Georgia
I sat there looking at the woman that has hated me since I was 14 years old.
She looked at my sister, "she is so pretty," she whispered, and my sister smiled.
"Yeah, she is," she whispered back, which made me chuckle.
Grams looked so different; the last time I saw her, she told me that I would never make it as a doctor and that the best thing I was good for was laying on my back and making babies. That was the last day I was in Georgia before heading to South Carolina; I wanted to get as far away from this place as possible. When I got my acceptance letter, she ripped it up and told me I wasn't going to leave when my far couldn't go anywhere.
"Are you a friend of Donald's" grams said to me. I look at Summer, confused.
"Yes, Gram, she is a friend of Donald," she said and gave me a look.
"Oh good! Can you tell him that I want to see him? He hasn't been in to see me since I been here," she said, and I shook my head.
"That's because he is in jail... For killing my mom," I snapped, and she looked even more confused than ever.
"What is she talking about, Denise!?" she said, looking at my sister. She became agitated and started to panic; I stood up and moved back because she started yelling.
"DONALD?!? Donald?!? Why is she lying to you?" She began to scream. Stop lying!?! I told Donald not to get involved with you?!? You're a liar, Rachel," she yelled at me.
Summer stood up as the nurses walked into the room; she moved over to the side with Langston and me as the nurses gave her something that calmed her down.
She began to calm down and soon drifted off; I a hook my head. I walked out of the room, and Summer grabbed my arm.
"Why would you say that to her?!" she yelled at me, and I scoffed.
"Because it's true, just because she crazy as hell doesn't mean I'm going to sugarcoat shit. Why did she call you Denise?" I asked, and Summer shook her head, coming to sit beside me.
"Because she is confusing us with our mothers; at first, she remembered who I was, but as time passed, she began calling me Denise. When I used to bring Lizzie, she called her Georgia; so she remembers certain things, but it's all jumbled up in her head," she said; I looked over at her, and she was crying.
She and grams were always close, so I know this is killing her. I placed my hand in hers, and she smiled, leaning against me.
Langston came out of the room and came towards us, "So they gave her some meds, and they said she will be knocked out for a few hours and said we can come back," he said.
"Im going to stay here with grams; you guys go ahead." Summer said, getting up and walking away from us.
Langston turned towards me and smiled, "How bout we go to get something to eat?" he said, and I shrugged.
"Im not hungry..." I said quietly, but as soon as I said it, my stomach made an awful growling sound, and I held it.
Langston chuckled and held out his hand; "Come on; we will come back," he said as I grabbed his hand, leading me outside.
Monique
Justin rolled me out of the hospital, and I began to feel a wave of emotions come over me; I didn't want to leave Sean here by himself.
I told Justin that, but he told me that I needed to go home and get some real rest. I haven't been able to sleep since I had Sean; every time I see him in that little incubator, it makes my heart break into a million pieces.
He is a fighter; every day, he gets stronger and stronger, and the doctors say they are confident in his progress, but that still doesn't make me feel better. I will feel better when he is at home with me.
Justin opened the door, and Alecie popped out of the car; she had a massive smile, and I stood up from the wheelchair and embraced her. I began to sob uncontrollably, which shocked me because I had been holding it in so well.
"Im here for you, baby girl; Sean is going to be ok. im going to stay here with him while you go home and get some rest. My nephew is in good hands, trust me," she said as I pulled away, and she wiped my tears.
"Thank You, B," I said, and she shrugged, "It's my job; now go home and get some rest. I love you," she said and hugged me one more time before departing to the hospital. Justin helped me into the car, and once he returned the wheelchair, we got into the car himself.
We drove quietly to the house, which was fine with me because I think we were both lost in our thoughts about the baby. When we pulled up to the house, Justin came around the side and helped me out of the car.
He lifted me off my feet and carried me into the house; I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes. This didn't feel right coming home without my baby; once we got to the door, he put me down and unlocked the door.
I walked in, and the house felt different, like we were missing something; "I got a surprise for you," Justin said from my side.
I looked at him, and he grabbed my hand, leading me up the stairs; we walked into the nursery, and my jaw dropped.
"When did you have time to do this?" I said, and Justin chuckled.
"This was all Alecie; once I did the base coat, she did the rest," he said, looking around the room at the room.
"Do you like it?" he said, and I went to touch the bear in the crib. I held it to my chest and nodded, "I love it... now it is just waiting on Sean's arrival," I said.
Chris
I was lying in my bedroom; the sheets still smelled like Alecie, and I miss her so much it hurts being here without her.
My phone rang, and I picked it up without looking at the caller ID, "Hello?" I said.
"Hello, is this Christopher Brown?" a voice said on the phone; I sat up.
"Yes, this is he"
"Hi, my name is Judy Garland from Mercy Coroner's Office. I am calling to inform you that Gabrielle Fisher has passed away; she was in a car accident this afternoon. You were listed as an emergency contact in the paperwork she filled out with the doctor; we need you to come to identify the body..."
Julian
I looked at the pictures in my hand one more time before looking up at the playground.
He looked like my sister when she was that age; he was playing with some other kids, and he looked so happy.
Someone came over and sat next to me; I looked up and saw a woman in her late 30s; she was wearing a police uniform.
"Hello, you must be Julian; Richard told me about you. " she said, and I nodded, shaking her hand; "Melissa... and my wife is over there with Ethan," she said, pointing to the woman who was giving Ethan and his friends something to drink.
I looked at him again, and I couldn't take my eyes off him; "is he happy" I said, not breaking eye contact.
"Yes, he is the most active and happiest little boy I've ever met. He has a bad little attitude when he doesn't get his way sometimes," she said, making me chuckle.
"He gets that from his mother," I said, which caused her to chuckle.
"Listen, im not sure how you found us; we asked for a private adoption, but since you are a friend of Richard, I allowed this meeting to take place, but I want you to know that my wife and I have been trying to have a baby through IVF for a long time, but it wasn't working for us. When we adopted Ethan, I had never seen her happier than she is right now. Please don't take that away from her," she stated; I finally looked at her.
"im not trying to take him away from you guys. He looks so happy; I can't pull him away from another family. It will crush him; I know now may not be the best time, but I want to meet him. You don't have to tell him who I am, but I would at least like to be a part of his life," I said, and she smiled, standing up and patting my shoulder.
"I wouldn't want to keep him away from his father, but I want to ensure that we are clear. Janet and I are his parents... I don't want to confuse him. At least until he is old enough to understand what is going on, then maybe we can explain who you are," she said, and I nodded.
"Mama!" Ethan yelled as he ran over to Melissa; Janet walked behind him, and she came over to me and hugged me.
"Thank you; you have given me one of the biggest blessings in my life," she whispered and pulled away.
"Ethan, this is mom and mama's friend Julian. He wanted to come to play with us today. Is that ok?" Melissa asked, and I looked at the boy, and he smiled a broad smile that showed his missing front teeth.
"YES! you wanna play on the slides?" he said, and I nodded; he grabbed my hand, and I looked down at it.
"Come on!" he yelled, leading me to the park; I looked behind me and mouthed the words. 'Thank you as I walked to the park and played for hours with my son.
Langston
Georgia and I sat at the restaurant in silence as we looked at the menu.
"Hello, what can I start you off with to drink?" the waitress said. I looked up at her, and she smiled before popping her gum and fixing her hair.
"ill take a water," I said before looking back at my menu; old Langston would have been all over that, but I haven't been feeling it lately. Georgia has all my attention, and she has for the past few months.
Georgia looked up, and her face dropped; "Well, Well, Well, if it isn't Georgie," she said mockingly.
"Shaniya, fancy seeing you here.." she said sarcastically and crossed her arms over her body.
"Yeah, I could say the same about you. The last time I saw you was when you gave that valedictorian speech and called the entire senior class losers," she said, and Georgia chuckled.
"Yeah, well y, all made my life a living hell the entire four years I was there," she said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Well, could you blame us? Your father killing your mother was the talk of the town for months," she said.
Georgia stood up and got into her face, "Shaniya, I will knock you the fuck out as I did in 9th grade. Get the fuck out of my face," she stated, and the girl chuckled.
"Oh, Georgie; what happened to us? At one point, we were best friends," she said, and Georgia rolled her eyes.
"No, the fuck we weren't! You pretended to be my friend, and when I told you something in confidence, it got around the entire school and made my life a living hell. For what so you can seem more popular than you were?" she said.
Shaniya laughed, "Oh Georgie; there you go making stuff up again. By the way, tell you, uncle, I said hi," she said sinisterly and walked away; Georgia reached out to grab her, but I pulled her away before she could.
She snatched away from me and grabbed her purse; she began walking out the door, and I followed.
"Georgia! don't let that two-dollar hoe get to you. she is a nobody," I said, and Georgia turned around and looked at me.
"This was a waste of time, Langston. I should have never come here; my grams will never apologize to me because she doesn't even remember who I am. Everyone knows about what my uncle did to me, so there is nowhere for me to go here! For the past few days, I've been walking on eggshells because I don't want what just happened there to happen. I've spent YEARS of my life running away from this place and the terrible things that have happened to me here. I don't have any fight left in me, Langston. " she said, sobbing into my chest.
"G, you are the strongest, smartest, genuine human being that I know. What happened to you was fucked up but guess what; you overcame it, and you are doing better than anybody in this town, you know why?" I asked, and she shrugged.
"Because you overcome your situation. You did not let what happened to you define the way you walk this earth. So everyone knows what happened; they weren't there, so they can't tell your story. Plus, people who care about you don't care what your past looks like; they care about your future. As for you, grandma, you are right; you may never get that apology that you want from her but guess what-" I grabbed her face and made her look at me.
"It won't help; my mom apologized to me for what she did, but when it was said and done, I still didn't feel whole. An apology didn't help me move forward with my life; my family, friends, and daughter helped me move on. But one person, in particular, helps me see that this life is worth a lot more than what happened to me in the past," I said, and she looked into my eyes.
I leaned down and kissed her on the lips; this kiss felt different from our previous kisses. This made my heart jump and my feet feel like they could cave underneath me at any moment. I didn't want it to end; it felt like my heart would jump out of my chest.
When I pulled away, her eyes were still closed, indicating that she felt the same spark I had; she opened her eyes, and I smiled.
"You may never get the exact closure that you needed, but I think you should at least spend as much time with your grandmother as possible because once she is gone, you will regret it. You will have to move on from this pain, and I will help you every step of the way.... if you will have me," I said, and she smiled back at me.
"Okay, im willing to try..."
Alecie
*Next Day*
I woke up to a pain in my back and a bright ass sun on my face; I looked over at Sean and smiled.
I walked over to him and applied some sanitizer to my hands before reaching into the box he was being held in.
They said it would be best if he stayed in the box for at least three more weeks; I know it's killing Mo not to be able to hold him.
I placed my finger in his hand, and he gripped it tighter, which caused me to smile.
"I can't wait till we have our baby," someone said, and I looked up to see Chris.
"What are you doing here?" I said in a hushed yell; I pushed him out of the room, and we stood in the hallway.
"Chris, look if you came here to talk about our relationship, I haven't decided about the divorce, but I know we need to be separated. I need time to think about this whole blended family thing, and I can't do that with-"
"She's dead, B; my baby is gone," he said, cutting me off, and for the first time, I looked at him; his eyes were red and puffy like he had been crying.
"Chris- im-im so sorry," I said, bringing him into a hug. He placed his head on my shoulder, and I felt the dampness of his tears; he wrapped his arms around me, and I held him as he cried. I said I wasn't ready for a joint family, but I never wanted this to happen; Chris will make a great father no matter who the baby's mother is, and I know this is crushing him.
We pulled away, and I placed my hand on his cheek; "What happened?"
"She died from a car accident yesterday; I had to go identify the body. She didn't tell her parent about the baby, so she listed me as an emergency contact when she filled out paperwork for the hospital. They gave me remains for my baby B; how am I supposed to bury my child B." he said with tears rolling down his face.
I wiped his tears and pulled him into another hug, "Don't worry... I got you.."