Page 5 of How is This My Life?
“Yes!” We all chorused together, breaking into laughter, wiping tears off our faces. This little bundle was so loved already. The rest of the appointment went normally, the doctor encouraging me to read about my changing body, recommending mom groups for single mothers to me, and talking to my besties about being coaches during labor.
“That’s all her. Not me,” Aaron said, shaking his head as he motioned to Denise and me, his lips pursed, “Not for my baby sister. That…nope. I've got no problem holding my little king orprincess after they've gotten all cleaned up.” The doctor gave a good-hearted laugh, shook our hands, and reminded us to stop and schedule our next appointment.
“Yours?” Denise arched an eyebrow as we were heading to the receptionist to schedule my next appointment.
“Yeah. They're gonna need a man to show them the things y'all can’t. Like, how to fix shit and pee standing up. How a man is supposed to treat a woman, and showing the little princess what she should expect from a man. Taking her on God-daddy and God-daughter dates. That kinds of stuff.”
“This is why I can’t wait to marry you and have you put one in me,” Denise flirted with Aaron, pulling him in for a kiss and a hug, as we were walking out of the office. My next scheduled appointment for two weeks from now, for the genetic testing and a twelve-week check-up. I couldn’t believe I was already ten weeks into this pregnancy.
Thirty more to go.
I hopped in Aaron’s car and we headed to the lawyer’s office. I was more nervous about this meeting than I was about finally seeing my little tadpole. I wanted nothing more to do with Trevor, but I knew the baby deserved a chance to have a father, and if he wanted a relationship with them, it would throw a wrench in my plans of seeing him on the twelfth of never. I sighed deeply, rolling my eyes internally, and tried to tell myself I could do this for my baby. I could put up with this cheating sack of shit for the rest of my life. This was probably the most stressful part of the breakup and the whole becoming-a-mom thing.
“Miss Adams?” We looked at the secretary, “Miss Cunningham will see you now. Can I get you a water or a cup of tea?”
“No. Thank you, though,” I said, standing, my legs feeling weak underneath me. Aaron was right behind me like the overprotective brother he’d always been since we met. We followed the woman and walked into Miss Cunningham’s office to see a woman sitting behind the desk and a man sitting on the couch. I stiffened because I didn’t know who these people were, but I assumed the woman was the lawyer, and the man was Aaron’s boss. I knew he’d mentioned the name of his lawyer for us, but I didn’t think he’d be here in person.
“Mr. Douglas, thank you for meeting us here,” Aaron reached around me, shaking the man’s hand. “This is my best friend, Elise. She’s like a sister to me and the one who needs some help right now.” He said to both Mr. Douglas and Miss Cunningham at the same time, looking between the two of them.
“Have a seat,” the woman said as she motioned to the chairs in front of her desk. She was a middle-aged woman with a straight, short bob, a no-nonsense look on her face, and a trendy pant suit.
“Tell me what’s going on,” she said, sitting in her chair, grabbing a legal pad and pen. Taking a deep breath, I filled her in on everything that had happened over the last six weeks with Trevor. I told her that Trevor wanted an open relationship, that there had been no contact from him at all in the five weeks since I left him and moved out of our shared apartment, and that I had found out I was pregnant two weeks ago. I also informed her that I had recently started receiving texts and pictures from Tawnya.
“So, what do you ultimately want?” She asked after writing a few things down while I talked to her about what was going on.
“Ultimately? I want him out of my life and the baby’s life. He doesn’t seem like a responsible party to take care of a babyright now. I know my child deserves a chance to have their father in their life, but if he doesn’t want to, I get it. I also want Tawnya to stay the heck away from me. I don’t need that kind of toxicity in my life.”
She nodded, asking to see the messages Tawnya had sent. After seeing the latest taunting texts and accompanying photos of Trevor in the middle of a bunch of naked people having sex, and him doing shots off of some girl's belly and another girl's breasts, all of which were sent from Tawnya’s phone. She passed the phone back to me, asking me to forward the messages to her.
“You need to text her, telling her you do not wish to have further contact with her about your ex, and that you would like to cease all forms of communications. If she doesn’t stop, I’ll send out a formal cease and desist letter. As for the child’s father, I could draft something saying that when the baby is born, he will sign a parental rights termination paper. He’ll need to sign that and establish paternity before we can take him to court and legally terminate his rights. Have you told him? About the baby?” I shook my head.
“I wanted to talk to you first. To know what my options were, and to protect myself.” I was wringing my hands nervously in my lap, just wanting to be done with this super sticky situation.
“We could call him and let him know we’re recording the conversation. We would let him know you’re here with me discussing options to protect yourself and the baby, and then go from there. Sound good?” I nodded, taking a deep breath, pulling my phone out to call. It just kept ringing, but there was no answer. Of course.
“What’s the number? I’ll call from the office line.” I handed her my phone so she could just see the contact number. I watched as she punched in the numbers and put it on speaker phone. She hit record on her cellphone as it rang and rang before a very groggy, confused ‘Hello?’ came from the other end of the line.
“Hello, is this Mr. Trevor Stoodermyer?” She sounded all business, fierce. Fiercer than I probably would have sounded trying to talk to him about this.
“Yes?” He sounded like he just woke up.
“Good morning. This is attorney Taylor Cunningham, family law. How are you today?”
“Family law? I’m fine? What’s this about?” He was quickly sounding more and more alert.
“First, I want to let you know this call is being recorded and that I’m calling on behalf of Elise Adams, your ex-girlfriend,” she motioned for me to talk now. I stood up and leaned over the receiver of her office line.
“Trevor. I’m pregnant. It’s yours. We need to establish paternity so—”
“Stop,” he sounded annoyed as all get out when he interrupted me, “You’rewhat?! I don’t want afucking baby.Fucking get rid of it,” He said gruffly, then a muffled, ‘sorry baby’ as rustling was heard on his end. “What do I need to pay you to get rid of it, Elise? Because I’m not going to be a dad and I’m not paying any kind of child support, Elise. We aren’t even together anymore. You left me.”
“That’swhyI’m calling, Trevor. Miss Cunningham has paperwork for you to sign, saying you’ll sign away your rights after establishing paternity when the baby is born. We have to goto court to have a judge sign off on it, but after that, you have no legal obligation to the baby.”
“When can I sign?” I hated how urgently he asked, “Can I ask that you not put my name on the birth certificate? I can come down in…an hour?”
“Perfect. Thank you very much.” Miss Cunningham said.
“Sure,” was all he said before the line went dead. I breathed a sigh, and it was of both sadness and relief, as if a fifty-pound weight had just been taken off my chest after crushing my heart to dust for my child. We wouldn’t have to deal with him.
