I've been talking to my mother and Solange about Joe and they're dying to meet him. I've also kept in touch with Kelly and Daniel, too. I was so nervous to meet Joe's family especially since Joe has a big family. Lately, I've been acting weird. I'm starting to sleep a lot, have weird cravings, mood swings, and my period is a couple of days late. So I went and bought two pregnancy tests at the store near my condo before I came to Florida. I figured I should give it one more day before I take them. If I don't get my period tomorrow, then I'll probably take them. Joe and I were driving to his parents house and I was so nervous.
"You alright, baby girl?," he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied. Joe gave me a "I know you're lying face" for a couple of seconds and turned his attention back on the road and I sighed in defeat.
"I'm scared, okay, Joseph. I'm scared that things won't go the way you think they will go. But instead of running, I'm willing to do this because I love you and I want to meet them and for them to approve of me but at the same time I'm terrified," I admitted. I've been holding this feeling in for weeks since Joe told me about the reunion and it felt better to finally let it all out and be honest with him. Joe interwind our fingers together and kissed the back of my hand.
"I know you're scared, baby girl, but I promise you everything is going to be okay. Alright?" I nodded and smiled a little bit. He kissed the back of my hand.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you, too." Soon we pulled up to a big family house and it looked absolutely beautiful. I was in awe.
"This is your parents house?," I asked, still eyeing the house up and down.
"Yeah, this is the house that I grew up in and it still looks like it's new."
"Wow." Joe and I got out of the car and the closer we got towards the house, the more I became nervous. Then we got to the door and he rang the doorbell. I heard footsteps coming from the other side of the door. My heart was beating fast and then the door opened. An older woman with blonde hair and glasses opened the door and I assume she was his mother.
"Joseph!," she said, reaching to hug him.
"Hey mom," he said, hugging her.
"How is my youngest baby doing?"
"I'm doing good and mom this my girlfriend, Beyoncé. Beyoncé, this is my mother." he said, introducing us.
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Anoa'i," I said, attempting to shake her hand. But instead of shaking my hand, she gave me a hug.
"We don't shake hands in this family and call me Patricia," she said, smiling.
"Ok," I said, smiling back.
She let us inside of the house and we saw a lot of people. I took my jacket off and Joseph took my jacket and hung it on the coat rack and put his jacket over mine.
"Where's Joelle?," he asked.
"She's in the backyard playing with the rest of the kids. Go introduce Beyoncé to the rest of the family while I go get her," she told him.
Joseph introduced to me to a lot of family members like his older brother, Matt, his sisters, Summer, Myritza, and Vanessa, Rikishi, the Usos and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Each time Joe would introduce me to a family member, they would look at me with a welcoming smile and tell him they know who I already was and made great conversation with each other.
"Daddy!" I turned around and saw a little girl running to Joe. He smiled and bent down with open arms. As soon as she was in his arms, he picked her up and hugged her.
"Hey JoJo. How's my big girl doing?"
"Good, daddy," she said.
"Are you doing good in school?"
"Mhmm," she answered, nodding her head.
"Are you listening to grandma and grandpa?"
"Mhmm," she answered again, nodding her head. I smiled at their interaction and she looked at me with a smile.
"Daddy, she's here," she said, whispered excitingly.
"Yeah, that's daddy's girlfriend," he said.
"Really?"
"Yeah," he answered.
"She's even more beautiful in person."
"I know," Joe whispered back. I giggled at their silly interaction. They are so cute.
"You wanna say hi?," he asked. She nodded and he put her down on the floor. I bent down to her height and she seemed a little shy.
"Hey, baby girl," I said.
"Hi," she said, shyly.
"You must be Joelle," I said. She looked at me with wide eyes and a smile.
"How did you know my name?"
"Well, your daddy talks about you a lot and it would mean the world to me if I could spend time with the lovely Joelle herself if she wants." Joelle's smile had gotten wider and she nodded. Joe chuckled.
"Okay, how about we watch a little movie later on? You pick the movie and we'll watch together okay?," I told her.
"Ok," she said, excitingly.
I stood back up and looked at Joe with a smile on my face.
"JoJo, go play in the backyard with the rest of your cousins and when it's time for everyone to eat, I'll call you, okay?"
"Ok." Then she went in the backyard and started playing around with other little boys and girls.
"Joe, she is the most adorable little girl I've ever met."
"Well, she does get it from me," he said, making me laugh.
"Well, I suppose she gets her cuteness from her daddy but she can pull it off a lot better than he can," I said, wrapping my arms around his waist.
"Well damn, that hurt," he replied, putting his hand over his heart pretending to be hurt and causing me to chuckle. Then he wrapped one of his arms in back of my neck and a smile formed on his face.
"I love doing that," he said.
"What?"
"Making you laugh. And I also love doing this." Then Joe leaned down and kissed my lips.
"Well, well, well, look whose home?," a deep voice said. Joe and I turned around and saw a older man and Joe looked just like him.
"Hey dad," Joe said, giving his father a hug.
"Hey son. How you doing?," his father asked.
"Lately I've been doing great exactly."
"I'm assuming it's because of this wonderful young lady right next to you. It's nice to meet you, Miss Knowles," he said.
"It's nice to meet you, too, Mr. Anoa'i," I replied, attempting to shake his hand. Then instead of shaking my hand, he pulled me into a hug.... a tight hug. The same result as last time.
"Call me Sika. Mr. Anoa'i makes me feel old and hugs only exist in this family," he said, with a smile.
"Ok, Sika."
"Did my son introduce you to the rest of the family?"
"Of course I did and everyone in this house knows who she is. Waste of introductions, dad," Joe told him. Sika and I laughed.
"Well, if you excuse me I got to get back on the grill before one of your cousins accidentally burn the chicken. I hope you enjoy yourself, Miss Knowles. There's food, drinks, laughter, and positivity in this house."
"Thank you, and please call me Beyoncé."
"It's nice to finally meet you, Beyoncé."
"You, too," I said, back. Then Sika left and went into the backyard. Then Trinity came.
"Hey, Joe, do you mind if I steal your woman for a second?," she asked. But before he can answer, she pulled me all the way to the kitchen. I looked back at Joe and he smiled, shook his head, and went to talk to the guys. As I looked into the kitchen, I saw Joe's mother, his sisters, along with Trinity of course and I was very nervous at this point.
"Come grab a seat, Beyoncé," Patricia said. I sat at one of the stools that was connected to the table in the middle of the kitchen.
"No need to be nervous we don't bite. We just want to get to know you, that's all," Summer said. I loosened up a little.
"Ok," I said, softly.
"So how old are you and where are you from?," Summer asked.
"I'm twenty-eight years old and I'm from Houston, Texas."
"How is it in Houston?"
"It's pretty peaceful actually and it's a great place to live and it's pretty hot in the summer, too."
"Great, we should go there and see what it's like."
"I'll take you down there one day and show you some wonderful places I went to as a teenager if you're interested."
"That sounds great," Patricia said.
"So, how did you meet Joe exactly?," Myritza asked.
"Well, I was texting my friend while I was walking to my car in a parking lot because she told me to meet her at a cafe and then I accidentally bumped into Joe and he caught me before I actually hit the floor," I told her. Then all the women began to awe. I blushed thinking about that moment.
"How long have you two been dating?," Patricia asked.
"Eight months now."
"Well he should've brought you here sooner. We've been dying to meet you and get to know you. I've been wondering why he was so happy lately. Every since Galina cheated on him, he hasn't been happy and he was afraid of finding love again. We want to thank you for coming into his life and making him happy."
"Actually, I can say the same for Joe. I was cheated on myself and for a year I've been focusing on my career and my family and trying to get over Jay. I was afraid to fall in love again. Every since I met Joe, I've been on Cloud 9 and I found myself falling for him everyday. He's sweet, cute, funny, and such a gentleman and makes me feel like I'm the hottest thing in the world. Whenever I'm with him I feel like a teenage girl all over again." All the women in the kitchen looked at me with approving eyes.
"No one has ever said such great things like that about Joseph, not even JoJo's mother. You really do love my son, do you?"
"In a heartbeat. He's the best thing that's ever happened to me," I said. Patricia, Trinity, and Joe's sisters smiled at me.
"Playing twenty-one questions with my woman, are we?" I turned around and Joe was leaning in the doorway of the kitchen with his arms crossed and had a smirk on his face.
"Relax Joey, we just want to get to know her," Vanessa said.
Then he came up behind me and gently put a arm around my neck while the other was around my waist, and placed a few kisses on my cheek. The girls awed at us.
"And last time I checked, no men are allowed in the kitchen since you, Matt, and dad think it's okay to steal bits of the food one by one every time we cook," Myritza said.
"I do not," Joe said back. Then all the women stopped what they were doing and looked at Joe as if he was crazy.
"Yes you do," they all said together, causing me to laugh.
"Oh so now it's gang up on Joseph day?"
"Yup."
"Listen, I'm the baby of this family and I deserve some respect." Trinity and Joe's sisters looked at him, scoffed, and laughed.
"Babe, help me out," he said.
"Joe, I know if any of the food that I cooked for the whole family were to come up missing, you will come up missing," I said, making all the women in the kitchen laugh. Joseph pretended to be hurt and gave me the puppy dog face. He's been doing that a lot lately whenever he didn't get his way and every time he did that, I would easily give in. I quickly looked away because I know if I were to keep looking into those gray eyes, I would easily give in again.
"Babe, I love you, but I'm not giving in this time," I told him. He tried a little harder by trying to make me look in his eyes and giving me sloppy wet kisses on my cheek and lips. As much as I wanted to give in, I couldn't.
"Babe, as much as I love your sloppy wet kisses, you're gonna have to stop."
"Is it working?," he asked.
"No," I said. Then he stopped kissing me and looked at me.
"Okay, well I'm going. I'm not gonna stay in a place where I'm not wanted. I'm hanging with the guys," he said, playfully hurt. As Joe was about to leave the kitchen, he attempted to sneak his finger in the food while nobody was looking until I smacked his hand away.
"Ow."
"Don't put your fingers in the food. We don't know where your hands have been," I said. Joe walked right back towards me.
"Well, we both know where my hands had been, baby girl," he said, kissing my neck and put his arms around my waist.
"You know what Joe, it's time for you to go bye bye," I told him, pushing him out of the kitchen. I closed the door and slowly looked back at the girls and they looked at me with shocking eyes. I was instantly embarrassed.
"Let me get this straight. You gave uce the milk and cookies and you didn't tell me?," Trinity asked. The women laughed. Well Trinity and I have been hanging out quite often since we met and we built a very close bond. I looked down embarrassed because my face was as red as a cherry. We continued having our jokes and laughs until I was starting to feel nauseous and that I was about to puke.
"Can anyone tell me where the bathroom is?," I asked.
"Yeah, upstairs four doors down on your left. Are you okay? You look like you don't feel well," Patricia asked.
"Yeah, I'm....." I felt something about to come up in my throat and I instantly bolted upstairs to the bathroom. As soon as I reached the bathroom, I closed the door and put the toilet seat up and puked. After I was done, I sat by the toilet out of breath and looked into it which was a big mistake because looking at my puke made me throw up again. I threw up my breakfast and it looked like I had corn and peanut butter together. Then there was a knock on the bathroom door.
"Beyoncé, are you okay?," Trinity asked.
"Yeah I'm f..." I began to puke again.
"Alright, I'm coming in," she stated. She opened the door and closed it behind her. Then I puked again and Trin held my hair back for me. I didn't puke again for at least five minutes. I flushed the toilet, put the toilet seat down, and sat on it.
"Okay, what's going on?," she asked. I hesitated but I realized I didn't want to break this close bond we built by not telling her anything and making her feel like she's not important. I sighed.
"I think I'm pregnant," I told her. Trin looked at me with wide eyes and a smile on her face.
"Oh my gosh, Bey, are you for real?"
"Well I don't know for sure because I haven't taken any pregnancy test yet. I bought a couple before I came to Florida and my period is a couple of days late."
"Why don't you take them now so you can be sure whether you're pregnant or not?"
"I'll give it one more day and take them tomorrow," I told her. Then she nodded her head.
"Ok and here" Trinity gave me some mouth wash. I gargled and spit it out in the sink. After doing all of that puking, my throat burned.
"So if you're pregnant, what are you gonna do?"
"I'd be happy and keep the baby but at the same time I'd be terrified," I told her.
"Why would you be scared?," Trinity asked.
"I'm scared that if I am pregnant, Joe might not want the baby," I admitted.
"Beyoncé, that's ridiculous. Joe would be shocked or surprised, but he would be ecstatic about the news."
"How do you know?"
"He has JoJo and he's a man that takes care of his responsibilities. If the tests confirm that you are pregnant, tell him." Trinity was right. He is a man that is all about his responsibilities and seeing how he was with his daughter earlier was a sign.
"You're right. I'll tell him as soon as I take the tests," I said.
"Good." Then there was a knock on the bathroom door.
"Baby girl?," Joe asked.
"Yes?."
"My mother told me that you looked like you weren't feeling well and you rushed up here to the bathroom. Are you okay?"
"Yeah." I opened the bathroom door and Joe came in.
"Thanks Trinity," he said.
"No problem," she said back. I mouthed "thank you" to Trinity and she winked at me. She left and went back downstairs.
"You sure you're okay?," he asked again.
"Yeah, it was probably something I ate," I told him.
"Okay. Well the food is ready, so let's go eat," he said.
"Ok." We left the bathroom and walked downstairs to the dinner table, with his tatted arm around my shoulder and kissed my head. Everybody was getting in their seats and JoJo sat between Joe and I. She's so adorable. The food was placed on the table and we all held hands while Sika said grace. After he said grace, we all said amen and dug in. The food was delicious and we all joked around and had laughs. The family was so welcoming and they made me feel like I was part of the family. Then the doorbell rung. Patricia was about to get up until I stopped her.
"I'll get it," I said, getting up from my seat.
"Are you sure?," she asked.
"Yeah, I don't mind," I told her.
"Thanks, hon."
"It's no problem," I said. Then I went to the door and opened it. I saw a woman with curly brown hair and blue eyes and she was beautiful. She was way more beautiful than me.
"May I help you?," I asked.
"I'm here to see my daughter," the woman said.
"May I ask who your daughter is?"
"Her name is Jo...."
"Baby, who is it?," Joe asked, coming towards the door. As soon as he saw who it was, his eyes went from calm to cold.
"Galina?"
"Joe?" I looked at him wide eyed. That's Galina? She's beautiful as hell.
"What the hell are you doing here?," he said, coldly.
"I came here to see JoJo," she said.
"You haven't made much of an effort to see her in a year. What changed?" I never seen him so angry before and seeing how angry he was proved that she broke his heart to the core. Then Sika and Patricia came.
"What's going on?," Patricia asked. Then they saw Galina at the door.
"What are you doing here, Galina?," Sika asked.
"I just came to see my daughter that's all." Joe scoffed and shook his head. He looked at me and his face softened.
"I'm sorry you had to see me like that," he said, looking down at the ground.
"It's okay, Joseph. I understand."
"Let's go back in the dining room and eat," he said, softly. He gently grabbed my hand and took me back into the dining room to eat.
"Who was it?," Matt asked.
"Nobody important," Joe said. Then Joe's siblings looked like they instantly knew who he was talking about and decided to let it go because they knew how angry he was. Patricia and Sika convinced Joe to let Galina stay as long as she doesn't cause any trouble. He still didn't like the idea of her being here with us but he gave in. Soon I was on my fourth plate of food and boy was I hungry. Joe was looking at me like I was crazy.
"Babe?"
"Hm?," I replied, fixing my fourth plate in the row and beginning to eat.
"I haven't seen you eat like that before. What's going on?," he asked.
"Nothing is going on. I'm just hungry. What being hungry is a crime now?," I asked, with an attitude.
"Of course not babe. But that's like your fourth plate today and I've never seen you eat like that before," he explained.
"I didn't eat all day," I lied.
"Ok."
After we all finished eating, everyone left except for Galina, Trinity, Jey and Jimmy, Matt, Summer, and Myritza. I gathered all the plates and decided to wash the dishes for Patricia.
"Oh Beyoncé, you don't need to do that," Patricia said, coming into the kitchen.
"I don't mind at all. You prepared a lovely dinner for everyone today. You should relax and get off your feet. It's the least I can do," I told her.
"Are you sure?," she asked.
"Yeah, I don't mind."
"I really appreciate it. I'm gonna have someone help clean up the kitchen." Then Trinity, Summer, and Myritza came into the kitchen and helped clean up while I did the dishes. Soon I was finishing the last set of dishes until I heard another set of footsteps coming into the kitchen but didn't bother to look at who it was.
"So I guess you're with my leftovers huh?," Galina said. I looked over to my right and Galina was right by me.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"Galina if you're gonna start trouble, you should leave," Summer said.
"No it's okay, Summer. I got this," I said.
"You're talking about him being your leftovers. He left you. You got too comfortable in your relationship with him that you thought it was okay to cheat on him. You're not here for JoJo, you're using that baby as an excuse to get Joe back in your arms and we all know that won't happen sweetie. Listen I don't want any problems with you, okay? I love Joseph and what you and him had was in the past. He'll always have love for you because you're the mother of his child and I'll always respect that no matter what. But what I won't tolerate, is the disrespect coming from you because I'm his woman. Don't take advantage of being that baby's mother just to get something that you can't have, Galina. It's not cute and it's not a good look." She looked at me with wide eyes and didn't dare to say anything else to me. I finished the last the dish, turned off the faucet, dried my hands, and walked out of the kitchen.
Later on, Joe and I were playing with JoJo. We all had a tea party in her room and boy she loves her tea party. Galina tried reconnecting with JoJo by playing with her. It was so awkward when Galina tried playing with JoJo. JoJo didn't even want to play with her mother but she wanted to have a tea party with me and Joe and then watch a movie with us. I guess JoJo was so used to not having her mother around. As I looked at Galina's face, she seemed a little hurt. I wanted to feel some type of sympathy for her but I couldn't because she hasn't really made an effort to see her own daughter in a year. But what could Joe do about it? He wasn't gonna make her do what she didn't want to do. Soon all three of us went downstairs in the living room and JoJo started picking out movies.
"Ok JoJo what movie do you want to watch?," I asked.
"Let's watch Cinderella," she said.
"You like Cinderella?," I asked.
"Yeah, do you like Cinderella, too?"
"Yeah. Cinderella is my favorite," I told her. Then she had a bright smile on her face. It was great to see her smile because that beautiful smile can light up this whole house. I put the movie in and JoJo and I sat on the couch with a blanket covering us. Then Joe joined us. I laid on Joe with my back towards him and JoJo laid her head on my stomach while I had my arms around her. We watched the movie and half way through the movie, she started to fall asleep.
"Joe?," I whispered.
"Hm?"
"JoJo's asleep."
"I'll get her," he said.
"No, it's alright. I got her," I told him. I slowly got up and picked her up. As I was carrying JoJo, I felt someone staring at me. I looked to my right and saw Galina staring at me with so much jealousy. Joe noticed and told her to leave. It's sad how she didn't even kiss her sleeping daughter goodbye. She didn't even fight to stay with her or anything. She just... left. After she left, he lead me upstairs to her room. I put JoJo in her bed and tucked her in. Then I saw a little night light on the wall and turned it on for her. Joe came into the room and kissed her forehead and whispered good night.
"Sweet dreams, JoJo," I whispered. As we were about to walk out of the room, JoJo called me.
"Beyoncé?," JoJo said, softly.
"Yes, baby girl," I said.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, love." I kissed her forehead and walked out the room. Joe came out after me, closing the door behind him.
"She really likes you," he said.
"Really?"
"Yeah. She doesn't really open up to new people when she meets them, but with you, she opened up pretty quickly."
"Yeah." Then he paused and looked at me.
"How did you get her to come out of that shell of hers?," he asked.
"I have a nephew, Joe and I'm really good with kids," I told him.
"Well that explains why my daughter likes you so much and your nephew is a lucky kid to have a lovely aunt like you."
"It's vice versa for me. I'm lucky to have a great nephew. JoJo reminds me of him. You'll meet him one day."
"Well, I can't wait," he said.
"Me too."
"Let's go home, I'm pretty drained from today," he said, putting an arm around my shoulder. We both walked downstairs and saw Patricia and Sika in the living room.
"Well I guess I'll see you guys later," Joe said.
"It was great seeing you son," Sika said, hugging Joe.
"You too, dad."
Then Joe hugged his mother and said goodbye while I hugged his father. After I hugged Sika, I hugged Patricia.
"It was great meeting you, sweetheart. You're welcome to come here anytime, okay?," she said, hugging me.
"It was great meeting you, too and I definitely will," I told her. We grabbed our jackets off the rack, said our final goodbyes and walked out of the house. As Joe and I got to the car, he opened the passenger side door for me.
"Milady," he said, with a English accent.
"Well, thank you," I said, smiling.
"You're welcome," he said back. Then he closed the door, went over to the drivers side, got in, started the car and we drove off.
"I had such a great time with your family, Joe. They're very nice."
"I told you everything would be okay, didn't I?"
"Yup," I muttered.
"Wait, what was that? I can't hear you." I rolled my eyes and smiled.
"Yes Joseph," I said, loudly.
"Nope, it's yes daddy," he said, causing me to laugh.
"Nah you good," I told him. He looked at me with wide eyes causing me to laugh.
"Wait till we get to the house," he said.
"Ooo I'm so scared."
"Ok, you think I'm playing. When we get to the house, there will be serious consequences."
"Whatever you say, Joseph." We were almost at the house and I had to think of a plan. Fast! I looked down and I saw the house keys right by Joe. I figured when we pulled up to the house I would just take them, rush out of the car, open the door and get myself inside. Soon we were outside of the house. Joe looked at me with a playful evil smirk and I smiled innocently.
"You know what time it is," he said. Then I took the house keys, rushed out of the car and ran to the house. As I was running, I heard footsteps trailing behind me. I quickly opened the front door and ran upstairs to Joe's room. I heard his footsteps get closer. I looked back and saw that Joe was right on my tail. Soon I felt a pair of strong arms around me and Joe and I gently fell on the bed. He got on top of me tickling my underarms and my stomach causing me to laugh my ass off.
"Say yes daddy." I decided not to say anything and deal with the torture. A couple minutes later, I couldn't deal with the tickling any longer. I was laughing too hard and I couldn't breathe.
"Say it," he said, still tickling me.
"Ok, ok. Yes daddy." Joe stopped tickling me. The result of him tickling me for a couple minutes had me breathing hard. He got off of me and laid next to me.
"I don't like you," I said.
"You love me."
"Yeah, sadly you're right," I said, sitting up and pecking Joe's lips.
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," I told him. As soon as I got up from the bed, Joe pulled me back down.
"Joseph, I gotta go to the bathroom."
"Give me another kiss and I'll let you go." I gave him a sweet, passionate kiss on his lips and I soon felt his arm loosen from my waist. I grabbed the two pregnancy tests out of my purse without Joe noticing and went to the bathroom. I can't wait anymore. I really need to know if I'm pregnant or not so doing it now would be best to get this out of the way. I read the directions and took the tests out of the box. Then I pulled my pants and underwear down, sat on the toilet, and peed on the the pregnancy tests. I placed them on the sink and waited for a couple of minutes. I peeked over at the tests and saw plus signs forming on them. I looked at the directions one more time and it said: - is negative, + is positive.
I'm pregnant!