by E. N. Joy
Chapter Forty-four
“Oh, Lord, in the name of Jesus! Call 911! Call 911!” Lauren’s mother shouted.
The neighbor’s son did as he was instructed, and within minutes, the ambulance arrived at Lauren’s house.
“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” one of the three EMTs entering the house asked.
“It’s my daughter,” Lauren’s mother cried. “She’s pregnant. Blood’s everywhere. Her baby . . .” she said frantically.
“Okay, just calm down. Calm down, ma’am,” one of the other EMTs told her. “You don’t want us to have to take you too. Let us see about your daughter. Everything is going to be okay.”
The neighbor’s son helped Lauren’s mother sit down in a chair next to the couch while the EMTs tended to Lauren.
“Oh, God, in Jesus’ name, not again . . . not again.” Lauren’s mother rocked back and forth. “She can’t lose not another baby. Her mind won’t be able to take it. It just won’t.” She began to pray as the EMTs worked on Lauren, and then transferred her into the back of the ambulance. They allowed her mother to ride with them, and she sat there with her eyes closed, praying the entire ride to the hospital.
Ten minutes later, the ambulance pulled up to the ER. They helped Lauren’s mother to the waiting room while Lauren was taken on a stretcher to the back.
“We’ve got a young female in her twenties,” one of the EMTs began shouting off as they rolled Lauren through the hospital. “She’s full term. Looks like she went into labor but didn’t call for help. She has a pulse.”
“What about the baby?” a nurse asked as she speed walked alongside of the stretcher.
“You can see its head. It wants to come out, but it’s like something kept it in there or someone. I mean, she’s fully dilated. Her water has already broken. I’m surprised the baby hadn’t just popped out already. We’re stumped on this one. We made the call not to begin delivery since we were only ten minutes away from the hospital. Figured both baby and mother would have a better chance with hospital equipment and technology.”
“I guess the baby thought so too,” the EMT at the foot of the stretcher added, “because the baby’s head is out now!”
It was like someone hit the fast-forward button and everything began to speed up. Lauren was taken into a room where doctors and nurses were moving well above the normal speed limit in order to get the baby delivered.
“Lilah, Lilah, can you hear me?” a doctor said.
“Lauren; it’s Lauren,” a nurse said. “I’m sure that’s what one of the EMTs told us her name was. Her mother’s out there in the waiting room. They said she rode along.”
“Lauren, Lauren, sweetie. You with us?” the doctor asked.
“She’s still got a pulse, but her heart rate is dropping,” another nurse said.
“You’re going to be okay, Lauren. You’re going to be just fine,” the doctor said as she proceeded to deliver the baby, without Lauren’s assistance. It was difficult because they didn’t have enough time to do a C-section and Lauren was not helping to push. But they had to get that baby out of her. Dead or alive, they had to remove the baby . . . and fast.
“Lauren, Lauren, honey.” Her mother stood over her bedside rubbing her hair back with her hand. “Lauren, it’s me, Ma.”
Lauren moaned, fluttered her eyes, and then tried to move. “Ohhhhh,” she groaned in pain.
“Just lie still. Don’t try to move. The doctors said you’d be in a lot of pain. Just take it easy, baby. Take it easy.”
Lauren moaned and groaned a little more, and then her eyes fell shut again. Her hands, initially at her side, rose to rest on her belly. That’s when her eyelids snapped open. “Baby! The baby. Where’s the baby? It can’t be born yet. Willie needs to be here to see it be born. I can’t let the baby out. Willie has to be here to see his baby born.”
“Calm down. Please calm down,” her mother insisted.
“No! No! Momma, please tell me they didn’t let my baby be born. Not without Willie. Not without Willie. It wanted to come out. It kept trying to come, but I told it no. I told it no, no, no. It had to wait for its daddy to get here. I held it in there. I pushed it with every ounce of strength I had left. Please don’t tell me they let my baby be born. Please,” Lauren cried.
Tears began to fall from her mother’s eyes. It hurt her to see her daughter like this. She’d seen it before, almost a year to the day when Lauren’s first baby didn’t survive the beating the angry wife had dished out to the pregnant mistress. She remembered praying and fasting ; pushing away her plate for the pure sanity of her daughter’s mind. She would have hoped that it was her earnest plea to God that had gotten Lauren back on her feet, but she knew deep in her soul it was Willie and all his promises that had pulled her out of her funk.
Now there was no Willie and no promises for him to make. Lauren’s mother feared praying and fasting alone might not do the trick this time.
“Has the new mommy come to yet?” a nurse whispered as she entered the room, pushing a rolling bassinet in front of her.
Lauren’s mother brushed the falling tears from her eyes. No, Willie was no longer here, but he’d left behind a part of him that just might do the trick. “Oh, looky here. Look at the beautiful baby,” the doting grandmother exclaimed. “And guess what, Lauren, honey? It’s a boy. It’s a boy, and you can name him Willie Jr. if you’d like. It will be just like Willie is here after all.” She did everything but cross her fingers and hope to die that seeing the baby would pull her daughter back into reality; the reality that Willie was gone, but she still had a baby to raise.
“And one beautiful baby boy he is,” the nurse complimented, parking the bassinet right next to Lauren’s bed.
Lauren fixed her eyes on the baby. Both her mother and the nurse waited on a reaction, but they got none. When Lauren finally did react, it wasn’t exactly what the two women, who were mothers themselves, had been expecting. After staring at the baby for a few moments, Lauren turned her back completely to the baby, pulled the covers up to her neck, and then stared off.
Embarrassed, Lauren’s mother looked at the nurse. “It’s okay. My daughter’s just not feeling well. Why don’t you just go ahead and leave the baby with me?”
The nurse smiled pleasantly, then exited the room, leaving the baby boy for his grandmother to tend to. And sadly, she would be the one to tend to him permanently.
Chapter Forty-five
Mother Doreen stood to her feet. “Terrance . . . Terrance is Willie’s boy?”
“Terrance is Willie’s boy,” Lauren confirmed.
With her hand over her mouth, Mother Doreen began to pace. “You mean to tell me when Willie and I moved to Ohio, he left knowing you were with child? With his child?”
“Yes. And it devastated me to no end.” Lauren looked around the room. “As you can see.”
“But, why? How? I . . .” Mother Doreen couldn’t even put her words together. She was too floored. Everything—this entire day—needed to sink in. So much was beginning to register in her mind, right back to the day she got released from jail.
Willie had been so antsy and jittery that day. Mother Doreen had thought it was because he’d been so excited about getting to be with her again. Now she knew different.
“Baby, you’re free! You’re free!” Willie had said as Doreen was released from jail. “No more jail and no more West Virginia.”
“Yes, I know, baby. I know!” Doreen was just as excited. She went to hug Willie, but he was too busy ushering her to the car as if he’d planted a bomb in the jail and it was about to blow. “Will you slow down a minute?” Doreen chuckled. “I know you’re trying to hurry and get me home and all so we can . . . you know . . .” Doreen flirted.
“Actually, I’m not.”
Doreen stopped in her tracks—offended. “Excuse me?”
Willie had kept it moving and now stood by the car, holding the passenger door open for Doreen. He noticed Doreen’s demeanor. “Oh no, baby, I d
idn’t mean it like that. It’s just that, I’m trying to get you home, but not the home you think. You see, I done already sold our house here. Sold your car too. We all set up in a nice little spot in Malvonia, just like I promised.”
Doreen’s heart fluttered. “Willie, you kept your promise.” She began walking toward her husband. “You really did.” She placed a hand on each side of his face and kissed him more passionately than she had on their wedding day. “I love you, William Tucker, and I always will. I’ll never be away from you like this again, and that’s a promise. It’s a promise I’m going to keep.”
Doreen kept her promise all right. As difficult as it might have been, she stayed with him. For the first year it wasn’t too hard, but once Willie got comfortable in his new town, he turned back to some of his old ways; most of his old ways. Eventually, all of his old ways.
“There’s a hundred dollars missing from the bill money,” Doreen had complained one night as soon as Willie hit the door. It was two o’clock in the morning, and she’d been angrily pacing the floor of their two-bedroom home in Malvonia, Ohio. She’d been waiting for Willie to show his face through the door so she could question him about the missing money. This was the third time she’d noticed this much money missing. There had probably been other times, but she just hadn’t paid that much attention until recently. “You gambling our money away, Willie? You promised—you promised you’d stopped gambling. Matter of fact, you swore on a stack of Bibles.” With hands on hips, Doreen waited for Willie to respond.
Closing the door behind him, he stumbled and removed his hat from his head. “Oh, woman, ain’t no money missing. You probably just miscounted or something. Or, matter of fact, didn’t I see you in a new pretty dress last week ’fore you went to church? Maybe that’s where the money went.”
“Don’t you play with me, Willie,” Doreen pointed. “You know I ain’t never bought or even owned no hundred-dollar dress in my life.”
“Then I don’t know where the money run off to then.” He scratched his head, then shooed his hand, brushing her off.
“So you acting like it’s no big deal? Let’s see if you’re acting that way when you sitting in the dark because I can’t pay the electric bill.”
Willie squinted his eyes and shook his head as if he was trying to shake off a headache. “Looky here; I got an idea. Why don’t you go ask that pastor of yours for some help in paying the bills? All the money you done put in that offering plate since we been here, I’m sure the church can help out a little.”
“It is not New Day Temple of Faith’s responsibility to pay our bills. It’s yours, Willie, and I won’t embarrass myself by going down to that church asking for money when I have a healthy able body of a husband to provide for me.”
Willie jerked to catch his balance, and then stared at Doreen. “Embarrassment? Oh, is that what I am to you now? An embarrassment?” So much anger and resentment filled Willie’s eyes. “Woman, if you only knew.” He turned his back to walk away.
“If I only knew what, Willie? If I only knew what?” Willie continued walking away. Doreen went after him, grabbing him by the shoulder to stop him. “Please tell me, because I want to know.” Tears began to fill her eyes. “I want to know what’s going on with you. Why you find more pleasure in being out there in the streets gambling, drinking, and carrying on, then lying about it, instead of just being here with me. What’s wrong with me, Willie? Is it because of . . .” Doreen choked on a few tears. “. . . is it because I ain’t a whole woman no more and can’t give you no babies?”
“Dang it, woman!” Willie slammed his fist through the wall, scaring the living daylights out of Doreen, for she’d never before seen a violent, angry bone in his body. Not even the day she . . . the day she . . . “Didn’t I tell you I ain’t care about no babies? I don’t care about that stuff no more, Reen. Besides . . .” He paused. He looked at Doreen as if he was holding something back. As much as she wanted to pull it out of him, her gut feeling told her it was better off left inside Willie. It was a demon he’d have to live with within; not one she needed to pull out of him and have to fight. No siree; that battle was not hers.
“I’m sorry, Willie,” Doreen apologized. “Perhaps you’re right. Maybe I did miscount, miscalculate, or something. I don’t know.” She threw her hands up and let it go. “Anyway, you want some dinner? I was too mad to cook earlier, but I can whip you up one of those cold cut sandwiches you like,” Doreen smiled.
“Naw, you do enough,” Willie smiled back.
“You sure?”
Willie nodded.
“Well, all right, then. I guess I’ll just go set you a bath. You look like you’ve had a long day.” Doreen walked by Willie toward the bathroom, kissing him on the cheek as she walked past him. The next thing she knew Willie had grabbed her by the arm. “What, Willie? What is it?” Again, he looked as though there was something deep within him that he wanted to let go.
“I, I just wanted to tell you that . . .” Willie paused and swallowed hard. “That I love you. Glad God gave you to me. Lord knows I don’t deserve you, but I sure am glad He gave you to me anyway.”
“Then why don’t you join me at church this Sunday so you can thank God personally for your lovely wife,” Doreen blushed. “You ain’t been in a couple of Sundays.”
Willie chuckled, smiled, and blushed himself. “Why don’t you just go ahead and tell Him for me? I’m sure He listens to you much more than He listens to me anyway.”
Doreen shook her head. “Oh no, you don’t. There’s a whole lot I don’t mind doing for you, because you’re my husband and I love you. But there are some things a man just ought to do for himself; talking to God is one of them. I’m sure pastor will be glad to see you on Sunday.” Doreen winked, then headed off to run Willie a bath, leaving him alone . . . with his demons.
Chapter Forty-six
“I knew it! I knew it!” Doreen yelled after she burst into her bedroom to find Willie lying up with some floozy. “Those women thought I had lost my mind when I told the driver taking us to the women’s retreat to stop that bus and let me off. They thought I was crazy to want to walk almost ten miles back home. But my spirit was telling me something wasn’t right, and my spirit is never wrong—never!”
“Doreen, honey, if you just let me explain.” Willie had his hands up in surrender while the woman next to him gripped the covers, fearing for her life.
“Explain what? I might have been a virgin when we got married, but trust me, what you two doing—and in my bed no less—don’t need no explanation.” Doreen was fuming. At this moment she had nothing but complete disgust for her husband. She couldn’t even look at him, so she didn’t. Her eyes landed on the girl next to him. “Shanna! Shanna, is that you? Sister Farmer’s baby girl?”
“Ye, ye, yes, ma’am,” Shanna stuttered as fear put tears in her eyes. She had no idea of Doreen’s past. Nobody in Malvonia did. So she had no idea of just how much danger she could have been in if Doreen had decided to beat her down like she had the last chick she’d caught with her man.
“You’re just a girl. Right out of high school,” Doreen said.
“Ye, yes, ma’am. Just had my eighteenth birthday last week.” Tears fell from Shanna’s eyes. “And please, ma’am—please let me live to see my nineteenth. Please don’t tell my mama. She’ll kill me. She’ll kill me dead.”
It was clear that Shanna wasn’t the least bit worried about Doreen doing damage to her. It was her mother she was in fear of. Still, seeing the fear in her eyes reminded Doreen of the fear she had seen in Lauren’s eyes. She looked at Willie, and for the first time ever, she could even see fear in his eyes. She could tell that it wasn’t just fear that she would run off and leave him. He feared that there was about to be another repeat of what happened inside motel room 111. What really worried Doreen at the time was that she was in fear too. She feared that once again she would lose control.
Was God testing her again? Was the devil tempting her? She held her hea
d in confusion. She really didn’t know what to do. Should she do what she should have done years ago and just walk away? Walk away from what? Willie? The situation? Both?
If she didn’t walk away—if she did what her flesh really wanted to do and wring both Shanna and Willie’s necks, she knew the consequences. Could she stand being locked up again away from society? Away from her family? After all, she’d just gone home and visited her family for the first time since she’d been thrown in jail.
“Girl, we were all worried sick about you just jumping up and leaving West Virginia,” Sarina had said when Doreen showed up on her parents’ doorstep.
“Speak for yourself,” Doreen’s mother had said. “I prayed to God that He’d look after you no matter where you was at; that whatever was going on that was keeping you from us, He’d have His hand on.”
“Good,” Sarina spat, “’cause somebody needs to put they hands on Willie, because we all know that’s what’s been keeping her from us. All she’s been doing is chasing that fool and his women around town; same thing she was doing when she was here. Too worried about that fool to even pick up the phone and see about your family. What did we get? A letter once every blue moon. And those letters were the only things that kept us from filing missing persons on your tail.”
Doreen hadn’t lashed back at her little sister’s comments. She felt it was better not to. Just as long as her family thought those were the reasons for her being gone, they would never know the truth. But would they believe that a second time around? If she laid a hand on this young girl and got locked up again for another year, or even more, what would her family think?
In all honesty, she didn’t care what her family thought. Looking at the scared young girl who was just getting a start on life—lying next to a grown man buck naked; not just any grown man, but Doreen’s husband . . . Doreen couldn’t resist the urge.
