by Glenn, Roy
When they got in the office, Wanda and Black sat down. Neither said anything until Bobby walked in with Rain. “Ms. Robinson, do you mind waiting outside for a minute.”
“Not at all,” Rain said and shut the door behind her.
Bobby sat down and Black looked at Wanda. “I don’t even know where to begin,” Black said. “You have any idea how mad I am at you Wanda?”
“Yes, Mike I think I do. I let you down.”
“No, Wanda, you did much worse than that. You got Grant and his whole set killed. You put Cynt in a spot where her judgement and position or both are in jeopardy. You got things to the point where I told Cynt last night that I would kill her.”
“She told me.”
“And that would be on you too, Wanda,” Bobby said.
“Then you lied to Doc and dragged him into this little scheme,” Black said. “What were you thinking?”
“I am sorry,” Wanda said.
“Come on Wanda,” Bobby said. “You got to do better than that. You gear up to go to war; what you think Nick was gonna do? What was your plan?”
“It was just meant to be a show of unity. I wanted him to see that Rain was the problem and he needed to control that murdering psychopath.”
“No, Wanda. From what I saw last night, Ms. Robinson ain’t the problem. She just ain’t no joke.” Black paused. “I understand, I really do understand why you have a problem with her, but you let it affect your judgment. You let it affect our business, Wanda. The business we spent all these years building. What you did put all that in jeopardy. If Bobby didn’t show up in Nassau and say that he had a feelin’ that we needed to come here, ain’t no tellin’ how far this nonsense would have gone.”
Wanda looked surprised to hear that it was Bobby and not Jackie that got Black to the city.
“No, Wanda, Jackie didn’t call me. You told her not to call me and she didn’t. See, everybody acted honorably in this shit, everybody except you.”
“I know, Mike and I’m sorry,” Wanda said. “It won’t happen again. I see the damage I did and more importantly, I see how I let you and Bobby and myself down. It won’t happen again.”
“You know, I was gonna bring Ms. Robinson in here and let you two settle your differences,” Black said.
“Girl fight,” Bobby said.
Black looked at Bobby. “But that ain’t gonna happen. So here’s how it’s gonna go. Bobby is the boss of this family now. Nick runs the day to day, he reports only to him and Rain keeps her spot.”
“What about me?”
“You’re out, Wanda. From this point forward you will focus all of your attention on our legitimate businesses. And if Bobby tells me that you stuck your hands in or even showed your face in any of our spots, I will exile you to Eastern Europe and you can keep Meka company. Are we clear?”
“We’re clear. And thank you for not bringing her in here to hear this,” Wanda said.
“We’re done here.” Wanda got up and started for the door. “And Wanda, I expect to hear from you at least once a week.”
“You will,” Wanda said and left the office.
When she closed the door, Rain was standing there. Wanda rolled her eyes at her and started down the hall. “Wait, Wanda.”
Wanda stopped and looked at Rain. “What?”
“I just wanna say that I’m sorry for the way things went down.”
“I am too,” Wanda said and walked away. On her way out of Cuisine, Wanda didn’t stop to talk, she just left the building, got her in car and told James to take her home.
Black opened the door and told Rain to go get Nick. When she returned with Nick, Black told them about his decision to put Bobby in charge.
“Am I out?”
“No, Nick, things stay just the way they are now,” Bobby said to him. “You still run the show and Rain is still your hammer. You just need to talk to me everyday.”
“I’m good with that,” Nick said.
Rain smiled. “Me too.”
Black got up and took a seat on the couch. Bobby went and sat down behind the desk. “Go get the rest of them, Rain.”
“Yes, sir.” Rain left the office and once everybody was in, Bobby told them how things were gonna be and after what they had been through, everybody was good with it. When everybody left, it was just Black and Bobby in the office.
“What you gonna do now, Bobby?”
“I didn’t have anything planned. Why?”
“Give me the keys,” Black said and stood up. Bobby threw him the keys. “Come ride with me.”
Bobby got up. “Where are we going?”
Black looked at his watch. “We’re goin’ to keep a promise I made,” he said and drove Bobby downtown and parked in front of a building.
“What we doin’ here?”
“This is where Carmen works,” Black said. “I promised you that you’d get to see her so here we are.”
“And you didn’t want to see her?”
“That’s not the point, Bobby.”
“Yeah, right.”
A half-hour later, Carmen Taylor walked out of the building with her cameraman. She was an investigative reporter and was on her way to cover a story.
“There she goes now,” Black said when he saw her.
“She looks good. Like she hadn’t aged a day in seventeen years,” Bobby said and opened the door. “You coming?”
“Yeah, I’m coming.”
Bobby walked up to Carmen, with Black close behind. “Hello, Carmen.”
Carmen turned around quickly at the sound of a familiar voice. When she saw it was Bobby, she threw her arms around his neck. “How are you Bobby?”
“I’m fine, Carmen. You look great.”
“So do you,” Carmen smiled and patted his stomach. “Put on a little weight, but you look good.”
“Hello, Carmen,” Black said and she turned to him.
“Hello, Mike. Five months. This your idea of soon?”
“Let me use your phone, Mike. I left mine in the office.”
Black reached in his pocket and handed Bobby the phone. It rang as soon as he handed it to Bobby. “Want me to answer it?” Bobby asked as he walked away from Black and Carmen.
“Yeah, go ahead,” Black said and looked at Carmen. She was standing with her hands on her hips.
“You didn’t answer my question. I haven’t seen or heard from you in five months. Last time I saw you, you stood right in front of this building and you said you would see me soon. So tell me, Mike, is this your idea of soon?”
Before he could answer, Bobby walked up. “Excuse me, Mike, but I think you need to take this call. Give me the keys. I’ll get the car.”
“Who is it?” Black asked and handed Bobby the car keys.
Bobby leaned close to him. “CeCe.”
Black took the phone. “Hello.”
“My water broke.”
“What? When?”
“About ten minutes ago,” CeCe answered.
“I thought we had another month.”
“Well, I guess our son has other ideas.”
“Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Me and Michelle are leaving for the hospital now.”
“You got somebody to drive you?”
“Bernadette is going to take us and your mother is here.”
“My mother? When did she get there?”
“This morning. She said when she woke up this morning something told her that she needed to be here,” CeCe said.
“That sounds like her. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Don’t have that baby without me,” Black said and looked at Carmen.
“I don’t think it’s up to me,” CeCe said. “But I’ll try.”
Bobby pulled up and honked the horn.
“I guess now I know why I haven’t heard from you,” Carmen said. “Go on. Get outta here. Go be with your woman.”
“Carmen, I promise.”
Carmen put her finger on his lips. “Don’t you ever promise me anyt
hing ever again in life. You’ll see me when you see me. ’Cause if you don’t, I’m coming to Nassau.” Carmen kissed him on the cheek. “What are you having?”
“We think it’s a boy.”
“Oh well now I’m definitely coming down there. I gotta meet Mike Black Jr.”
“Thanks for understanding,” Black said as Bobby honked the horn again. Black kissed Carmen on the cheek and rushed to the car.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Bobby drove as fast as New York City traffic would allow him to take Black to the airport. On the way, Black called and asked them to have the plane ready to take him to Nassau. He hoped that he would get there in time to witness the birth of his second child.
During the long flight back to Nassau, Black looked out the window. He was comforted by the fact that when Cassandra gave birth to Michelle, she was in labor for hours. He looked over and was glad that Bobby was with him. When he was about to get on the plane, he turned to say goodbye. “Mike, you were sitting right next to me when all four of my kids were born. I missed being there for Michelle, I ain’t about to miss this one. Now get on the plane, I’m comin’ with you and we’re wastin’ time.”
“Thanks, Bobby.”
“You can thank me later with a Cuban cigar.”
After what seemed like a very long time, the plane touched down in Nassau. Black thanked the pilot and he and Bobby rushed to catch a cab to take them to the hospital. When he arrived, CeCe had already had an epidural inserted in the area around her spine and had been given a small dose of medicine to be sure the epidural was placed correctly. Since there are no problems she was receiving a full dose. Two transducers had been placed on her abdomen and attached to an electronic fetal monitor. One to monitor the baby’s heartbeat and the other to track her contractions. Her cervix had dilated to 5 centimeters and her contractions were ten minutes apart.
“Hi,” Black said when he walked in and kissed CeCe.
“I’m glad you made it.” she said.
“Are you kidding. I wouldn’t miss this. I’m sorry I wasn’t with you.”
“That’s really was my fault. You didn’t want to go, but I made you go.”
“It’s good that I did. Things were in dissarray and I had to get them back on track.”
“Anyway,” CeCe said and grabbed his hand when her pain increased. When it let up, she loosened her grip. “I’m glad you’re here. But this shit hurts. I swear, I am never doing this again.”
“What’s that noise?”
CeCe reached over and turned up the volume. “That galloping sound is our baby’s heart.”
Black smiled at CeCe. “Our baby,” he said and CeCe smiled at him. Even though she was in pain, she was very happy to be having his baby. She prayed it was a boy. CeCe knew how much he wanted a son.
Her doctor came in the room and greeted them. He examined CeCe and told them that she had dilated to 6 centimeters. “How long before the baby is ready to come?” CeCe asked.
“The duration of labour varies widely, but active phase averages some 8 hours for women giving birth to their first child. The cervix dilates at a rate of 1.2 centimeters per hour over a period of at least two hours.”
“8 hours?” CeCe almost screamed.
“I’ve seen it be much less, I’ve seen it be much longer. But you’re doing fine. You’re at 6 centimeters now and full dilation is reached when the cervix has widened enough to allow passage of the baby’s head, which is around 10 centimeters. Have we talked about episiotomy?”
“What’s that?” CeCe asked.
“It’s a surgical cut in the muscular area between the vagina and the anus called the perineum. It’s made just before delivery to enlarge your vaginal opening.”
“No, we haven’t.” CeCe said. “What do you think?”
“Research has shown that women with a spontaneous tear generally recover in the same or less time and often with fewer complications than those who had an episiotomy. Women who have an episiotomy tend to lose more blood at the time of delivery, have more pain during recovery, and have to wait longer before they have sex without discomfort.”
CeCe and Black looked at each other. “Spontaneous tear,” they both said almost at the same time. The doctor laughed, but he understood and was ready for their next question.
“When can we start having sex again?” CeCe asked.
“Your perineum should be completely healed around four to six weeks after delivery. I’ll examine you to be sure that you’re healed. So when you feel up to it you can try having sex again. You might feel some initial tenderness and tightness. You might prefer to be on top so that you can control the degree of penetration, or you may find lying on your side to be more comfortable. Relaxing as much as possible and using a good water-soluble lubricant will help make sex more comfortable. This may be especially helpful since you plan on breastfeeding. Lactation lowers your estrogen levels, which reduces the amount of lubrication your vagina can produce. Many women continue to use a lubricant during sex until they stop nursing.”
“Good to know,” Black said and CeCe agreed.
When she had gotten to fully dilated at 10 centimeters, CeCe began the second stage. The doctor told them that the head was fully engaged in the pelvis. “The widest diameter of the head has successfully passed through the pelvic brim. Now what remains is for the fetal head to pass below the pubic arch and out through the introitus. So you’re going to have to get ready to push.”
CeCe had chosen to use the spontaneous pushing method instead of being coached to push. This allowed her to follow her body’s natural urges, and pushed when and if she felt ready, and in whatever way felt right to her.
“Let the contraction build a certain amount before bearing down,” the doctor said.
CeCe screamed and yelled while she pushed and cursed at Black. “You did this shit to me!” and swore once again, “I ain’t ever doing this shit again!”
When it was over, CeCe had given birth to a healthy baby boy. “What are we gonna name him?” Black asked.
“His name is Michael Black Jr.,” CeCe said.
