Zoya #3
Kobe and Syn were staying in Stevie’s villa because she wanted the company and didn’t want to stay alone. Jeffie and Skyler were staying in the villa, too, but Skyler kept to herself while Jeffie busied herself with work.
It wouldn’t have been Jeffie if she didn’t busy herself with work. I’m sure being on this island without Menace was driving her nuts. Jeffie loved Stevie and spent time with her, but Menace was her person.
Not in a weird way.
Their friendship was strictly platonic, but they were soulmates.
Stevie was Menace’s entire world, but Jeffie was his soulmate, and vice versa.
I used to wonder if they ever tried to get together and decided it would never work.
Jeffie spoke Menace almost too well and was often the reason we understood his ass.
Sometimes.
Kobe was sitting on the couch watching TV when I walked into the sunken living room. He was watching some trashy reality show that he would be talking shit about later. I looked over at him on the couch with tears pouring down his face.
My head snapped back towards the TV, and the girls on the show were in the club having the time of their life. I plopped down beside him and rubbed his hand.
“What is wrong, Kobe?”
His eyes widened as he turned to look me in the face. “I can hear you.”
“Of course you can hear me… I can hear you,” I replied, confused on what the hell he was talking about.
Before I could protest, he broke out into more tears and hugged me tightly. “Thank God, I can hear you.”
Now, he had me scared. “Why do you keep saying that?”
“The TV is on full blast and I cannot hear it. I thought Hamza had rubbed off on me,” he said, as if his best friend being deaf could be contagious.
The plate on the coffee table told me that this fool was high off Gam’s cookies. I looked between the plate, TV, and Kobe, who was still wiping his damn eyes and trying to calm down.
“Are you high?”
“He is.” Syn laughed, as she held up the Bluetooth speaker in her hand. “Gams made him some cookies, and he wanted to be stingy, so I routed the volume from the TV to come through this speaker instead.”
Kobe looked at her and then tried to jump over the couch. “You little bitch… my life flashed between my eyes.”
I pulled him back over the couch. “You mean your life flashed before your eyes.”
Gam’s cookies weren’t shit to fuck with. She had me in Brooklyn ready to beat Meer’s ass because he wouldn’t leave me alone. Between those cookies and the nutcrackers, that night was still a slight blur.
“Don’t be stingy next time… or should I sign it for you.” Syn started to sign out what she was saying. Dramatic ass Kobe tossed himself across my lap as he sobbed into his hands.
“How could the mother of my future children be so cruel.” I knew he wanted Syn to be his surrogate; however, I wasn’t about to unpack all the shit that came with that.
It was clear that Kobe was in no shape to go with me to the main island. Stevie had told me about a private doctor in Grand Anse. I made an appointment with them this morning and wanted some moral support.
Had my girls been here, they would have driven the boat themselves to be there with me. I wished Gerald could be here, too, but this was a promise that I made his mother. Part of me wanted to make sure everything was good with the baby, too.
I shoved Kobe off my lap, leaving his ass in the nutty villa.
Syn was just as crazy as him for making him believe he had gone deaf.
Stevie would have come, but she was in her art studio, and I didn’t want to disturb her.
Since having Dennis, she didn’t get many moments to create freely, and I wanted her to have that.
This was an appointment that I could attend alone. I was a grown woman and had done grown things that ended with me being pregnant, so I could go to the appointment alone.
“Where are you heading to?” Alaia called, as I sped past her villa.
Each villa let out on the beach, however, there was a paved road for the golf carts to drive on. I was so deep in my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed her sitting on the beach with a yoga mat.
I hit the break slightly and put it in park. “Depends. Can you keep a secret?”
She became giddy at the chance to know something no one else knew. Well, she didn’t need to know that I had told Sharon already. “Yes… tell me.”
I watched as she abandoned the yoga mat and beach and came over to sit in the golf cart. “I made an appointment on the mainland to see a doctor.”
Alaia had a blank expression. “Wow, thanks so much for telling me this precious secret.” She sarcastically replied. “What kind of doctor? You itching, or something wrong with the baby?” she became worried.
It was so funny because watching Alaia and Erin, they were such parents. I wondered if being nurturing was something they had always been, or if they had to grow into it once they became mothers.
“I haven’t been to a doctor yet and I want to make sure everything is fine. It sucks having to go without Gerald.”
She smiled. “A healthy baby is more important. I remember when I first found out I was pregnant with Promise, I was cramping all the time. Didn’t help that I was being knocked around.”
“Alaia, why would you say that?”
“Laugh to keep from shooting.”
I looked at her and shook my head. “You needed this space from your husband… starting to act just like ‘em.”
“You know, he is controlling so he might be behind one of these trees,” she joked, as Promise came running out the house with her phone.
“Meanwhile you got that big ass man shook.” Between her and Erin, both Capone and Cappadonna didn’t shit without their wives’ stamp of approval. Hell, even Capri had Meer giving women disclaimers when they approached him.
I liked a scared man. Yeah, be scared I’mma knock yo’ ass out because you smiled at a woman.
“Oh, you wanna share my phone with me?” She rolled her eyes when Promise shoved the phone into her hand. “Girl hogs my damn phone like she doesn’t have a tablet.”
“Daddy says no table… he calling you.” Promise wasn’t one for the shits and giggles, as she waited for her mother to wrap up whatever business with her father.
Alaia looked at the phone log, and he had called about six times. “You hung up on daddy again?”
Promise’s chubby cheeks rose, as she looked mischievous. “No.”
She shook her head and sent a quick text to her husband. “Let me change and then we can go… our little secret.”
Aside from Stevie and Sharon, everyone else thought we were going to the island to grab groceries to make dinner.
The staff kept everything stocked and did the food runs to the main island, but every so often Alaia had some recipe she wanted to make that required her to venture off the island.
Alaia had already told me we would be going to the markets.
Since Thanksgiving was approaching, she wanted to grab last minute things.
Recommendation: “You Gotta Believe” by Mary J. Blige
Alaia placed her hand over top of mine as I nervously bounced my leg.
We were in the waiting room with other pregnant women.
Some could barely sit with how far along they were, while others looked like they were over this shit and wanted the baby out of them.
Then there was me, sitting here nervous like I was a teenager about to find out if my football boyfriend had gotten me pregnant.
Why was I so nervous?
I’ve known I was pregnant since my birthday. Goo knew it and was excited, so why was there this huge ball of nerves settled in my stomach?
“Stop shaking that leg so much. You’re going to be okay.” She tried to assure me, but my hands started to sweat.
I didn’t say anything back because my mind was all over the place. This was the moment I wished I had Gerald right next to me. He would have said something to make me laugh and forget all about this appointment.
“Ms. Caselli,” the medical assistant came out from the back.
She held the clipboard with the information I had just filled out and held the door for us. Alaia slipped her hand into mine as we walked to the exam room. I had gone to the gynecologist a million times, and this was almost the same thing. Right?
“You can get settled on the exam table and I will go over some of what you filled out. You are visiting, correct?” she looked over her narrow wire frames.
“Yes. Just a holiday vacation,” I lied, because this had been anything but a vacation. As much as I laid on the beach and try to read, my mind was back home.
I think all of our minds were. The small check ins were vital for us all not losing our minds. The pale woman nodded, as she continued to check over everything I had filled out.
She was White but had an accent as thick as the locals. Her brown hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail, and because of the constant sun, her freckles were bright.
“I have your last period.” She fished in the drawer and found a paper wheel that she flipped around a few times.
Alaia looked on with excitement as she moved it a tad more and then looked at us. “My doctor didn’t even use that. He used his iPad and just blurted out my due date.”
“What is it?”
“It determines your due date based on your last period,” the medical assistant explained.
“Yep.”
“If yours didn’t use it, then how do you know what it is?”
“I went to my late husband’s appointments with Fatima,” she said through gritted teeth, not wanting to even acknowledge that man as her husband. The medical assistant seemed very interested in our conversation, so she chose her words carefully.
“June fifth is your due date,” she smiled.
It was the first smile she had given since I had walked into this exam room. “At least you don’t have to go through the entire summer pregnant.”
I rubbed my hands on my thighs not knowing how to feel now that I had this little piece of information. What did expecting mothers feel when they found this out? I was so excited and scared all at the same time.