Anniversary

Chapter Three

As Bettie guessed, today was worse than before. She had done her best by getting up early and preparing a nice breakfast for Jasmine. Hoping Jasmine would want to eat. She made chocolate chip pancakes, Strawberry pancakes, and blueberry pancakes with scrambled eggs and sausage on the side. She placed sugar-free syrup on the table next to orange juice and brewed some fresh coffee. She took the liberty of calling the hospital where Jasmine worked and explained the situation requesting that the head nurse Margery put in a minimum of two weeks PTO so that Jasmine could get her bearings.

"Oh, the poor dear," Margery exclaimed. "Tell her there is no rush to come back. If there is anything we can do for her, you call me immediately and let me know."

"Thank you, Margery. I know she will appreciate that."

After a bit of time had passed, Bettie decided to see if Jasmine was awake and when she walked into the room, her heart sank into her stomach. Jasmine was wide awake with red, swollen eyes staring blankly at the wall in front of her. She barely even budged when the door opened and continued to lay there clutching the blanket for dear life.

"How long have you been awake?" Bettie asked gently

"If....I read......the clock properly...........since..... 3:00 am"

"You've been awake since 3?"

Jasmine nodded her head as much as she could to indicate that Bettie was correct.

"Oh babe, I'm sorry. If I knew I would have come in sooner."

"How could you know." Jasmine sighed and sniffled a few times. "You know I...Woke up today...Forgetting at first that...he..he...did what he did and I...was happy...until it all came rushing back and my heart broke all over again."

Bettie sat down next to Jasmine and stroked her hair, every time her friend's voice broke her heart sank a little lower into her stomach. She was angry with Terry for being capable of such a terrible thing but he was also her brother. There was no way she was going to come out the winner here.

"Minnie?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you tell Terry about...the baby?"

A whimper escaped her throat. "N-no. I didn't have the chance...Do you think that would change his mind?" she sat up momentarily energized.

"No, Sweetie and it wouldn't be fair to hope for that either. to him or to you."

She collapsed again sobbing louder. This was the most pitiful sight Bettie had ever seen. Her hair was matted up, the blankets were tangled in knots and her once perfect fingernails were now bitten down to the quick.

"Do you feel up to eating? I made some chocolate chip pancakes...your favorite."

"Can I stay in here?"

"Of course, you can. I'll bring you up some, how does that sound?"

"Okay, I can do that."

It didn't take Bettie long to gather up the pancakes and warm them up, two minutes tops and she was back upstairs. When she walked into the room though, Jasmine was fast asleep with her hands loosely in the same position. Her face was relaxed although it was raw around her eyes and nose.
Bettie creeped back downstairs as quietly as she could to ensure she didn't disturb Jazz and put her plate in the microwave covered with a paper towel and served herself something to eat. The doorbell rang as she sat down and mildly irritated, she got up to answer it. When she did it revealed her brother with mixed emotions written all over his face.

"Did you know?" His hands clenched into fists at his side and a pained stare pointed in her direction.

"You'll have to be more specific." Bettie folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes.

"Is this specific enough for you?" He held a small pink and white plastic stick out to her that read "pregnant" in small print.

"Oh," She turned away leading her brother inside. "Yeah, I knew about that."

"And you didn't see fit to tell me this last night!?" His voice shook as it rose in volume.

"Okay First of all," she spun on him eyes narrowed and raising her index finger "Keep your voice down! Your broken wife is upstairs trying to sleep! Secondly, it wasn't my place to tell you and She had planned on telling you yesterday during your anniversary celebration so don't go blaming me for not knowing about your own child! And Thirdly, I was in to much shock that my brother turned out to be a sleezy ass-hat to think about telling you!"

"Oh I'm a sleezy ass-hat now? What happened to you saying 'things happen' and 'she'll get over it, you just have to give her time.'"

"You know what Terry? I am completely disgusted by you. That is the truth. It makes my skin crawl what you did. And what about me? I am now torn in the middle between my brother and my best friend because you couldn't keep your dick in your pants!" She threw her hands into the air and walked towards her living room. "I can barely stand to look at you but I have to 'choose your side' because you're my blood!"

He stomped after her. "I never asked you to choose my side. I-" he slumped into her rocking chair and stared down at his feet. "I don't know how this got so out of control."

"I do, you allowed a passing fancy to turn into something more. You fucked up. Now, you have to figure out how to pick up the pieces of your broken life and move on." She put her head in her hands then rubbed her forhead before looking over to him. "Your decision not only affected you, but it affected all of us."

"I know..." he let out a long sigh and leaned back into his chair. They heard a soft whimper and looked up to see Jasmine staring wide eyed, tears pouring down her face and chin quivering. She must have come down stairs to eat and heard their argument. Stopping mid-way down the hallway she looked frozen to the spot. As though taking one more step would cause her to shatter into a thousand pieces. Her five feet and two inches cast a small shadow that didn't even stretch out two feet in front of her.

"W-what are you doing h-ere?"

"I found the test....I.....know about the baby." Terry looked at her with a pained expression. Jasmine's eyebrows drew together as she looked back at him.

"And?" She started to twitch her fingers back and forth, something she did when she was extremely uncomfortable and a quirk Terry found endearing. His expression softened a little while looking at her and the memory of their talent show performance flashed in his mind. He remembered them practicing for three months straight and having every word down perfectly by the night of the performance. She had dressed in a light green knee length dress. A half up half down curly hair do with green smokey-eye look and pink lip gloss. She had worn their promise ring around her neck and was looking up at him with wide scared eyes as their number came closer. She had begun to shake her hand as she was right now until he grabbed it, kissed her knuckles and whispered "everything is going to be alright. With the light on us we won't even be able to see the crowed."

She looked up and him and smiled "I know, I'm just worried I'll fall of the stange or something stupid." They had both laughed at that and then their number was called. They introduced themselves and the song of their choice. It was an acoustic rendition of Thousand years by Christina Perry. He had played the guitar and sang parts of the song while she sang the majority. His heart painfully contracted in his chest as he looked at her now wishing he could take everything back and hold her hand again.

"I want to be apart of their life no matter what happens with us...I just wanted you to know you won't be doing this on your own Jazz."

"I never thought I would be...until now." The pain on her face dissipated as her mask settled into place. This was something she did to people she didn't know or strongly disliked. She hid her emotions by keeping her face still and expressionless. This was it, she had finally accepted what happened. He was officially locked out on the other side of the wall.

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