Page 26 of Forbidden Pregnancy
“Good,” Luigi says. “That would be fucked up since I’m pretty sure we found out that night she’s your first cousin.”
Still, the name Taylor doesn’t ring a bell.
“Twelve years ago, I had a… fling… with CC’s tutor.”
It feels so fucking wrong calling what happened between me and Myra a fling. The moment I touched her again, all the dangerous powerful emotions came rushing back into my body. I can’t shake this woman from my consciousness and now that she’s hidden away at my apartment, my desire for her has twisted into something terrifying.
“Is that the old flame?” Luigi asks, more intrigued than I expected him to be. I must not be doing well at hiding my distress, honestly.
“Yes.”
“Get to the part that becomes a problem,” Luigi says sternly. “Delphine’s waiting at home with crying twins and I doubt my large biceps will be enough to improve her mood if I’m late.”
“I had a fling with the tutor. She… wants nothing to do with me. I don’t know what the hell was going through CC’s mind but…”
Luigi might want me to hurry through this story, but I need to pause to let all of this shit hit me. What the hell are the chances that out of all the bars in Buffalo, NY, Myra would endup at that specific bar on the night CC hatches an escape plan from my place.
He stifles his impatience long enough that I can continue my story without having to answer a probing question.
“I think CC drugged both of us and manipulated us into sleeping together.”
“Fuck,” Luigi says. His voice sounds strange, but I can’t place the emotion.
There are nerves talking to him, but I have to trust Luigi will understand. We’re loyal to each other the way our fathers are loyal towards each other.
“It sounds crazy,” I admit, prepared for Luigi’s fullest moral judgment against me.
He doesn’t respond with any outburst of emotion at all. His voice is flat, betraying absolutely nothing. “It doesn’t.”
I don’t know why Luigi gets on board with my accusations so quickly, but he nods along as if CC drugging me and tricking me into having a baby with Myra is the most normal thing in the world.
“Are you sure?” I ask him, pretty sure that my situation with CC is the least conventional way I have ever rekindled a past relationship. I never thought I would give Myra a second chance and I don’t think I deserved one either. The way she left me might have been cruel, but I’m old enough to have done plenty of self-reflection.
She’s the one who hasn’t changed and remains desperate to keep me at arms length.
“I believe you,” Luigi says seriously. “Why is this such a problem?”
“My father gave me an explicit warning after Delphine had the twins. I don’t want to say anything offensive–”
“I know how your father thinks,” Luigi responds quickly, matching my statement with enough defensiveness that he musthave figured out that I’m referring to the most taboo subject in his relationship with Delphine.
Race. Ethnicity. Culture. However you want to describe it. Our people havealwaysbeen loyal to Italians and Italian culture. I never once imagined ending up with Myra forever. If I get her pregnant, that will change. She claims it can’t happen, but she’s never encountered Corsini seed.
I know I’ll get her pregnant and it will changeeverything.
“He gave me an explicit warning to stay away from black women, not to touch them and certainly not to get one pregnant.”
“That should be easy. I’ve never seen you take a chick home who didn’t have the complexion of 2% milk.”
“You don’t know all the women I’ve taken home.”
“I know most of them.”
But he doesn’t know Myra. Even back then, I knew better than to expose her to my family. At forty-one, I’m a much different man – much stronger. I can handle protecting Myra from almost anyone.
“It should be easy,” I respond to Luigi. “You’re right.”
Luigi finally clues in. “You screwed up. Touched the forbidden fruit.”
