Alex sat on a bench, waiting for Drew. She glanced at her watch for the hundreth and seventh time. She's counting. That's how anxious she was.
"Alex?" She heard Drew call her name and she quickly stood up.
"Hey," she said nervously.
"Sweetheart, why are you sitting outside? You could have waited for me inside." He said, hugging her and giving her a peck on the lips.
"I didn't want to wait in there alone." She said as he walked her to the building door with his hand on the arch of her back.
They took the elevator to the third floor and made their way to their doctor's office. The fertility doctor, Dr. Morgan. They were in Dr. Morgan's office, waiting for her to come back into her office.
Alex's foot was shaking as she rocked back and forth for Dr. Morgan to come back. She was holding on to Drew's hand.
"Alex," Drew said, patting her hand, "baby, relax." He said in a calm tone.
She flashed a small smile. "I'm trying." She said softly.
"Can you at least hold my hand a little less tighter?" He chuckled.
She didn't realize how much of a grip she had on his hand. She was extremely nervous about the results of this trip to Dr. Morgan's office. She loosened her grip, "sorry."
He picked her hand up and kissed it, "it's okay. I love you."
"I love you too."
Dr. Morgan walked into the office with a green folder in her hand. "Sorry, it took me a minute." She said as she made her way to her chair. "How are you two today?" she asked.
"Good." Drew answered.
"Nervous." Alex said, honestly.
"Don't be nervous." Dr. Morgan flashed a kind smile.
"So what are the results?" Alex asked, very anxious to know.
"Just give her a minute." Drew said, not trying to be snappy.
"I'm sorry, I'm just anxious to know. This is what we came here for and I don't want to waste any time." she said.
"It's okay, I understand." Dr. Morgan spoke up. She opened the folder and scanned the papers inside. Her facial expression was blank as she read the papers.
After a few more moments. Dr. Morgan closed the folder and sat it down on her desk. "So from your hysterosalpingogram, you're fallopian tubes are normal. There's no blockage or anything that shows what's prevening you from getting pregnant."
Alex's pressed her lips together, trying not to cry. Drew squeezed her hand as she took a deep breath.
"There's another test we could try," Dr. Morgan continued.
"No!" Alex blurted out. "No more tests. This is all stupid!" She fussed as she stood up.
"Alex," Drew tugged her hand for her to sit back down.
"No! I'm done. I shouldn't have to go through all of this just to have a baby." She snatched her hand away from Drew, grabbed her purse and stormed out the office.
Drew stood up, giving Dr. Morgan an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Dr. Morgan." he said, sincerely.
"It's okay. This is normal for me. Go make sure she's okay. If you guys need anything or have any questions, please don't hesitate to give me a call." She smiled kindly.
"Thank you so much, for everything." He exteneded his arm out to shake her hand and then left her office, looking for his wife.
After spending a few minutes looking for Alex, he'd finally found her outside, sitting on the same bench she sat on when she was waiting on him.
"Baby, you didn't have to storm off like that." He sat next to her. "There's more that we can do." He said.
"You just don't get it, do you?" He questioned.
"Get what?" He asked, wanting her to be open and honest with him.
"Since I was a little girl, I've always had it set on my mind that I will have children someday. My own children with my husband." She cried. "I have you, my husband. You're such a wonderful man. You really are and I've been wanting my own child." She explained.
"Don't get me wrong," she continued, "I love Joy and Zach, but they're not mine. Since I had a mother who didn't raise me, and pretty much didn't want me, and a father who I have no memory of, I told myself that I will have my own children someday who I will love and take care of until I die. Since my parents didn't do that. I want to be a parent that they weren't."
Drew placed his arm around her shoulder, "listen to me," he said, "our time is going to come. We're going to get our baby, we just have to be patient."
"I'm trying, but it's so hard." She cried. "We've been trying for six years. Six years. Next thing you know, I'll be forty and still have no baby. This is very important to me."
"I know it is." He said. "It's important to me as well, but I don't want you to get stressed or upset about this, we just have to be patient, sweetheart. And whether we can have a baby or not, you're still going to be my wife and I'm still going to love just as much as I do now." He kissed her cheek.
He couold tell that his words barely got through to her, but she gave him a weak smile. "Did you want to go back and talk to Dr. Morgan a little more and get some more information about what we should do now?" he asked.
"No." She shook her head. "I'm tired of going there and taking all those tests and ending up with the same bad results. It's too heartbreaking for me." She said. "We should give it a rest."
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"Yes." She confirmed. "Actually," she stood up, "can we get away from this building? It's not making my mood any better."
He stood to his feet and grabbed her hand. "How about we go home?" he suggest. "I can get your mind off of things right now."
"Yea, that's fine."
"Did you walk here?" He asked.
"Yea, the gallery is only a few blocks away." she said.
"Well, let's go to the gallery then. Maybe some art would ease your mind."
"Good, that way when the time comes, we can go pick up the kids from school and then head home, since we're already out."
Since he drove to the doctor's office, they rode to her gallery in his car. When they got there, Alex went straigth to her storage and begin to work on a new piece. Whenever Alex is painting, Drew never interrupts her. He gives her space and peace. He sat in her office, making and taking a few phone calls from work.
Walking out of her office, he went to the gallery area where other artworks were displayed. He knew his wife was a talented artist, but he now had the opportunity to take a closer look at some of the work that was displayed.
Sometimes, Alex will ask Drew what he think some of the work is or the meaning behind it, to see if he understood her art. Sometimes he did, other times, he didn't.
She walked from her corner with her coat on, covered in different color paint as though she'd just went to war with paint.
"How's it going?" He asked her.
She had a lost expression on her face. "I had to stop." She stood by him. "What are you doing?"
"I'm just looking at some of this work. This is nice." He looked at the drawing that wad directly in front of him.
"This was drawn by one of my new artists , Donovan." She answered. "He's a young artist, and I see a bright future ahead of him. He's a fresh eighteen, so this real world is new to him because of how he was brought up."
Drew loved how Alex admired art and other artists. She was the type of person who gives everyone a chance, which he loved.
Her phone rang from her pocket, surprised she was recieving a call, she pulled her out. "Oh, it's Joy calling." She glanced at Drew before answering the call. "Hey, sweetheart. Everything okay?" she smiled.
"My mom isn't answering my calls or text and I don't have a ride to competition in the morning." Joy said.
Alex sighed, glancing at Drew. Trice was good for standing up her own child, and Alex hated acknowledging it to Drew because she knew how upset he gets about it. "Okay, I'll do it. So don't worry about that, okay?"
"Okay." Joy responded.
"Other than that, everything okay?" Alex asked.
"Yes ma'am." Joy answered.
"Okay, I'm going talk to you in a little bit. Alright?"
"Okay."
They ended their call.
Alex let out a light breath. "I'm gonna take Joy to competition tomorrow morning." she mentioned. She figured she may as well tell him so there won't be any confusion.
"For what?" He asked. "Trice is supposed to be taking her. She's supposed to be with Trice now." He pulled his phone out. "I'm about to call her."
Alex could see that Drew was not okay with what she said. "No, no, don't worry about it. As long as Joy is taken care of, everything is fine."
"No, it's not. She needs to stop doing this shit, man." He fussed, putting the phone to his ear and walking away from Alex.
She sighed as she observed his body language. "Fuck, man!" Drew exclaimed. He walked towards her. "How she's not gonna answer the phone?"
"Honey," Alex gently grabbed his arm, "It's no big deal. I will take her to competition tomorrow."
"It's not just about the competition. You know this is not the first time she's done this! How many times is she gonna let Joy down? It's pissing me off."
"As long as you do your part and I do mine. We can't worry about her." Alex stated.
"I'm not worried about her either, I'm worried about Joy. When you neglect your child so much for so long, then there's no way they'll come to you as a parent. Probably lose respect for you." He said. "Joy knows what's going on and I'm sure she's keeping quiet and letting things slide for now, but she'll reach her breaking point."
"You're right." Alex agreed. She knows how it feels to have a mother neglect her as a child and it took her a long time to get over it. She didn't want Joy to go down that same path as she did as far as being resentful towards LaTrice. "But we can't continuously get upset about the things she does."
"Where is Joy?" He asked.
"I'm not sure. She's probably at home."
"Okay. I'll call her after I go pick up Zach from school." He said, still feeling a bit disappointed.
"Drew," she said, softly, "relax. Something will work out." She cupped his face.
"I know, this is just a bit frustrated." He said.
"I know it is, but it's not worth being upset about. That's wasted energy."
"You're right." He agreed. He kissed her forehead and gave her another look. "I'm about to go see Ma really quick then go get Zach."
"Okay. She said. "I'll be here trying to finish up this painting. I'll try to be home as soon as I can."
"Alright, sweetheart, I love you." He said.
"i love you too." They shared a sweet kiss.
When he left Alex's art gallery, he drove to Shirley's house.
"What brings you by?" Shirley greeted him with a hug.
"Have you seen your daughter?" He asked with a slight attitude.
"No, what's the problem?" she asked, concerned.
He threw himself on the sofa and she sat adjacent to him on another sofa. He shook his head. "I need to talk to her."
"About what? Is everything okay?"
"I just don't understand. She was supposed to get Joy today and take her to her competition, but she's not answering our calls."
"She went to Nashville to pick up Brice. She should be back by now. She wasn't answering any of my calls either."
"I bet she did go to pick up Brice." He said sarcastically. He hated just hearing the word Nashville. That's one place he refuses to go to under any condition.
Just before he and LaTrice divorced, she suggested that they go to Nashville to spend time together to work on their marriage and see his best friend, Brent and his wife Kendra. After hearing Brent and LaTrice confess their past and feelings Drew was left with no choice but to leave her. Especially after she chose to stay in Nashville, leaving Joy behind with him, just to be with Brent.
LaTrice's decisions is what made Drew lose all respect for her, gaining custody of Joy. He cut off all ties with Brent ebcause finding out his wife was in love with his bestfriend and had been sleeping with him, was devastating for him. He knew couldn't be upset at her forever because he'd done his share of cheating during their marriage, but he was willing to change, but it was too late.
"What time is Joy's competition?" She asked.
"It starts early in the morning. About eight, I believe." He answered. "Alex and I were going anyway, but Trice had already missed two competitions. Joy is going to be disappointed if she misses tomorrow."
Shirley thought for a moment, shaking her head. LaTrice never ceases to disappoint her.
"I'm just gonna talk to Joy when I get home tonight, to at least make sure she was okay." he didn't know he was going to deal with LaTrice about how she is towards Joy, so he was going to be the bigger parent and figure something out for his daughter's sake.