Page 4 of How is This My Life?
“I’ll talk to my boss tomorrow. Get you something drawn up so he can’t touch you or the baby, okay, Tot?” Aaron’s deep voice rumbled through his chest. He was 6’8”, which dwarfed me and my 5’5” stature. I felt Denise’s head nodding against mine as she stood 5’8”. She was absolutely stunning with her beautiful, dark hair, blue eyes, and athletic body. They were perfect for each other. I squeezed them tighter, nodding into both of them, knowing they’d do whatever was needed to protect me and their godchild.
The three of us only had each other.
My parents died a few years ago in a boating accident. They were deep-sea fishing, something they loved doing for years, when I got the call. Denise and I were at work when officers came in. They hadn’t been able to reach me by phone. Denise worked in the ER downstairs while I was on a general med/surg floor. I had heard someone shout my name, sounding panicked. I turned to where the sound came from and saw her racing to me. The officers were following behind her at a slower pace, but I understood. Something had happened. She wrapped around me, tears streaming down her face. She was breathing hard, trying to catch her breath and stop the tears, when the officers walked up to us, asking for my name.
“We’re very sorry, but there’s been an accident. Your parents' boat sent out a distress signal,” a ringing in my ears was all I could hear. I caught bits of what they were saying.
Pirates…positively identified the bodies…robbed.
I crumpled. My knees gave out. My parents. The very foundation my world had been built on and stood atop for twenty-six years had crumbled, viciously ripped from under my feet. Aaron and Denise helped me plan the funerals while Trevor handled the legal side of things. Mom and Dad’s lawyer was a family friend I’d known my whole life. He sat me down a week or so after and read their wills to me. That was the darkest period of my life. I took all the bereavement time (a whooping six days graciously given because I’d lost two family members and it was supposed to only be three days) and PTO that I could.
Aaron and Denise, those two amazing people who had never left my side and didn’t let me falter when it felt like I wouldn’t survive, didn’t have their families' support. Their families had said they were ‘sinning’by being together, by loving each other. I swear I was thrown back into a time when interracial couples were something to be condemned when I heard that. Denise, being a white woman, was expected to be with a white man. Aaron, being a black man, was told he was turning his back on his people and choosing the oppressors. They met in college freshman year, fell in love hard and fast. When they introduced each other to their families over the first big holiday break, they had been strongly opposed to them being together. They were both kicked out of their respective families when they defended their relationship. Their families both refused to help them out at all, including paying for college until they ‘woke up’ and ‘saw the error of their way’. Denise had been my best friend since my sophomore year in high school. When I told them what was happening, my parents helped with living arrangements and paid for college for them both. They had always been, and raised me to be of the mind that love is love. No matter the color or gender, everyone deserves it.
“We got you,” Aaron’s voice, deep and reassuring, wrapped around us like another hug, “Both of you.” He smiled down at me as he pulled out of the hug.
“Who knows! Maybe it’ll be a boy and I won’t be outnumbered in this house anymore!” He started laughing as Denise rubbed my belly, a wistful look on her face.
“I can’t wait to meet you, baby. Auntie Nise is so excited for you to be here.” Silent tears fell down my cheeks, so thankful for my tiny village. The only family I had left in these two amazing people, knowing my parents would have been thrilled to be grandparents. “I work tomorrow, so I’ll ask around about an OB.”
“I called Dr. Nell the day after everything happened. She could only squeeze me in this week because she’s been on call, then covering for the other OB at the hospital, and she's just getting back from vacation. She’s awesome!”
“Okay! I’ll meet you there tomorrow, if you want. I’ll call up to your floor in the morning just to check in.” I paused, and we all moved from my room to the kitchen. The smells weren’t as bad now, and my stomach actually rumbled. Aaron started dishing out dinner. Homemade jambalaya. I was about halfway through my bowl when I set my fork down.
“I have to tell Trevor,” I said quietly, knowing my conscience wouldn’t let me keep this from him. I may not recognize who he is anymore, but I had spent so much time with him that I didn’t feel good about keeping this news from him. This was life-changing, something we’d talked about frequently for years. “What do I tell him? What if he wants to be in the baby’s life? What if he wants Tawnya involved in the baby’s life? What do I even do with that? I mean…we literally just found out.” I let the silence hang for a moment before I continued,knowing this was really what he wanted, and he might not want anything to do with the baby.
“He wants to live out his party years, which is on him, but…” Denise reached over and grabbed my hand. Aaron looked between the two of us, seeming to take control of the situation. He’d always been the big brother I’d never had, but always wanted. Someone who would protect those he loved and cared for, someone who would give me crap and poke fun, but wouldn’t let anyone else do the same.
“We will cross that bridge when we get there. Like I said, I will talk to my boss first thing tomorrow morning. He knows a good family lawyer who helped him in his divorce a few years ago. He also knows about the prick who tossed my little sister away for some cheap thrills. This lawyer, though? She’s a shark from what he’s said.” His promises were reassuring, comforting in a brotherly kind of way that confirmed I wouldn’t ever be completely alone in this.
How is this my life?
T H R E E: Terminating Rights
Elise POV
Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye since the news of my little bundle had come out. I had been adjusting… well? I knew I was excited to be a mom and meet my baby, decorate a little nursery for them, and sort through the millions of name possibilities. However, I am not looking forward to telling Trevor, having to see him again, possibly forever. I think I would feel better once I knew if he wanted anything to do with our baby. Because this was our baby, as much as I hated the circumstances we currently found ourselves in. He knew what asking for that open relationship would bring.
He knew I wouldn’t be able to do it. That I wouldn’t be able to stomach someone else touching him, him being with someone else. He was effectively ending our relationship while trying to make me look like the bad guy and the unreasonable one to all of our mutual friends and his family. And the fact that the woman he left me for was sending me texts and pictures I never wanted, or asked for, was unsettling and something to talk with the lawyer about.
Today was my first day off, and Denise and Aaron were meeting me at the OB office to see my baby, their god-baby, for the first ultrasound. Then Aaron’s boss was meeting Aaron and me at the lawyer’s office. Since it was my second appointment, they didn’t have to collect blood work or family history, but I still had to give a urine sample and vitals. They said the next appointment, they’ll need to collect more blood to be sent to the lab for the genetic testing. I felt thoroughly poked and prodded by the time my name was called to see the ultrasound tech before seeing the doctor. It was an effective way to run the office,though, to make sure everything was done before seeing the doctor, as she was the only one at this practice.
Hopping up on the exam table, I had to take everything off from the waist down since we didn’t know how far along I was. Aaron and Denise waited outside until I called for them to come in. Aaron took up most of the small room, and with Denise in there, we made the already small room feel even smaller. I was dying to know how far along I was. I had heard the baby’s heartbeat last time, but this would be our first time seeing Baby.
It would also be Aaron’s first time hearing the heartbeat.
I swear I was within the first six weeks, but who knew? My relationship had been so rocky and crazy for nine or so months before it ended, and we had not been having intercourse regularly. Even on birth control, my periods were always a little off. Sometimes super heavy, sometimes so light they’d only be going for three to four days at a time. We had just started discussing the potential of moving to somewhere bigger in a few months when the tech walked in, introducing herself to all of us.
“This is Aaron and Denise. They’re my baby’s godparents,” I tried to explain. “They’re my support system. My bestie and brother.” I smiled at her as she looked between me and Aaron, probably thinking Denise was my sister, but daring her to say otherwise. She just nodded and gave a lukewarm ‘hi’ to both of them before explaining what she’d be doing as she was doing it. Once she had the wand out and my belly exposed, she began to tell us about trying on my stomach first, but she possibly needed to do an internal exam if I wasn’t as far along as I was hoping to be. Denise let out apfftsound and tried to stifle her laughter as I looked at a horrified Aaron.
“I’ll be stepping out if that happens. I just wanna see my niece or nephew. Not see my sister’s bits.” Denise laughedat him, promising to let him know when it was safe to come back in if we needed to use that option. The gel was warm, and she began moving the wand around, measuring and taking pictures of various things that didn’t look like a baby. Denise was telling me what everything looked like, and the tech was either agreeing or telling her where certain things were that they were measuring and why. After Denise explained that she and I were nurses, the tech seemed to loosen up a bit and seemed to give more information.
“And…” she dragged out the word with a dramatic pause, “Here’s baby.”
And there it was.
My baby, my peanut. The life that was growing inside of me. It had little arms and legs and a squishy little head. That was my baby. Tears were flowing down my cheeks as I stared at the screen in awe. I had never seen something so beautiful, nor had I known that I could fall so deeply in love with someone I’d never met or even talked to. The love and protectiveness I was feeling toward this tiny being was a new feeling. I wasn’t sure how to handle it.
“I’ll print out a picture for each of you, then?” The tech asked, a smile and expectant look on her face.
