right up behind me. I looked straight ahead and concentrated on Tisha, who was on her cell phone, not paying attention. I was almost to her car when I heard Jonathan’s car coming closer. Rachel rolled down the window and spit out her gum, hitting me right in the face with it. “Oops, sorry.” She laughed as she slowly disappeared behind Jonathan’s tinted windows. The tears rolled down my face as I watched Jonathan’s car screech out of the parking lot. By the time I got into Tisha’s car, I was hysterical.
“I have to go,” Tisha said, abruptly ending her phone conversation.
“Nicole, honey, what’s the matter?”
“I can’t take it anymore. I just want to kill myself.”
“Oh, Nicole, please don’t talk that way.”
I went on to tell her all about my day and the torment that Rachel had put me through. “You have no idea what it feels like to have everyone hate you and talking behind your back.”
“Oh, I’m afraid I do, sweetie.” I looked up at her with tear-filled eyes.
“Imagine being a black girl in Alabama during the nineteen sixties and finding out that not only are you pregnant, but you are pregnant by the white mayor’s son.”
“You?” I asked.
She nodded. “I was sixteen years old and I thought I was in love. Crazy girl, I was.”
“So what happened?”
“Oh, girl, did I create a scandal that town is probably still talking about it till this day.”
“Did you have the baby?” I asked.
“I sure did.” She smiled.
She pulled out a picture of a man holding a little girl. “This is my baby with his baby, my granddaughter.”
“You didn’t put him up for adoption?”
She shook her head. “No, Nicole, back then, the world wasn’t ready for a bi-racial baby. I didn’t want him to get lost in the system, so I kept him and vowed that I was going to make something of myself and raise him on my own, and I did.”
I smiled. “Do you think I’m wrong for giving my baby away?”
“No, sweetie, I don’t. Your baby is going to have the best life ever. You are going through all of this torment for a reason, baby. You are going to give two people something that they always dreamed of and that is the most honorable thing anyone could do. So you just hold your head up high when that little witch starts with you again. It will only make you stronger.” I hugged her tightly.
“Thank you, Tisha.”
“Anytime, baby girl, and don’t you ever let me hear you talking that way again. Your life is so very important.”
We pulled out of the parking lot and I felt another flutter in my belly. I smiled and placed my hand on my stomach. Yes, baby, I promise, your mommy will never talk that way about herself again.
Chapter 14
Dailan
I took the stairs two at a time. I was out of breath by the time I reached the conference room. I opened the door and felt all eyes on me. “Mr. O’Maley, nice of you to show up.” Pete Dautry, the son of a bitch attorney for the person suing the company said.
“Yeah, sorry. There was a mix-up.” It killed me even to be professional to this dickhead.
“I’ll get right to the point. BC Industries is suing your company for twelve point five million dollars plus legal expenses, unless we can come to some type of settlement today.”
I shook my head. “Let them sue; we’re not settling.”
“Dailan, let’s just see what they’re–” Mr. Allan began to speak before I shook my head to stop him.
“O’Maley, do you realize how much your company will lose by you dragging this into court?”
“They’ll only lose something if you have a case - which you don’t.”
“A certain employee in your firm mismanaged millions of my client’s dollars. How can you say there’s not a case?”
“Intentionally mismanaging funds and a bad economy are two different things. You’re a smart man, Dautry; you should know that.”
“Suit yourself. I hope you realize the financial risk he’s putting your company in,” he said to Mr. Allan.
“I have all the faith in the world in Mr. O’Maley and I trust his legal opinion.”
“Well, then, I guess I’ll be seeing you in court, O’Maley.”
“Can’t wait,” I said as he got up and exited the room.
After he was out the door, Mr. Allan ripped into me. “Jesus Christ, Dailan, why didn’t you at least see what he was going to offer?”
“Because, why should you settle when he doesn’t have a case?”
“How can you be sure of that? If this goes to court, and they get what they’re asking for, this company will be shut down.”
“They’re not going to get what they’re asking for. I got it under control.”
“I sure hope so, Dailan. You do realize this is going to mean you working on this round the clock.”
“Yeah, I know.” Nicole is gonna fuckin�
� kill me.
“Okay, Dailan, I’m putting my faith in you. Don’t let me down.”
“I won’t.”
I got into my car and headed home. I should have just settled, but that wasn’t how I worked. I loved fighting it out in court, but now I had a family to consider. Nicole was already pissed over this whole Rachel thing. This was just going to make matters worse, especially when I broke the news to her that we were going to have to cancel our trip to Ireland next month. There was no way that I could be away from work for that long of a period, not until this was all over.
I walked in the front door, expecting to find Nicole looking half dead on the couch after last night, but instead she was in the kitchen, taking something out of the oven. “Damn!” she said as she looked at the cake pan that she had just placed on the stove.
“What’s the matter?” She jumped at the sound of my voice. She looked at me and immediately burst into tears. “I tried to make you that chocolate cake that you like and I forgot to add the cooking oil and now it’s a big mess.”
I couldn’t help but smile at her. She looked like a zombie; she had no business trying to make a cake right now. I wrapped my arms around her as she continued to cry. “Why are you crying?”
“Because I wanted to surprise you for making you late for your meeting this morning and all I did was make a big mess. That’s because I’m a big mess!”
“Nicole, you’re not a mess; you’re hung over. Go back to bed. I got the kids.” She looked at me hesitantly. “Go!” I said as I smacked her on the ass.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me on the cheek. “I’m sorry about this morning.”
“It’s okay. It’s all good now.” Really, it wasn’t, but I wasn’t ready to spring that on her just yet.
