Page 39 of Night and Day
17
Tamika fumbled to answer the phone as she entered the apartment.
“Hello?” she said.
“Where are you?” Dana asked.
“I just came back into the apartment.” She locked the door and headed toward the bedroom she shared with Anton, a drugstore plastic bag in one hand.
“Do you have it?” Dana asked.
“Yes. I bought two.”
She dumped the pregnancy tests on the bathroom counter and stared at them. She’d been tired a lot lately, and the dizzy spell and episode of throwing up over the weekend reminded her that she hadn’t had a period in a while. At first she’d simply forgotten, and then she’d convinced herself that her work schedule was why her period hadn’t started yet. But after Sunday, she could no longer avoid the probability of what might be happening inside her body. She could no longer pretend away the truth. She had to face the situation head on.
“Are you okay? Do you need me to be there?” Dana asked.
Dana taught a morning class, and Tamika couldn’t allow her to come over simply to hold her hand while they waited for the results.
“Thanks, but I’ll be fine. I’ll take the tests and call you after I get the results.”
“Okay, talk to you soon.”
Tamika hung up the phone and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She saw the worry in her own eyes. She hadn’t considered being a mother so soon but was fairly certain she could handle this particular twist in life. The issue would be Anton’s reaction. They’d only been together for a couple of months, and though she had no doubt he would make a great dadsomeday, she was fairly certain he didn’t want to be a dadright now.
She’d read somewhere that the first pee of the morning was best, so she’d hidden the tests in her car last night and came back into the house after Anton left for work. Now she really had to go.
She tore open the first box and peed on the stick and then set it on the counter on a piece of toilet tissue. She set the alarm on her phone and then went into the kitchen to get some water. Her hands were shaking as she lifted the glass to her mouth.
A mother. She could possibly become someone’s mother in six months or so. Biting her bottom lip, she fought the smile that threatened to overtake her face. There was so much she wanted to do—career wise—but was it crazy that she didn’t mind becoming a mom? Especially with a man like Anton as the father.
The alarm went off, and she drained the water from the glass and went back into the bathroom. She moved carefully over to the counter, as if walking on hot coals, and stopped the timer. Then she dragged her gaze to the test.
Positive.
Emotions warred in her chest. Elation. Anxiety. Fear.
“One more,” she told herself.
She busied herself with bookkeeping and other tasks she could complete on the computer, as well as checking in with the temps. An hour later she took the second test. Same result.
Positive.
Tamika sat on the commode lid, staring at the two pregnancy tests in her hands. She was still shaking, and the tightness in her stomach had only worsened. Part of her had hoped the first result was a false alarm, but the lines on the second test proved there was no mistake.
She was pregnant.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, releasing the air from her lungs very slowly. She had to tell Anton. He was definitely the father because she and Calvin had stopped having sex before they split. Anton was the only man she’d been with since then. Anton was the only man she’d been careless with.
She sent short texts to Dana and Layla with promises to talk to them later, and then she went back to work.
“Hey, Tamika, I’m home!”Anton called as he walked down the hall. In the bedroom, he rapped twice on the bathroom door. “You here?”
She’d worked late the past few nights, so he didn’t know if she was home or not.
“One minute,” she called out.
He frowned because her voice sounded strange. Overly bright. Overly excited. He walked into the closet and removed his shoes and tossed his shirt in the hamper. He was in the process of removing his undershirt when Tamika exited the bathroom.
