“So what are you trying to say Kennedi?”
“I’m saying that we need to have a blood test done just to be on the safe side,” she answered. A part of me wanted to go off and curse her out, but I understood what she was saying. I was Brooklyn’s first and only sex partner so I knew that the baby was mine. On the other hand, Kennedi didn’t know anything about her. She was grasping at straws, but I would give her what she was asking. As long as Brooklyn didn’t find out I had no problem doing a test, especially since I knew what the end result would be.
“I know he’s mine, but I don’t have a problem proving it to you. I can’t expect you to jump in head first without being sure,” I agreed.
She walked over to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. She reached down and tried to slip her hand in my boxers, but I stopped her.
“Let’s go get something to eat and walk on the beach for a while,” I suggested. I wasn’t in the mood for another one of her dull sex sessions right now. It wouldn’t matter to me if we didn’t have sex again while we were here.
“Okay, let me go put on my bathing suit,” Kennedi said walking away. I was ready to go home, but I decided to make the best of the time we had left here. It was only the weekend so I would survive.
****
“Wait Dominic, you’re pulling my hair too tight,” Brooklyn complained. She was bent over the dining room table while I stood behind her, tearing her ass up. I had a hand full of her hair in one hand while I held one of her legs up with the other. Brooklyn is nine months pregnant, but she was throwing it back like a champ. Kennedi and I had just made it back from Florida when she went to meet up with Paris and her mother. She probably didn’t even turn the corner good enough before I was hopping in my truck and making my way over to Brooklyn. She was asleep when I got here, but I woke her ass right on up. Tiana was in the bed with her, so she had to get put out. Thankfully her cousin Taylor and Bryce lived downstairs, so she didn’t have far to go. I went the entire weekend without sex, and I was in need. Kennedi was trying hard to get something started, but I kept brushing her off. I’d been here for over an hour with Brooklyn making up for the days that I lost. Somebody had been ringing the doorbell and the phone for the past ten minutes, and we had yet to see who it was. Nobody has a key except for me, Brooklyn, and Bryce, but he wouldn’t use his without permission.
“Go in the room so I can answer the door,” I told Brooklyn as I pulled on my jeans. I was mad that I had to rush what I was doing for our unwanted visitor. She was still naked, and her clothes were scattered all throughout the house. Whoever was at the door was pissing me off. They were pressing on the doorbell, and they weren’t giving up.
“Who is it?” I yelled while snatching the door open at the same time.
“I should have known that you were back in town,” Co-Co said as he walked passed me followed by Candace.
“We don’t even have to ask what y’all were in here doing,” Candace laughed while holding up Brooklyn’s underwear that were on the floor. I snatched them from her and put them in my front pocket. After putting on her robe, Brooklyn joined her cousins in the living room while I went to the bedroom and called my brother.
“I see you finally made it back home,” David said when he answered the phone.
“Yeah, I came back earlier. I’m over here chilling with Brook,” I replied.
“Damn, you just got back and you over there already?” He laughed.
“I know, I was missing her fat ass,” I confessed as I laughed along with him.
“My nephew should be here soon, huh? I can’t wait to spoil that lil nigga,” David said.
“Yep, her doctor said it should be any day now. I can’t wait to spoil his ass too. I’m happy she’s done with school until August so she can just stay at home and chill with him for a while.”
“I don’t know how you plan to handle that. Brooklyn will be at one house with your son, and you’ll be at another house with your wife,” David wondered.
“I got it covered. The days that I’m not here, he’ll be at home with me. Best believe I’m not going a day without seeing him,” I swore.
“I hear you man. Just don’t expect Brooklyn to always be sitting around waiting for your ass. You know once you get married she’s gon’ move on,” David warned. I felt an unfamiliar tightness in my chest just at the mention of Brooklyn being with somebody else. I was selfish as hell, but I wasn’t about to let that happen. I was ready to end our conversation after he said that.
“I’m about to take a nap, I’ll call you later,” I said trying to rush him off of the phone. I knew my brother, and he would go on and on about a subject until he got his point across. When I got off of the phone with him, I turned over and prepared to take a much needed nap. Before my head could even hit the pillow good, my phone chimed, alerting me of a text message.
“Damn,” I groaned as I sat up in the bed. Kennedi was texting me to meet her and Paris to assist them with finalizing our wedding colors. As much as I didn’t want to, I got dressed and made my way to her.
****
An entire week had passed, and I was on pins and needles waiting for my baby to arrive. Brooklyn had an appointment this morning, and we were told that she was one centimeter. I made sure I walked with her on the track for an hour or more every day. My mama agreed to come and stay with her for two weeks since I wasn’t able to do it. Ms. Pam was definitely going to be there so she would have a lot of help.
“Dominic, I need some help,” Kennedi yelled from downstairs. She went to pick up some of our clothes from the cleaners, and she was just now returning. I had to admit that things were getting better for us since we had our talk in Florida last week. She was trying hard to stop nagging so much, and that was a start. We still hadn’t had sex yet, but I really wasn’t hurting for it. Brooklyn still held me down all day every day. I would probably give in to Kennedi once she had my son only because she would be out of commission for six weeks.
“I have a few more things in my car,” Kennedi said as I met her at the door and took some clothes from her. I went outside and got the rest of the clothes from her car and met her upstairs. She started putting our clothes in the closet while I sat on the bed watching TV.
“What the hell is this?” Kennedi screeched from inside the closet. I did a double take as my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach when I saw what she was holding. She was holding up Brooklyn’s underwear that I stuffed into my pants pocket last week when I was at her house. I forgot all about them when I took my jeans off that night.
“What about them?” I asked trying to play it off like I didn’t know.
“These are not mine,” she raged. “I don’t own any Juicy Couture underwear.”
“Oh, well the cleaners must have made a mistake and gave us somebody else’s stuff. Make sure the rest of our stuff is right,” I replied.
“Everything else is right, but they are so wrong for that. I’m throwing this nasty shit away. It’s no telling who these belong to,” she complained.
I breathed a sigh of relief when she walked out of the room. I was slipping big time to do some stupid shit like that.
“You want to go out to eat or order in?” Kennedi asked me when she came back in.
“I don’t feel like going anywhere so you can order something.”
I took some clothes out and prepared to take a shower while Kennedi ordered us something to eat. Once I got out, she did the same right before we sat down to eat. We decided to sit downstairs in the living room and watch a movie after we ate.
“We haven’t done this in a while,” Kennedi said as she snuggled up close to me. I smiled, but I didn’t reply because she was right. Lately, if I wasn’t at work, I was chilling with Brook. Kennedi was so busy planning our wedding that she never really complained. We’d finally decided on champagne and black for the wedding colors, and everything seemed to be coming together. My son would be a year old when we got married so there wasn’t much that he could do. I did
want him there wearing the same colors as the wedding party, but I would deal with that at a later date. After Kennedi had chosen one of the movies that she wanted to watch, she popped it in, and we got comfortable. Not even halfway through, I got sleepy and ended up dosing off.
“Dominic,” Kennedi whispered while shaking my arm. I opened my eyes sleepily and had to look around to see where I was. We were still on the sofa, but it was almost one in the morning.
“Damn, I didn’t realize I’ve been sleeping that long,” I muttered.
“Your phone has been ringing off the hook. Somebody named Tiana keeps calling you,” she said. I jumped up from the sofa too fast and ended up falling to the floor. I snatched the phone from Kennedi’s hand to call her back, but it started ringing right when I did.
“Hello,” I answered in a hurry.
“We’ve been calling you for over twenty minutes,” Co-Co yelled. “Brooklyn said that she’s having light cramps. I think she needs to go to the hospital.”
“Oh shit, alright I’m on my way,” I stammered as I raced upstairs.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” Kennedi asked full of concern.
“That was Brooklyn’s cousin. He said she needed to go to the hospital.”
“Do you need me to come with you?” She asked. I was about to say hell no, but I caught myself before I did. Brooklyn’s family would kill her if she stepped one foot in that hospital, and Brooklyn would kill me.
“No, I’m good. I’ll call as soon as I find out what’s going on,” I promised while rushing out of the front door. I was doing eighty trying to get to Brooklyn’s house all the while praying that I didn’t get stopped by the police. I ran every red light that I came up to and barely stopped at the stop signs. I was just about to enter the code to the gate in front of her house, when my phone started ringing again.
“Her water just broke,” Co-Co yelled into the phone.
“I’m coming through the gate right now,” I panicked. I jumped out of my car and ran up the three flights of stairs that led to Brooklyn’s apartment. My nerves were too bad to even wait for the elevator. As soon as I approached the door, it flew open, and Taylor pulled me in. Bryce, Candace, and Co-Co were pacing the floor, but I didn’t see Brooklyn anywhere.
“Where is Brooklyn?” I asked looking at all of them.
“Tiana is helping her crazy ass change clothes. She’s trying to look cute and shit instead of going to the hospital,” Bryce fussed. “My mama and daddy are already on their way to the hospital so you might want to call yours.”
“Call my mama and my brother,” I said as I tossed my phone to Candace. I was in such a rush to get here that I forgot to call anybody. I raced to the back of the house and found Brooklyn in the mirror messing with her hair.
“Are you serious right now Brook? We need to get to the hospital,” I shouted.
“I know, I’m ready,” she replied like it was no big deal. I grabbed her, my son’s bag, and his car seat from the closet, and we were ready to go. I sped all the way to the hospital with everyone else following close behind. Brooklyn was taken to labor and delivery as soon as we got there.
“The doctor is coming to check and see how far dilated you are before we can do anything else,” the nurse said once Brooklyn was changed and situated in her room. I sat on the side of her bed while my mother and hers occupied two chairs along the wall. Everybody else was in the waiting room waiting for the baby to arrive.
“How are you feeling Brooklyn?” Dr. Martin asked when he walked into the room.
“I feel alright,” she replied nervously. When he washed his hands and slipped on a pair of gloves, Brooklyn looked like she was about to cry.
“This might be a little uncomfortable, but I need to check and see how many centimeters you are,” he informed her. Brooklyn grabbed my hand tight as he reached under the cover and began his examination. I took note of the pained expression on her face.
“Okay, you’re about four centimeters, so we’re definitely going to keep you. I usually don’t give epidurals until you’re five centimeters or more, but you should be fine since you’re not in any pain yet,” he said. When he left, we sat around and watched TV, waiting until something happened.
“I’m starting to feel some pain,” Brooklyn announced about an hour later.
“You want me to get the doctor?” I asked her.
“That’s just her contractions starting. Just take a deep breath every time you get one Brooklyn,” my mama instructed.
“I need some water my mouth is dry,” Brooklyn said.
“I don’t think you can have water Brook,” I answered while rubbing her back.
“Let me go ask,” her mama said leaving out of the room.
“Ahh,” Brooklyn hollered out. “This shit is starting to hurt.”
“I know baby, it’ll be alright,” I tried to comfort her.
“Please stop touching me Dominic. You are not helping,” she yelled at me. I knew she didn’t mean it, but the pain had her all in her feelings.
“Here, they said that she can have some ice chips, but not water,” Mrs. Pam said handing me a cup of crushed ice.
I took the cup from her and started feeding some of the ice to Brooklyn. She was sweating like crazy, so my mama took a wet rag and wiped her face with it.
“Oh my God, I can’t take this pain!” Brooklyn cried. “Mama call somebody to give me some medicine or something.”
“Push the nurse’s call button on her bed Dominic,” my mama ordered me.
“Can I help you?” The nurse asked over the monitor.
“Yes, we need Dr. Martin please,” my mama said
“Yes ma’am, I’ll get him for you,” she replied.
“I can’t do this shit!” Brooklyn screamed. She must have really been in pain because she never cursed in front of her mama. I felt so helpless, but there wasn’t much that I could do.
“Just let him see how far you’ve dilated Brook. You can get something for the pain if you’re five centimeters,” her mother said. I just sat there and held her hand while she cried out in pain.
“I see the contractions have started to get stronger,” Dr. Martin said when he walked into the room a few minutes later. He washed his hands and put on a pair of gloves just like he did before. “Okay, let’s see how you’re progressing Brooklyn.”
“No, I’m in too much pain for you to check me again. Just give me some pain medicine,” she sobbed.
“I have to check you before I can do that. I’ll try to be as quick as possible,” he assured her. I damn near had to hold Brooklyn down when he checked her this time. She was screaming and crying out from all the pain. Her mother had to look away to keep from crying herself. Even I blinked back a few tears just seeing what she was going through.
“Okay, you’re doing great Brook. You’re six centimeters so we’ll get you something for the pain,” the doctor said. That was music to my ears, and I knew that Brooklyn was happy. It only took a few more minutes before the nurse came in with another lady to give Brook an epidural. We had to wait in the hall until they were done. When we walked back into the room, Brook was lying down with the bed slightly elevated.
“You feel better?” I asked while sitting down next to her.
“Yes. I don’t know what they gave me, but it worked. I’m never doing this again,” she said while looking at me.
“I said the same thing after I had Bryce and I still had four more after him,” her mama said.
“I don’t see how some people have so many kids. It felt like somebody was pulling my insides apart,” Brooklyn said.
“Well, the worst part is over. You just have to worry about pushing him out now. Let us know if you start to feel pressure,” my mama said. It was after three in the morning, and I still hadn’t called Kennedi. I’m sure she knew that I would be home late, but I sent her a text anyway.
“I’m tired,” Brooklyn said yawning.
“Get you some rest. I’ll go update everybody on what’s going o
n,” Mrs. Pam informed us. Brooklyn ended up dozing off while we sat in the room and talked. After a few minutes, everybody was asleep except for me. I was texting back and forth with Kennedi giving her updates. It was ten minutes to five and this stubborn little boy still refused to come out. Brooklyn was still six centimeters when they checked her thirty minutes ago. Dr. Martin said that didn’t mean anything because he could come in the next five minutes or five hours, depending on when he was ready.
“What’s wrong Brook?” I asked when I saw her moving around.
“I feel some pressure down there,” she replied.
“Aye, call the doctor,” I yelled waking both of our mothers up.
“What’s wrong?” Her mother asked.
“She said she feels pressure down there,” I replied. My mama called the nurse, and she and Dr. Martin rushed in not long after. Another nurse came in and started setting things up while Dr. Martin checked Brooklyn again.
“I think he’s ready,” he announced while washing up again. The nurse started breaking the bed apart, and Brooklyn’s legs were put in the stirrups. I didn’t know if I wanted to hold Brooklyn’s hand while she pushed or watch as my son came out.
“Okay Brooklyn, on the count of three, I want you to start pushing,” Dr. Martin said. I went to the edge of the bed and watched as he counted off. When he counted off the second time, and I saw the head, I almost knocked my mama down running back to grab Brooklyn’s hand. Now I see why niggas say they passed out in the delivery room.
“Look at all that hair,” my mama yelled.
“Give me one more big push Brooklyn,” Dr. Martin urged. He counted off again, and Brooklyn pushed hard as she tightly gripped my hand. I was all smiles as my baby came out screaming at the top of his lungs. I let Brooklyn’s hand go and rushed over to cut the cord. I was happy that Mrs. Pam was there because me and my mama forgot all about Brook. We followed the nurse to the nursery to weigh the baby. Dominic Omari Roberts, Jr. was born on May 24th, weighing seven pounds, eight ounces and was twenty-one inches long. He hadn’t even been in the world for a good hour, but I swear I’ve never loved somebody so much in my life.
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