by Nicety
Chapter 12
In the hospital
“Hey bright eyes.” Trent’s face was unusually angelic as he leaned in to kiss my forehead.
“Huh?” I mumbled groggily. “What happened?”
“Tara hit you upside the head with the vase I bought you four years ago for your birthday. But don’t worry about that now. The cops are looking for her and as soon as they catch her she is going to have to pay for what she’s done to you.” His voice sounded more kind and sweet than it had been since he started cheating on me.
It was odd. I looked at him as if he were a stranger, someone that I didn’t know from Adam or Eve and damn near didn’t recognize. In those brief few seconds of speaking with him, I could see that he was a changed person than from what I knew to be his true self. But just like the weather, the warm breeze doesn’t last forever. So I was just laying there staring at him waiting for the wind to become chilly and stiff again.
“Where am I?”
“You’re in the hospital. You’re job rushed you right over to the hospital part of the university so you’re in good hands. The doc was just in here a few minutes ago but he said he’d be back.” Trent tucked me into bed like I was a newborn baby. “There you go all nice and tidy. Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
“Why are you here, Trent?”
“Baby, I love you. Where else would I be?”
He looked at me as if I was the crazy one. I couldn’t help but to wonder what his angle was. His niceness was not only too nice it was scary nice. Maybe he was here to make sure that I didn’t squeal on him. He might have thought he was undoubtedly going to jail if someone caught wind of this red welt making it’s way across my right cheek. Trent hadn’t done anything for anyone else lately that didn’t benefit his self, first.
“Have you been smoking or something?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No. I just can’t believe I came this close to seriously losing you. I guess it never really hit me until something terrible like this happened. Listen baby, I—“
“Trent, don’t do this. It’s been too long and too little, too late. We’re beyond done at this point. You just need to go live your life and I will go live mine.” I turned my head away from him so that I wouldn’t feed off into his friendly façade.
It wasn’t he who was trying to reconcile with me it was his guilty conscious. It was nice to know that he cared enough about me to sit by my side in my time of need but it was all for show. He was only doing it for as long as I was down and I knew it wouldn’t last. If I got my hopes up for the brief second that this lasted, I would only be playing the fool once again. I wouldn’t even be able to blame him for the shit neither.
“Kelly, you are my wife. Now I can’t change the past but I can definitely fix the future. You’ve gotta believe me, I’ve gotten all that shit out of system. I’m a changed man sitting right here.”
“Man, I’m not trying to hear that shit right now. Don’t you get it? It’s fucking over Trent. You’re an asshole. Fuck you. It’s over, talking about you've changed in a matter of hours.” I barked and smacked my lips, unaware of the doctor standing in the doorway.
“Um, should I come back or…” the doctor asked pointing to the busy noisy hallway.
“No, no. It’s just a little lover’s quarrel,” Trent replied quickly before I could speak as I side eyed him suspiciously. “Come on in.”
“Yes, well, you need to take it easy here young lady. My name is Dr. Jarado. You took a nasty spill there. The good news is you’ll recover nicely. We just want to keep you overnight for observation but if all is well bright and early in the morning, we’ll definitely sign you out for release. But I’ll expect to see you back here in a week for a check up.”
“Thanks doctor,” I said patting the bandage on my head lightly.
The older salt and pepper haired Caucasian doctor stood there looking through my chart as if it would change. He studied it like he was studying for an exam. The room grew silent with Trent trying to inconspicuously hold my hand like everything was all good with us. I snatched away each time trying to remain calm as I did so.
“Alright, so I just want you to take it easy for the next week or so. No heavy lifting, no strenuous work and definitely no stress. Just rest and relaxation. Understand?” Dr. Jarado asked looking out of the top of his glasses at me.
“Yes, sir.”
“Because we don’t want to upset that precious little buddle of joy inside of your tummy, now do we?” Dr. Jarado continued.
“Uh…excuse me?” I struggled to sit up further not fully sure if I had understood what he said.
“You heard me, young lady. You’re about eight weeks along, two months.” He smiled before heading towards the door. “I’ve already got your prescription written up and the nurse will bring it to you along with your discharge papers if you leave in the morning. I’ll be back later to check on you.”
“Wait, wait doctor. Are you sure?” I asked bewildered by his statement. “I’m…I’m pregnant? But I’m not even showing or anything.”
“A lot of first time moms don’t usually start showing until three sometimes even four months along. It’s very normal and common, don’t worry.” Dr. Jarado laughed.
“But how could this happen with me being so far along and I not know it.”
“Well according to this, you’ve stopped having periods so maybe you didn’t pay attention to that, huh? What about morning sickness? Have you been feeling nauseated at all?” The doctor asked looking down at me.
“Yes, but I just choked it up as stress. I would have never in a thousand years thought that—“
“That’s amazing!” Trent interrupted. “Thanks doc.”
“Congratulations to you both.” Dr. Jarado smiled as he walked out of the room.
The stunned look on my face and Trent’s was priceless. I don't know about him but my expression was of bewilderment having had no idea how that happened, since we were barely even talking eight weeks ago. I couldn’t believe that I had a living breathing person fumbling around inside of me. It was what I had always wanted. So, why wasn't I as happy as most mothers would be after hearing such news? Shaking my head, it was by the grace of God that this baby lived through all the pain I had gone through these past two months.
“So, we have something else to bring us closer together. See baby, this is our moment. Everything happened right on time.”
“Trent—“
“Just hear me out. We’ve tried for so long to have this baby and now it’s here and God has given us a second chance on this marriage. I know you have no reason to believe me, especially after the asshole I’ve been to you these past few months but I promise you I’m going to do everything in my power to prove to you that I only want this family.”
“Trent, no less than two days ago you were in bed with two women and had whooped my ass to keep me from joining you. I set that shit up for you, to show you that I would do anything for you. I lived to make you happy. I’m not gonna do that anymore,” I sighed feeling like my back was now against the wall.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I’m going to let you walk out of that door with my baby in your stomach and act like I don’t care, because I do. We’re married. We don’t quit when shit gets rough. You didn’t quit on me so I’m not quitting on you, Kelly. Period.”
I looked out the window watching the heavy white clouds go by. It looked like a storm was brewing but not the one I was prepared for, not the ones the clouds were bringing. Taking a deep breath, I finally allowed him to take my hand in his. Trent smiled at me and I couldn’t help but to smile back. When you’ve been with someone so long, you want to believe everything they have to say to you even if you know that deep down inside it may be a lie. When you love someone so much, you can’t think of anything else but the love that they should be giving you.
Consistently, my attention turned from him to the beautiful cloudy sky then back towards him again. I couldn’t seem t
o keep my focus on him, which in turn led me to believe that I couldn’t put anymore energy into this marriage let alone a family. How could I love a man who would put his hands on me for another woman? He loved her more than me no less than a few days ago. I was out and she was in, ready to take my spot and move me to the curb and he was ready to let her. Still, my love for him was still prevalent in my heart.
“I’ve done so much for you, Trent, so much to prove that I was dedicated to us and this marriage. But you tore my heart into a million pieces and stomped on it like it wasn’t shit to you.” I could feel tears build up in my eyes.
“I know. I know. I have been the biggest loser on the face of the earth to you. It rips me up inside to know how badly I’ve hurt you. I can’t even conceive of doing anything like that to you again.” Trent leaned in kissing me gently on my lips. “From this day forth, I don’t want to be anything but the man you deserve in your life, baby.”
I wanted like hell to believe him. My stomach began to churn again but this time I knew exactly what it was. Maybe my baby was reacting to the anxiety I was going through. His eyes were glossy as if he were holding back the tears he had wanted to show me for so long. I understood his hurt, his pain. He was holding onto something he should have released a long time ago. But the damage was done and I couldn’t help but to feel like I deserved some happiness after dealing with it for so long.
“Trent, it has been a long time coming. I’ve yearned for so long to hear you tell me those things; to hear you tell me that you love me and will never hurt me again. I can’t tell you how much your words mean to me right now.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Kel. You owe me nothing, baby. I owe you everything. If it takes the rest of my life, I’m going to show you I’m real.” Trent kissed my hand between his words.
Reluctantly, I closed my eyes as he brought his lips up to mine pressing lovingly. I knew he meant every word he was saying. My hand felt his heart beat a mile a minute as he sat back down in the chair next to the bed and smiled like he was in love with me all over again. It was the most beautiful thing I had seen in a long while.
“Trent, do you have my purse here?”
“Yeah, babe. Your boss handed it to me just before I got in the ambulance with you. What do you need?”
“Can you look inside and pull out the long white envelope with your name on it? There’s something inside there that I need you to see.”
Chapter 13
Tables Turned
“Divorce? What the fuck you mean divorce, Kel? We haven’t even gone through a trial separation yet. You can’t just spring this shit on me now after all we’ve been through. Shit, we ain’t even tried to work this out yet.” Trent was flailing his arms wildly as he opened the car door for me.
“I can’t believe you just fixed your lips to say some shit like that. Haven’t been trying? All I’ve been doing was trying. You’ve got some nerve.” I shoved him, slamming the door behind me.
“You didn’t try to fix anything. I wouldn’t exactly call throwing another woman’s pussy at me fixing things, Kelly. That’s the worst thing you could do to a man is give him the open door to fuck more bitches. Of course, he’s gonna take it. What man wouldn’t? But don’t expect us to lose that voracious appetite for more once you’ve opened that box.” Trent paced back and forth with his hands on his hips. "You're trying to drag me through a nasty divorce with high ass child support payments. Aren't you?"
We were both distraught. He was more stressed than I was. I could tell by the horrid look of anguish spread across his face. Being served with the divorce papers in the hospital really got to him. It was funny that this fool all of a sudden decided at the last minute to get his mind right about this marriage. Trent was a very determined man and I knew he wasn’t going to stop until he got what he wanted and that was the problem. He was so focused on what he wanted, instead of what was best for the both of us. Or, should I say, all three of us.
“Well, you were fucking anything that walked. So I figured I could show you that I could be just as wild and as fun as you wanted.” I shook my head, feeling as stupid as the words sounded. “All you wanted was outside sex and I just wanted to share that with you so we could stay together.”
“This is bullshit. After all this time, I hated you for cheating on me with that guy at the bar months ago but I never once thought about filing papers on you. And, you pull this bullshit on me? Naw, I’m not signing this shit.” Trent took the papers out of his back jeans pocket and ripped them up allowing the pieces to scatter on our front lawn.
I watched as the wind gently took the papers with it as it blew towards the lake. My bottom lip unhinged and dropped in shock. I couldn’t understand why it was so hard for him to believe that those papers were coming. We had gotten so bad that he felt it necessary to put his hands on me. But in his mind, we were just going through a rough patch. It was one hell of a rough patch, though. Inside, my feelings were a little hurt by the preposterous way he got rid of those papers.
“Why would you do that?” I frowned walking up to the front door.
“Why would I not? You’re crazy if you think I’m going to give you a fucking divorce right now. Now, we can go to counseling and try to work this shit out but I’m not going down like this. Nope.” Trent pouted like a little baby.
"You broke my heart!" I never knew my voice could scream so loud.
"I'm not ready to let you go, Kelly."
“Ugh, you have got to be kidding me. As if I need another crazy bitch on my back.” I muttered, using my key to unlock the door.
The house no longer reminded me of home. Walking in, all I could feel was a dark cloud looming over me. It was a darkness that didn’t seem to go away no matter how many times I closed my eyes and tried to get the reminisce of what happened here out of my head. I was tired of dealing with Trent and his bullshit. Love doesn’t disappear from anyone in the blink of an eye, but when you endure so much betrayal under one roof your love begins to dwindle and fade fast.
I tossed the keys in the bowl on the table next to the door. Trent followed close behind closing the door rather forcefully but making sure not to break the colored stained glass oval in the middle. I plopped down on the couch, closing my eyes hoping to relieve the stress Trent was bombarding me with. He just kept going on and on about how I couldn’t leave him and that I was giving up on him. He even had the balls to say that I wasn’t giving our baby a chance at a loving home and family.
“Trent, we don’t have to be together to take care of this baby. Many kids grow up in broken family homes and turn out just fine.” As I hit my hand on the couch cushion next to me, I opened my eyes noticing Blake standing in my kitchen holding a vase. “Ah! What the hell?”
“Hey, guys. Sorry I didn’t mean to startle either of you.” Blake walked his bronze skinned, Dwayne Johnson look alike ass over to Trent shaking up with him.
“What’s up bruh? What are you doing in here?” Trent’s lips never cracked a smile.
“Awe man, my bad. Sam told me where to find the spare keys so I just let myself in to put those flowers in some water for our injured angel here.” Blake turned my way winking his eye and shooting me a sly smile. “Sam is away on business but you know how the grapevine works. She found out about your nasty encounter and wanted to be the first to wish you well.”
“Hmm, that’s funny. I don’t remember telling anybody that she was hurt.” Trent sucked his teeth and side eyed Blake for his explanation.
“Trent, you know she’s CIA. She knows all and sees all,” I joked, waving his third degree of Blake off.
“You okay, dude? You look like you’re stressed out about something.” Blake playfully jabbed him on the arm, before banging the same fist into the palm of his hand.
“Yeah, I’m good, bruh. I’m just a little on edge with her injury and my work. Eh, shit is just taking a toll on me I guess.”
"Awe man you know you can't allow that shit to stress you dude." Blake's bante
r didn't seem to ease Trent's serious demeanor at all.
"Yeah well, not to mention that we just found out she's pregnant." Trent pointed over to me.
"What? Wow, that's great. Congratulations, boi." Blake's look of concerned forced a smile out of it. "How far along are you?"
"I'm only eight weeks, Blake." I scooted up on the couch gradually.
Trent kept his side eye glance on Blake the entire time. I could tell that he was thinking long and hard about Blake’s story. They stood there chatting it up like they usually did about the football game or whatever happened at work. Meanwhile, I leaned back on the couch trying to keep my head from pounding even harder than what it already was. Reaching into my hospital bag, I pulled out my prescription of mild painkillers popping one of the giant size horse pills in my mouth.
"Here baby, let me get you some water." Trent's insecurities were bleeding through the massive sweat droplets forming on his face.
“Thanks,” I replied, as he turned headed towards the kitchen, while Blake locked his gaze on me.
“I just can’t believe this happened to you, Kelly. If there’s anything Sam or I can do, please don’t hesitate to ask.” Blake’s warm smile was all I needed though.
“Oh, I think you guys have done more than enough. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.” Trent handed me the glass of water before plopping down next to me with his arm wrapped around my neck. "Really."
Blake looked like he could burn a hole through Trent’s sarcasm. I carefully took a few sips of the water before sitting it down on the coaster Trent slid my way on the coffee table. An eerie silence filled the room as the men eyed each other waiting to see who would speak next. The drowsiness affect of the painkiller was quickly beginning to take control of my mind as I moved to the opposite side of the couch laying my head on one of the midnight blue throw pillows. Trent eagerly rubbed my feet as he placed them in his lap.
