Kim wished she had stayed home and enjoyed this time she would have had to herself. The day had gone well until now. “Mama, I’m not in the mood for this lecture. I gotta go anyhow.” With her catalogs gathered under her arm, she took her keys out of her purse and stood up.
“Nobody’s lecturing you, smarty pants. I’m just saying that there’s more to her story than you know.”
“Like what?”
Frances was supposed to be upstairs taking a nap, but no one ever knew when those ears of hers would be tuned in to what was happening. Frances knew that something was going on with Wendy and Kevin and was upset because no one would give her the details. If Frances ever got wind of what had really happened, she would tell Sister Binford and the two of them would be sure to have it around town before sundown. “She went to the doctor and found out that she had chlamydia,” Marlene whispered.
Kim’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?” She sat back down.
“Shh!” Marlene put her finger over her mouth and pointed upstairs to remind Kim that they were not alone. “Yes. That’s why she didn’t go to Philadelphia and that’s why she was considering having an abortion.”
“Wow!” Kim’s jaw fell to the floor.
“Now, I don’t agree with how she handled things in the least bit. I know she hurt you by lying. She hurt all of us. But we don’t know how we would have acted under those circumstances. If she ever needed us, she needs us now.”
“I really had no idea.” Kim was dumbfounded.
“I know you didn’t. That’s why you need to make things right with her.”
Before Kim could speak, she and Marlene heard footsteps coming down the stairs, indicating that Frances was up. Marlene hurriedly grabbed a catalog from Kim and opened it to make it look like that was all she and Kim had been discussing.
Frances strolled in the living room wearing the blue house robe she normally wore when she didn’t expect company or plan to go anywhere. It had seen its fair share of washings so its color was no longer a vibrant sky blue, and it had several rips and tears. Marlene had bought Frances several robes throughout the years. However, they all hung in her closet, many untouched and with the tags still on. Frances continued to wear the blue house robe as though the others didn’t exist.
“Hello.” Kim spoke to be polite.
“What are y’all down here doin’?”
“Nothing. Kim’s getting ready to leave soon. We were looking at bridal catalogs.”
“Umph.” Frances looked at Kim without replying to Kim’s initial greeting. “I hope she don’t plan on wearin’ white. You know that color is for virgins.”
Under normal circumstances and if Marlene hadn’t been present, Kim would have liked to tell her grandmother where to go and give her a map to get there. However, her mind focused on what Marlene had just told her about Wendy. Kim felt awful for being as mean as she had been.
“Mama, that was unnecessary,” Marlene said. Frances ignored her and went into the kitchen. “Please don’t pay her any attention.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not,” Kim responded. “I don’t see how you kept your sanity growing up in the household with her.”
Marlene laughed. She often wondered the same thing. “Believe it or not, she wasn’t always like that.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious. It wasn’t until after my daddy died that she began to change.”
Kim listened intently. Marlene rarely mentioned the death of her father. He had passed away when Marlene was young.
“Sometimes I wonder how things would have turned out had he not killed himself.” Marlene spoke solemnly. For some reason her father had suffered from depression for about six months and had begun drinking heavily. One night, Frances had come home and found him lying on their bedroom floor. He had shot himself in the head. “I think Mama became angry and bitter after that. It was a struggle for us. Mama even sent me to Tennessee to live with my grandmother.”
“How did you end up back here?” Kim asked, wondering. She never knew Marlene had been sent away after her father’s death.
“My grandmother died a few years later. My Aunt Edna lived there also, but she had three children of her own she was struggling to raise. Mama didn’t have a choice. She had to come and get me.” Marlene was quiet for a moment, as though she were reliving that period in time. “I don’t think Mama has ever gotten over all of that.”
“That still doesn’t give her the right to treat other people like crap.”
“I know it doesn’t, baby. Just pray for your grandmother. Lord knows I do. I pray that God will truly touch her soul before she dies.”
Kim looked at her watch. “It’s really time for me to go now.”
“Okay, honey. Thanks for coming by. I’ve enjoyed your company today.”
“Me too. Tell Daddy that I said hi when he calls.”
“Okay, I will.” Marlene hesitated for a moment. “Please think about what I said to you about your sister. She needs you.”
“I will,” Kim said, and walked out the door. She rushed to her car and called Evelyn, Terrance’s mother. Kim asked if she could drop the kids off for a few hours after she picked them up from school. She had something she wanted to take care of before going home.
Wendy stood at the departure area waiting for the last few students to leave. All teachers were required to take turns every six weeks to wait for buses and parents to come. This happened to be her week in the rotation. Wendy made sure to stand up straight, afraid that if she leaned over the slightest bit, she would fall due to the disproportionate size of her stomach compared to the rest of her body. She was more than halfway through her pregnancy and she hoped that the second half would not be as stressful as the first half.
In about a month and a half, school would be out for the summer and Wendy would be done teaching for a while. It was a break that she was looking forward to. Before their separation, Kevin had agreed that she could stay home as long as she wanted to, but she didn’t know if that agreement still stood. Hopefully he’d pay her enough support so that she could afford to stay home for at least a year. She had already turned in her resignation, so Kevin better come through for her. All of this was his fault, anyhow.
When the last student was gone, Wendy strolled down the hall to her classroom. She figured that the parking lot would still be crowded with buses and cars, so getting out quickly at this point would be impossible.
Thirty, Pregnant, and Alone was the title Wendy had come up with on her thirtieth birthday. That night she had cried and couldn’t help but wonder what could have been if Kevin hadn’t cheated on her. Although she was starting to miss him terribly, she was too stubborn to admit that to herself or anyone else.
Wendy walked into her classroom and straightened her desk. It was pretty unorganized with papers here, crayons there, and pencils everywhere. Before leaving the school, she decided to make a list of the activities she would do the next day.
“So am I disowned?” Kim said humbly as she stood in the classroom doorway.
Wendy looked up and for a moment was startled. She never expected Kim to show up at her job. It would have excited her to see Kim, except Wendy wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation. “Me, disown you? Funny, I thought it was the other way around,” she said, and continued what she had been doing.
Kim could sense the tension. “I never disowned you. I was just hurt and angry at the time.”
“So what did you come here for? Sorry, but I don’t need you letting off any more steam.” Wendy was also hurt. Deep down she knew that Kim had every right to be upset with her. Yet Wendy couldn’t get over how hateful Kim had been, especially the things she had said.
“That’s not why I’m here.” Kim stepped into the classroom and shut the door. Wendy looked up again. “I came to restore our relationship,” Kim admitted.
“The last time I tried to do that you hung up on me, remember?”
Kim wanted to lash out and remind Wendy about the
reason for the hang-up. She hadn’t driven all the way across town to get rejected. She had half a mind to turn around and walk back out that door, but she couldn’t. Marlene was right. Wendy was the only sister she had. She was determined to make things right with her. “Wendy.”
Wendy ignored her younger sister. “Wendy,” Kim repeated with a little more force this time, and walked directly in front of her desk.
“What?”
“I’m sorry.”
There was silence in the room as both ladies waited to see who would make the next move.
“I truly am sorry,” Kim broke the silence. “I had no right to speak to you the way I did.”
“I’m sorry too,” Wendy admitted, and stood up. “I never should have lied to you.”
“I really can’t blame you. I can’t say that I would have been eager to have everyone find out about my doctor’s visit. I probably would have made up something also.”
“So you talked to Mama, did you?”
“Yes. She told me how you found out about Kevin.”
“Kim . . .” Wendy’s voice began to quiver and she paused for a minute. There she was, in her classroom, about to burst into tears. Most of the teachers were gone by now, but there were probably a few of them left in the building. Wendy no longer cared. She had put on a front for so long that now she just wanted to be real. “I’m scared.”
Kim had never heard her sister admit to being scared of anything. She set her purse on the desk and slowly walked around it to Wendy.
“Nothing has gone the way I thought it would go. I’m separated from my husband, getting ready to be jobless and a mother all in a short amount of time. It frightens me. I admire your strength and the way you handled the situation with Darius. I just don’t know if I have that same strength.”
“Sure you do. We are two peas from the same pod. What’s in me is in you.”
“But I don’t want to be alone with a child for the rest of my life. You were lucky to have Terrance by your side. I have no one. Look how long it took for me to find Kevin. He’s about as successful as they come and look where that got me. Alone, pregnant, and with an STD that fortunately could be cured with a few antibiotics.”
“Quit saying you’re alone. You’re not. You have your family. Wendy, you have me.”
“Yeah, I know,” Wendy said.
“You say that as though I’m not good enough,” Kim kidded. “I can’t do the things Kevin did for you and, honestly, I don’t even want to think about everything he did.” She winked and Wendy gave a slight grin. “However, I will do any and every thing I can to help you with this baby. Shoot—if you still feel that you need a man, if we can’t find you one, we’ll rent one for you every now and then,” she said jokingly.
Wendy finally chuckled. “You’re wrong for that.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to help a sista out. Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
“I think I’ll hold off on the rent-a-man idea. Besides, I’ll have this lil’ man to keep me busy for a while,” Wendy said, and patted her protruding belly.
Kim picked up on her reference to the sex of the child. “You know it’s a boy?”
Wendy nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Wait, don’t tell me you knew all along and decided to keep it from me,” Kim said. She was joking, but in a way she was also serious. Wendy had kept so much from her that it really wouldn’t surprise her.
“No. I didn’t know all along. I found out last week when I went for my checkup.”
“Why didn’t you call and tell me?”
Wendy looked at her sister as if to say Duh, you were mad at me, remember? Kim changed her question. “What made you decide to find out?”
Wendy shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. My appointment was on the day of my birthday. At that time, it seemed like everything around me was falling apart: my marriage, my relationship with you. With the uncertainty of my future, I guess I wanted one thing that I could be certain of, so I asked Dr. Korva to tell me the sex of the baby.”
“We’re having a boy!” Kim proclaimed excitedly. She didn’t care whether it was a boy or a girl. All she cared about was being a part of this child’s life. “Do we have a name yet?”
“No.” Wendy knew Kevin wanted to name him Kevin Jamal Phillips Jr., but she was not sold on that idea since they were separated.
“Speaking of birthdays,” Kim announced, “I still owe you a present. How about I take you out to dinner tonight?”
“Sure, why not?” Although it was a school night, Wendy knew that if she went home she would do nothing but mope around and feel sorry for herself in her big, empty house.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Ms. Phillips. I didn’t know anyone was still in here,” said the maintenance person walking into the classroom. He was making his rounds, checking to see that the building was clear and that all the doors were locked.
“That’s okay, Otis. We’re getting ready to leave anyhow.” She saw Otis eyeing Kim. “This is my sister, Kim.” Wendy introduced the two.
Otis walked up to shake Kim’s hand. “You’re not a teacher here, are you?”
“No,” Kim replied.
“I didn’t think so. I couldn’t live with myself if I had missed noticing someone as fine as you.” He smiled.
Wendy rolled her eyes. Otis Edward Thornton never passed up an opportunity to flirt with women. He was probably in his late thirties and looked like he had been taken out of the eighties and placed in the twenty-first century. He was nearly six feet tall and very thin. What stood out most about his smile was the gold tooth he had implanted on the upper right side of his mouth. The tooth, of course, matched the color of frames for his glasses. His Jheri Curl was usually dry and uneven. For some reason he couldn’t grow a full beard, but that didn’t stop him from showing off the handful of hairs on his face.
Otis was so dark that he took being black to a whole new level. He thought he was fine, though, with his fake gold necklace and rings. To most ladies, he was hard on the eyes. He probably wouldn’t have looked as bad if he would invest more time and money in his appearance.
“Back up off my sister, Otis, or I’ll have to hurt you,” Wendy teased. She knew Otis was harmless, but he could be quite annoying sometimes.
“Oh girl, I ain’t worried about you. Besides, you’ll hurt yourself trying to hurt me.” He pointed to the child she was carrying inside of her.
“Well in that case, I’ll just call my future brother-in-law and he’ll hurt you.”
“You gettin’ married?” he asked Kim.
“Yes, next summer,” Kim stated. She was ready to go.
“Well, congratulations. How long have y’all been together?”
“Over six years.”
“Well looks like ol’ Otis is about seven years too late, huh?”
“Seven years ago ol’ Otis would have been looking at jailbait,” Kim remarked. She would have been only seventeen at the time.
“Still, do you think I would have had a chance?” Once again Otis gave what he thought was a killer smile.
Kim had to laugh at his ridiculousness.“I really don’t think you want me to answer that question.”
“C’mon, now. You can tell the truth,” he said, and adjusted his pants. “I’ll tell ya, there ain’t nuttin’ like an Otis!”
“You are definitely right about that.” Kim rubbed her nostrils after the aroma of his cologne attacked her.
Wendy picked up on Kim’s behavior. Otis didn’t know that if he continued pressing Kim, she would eventually tell him what she thought of him. Wendy knew this, and tried to save him from embarrassment. “Slow your roll, Otis. We have to get going and you need to finish locking up.” Wendy looked at Kim. “You ready?”
“No better time than the present.”
“Okay, then. I think we can all go.” Wendy motioned toward the door. Otis walked out, then Kim, then Wendy. She was about to pull out her keys and lock the classroom door.
“Don’t
worry about that. I’ll get it.”
“Okay, thanks. You have a good evening.”
“You too, Ms. Phillips.” He flashed a smile at Kim. “Nice to meet you, young lady.”
“Um-hmm.” Kim turned around as she and Wendy proceeded to walk down the hall.
“Ooooh-weee. You sho’ is a PYT—pretty young thang!” Otis checked Kim out as she walked away. “Let me know if those marriage plans don’t work out. You just don’t know, there ain’t nuttin’ like an Otis. You hear what I say, girl? There ain’t nuttin’ like an O-teese. No other man takes better care of his women than me.”
Kim didn’t even respond. Rather, she and Wendy continued walking to the parking lot. Once outside, they cracked up. “What was that?” Kim asked Wendy, laughing hysterically.
“Girl, I think Terrance may have a lil’ competition. You heard him, didn’t you?” Wendy changed her voice to imitate the maintenance guy. “There ain’t nuttin’ like an Otis.”
Wendy left her car at the school and rode with Kim. The two of them laughed all the way to the restaurant.
Chapter Fourteen
The Uninvited Guest
THEY’RE HERE!” Marlene called after she looked out the window and saw Kim and Wendy pulling into the driveway. Everyone jumped out of their seats and scattered as though someone had yelled fire. They had all parked their cars down the street so that Wendy wouldn’t suspect anything. Marlene continued peeking out the window until the girls got out of the car.
She giggled as she watched Wendy waddle up the driveway. Wendy was now in her seventh month of pregnancy, and Marlene could swear her daughter was having twins. Wendy had gained a lot of weight in the last couple of months, but she looked so adorable! Marlene and Kim often teased her about the weight she had gained, but they knew it was only temporary. Wendy vowed that once the baby was born, it would only be a matter of time before she regained her old shape.
Being hardheaded, Marlene and Kim had ignored Wendy’s statements about not wanting a baby shower and planned one anyhow. Although she hadn’t joined the church, Kim had begun going to Sunday services regularly again and had also attended that month’s Soul Sistas meeting with Wendy, all of which had enabled her to spread the news about Wendy’s surprise baby shower. Gwen had given Marlene the numbers of some of Wendy’s friends, since they both knew many of the same people. Marlene was able to invite them to the shower. The result was a baby shower that consisted of about twenty women with whom Wendy associated.
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