by Michele Reed
“Hello, Mercedes.” Her mother did not come out from behind the desk, although she stood up nervously from her seat. She was dressed in a white business suit with a matching pencil skirt. Her hair was cut shorter than Mercedes could ever remember it being. The woman wore a diamond necklace and pearl earrings that dangled down low. She looked like money - very appropriate for the wife of a CEO.
Mercedes looked away from her mother whom she had not seen since she was a little girl. Mercedes’ eyes darted towards Kerry. “Did you know?”
Before he could respond, Mercedes’ mother had finally worked up the courage to come out from behind the desk. The woman surprised Mercedes when she reached her hand out and touched her arm in an attempt to seem eager to see her. “Get off me!” Mercedes yanked her arm away. Her blood boiled; she could not even see straight. Mercedes hurried towards the elevators, pressing the buttons frantically as though that would somehow make the elevator arrive faster.
“Mercedes! Wait!” Kerry called after her as she boarded.
She could see Mr. Harris reach out and grab him by the arm. “Mr. O’Brian, we have a meeting to get to. This nonsense can wait.” But Kerry ignored the man and pulled away.
She pressed the button to make the doors close before he reached her. She was not quite sure what she was feeling, but tears started to fall. Surely this was not just some sort of coincidence? She started to call Yury to take her home; she had no intentions of going to work that day now, but there was of course no service in the elevator. She would have to wait until she got outside. The elevator felt like it was taking forever; it even stopped on another floor to let a man on, but when the man saw her with her tear soaked face he awkwardly remained standing outside of the elevator, “Um…I’m going up,” the man lied.
“Whatever, asshole,” she said as the doors closed.
Once the doors opened she hurried outside, deciding to call Yury to come get her once she made it out onto the sidewalk. Seconds later she heard Kerry’s voice calling out for her, “Mercedes? Mercedes?” she kept quiet, hoping he would not follow her outside, but he spotted her and hurried out the door after her.
She started marching down the sidewalk, but he followed. “Leave me alone, Kerry,” she warned, but he had caught up to her.
He grabbed her by her arm and forced her to turn around. “Please, Mercedes, calm down.”
“Did you know?” she snapped, yanking her arms away and keeping at least three feet of distance between them.
“Not at first-”
That was all the information she needed. She stepped forward and struck him in his face. He held up his hands to prevent a second swing. The doorman started hurrying over, “Mr. O’Brian-” the man called out.
Kerry waved the man off. “It’s fine! Go on!” The man anxiously turned and went back to his post.
“Fuck you!” her voice railed, alerting all the passersby that she was infuriated. The finely dressed suits in front of the Chrysler Building were clearly not used to a woman using the sort of language she was displaying. Many sped up their paces to get inside or in their cars to get away from her screams. Several more swears and shouts emerged from her throat before Kerry could manage to say anything.
“When I first saw you, I asked Miss Lawrence and your mother to look into finding out who you were. Miss Harris was the one who found out, but I did not think anything of it. I just thought it was good detective work because all she had to go off of was some security clips from the worksite. She had all this information about you and I didn’t ask her where she got it. She acted like she didn’t know you. I didn’t know she was your mother until after that night at dinner when you told me she was sending you clothes. I thought it was strange that she would do that, so I asked her.” Kerry was holding his hands up defensively as he spoke, “She told me the truth then - that she was your mother and that the two of you had not spoken since you were a little girl. She told me not to say anything-”
“So you listened to her?” Mercedes snapped, cutting him off. “You never thought that you should tell me?”
“Of course I did. I just had not had the chance,” he pleaded.
Her voice escalated, “You had plenty of chances! I can’t believe you. That man you’re about to strike a deal with is the same bastard she cheated on my father with. Is that the kind of man you want to work with?”
“Mercedes-”
“Money talks though, doesn’t it? That woman…that woman destroyed my family. That lying, manipulative cheat is-” Mercedes misstepped, her head spinning. She desperately tried to stay upright, but she was losing her balance. She felt her breakfast coming back up and vomited in the street.
“Are you all right?” she heard Kerry cry out just before she tumbled over and bashed her head into the sidewalk.
***
Kerry nervously bounced his right leg. He was seated in a large waiting room at a nearby hospital waiting on news about Mercedes. His phone rang and he answered it quickly; it was Tito. He had called the man four times. “Tito, it’s Mercedes-” Kerry knew that Tito picked up on the urgency in his voice. He explained to the man what had happened and that he had yet to hear back from the doctors who were seeing her.
Kerry could hear another man’s voice in the background and a few second passed by before another man’s voice could be heard on the phone. “Who the hell is this?” the voice screamed into the phone.
“Where’s Tito?” Kerry asked.
“We’re headed to the hospital - you got him all worked up. Who the hell is this?” the man’s voice screamed again.
“Kerry O’Brian,” Kerry said, wondering who in the world was going to be arriving at the hospital with Tito. “Who is this?”
“Ernie. What did you do to Mercedes?” the man shouted.
“Nothing, you idiot!” Kerry felt suddenly very defensive. He knew who Ernie was. Mercedes had said the man’s name before, and he was not at all pleased that he would be meeting the jail bird. “Just get Tito here, would you?” he hung up on Ernie. His phone buzzed and he looked to see a text message from Mr. Harris that read we are on our way. Kerry cringed and called the number.
Mrs. Harris answered nervously, “Is she all right?”
“The doctors haven’t come out yet. I’m still waiting.”
“Oh God!”
Kerry took a breath. “Miss Harris, I know you and I have just met, but if you don’t mind me saying, I think it would be best if your husband weren’t here when Mercedes wakes up.”
The other line was quiet for a moment before she spoke, “You don’t think I should come either?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“I know you didn’t.” She was quiet for a moment before continuing. “I’m still coming. I’ll tell my husband to drop me off. Please call me if you hear anything.” She hung up on him.
Kerry put his phone away, his leg still tapping nervously. He felt like he was going to be sick. He leaned forward and bowed his head. His hands were shaking; he could not control it. Kerry covered his face, refusing to let himself cry in front of all the strangers in the waiting room. For all he knew, Mercedes was fine, he just was not sure. She had been so angry with him and he could not stand it. Her angry voice replayed in his mind again and again. He had been in the wrong, and he knew that. He had used Miss Harris to his advantage since she had been the one to tell him all about Mercedes’ father’s love for that car. He had hoped to win Mercedes’ affections by finding it for her. Kerry now realized how selfish that had been. I should have told her the truth, he thought, the moment I found out, I should have just told her.
It was a maddening coincidence that Miss Harris had been working for him after he decided to pursue Mercedes. The woman led him right to her daughter without letting him know the truth. She had probably been worried that he would think less of the Harris’s if he had found out the truth. She had been right. These people had hurt Mercedes and now he had too. He was not sure if he would be able to forgive himself, especi
ally if something happened to her now.
The swinging doors that led to the back opened and a man in a lab coat exited. He scanned the room and when he spotted Kerry he waved him over. “Mr. O’Brian?” he asked.
“Yes,” Kerry scurried over to him. “Is she okay? Is she going to be okay?”
“She has a mild concussion from the fall,” the doctor began, “and she’s got a dangerously high fever. Mr. O’Brian, are you aware that she is pregnant?”
Kerry froze. His limbs buckled for a moment, and he felt himself about to topple over. He reached and put his hand on the counter where the nurses were seated to keep himself upright. “Pregnant?” he questioned.
“She’s not very far along, we don’t think. She probably does not even know if she was running around like you said she has been doing,” the doctor said. He and Kerry had spoken when they had first taken Mercedes back to the ER, but Kerry could not remember the man’s name. He had told the man whatever he could, but admitted that they had only known one another for a few weeks and had been dating. He had been hoping he would be allowed to see her once she was released from the ICU.
“The baby, is it okay?” Kerry asked.
“We’re doing what we can. It’s hard to say right now. She’s very sick. There’s a chance she could lose it.” The doctor was trying to look Kerry in the eye. “We’re doing whatever we can, Mr. O’Brian.”
“Is she awake?” Kerry asked.
“Not yet,” he said. “She probably will be soon. Do you want to see her?”
Kerry nodded eagerly. He followed the man through the double doors. They headed down a long hallway before Kerry was shown a room. He entered inside and his stomach churned to see Mercedes lying asleep in the hospital bed. She was hooked up to a number of machines that had her heartrate and blood pressure displayed along with any other vitals the doctors felt were important: Kerry did not know what half of it was for. A bandage was wrapped around her head. He imagined that there were at least a few stitches underneath. Her arm was hooked up to IV, several different bag of medicines were being flooded into her body.
“She looks awful,” Kerry mumbled. He felt the doctor pat him on his back reassuringly.
“She’ll probably be awake soon. She’ll be glad that you’re here,” the doctor replied.
Maybe, Kerry thought and then looked at the doctor. “Her uncle and her mother are coming.”
“I’ll have the nurses send them back,” he assured him before they parted ways.
Kerry went and sat down beside Mercedes. It felt like his heart was in his throat. He touched her hand and stared at her. “Mercedes,” he said her name softly, hoping she would awaken, but she did not. He kissed her fingers and then reached out and touched her stomach. There obviously was no bump or any physical appearance of a pregnancy, not yet, but Kerry still felt a longing for the unborn already. He kissed her cheek and felt the tears as they started running down his face. “I’m so sorry, Mercedes. I’m so sorry.”
***
Before anything else, Mercedes could hear the beeping of machines meant for monitoring her vitals. Her head ached, but she supposed after falling on concrete it could be feeling a lot worse. She assumed they had her on some strong medicines and although she had not even opened her eyes, her head was already spinning. She could recall being angry and yelling at Kerry and she remembered seeing her mother all dressed up in her finest attire. Mercedes cringed. Despite her headache, she forced herself to squint her eyes open.
Beside her was Tito; his head was down and he was gripping her right hand. Near the door she spotted Kerry and Ernie; the two of them were not speaking but instead were staring daggers at one another. Too bad I missed that initial meeting, she thought, imagining that while it would have been uncomfortable it probably had also been a bit humorous. After a moment she noted that no one realized that she was awake, so she decided to let them in on it, “Tito,” she said and all three men’s heads shot up.
“Dios es bueno,” Tito mumbled and kissed her hand. “How are you feeling?”
“What happened?” Mercedes grumbled. Kerry seemed to put aside his staring contest with Ernie and he rushed to her left side and took her other hand.
“You passed out and knocked your head on the cement,” Tito said.
“And for some reason bozo couldn’t catch you,” Ernie grumbled at Kerry who had been standing right next to Mercedes during her fall.
Kerry did not respond to Ernie’s comment, but Mercedes could see Kerry’s shoulders tense up in agitation. She could tell that Kerry wanted to bust Ernie’s lip and imagined that several comments like that had already been made while she had been unconscious. She could remember falling and hitting her head, but she could not imagine what had gotten her so dizzy. She glanced at Kerry and saw that his eye was swollen from though she could recall that she had punched him in the face during her tirade. She felt bad for causing the bruise, but she decided to wait another time to offer an apology. “Why did I pass out?” she asked, hoping the doctors had already figured it out. Mercedes felt Kerry squeeze her hand when she asked, so she looked at him for an answer.
When Kerry’s lips failed him, Tito spoke, “You’re pregnant.”
Mercedes gaze fell on Kerry. The man nodded his head, but he said nothing. She let the surprise sink in. It certainly explained why she had been feeling so sick the past couple of mornings. She felt rather passive as she looked at Kerry and asked, “Do you want to keep it?”
“I’ve always wanted kids,” he told her, but there was a certain nervousness about him. She was not sure if he was lying to her or if he was still surprised by the news as well.
“Yeah,” Mercedes questioned, “but did you ever want them with someone like me?”
Kerry kissed her hand. “Mercedes, I’ve only ever wanted them with someone like you.”
“Are you kidding me?” Ernie’s voice suddenly piped up. “Es un hombre blanco débil.” He waved his hand over towards Kerry angrily. Ernie’s arms were waving and flaring about. He looked like an absolute lune as he shouted over at Kerry in Spanish.
“Oh, shut up, Hernandez,” Tito grouched.
“No,” Ernie hissed. He leaned forward, putting his hands on the foot of the hospital bed. “You think this is a joke? This white guy in a damn suit is a joke. This fool doesn’t know what it’s like to have to hustle and survive.” Ernie looked straight at Kerry with a furious look planted on his face. “You raise Mercedes’ kid and he’s going to be a weak little fool like you.”
“Is that what you think?” Kerry did not stand from his seat next to Mercedes, but he glared up at Ernie with a hateful gaze. “You don’t even know me. I started my business from nothing. What are you suggesting, big guy? You want to raise my kid? You do that and the kid will probably wind up in prison like you did.”
“You been talking about me?” Ernie hissed at Mercedes. “Is that what I am to you, Mercedes? Some hood-rat?” Ernie’s face was turning red from his growing fury. “You got to make a choice, Mercedes. You can either stick with your own people or you can just run away like your mom did and turn your back on everyone.”
Tito stood and crossed over to Ernie. “You need to calm down. You are acting like a hood-rat.” Tito gently nudged Ernie back. “Don’t yell at her again, Ernie, I swear.”
“What are you going to do?” Ernie slapped Tito’s arms away. Before Ernie’s temper could escalate any further, the door to the room slowly swung open.
Mercedes’ mother stood in the doorway. Tito practically snarled at the woman when he saw her and he broke away from Ernie and headed towards her, attempting to block her from coming through the doorway. “You should leave,” he said with resentment ever present in his voice. “What do you think you’re even doing here, Jane?”
Mercedes rolled her eyes, recalling how only a few weeks before Tito had tried to get her to contact her mother in hopes of enticing her to pay for her to return to MIT. Evidently, talking about it was one thing but actually seei
ng her mother was another. Tito looked infuriated by the woman’s presence. Despite Tito’s aggression, Mercedes could at least recognize that the woman had bothered to come see her. “It’s all right, Uncle Tito,” she said, and Tito unwillingly stepped aside.
Her mother was antsy acting as she entered the room, knowing good and well that no one cared for her to be there. Mercedes was sure there was some added nerves with Kerry being present as well. Her husband was about to strike a deal with him, after all. “Hello, Vroom.” Her mother’s voice shook.
Mercedes frowned. Her father had called her Vroom when she was a little girl. It was an old pet name. As a child she had sat on top of her father’s bike and would mimic the noise of the engine, earning herself the silly nickname. It had always made her smile when her father used the word, but coming from her mother’s lips, the word sounded like tar. “I don’t think you should get to call me that,” Mercedes said, angry that her mother had dared to act so familiar with her.
The woman stood near the foot of her bed, not daring to come any closer. “Are you all right?” she asked.
“If you mean am I better from a sudden affair with the concrete, then yes. If you’re asking about my emotional scars…well, those could use some work.” Mercedes glared at her. She was already wishing she had let Tito throw her out of the room.
“Mercedes, I never wanted to hurt you…”
Mercedes threw up her hands. “Never meant to hurt me? That’s great, Mom. That makes me feel better.” She crossed her arms. “Whatever your intentions had been, they don’t mean anything to me. You have been selfish, and nothing you say now is going to change that. Thanks for the suit and the dress, by the way.”
Her mother shifted her weight from one foot to the other, clearly feeling everyone’s eyes on her while Mercedes railed into her. “I tried to help you, you know?” she looked over to Kerry for a moment and then back at Mercedes. “When Mr. O’Brian showed Miss Lawrence and I the security footage of you yelling at him at the site and told us to see if we could find out who you were, I thought I could maybe repay some of my negligence towards you. I pulled your school records to show Mr. O’Brian and pushed him to hire you…although he was already considering it after I showed him your transcripts. He didn’t know I was your mother then. I just thought maybe it would be nice if I could help you get a decent job. I just wanted to help you, Mercedes, with the garage going under and all-”
