Chapter 5 #2
Surprisingly, Ivy fell over laughing. They embraced one another, and my heart swelled.
To see my daughter latch on to a woman outside of her blood was comforting as fuck.
We both had someone to lean on, and it was organic, not something forced on either of us.
Harbor held Ivy against her, and she smiled over at me while holding her.
Shit was good in my world. What I was witnessing was something I never thought would come to pass.
But when things went right, something typically went wrong somewhere else.
I had unfinished business out there that needed to be handled swiftly.
“Celine isn’t back yet? I was hoping lunch was done or something.” Harbor complained.
“Come here.” I grabbed her arm, tugging her closer to me.
She was staring back quizzically. I guided her to the doorway.
“What are you up to?” She squinted, suspicious as fuck.
“Just got you something I thought you could use. Unless you like Deviance driving you everywhere.” I led her to the path and nodded toward the driveway.
“He’s not so bad.” She kidded with a coy grin.
Harbor was so caught up in me that she was hardly paying attention to anything else around us. I knew that fucking feeling. Finally, her head turned, and I watched her eyes light up. Behind us, Ivy had whipped her phone out to record her reaction.
“Free! You bought me a car!” She squealed, holding on to me for support.
“You like it?” I asked.
“It’s gorgeous! Shit!” She began jumping up and down while holding on to me. “Are you serious right now! This is me!”
“This is all you.” I assured her, and she hugged me, then stood on her toes to kiss me feverishly.
“Mmm, thank you! It’s perfect, it’s everything!”
I went into my pants pocket and retrieved the fob that the delivery dude had dropped in my hand. I passed it along to her and she grinned so fucking big it was brighter than the sun shining.
“I want to see the interior. Shotgun!” Ivy was still recording as she and Harbor did a sprint to the waiting ride.
They were like two excited ass little girls, checking out all the features. The radio was turned on and Sirius XM was already hooked up for her and the lyrics to the song playing danced in the air.
A little crazy, a little sexy, a little cool
Little rough around the edges but I keep it smooth
Ivy and Harbor both seemed to be familiar with the Janelle Monae tune because they started singing along in the front and passenger seat while dancing. Ivy was on Snapchat creating a whole vibe. I needed more guns. These two were bound to give a nigga hell, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Harbor
A couple of days later…
I had a fever the day after Frequency bought me my car.
A bitch was so torn down, you couldn’t tell me I wasn’t dying.
So he badgered me into seeing a doctor. Here I was on a Tuesday morning flipping through a women’s health magazine while waiting on my name to be called.
I got a chill and crossed my arms over my chest, holding myself closer.
Looking about the waiting area, I saw women doing the same as me.
My palms grew sweaty and suddenly, I heard my name called.
I was on my feet swiftly, meeting the nurse at the door so that I could be escorted to the back.
They had me change into one of those gowns, weighed me, took my temp and height.
When she heard my symptoms, she had me pee in a cup just in case as well.
I sat on the table, swinging my legs and waiting for the doctor to come in and do my exam.
I don’t know why the hell I was so fucking nervous.
I didn’t even drive myself. Deviance was waiting outside in the car for me.
About ten minutes later, Dr. Lane came walking in. She was an older black woman that I found in the area, and she was very humble when she entered with my file in her hand.
“Ms. Lawson. How are you today?” She asked, pulling up a stool beside the exam table.
“As long as you tell me I’m not dying, I’ll be fine.” I kidded, and she snickered at my humor.
“You are not dying. I can assure you that. However, your hCG levels are high. Were you aware that you were pregnant?” Dr. Lane queried, and everything around me became silent and still.
I blinked several times while looking at her, but no words would come at first. My voice had somehow gotten lost as I gaped back at her in disbelief.
“I will take that as a no.” She replied, glancing at the file in her hand. “Can you remember the date of your last period?”
No! I couldn’t. So much had been going on the last few months that I wasn’t sure if I was coming or going half the damn time.
“Maybe a month or so.” I suggested, unsure. “I’ve been busy.”
“Okay, well, there are other ways to determine that. We can do an ultrasound. My guess is you are about eight weeks. So, what we can do is set up an appointment in a couple of weeks. I want to come back and do a full work up. But right now you do have a mild cold. Just drink fluids, eat some fruit and get some prenatal vitamins. Is the father in the picture?”
“The father.” I whispered.
Shit! There was definitely one of those.
“Um, yeah. This… wasn’t planned though. I don’t even know what we are going to do. Things are… complicated.” I said, nodding.
“Well, no reason you should deal with this alone. Let him know. You can decide together. Make an appointment with my nurse on the way out for about three weeks. I will check in with you then. Congratulations.” She winked and let herself out of the room.
Pregnant? Yeah, this was the last thing I saw coming.
Frequency and I were never careful though.
He hadn’t strapped up one time since being with me, and now here we were.
What the fuck am I going to do? I walked out of that office and to the car in a daze.
Deviance could read the trouble all over my face.
“You good, Ms. Harbor?” He asked.
He seemed so hard with everyone else, but when he spoke to me or looked at me, it was like a teddy bear.
I didn’t get malicious vibes from him. I even think he had a little crush on me, and that’s why he wanted to be my personal driver.
He was helpful and always watchful over me, like a big old guard dog.
I see why Frequency kept him around. He was intimidating to anyone that didn’t know him.
“I’m fine. Can you take me to the office please? I need to distract myself.” I let out a deep breath while sinking into the soft leather seats.
He got in the driver’s seat and took me to work.
When I entered the office, it was empty.
I was the first to arrive. Chevy had been out since last week, but she told me she was going stir crazy so she might come in today after getting the kids to school.
I turned on the lights and went to the counter to boot up the system for the day.
I was dragging. I really should have just gone home, but I needed something to do.
Ivy was at school, Celine was being distant and weird, and Frequency was spending a lot of time in his office.
I wasn’t quite ready to deal with this right now, so avoiding the subject seemed like the next best thing.
I heard the door open as I stood there thinking about food.
When I looked up, Kitana was strolling inside.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, turning my nose up at her.
She was dressed for work in a Chanel skirt suit with some matching pumps as she sauntered toward me.
“I came to see if you came to your senses yet and want me to come back.” She stopped on the other side of the counter.
Tapping her fingers against her chin, a smug smile came to her lips.
“Girl, you weren’t shit but a spare around here anyway. We only had you around because I wasn’t licensed. Oh, and Ledge wanted to stroke his own fat ego.” I shook my head while staring shamefully back at her.
Her expression turned sour when she straightened herself up across from me.
“Oh, so you fucking Frequency and that makes you what?” She demanded, canvassing me resentfully.
I paused after I got my username and password and was signed in. Tilting my head to the side, I simpered at her. She was big mad, and I couldn’t find one fuck to give.
“It makes me the boss.” I informed her, pointing to the sign behind me. “That’s my name up there, not yours.”
She sneered from over the counter. “So then, where is your associate?” Kitana asked, eyes darting around, looking for trouble.
“She’s taking a much-needed break. If you want to go clean out your office, now is the perfect time. She will be moving into it.” That did it.
She practically popped a vessel as she stomped to where her office used to be.
“Not gon’ lie, that felt good.” I said, laughing to myself.
When her door slammed shut, all I could do was shake my head.
She was something else. The nerve of this bitch!
Too much audacity for a side chick. I started searching through emails and checking messages for appointments so that we could get things going around here.
The greeting bell went off again, so I knew that someone had entered.
Sighing heavily, Chevy strut in holding the hand of the cutest little girl I had ever seen.
She was like a brown porcelain doll and hung on tight to a stuffed horse as Chevy led her inside.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting you today.” I spoke to her, but the little girl had my attention. “And hi there. How are you?” My voice instantly went into that sugary sweet tone women got when talking to children.