26. Aziel
Quinton left,and Desire and I returned to the kitchen to finish the conversation we started at the park. After Iris’s popup visit yesterday, the thought of her being the person behind the message settled in the back of my mind. However, I was unable to come up with her possible motive.
“Did he tell you what the last message said?” Desire asked.
“It’s one of these screenshots.” I fumbled through the papers until I found it. “I’m coming for what’s mine.”
“Another threat. Do you think she’s a danger?”
“Did you see how she behaved yesterday?”
“I did, but it seemed like her behavior was from a place of hurt. What really happened between you?”
I hated to relive it, but I couldn’t have Desire looking at me sideways and believing I’d make a habit of keeping things from her.
“I changed and left out a few things about my relationship with Iris. She’d only keep the baby if I promised to marry her before the baby was born. I offered to take full custody because, as I told you, I wasn’t interested in marriage, but she wouldn’t budge. I didn’t want her to have an abortion, so I proposed, and she began planning the wedding.”
“You proposed?”
“With a fake ring and all because I had no intention of marrying her.”
“That’s wild! How did you keep this out of the blogs?”
“Iris agreed not to use my name on any of the paperwork regarding the wedding. She’s from a conservative, prominent family who hates everything about me, and she didn’t want them to find out we were engaged and try to stop her from marrying me. It was before I was in office and during the end of the campaign. My opponent was so cocky and sure he’d beat me. He stopped campaigning and looking for dirt on me by that time.”
“You got lucky.”
“Once Azaria was born and word had gotten out that I had a child, there was speculation about who her mother was. Some thought she was me and Tammy’s love child, while others thought I adopted her to help my image for the campaign. Once I took office, I was asked about Azaria at a few press conferences, and I told them I was co-parenting with her mother, and she wanted to remain anonymous. God has looked out for me more than I can ever explain.”
“You got that right.”
“Anyway, going back to the fake proposal, Iris forged ahead with planning the wedding. She picked out a dress and a venue and had gone taste testing for cake. The whole plan was to lead her on until she was too far along to abort the baby. I felt I had no other choice.”
“Aziel, that’s horrible, but I understand your perspective.”
“I have no regrets. I support a woman’s right to do what she will with her body. However, in a situation like this, when the baby is being used as a bargaining tool for blackmail, men don’t have many options. I did what I needed to do so she wouldn’t kill my baby.”
“A child should never be used as a pawn. I’m sorry you were put in such a terrible position.”
“Me too, but again, I don’t regret how I handled it. Whenever I look at Azaria, I know I did the right thing. When Iris picked a wedding date, I began to panic. I had two companies to run and was trying to win the mayoral seat. The last thing I had time to do was participate in planning a wedding that would never happen. Somehow, I convinced her we should wait to get married until she had the baby, and we could have a destination wedding on the island of her choice. She fell for it hook, line, and sinker. A few days before her due date, she overheard me talking to AJ on the phone.”
“What did she hear?”
“To summarize, I wouldn’t marry her if she were the last woman on earth, and once she had my baby, she could kick rocks.”
“Damn, I’m sure that caused an uproar. What happened next?”
“The argument we had was so intense it caused her to go into labor. When she gave birth to Azaria, I saw hate in her eyes every time she looked at her. There was no way in hell I wanted to raise my child with her or leave my child in her care.”
“I don’t blame you, baby. I can’t believe you dealt with all that while running for mayor.”
“It was challenging, but like I said, I did what I needed to do. The night we argued, she said some vile things that I don’t want to repeat because I still feel sick when I think about them. Azaria’s life was in danger as soon as she took her first breath.”
We sat quietly for a few minutes as I allowed Desire to process the information I’d shared, and I tried to erase the memories of the night Iris told me exactly how she planned to kill our child. I must have zoned out because I hadn’t noticed Desire standing and moving behind me.
“Az, I’m sorry, baby.” She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and kissed my cheek. “I’m sorry you had such a horrible experience. I know you didn’t want to, and it was hard, but thank you for loving and trusting me enough to tell me the whole truth.”
I took her hand and pulled her around to sit on my lap. Her support and understanding were appreciated, but this story wasn’t over.
“You’re my wife, and I’ve chosen to spend the rest of my days with you. There’s never a time when I shouldn’t be comfortable sharing things with you.”
“And there’s never a time I shouldn’t trust your word.”
He hesitated briefly. “There’s more.”
“More? Oh my God.”
“For the past three years, Iris has been in a mental institution.”
She gasped as her eyes widened. “You had her committed?”
“I didn’t personally have her committed, but her doctor and two nurses suggested she be evaluated because of her lack of interest and desire to connect with Azaria. The psychiatrist who did the evaluation interviewed me, and I told her everything. Based on what I’d said, they ruled out postpartum.”
“Wow.”
“She also interviewed her family, and Iris had shown signs of mental illness her entire life. With medication, she could manage it, but she didn’t take it regularly. What sealed her fate was when one of the nurses overheard her spewing the most hateful things to Azaria. I’d stepped out to take a phone call and asked the nurse to stay with them because I was afraid to leave them alone.
I’m grateful Azaria was too young to understand the vicious things her mother spoke over her life, the evil things she planned to do to her, all because I didn’t love or want to marry her, but I was thankful she spoke the words out loud, and someone overheard her.”
Tears fell from Desire’s eyes, and I wiped them away with my thumbs. Talking about that situation made my heart heavy, and I was sure hers was too. I hadn’t discussed it since it happened, and I prayed this would be the last time I would have to do so.
“You’re an amazing father. Your love for Ria is tangible, and you look at her with so much pride and joy. It’s beautiful to witness. I now understand why you’re so intentional and hands-on with her. She’s a lucky little girl.”
“Thank you, baby. I wanted her from the moment I knew she was conceived and went through a lot to make sure she took her first breath.”
“She’s worth that and more.”
“Most definitely. I want to apologize again for last night. This topic?—”
“Baby, we’re good. I understand why you didn’t want to talk about this. You don’t have to keep apologizing. We’re good.”
“Desire, you’ve been such an amazing addition to our lives, and I appreciate how you love us, but if you ever in your life lock me out of our marital bedroom, or any room for that matter, I’ll kick the hinges off the door. I love you.”
She laughed at my comment, but I didn’t crack a smile, letting her know how serious I was.
“I love you, too,” she responded.
We shared a long kiss that had the potential to lead to Desire being bent over the breakfast bar before we heard Azaria calling for us. Her little voice would always be music to my ears, even when she was cockblocking.