9. Myraj
TWO WEEKS LATER
“This is so stupid.” I groaned and rolled onto my side with my back to Symone.
“Breathe. All things happen for a reason, Myr-Myr. You know this.”
“You sound like Mommy.”
My mother had just left to head back to work.
She worked here at Cherokee Springs University Medical Center, and when she learned that I had checked in, she immediately rushed to where I was.
Last weekend, I finally broke the news about my pregnancy to my parents and brother.
They were shocked to learn that I had gotten pregnant without the IUI procedure, and all of them wondered if it was Tyrus’s baby.
I told them that he and I had broken up, and it wasn’t his baby.
My mother was the only one who was aware that I had been a virgin, so she was especially shocked.
My father and brothers weren’t in my personal business like that, but they did want to know who the father was.
I simply told them he was a very special friend that they would meet soon.
That part was a lie because I had no intention on introducing Micaiah to my family.
Symone had come to the hospital to relieve Mommy, who hadn’t wanted to leave my side, but she needed to get back to work. My mother was the chief human resources officer for the hospital, and they happened to be having a job fair today and tomorrow, so she couldn’t afford to be away for too long.
“I’m just being reasonable. Once they get your fluids up to an acceptable level and make sure that you and the baby are good, they will release you.”
I had been hospitalized for dehydration.
“That’s just it. Why do they have to keep me overnight? It’s still early enough that I should be able to be released today.”
“Have you talked to your mom about it?”
“She was on their side,” I replied dryly and flipped back over to face Symone. “The whole time she kept pestering me about my baby’s daddy and why he wasn’t here by my side.”
Symone shook her head. “Honey, please call that man before you have regrets.”
I sighed and pulled up my phone. I immediately went to his profile on Sociogram, Micaiah Livingstone. As I did the first time that I looked him up, I scrolled through the pictures of him with authors and literary industry personnel.
“Let me see him.”
I handed the phone to Symone, and she folded her lips in with her thumb and index finger. A little crease formed between her eyebrows as she frowned. “He’s cute. Damn, Myr, you didn’t tell me the brother was this fine. Hey, sexy baby daddy.”
“Gimme that!” I snatched my phone from her.
“He looks familiar. I think I must have seen him around the conference a time or two. Either way, with him being security, maybe he works for a company that has contracts with those conferences, and it allows him to travel,” she reasoned.
“Maybe. I just don’t know what I’m going to say. Hey, Micaiah. This is the woman who begged you to take her virginity and said she wanted nothing beyond that night. Well, surprise. I wanted more because guess what? I’ve got your baby.”
“Just tell him that you would like to see him again. There is something you want to discuss in person.”
“Nothing screams red flag worse than that. The man might think I’m calling to tell him I’ve got some incurable disease or something.”
“I doubt it.”
I sighed and twisted my lips as I typed out a message in his DM.
I read aloud as I typed. “Hi, I know you may not remember me, but I’m the girl from the Books, Baes they’re monitoring us closely.”
He continued staring at me as his thumb stroked my palm.
After a moment, he narrowed his eyes. “I’m a pretty smart guy, and I’m starting to connect the dots. I need to hear it from your lips, though. I know I used protection, so I’m not sure how it happened, but I also know it’s not foolproof. I guess I’m asking . . . is the baby mine, Myraj?”
“Yes, Micaiah, the baby is yours.”
He sat back in his chair but kept my hand in his.
“I know it’s a lot; it was a lot for me, but I thought you needed to know. I want you to know that you can take some time and process it, and we can discuss it later,” I explained at the look of apprehension on his face.
“Are you sure that it’s my baby?”
I inhaled, trying not to be offended, because I knew that we didn’t know each other well. “Yes, the baby is yours.” For some reason, I wasn’t ready to disclose the gender yet.
“Can we meet this Sunday and discuss this further?”
“Sure.”
He wiggled his fingers. “Let me see your phone.”
“Why?”
He just stared at me, and I unlocked and then handed him my phone. He released my hand, typed on my phone for several seconds, and then handed it back to me.
I glanced down to see that he had saved his number in my phone under “Book Bae,” and he had texted himself a message to lock the number in.
Micaiah stood and dropped a kiss on my forehead. “I have to go handle some business, and yes, I do need time to process this. But I promise that I’ll be calling you and coming to see you, okay?”
“Okay.”
“You be easy.”
I watched as he walked out of the room. I wasn’t certain what I was feeling other than apprehension.
Although I hadn’t planned for my child’s father to be in their life when I was going the IUI route, it was different now that I knew her father, now that I knew it was the man I had dreamt of since that weekend—the man I had fallen in love with that weekend, despite telling myself not to.