Page 26 of Forbidden Fruit

I was decorating the nursery in unisex colors, light yellow and brown. Once the baby was born, it would be nothing to throw in some blue or pink. At my last appointment, seeing my baby on that screen kicked back relaxing had brought me joy. Jedrek’s chest was so damned puffed out, it was crazy. There wasn’t a time when his hands weren’t on my stomach when we were together. He was supportive, even when I got on his fuckin’ nerves.

One night, I had literally screamed at him because he forgot to get ketchup from Whataburger. Even after he tried to get the ketchup from the kitchen, I had a fuckin’ meltdown. Everyone knew that regular ketchup didn’t compare to Whataburger’s ketchup! What was wrong with him? Then, I felt so bad about the shit, I cried in his arms all night, apologizing.

He was so understanding, and he never argued back. It was always,okay baby or okay Vash.I didn’t know what I did to deserve someone like him. After my ex, Dominique, I stopped caring about niggas’ feelings and was just out there wildin’ and getting mine. Then maybe three months before meeting Jedrek, I’d slowed down, still without intentions of getting serious with anyone.

I’d been talking to my mother almost daily. She’d somehow gotten my daddy to let me have my Range. A discussion between him and me seemed distant, though. Once, when I was on the phone with my mother, he’d entered the room she was in, but he refused to talk to me. I swore, that man could hold a grudge like you wouldn’t believe. Was there any doubt in my mind that he loved me? No. He just had a fucked-up way of showing it.

Ms. Carol and I had gotten so close I’d started calling her Ma. She’d come to some of my appointments when Drek couldn’t take off to come with me. No matter how much money my mama had given us, he refused to quit the car wash. He said that he wouldn’t feel like a man letting me carry the financial responsibility, regardless of how short of a time it would be for. I loved him that much more for that.

I went to one of my patients’ rooms to give them something for pain. One more hour, and I would be off for two days. This week I’d been assigned to the cardiac floor. That wouldn’t have been a problem if I didn’t think I would run into my dad at some point. So far, I hadn’t. Since he was a cardiologist, this was the main floor his patients were on at this hospital. My mama was a primary care physician, so I could see her anywhere, and I had on several occasions.

After injecting the morphine into the customers IV, I let him know I would check on him before my shift ended. When I got to the door, it pushed open, knocking me to the floor. I grabbed my stomach immediately. Although I had fallen on my ass, I was still concerned about my baby. “Chitrita? Oh my God, are you okay? I’m so sorry.”

Breaking my concentration on what I was feeling, I looked up to see my daddy. We stared at one another for a moment as he got on his knees next to me. “You okay?”

His voice was so tender. I didn’t think I’d ever heard him sound that way, especially when it concerned me. “I-I think so, Daddy.”

Helping me to my feet, he gently pulled me in his arms. That gesture alone had me in tears. This pregnancy already had me an emotional mess, so this sent me into an emotional orbit. He gently pulled away from me and rubbed my belly, then pulled me to him again and kissed my forehead. “I missed you, Daddy.”

“I missed you too, Chitrita. Besides this scare just now, how have you been?”

“I’ve been really good. Jedrek takes great care of me, no matter how difficult I can be.”

After I said that, Daddy told his patient that he would be right back and walked me back to the nurse’s station. When we got close, I saw a bouquet of flowers, and Jedrek standing next to them with food from Popeyes. I’d been craving Popeyes from the beginning, and my mouth was watering looking at that box.

Daddy stopped in his tracks when he saw Jedrek. I believed it was more out of embarrassment, knowing that he was wrong about him. Before Drek could walk away, I quickly made my way to him. He’d sat my Popeyes on the desk and was about to haul ass. My lips quickly found his as my dad watched. “Thank you, baby. These flowers are beautiful, but I’m even more grateful for the food!”

Drek pulled his glare away from my daddy and smiled at me. Finally, Daddy had made it to us and held his hand out to Drek for a handshake. His eyebrows had risen slightly, and he shook my dad’s hand. “Thank you for taking care of my most prized possession. I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time.”

“I understand. I’m sure if we have a girl, she won’t like me very much when she starts dating either.”

They smiled at each other, and I was grateful that all seemed right in my world, until I had a slight pain in my back. Gripping the edge of the desk to keep myself from falling, drew attention from both of the men in my life. “Vashti, you okay?” Drek asked.

“She fell a little bit ago, so we need to get her down to ER to get checked. I’m gonna go check on my patient, then I’ll meet y’all downstairs,” Daddy said, hurriedly walking away.

Drek grabbed my food and flowers. One of the escorts happened to be on our floor with a wheelchair so I sat in it, then reached for my food as Drek shook his head. “I swear, I’ve never seen someone so obsessed with food.”

“Shut up,” I said while adjusting in the wheelchair.

Another sharp pain hit my lower back, and I damn near screamed. The worry was evident in Drek’s facial expression as he grabbed my hand. When we got on the elevator, I eased my hand out of his and scarfed down my buttermilk biscuit, then started on the fries. I was starving. “I suppose those pains are coming and going.”

“Drek! Leave me alone. I’m starving.”

He chuckled, then kissed my head. “I’m sorry, baby. I know it’s not supposed to be funny, but it is. One minute you wincin’ in pain, then the next you stuffing yo’ face.”

I gave him the side-eye as I swallowed my french fries. He’d better be glad I was hurting. I stuffed half a chicken strip in my mouth as he chuckled. I wanted to slap that smirk off his beautiful-ass face. Another pain hit as we got to the ER. They wheeled me to the back to do an ultrasound. Drek kissed my head as I trembled in nervousness. “Don’t worry, lil mama. I’m right here.”

The tear fell from my eyes as I prayed that everything was okay.

By the time we left, I’d killed the three chicken strips, french fries, two biscuits, and red beans and rice. Thankfully, nothing was seriously wrong. They seemed to think I had sciatica, which meant that my uterus was pressing down on my sciatic nerve. The fall caused a slight shift, so unless it shifted again, it would be something I’d just have to deal with. I’d gladly deal with it as long as my baby was okay, and they assured me that the baby was fine.

My parents had insisted that we came to their house before going home, because my mama had some things for me. Drek had called Ms. Carol to let her know that everything was okay and where we were going, so she wouldn’t be nervous. When we got there, Drek helped me out of my Range, then we walked hand in hand to the door, with me doing more wobbling than walking. The door opened, and my mom had a huge smile on her face. “Come in! You have to see what I bought today!”

I giggled and slowly rubbed my belly. She led me to daddy’s office to show me the yellow and brown stroller and car seat system she’d bought, and the playpen with giraffe’s all over it. I clapped my hands together in excitement, then said, “It’s perfect, Mama! Thank you!”

Jedrek and Daddy walked in behind us, both of them smiling. Finally, they were getting along, and I couldn’t be happier. My mom pouted, and said, “I want to buy clothes so badly! All I could get were these white, yellow, and green onesies, booties, and pants.”

I laughed at her dramatics. “We have plenty of time for that, Mama. Drek has bought a girl outfit and a boy outfit to bring him or her home in.”

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