"Come on mom! I see her head! it's time to push.."
"Ma, where's Deandre?" Mariah cried as she held on to the bed. She was trying to hold the baby in so he wouldn't miss the birth. She knew how excited he was to become a father but lately his career was his number one priority. "Ma he promised!"
"Mariah she coming baby, you gotta focus on yourself right now. It's just about you and baby Zein." Her mom said as she stood on the right side of her. Her father was on the left with a video camera.
"You got this baby girl. Let us meet our granddaughter already." Mariah knew she could always count on her family when she needed somebody to be there but she wanted to feel that way about Deandre. He promised from the beginning that music wouldn't get in the way of his private life but now his traveling was causing more problems than ever.
Mariah laid back as her parents held her hands and started pushing. Her daughter Zein Russell Webber was born seconds later. Mariah was overcome with so much emotion as the doctors laid Zein on her chest. "She's here ma, she's finally here."
Mariah found out she was pregnant just as Deandre's rap career started to take off. Four months before the pregnancy test came back positive, Deandre received a big advance from Quality Entertainment that came with a signed contract. Deandre had been rapping since he was 16 years old. Mariah always supported his dream. It was the moment they had been waiting for. That night, Deandre took her out to celebrate and he proposed. They were only 19 at the time but Deandre knew he wanted Mariah forever. And he wanted her to stay with him through his journey. And he knew the only way to show her a real commitment was to make her an honest woman. Later in the night Deandre's cousin Kelly invited them out the club. Mariah ended up going home with her sister after a few hours there and Deandre stayed with his boys to party some more.
On the way home, Deandre and his boys ran into some old classmates who didn't like them. There was a shooting and three of Deandre's friends died. Deandre would never forget that day. And the city wouldn't either. When things started to go left his cousin jumped on him, shielding him from the bullets that came in from the side of the Truck. They were just out. Partying at the club. And when it was time to go, Stevie - one of Deandre' best friends from his childhood days wanted to stop for some cigarillos. They were laughing together and making memories. Deandre and Kelly were even rapping together. Randy - the oldest out of the group recorded the whole thing. He graduated two classes above them but he hung around the basketball court that was Deandre's second love. They had been friends for years.
To them it was just a night out with the group. None of them saw what happened at the gas station coming. Deandre was heartbroken after seeing people he loved get shot to death. He knew how much Kelly supported his career so he understood why he jumped to cover him. But, sometimes he felt guilty about being the only one to survive. They were just having a good time before some good for nothing dudes started hating.
After that night, Deandre started rapping about his lost boys. And it touched a lot of hearts. And that really set him on the map. He already had one record label giving him a deal and now he had tons trying to talk him out of it. His fan based grew and he was getting booked for more shows. Mariah was happy for his success but she wanted him to slow down.
With the success, The arguments started. They would yell at each other over the phone after not speaking for a few days.. The tension started to grow and they just exploded. Deandre argued that this was what he "had to do." He had to make their deaths mean something.
"She's so small." Her father, Maxwell smiled as he looked down on his new granddaughter. It was a few hours after the birth and Deandre finally made it back to California. Him and Mariah spoke on the phone after she gave birth while the nurses had baby Zein. He apologized and promised he would be there soon. He knew Mariah was disappointed so he had his cousin bring some flowers and balloons to the hospital.
His manager booked his a gig last minute and the money was good so he went. Mariah was worried about it so they spent a few hours arguing on the phone as Deandre rode on the plane there. Mariah was at home crying when her water broke early the next morning. Her parents were the first ones she called.
"I told you he would miss the birth." Maxwell whispered to his wife, Vena. She looked back to make sure Mariah was still sleeping before saying, "Stay out their business old man."
Maxwell scoffed quietly, "He never puts-" He stopped talking when he heard knocking on the door. Deandre came in along with a nurse. Maxwell wasn't impressed with the gifts and balloons in his hand. "He should've been here." Deandre walked over to Mariah and kissed her forehead. "Hey mamas" He touched her hair and Mariah smiled "You're here" She sat up and they hugged briefly. Mariah started to tear up.
"Congratulations mamas."
"She's prefect baby."
"Just like her mama.." They kissed briefly. The nurse checked her vitals and shoud the grandparents out the room so they could have privacy with their new baby.
Mariah watched as Deandre held the baby. She could tell he was happy. But she couldn't help but think about him missing the birth. "You never said why you were late.."
"You really want to talk about this now?"
She gave him a look, "You said you were going to be here hours ago.."
"The show ran later than I expected so I had a late morning. And the guys had trouble getting all the equipment together on the plane but I'm sorry mamas. I should've called. I just didn't want you to worry."
"You know my dad has a lot to say when you fuck up.."
"I don't care about none of that Mariah. He can say whatever he wants about me, I take care of my family. I make sure you don't want for nothing, so if you gonna use that don't even start cus I don't want to hear it."
"You missed the birth Andre! You're giving him something to talk about. My mom was holding my hand and it should've been you right there by my side getting me what I needed." They had an agreement that after 36 weeks, Deandre would take a break and come home. But their daughter Zein was born at 38 weeks. So he broke his promise to her.
"I'm here now, can we just not fight and enjoy this moment?" Mariah got quiet. She figured she needed to take the apology he gave and drop the situation. Zein was here now and she was healthy.
"So how was it really?" Her sister Micheala asked sitting down on the edge of the bed. Michaela and Mariah were close to the same age. They were always the best of friends growing up. Michaela was bigger than Mariah so Vena sewed her clothes down a size for Mariah to fit. Michaela was held back in the second grade and started taking classes with Mariah. Being the oldest, Michaela had to be a fighter. Mariah loved to follow her sister so she had a mouth on her too.
"It felt like the most painful period cramp ever for like three minutes then nothing for a while. Then five minutes later boom boom three more minutes of pain over and over again it sucked! But once I started pushing it wasn't that bad she came right out."
"She's so beautiful.. omg and she's so skinny."
Mariah looked over and smiled, "But they said she's healthy and I'm glad. I didn't want them to take her from me." Mariah was always scared that she didn't do everything right because she didn't know she was pregnant for the first four months.
"You did it sis."
"You should see andre, he's obsessed with her. I bet the nurses are so sick of him asking questions." Now that Mariah was no longer pregnant Deandre made arrangements to have his schedule cleared so he could be a hands on dad. He wanted to give Mariah a break. And He was ready to do his part. They didn't plan to have baby Zein but ever since Mariah told him she was pregnant, the idea of being a father brought him so much joy. He always wanted to have a daughter because he didn't have any sisters. He knew he would be her first protector. Her first love, and he was determined to do everything right. It hurt him deeply when he missed the birth so he promised Zein he wouldn't miss another first.
"I bet your glad she's out now.." Michaela walked over to Zein's crib and got a good look at her niece.
"Oddly I'm ready to get back to classes." Mariah was two and a half years finished with school when she first found out she was pregnant. She had just stopped working part time to focus full time on school. So when the stick appeared with two red lines, She felt like everything was happening in the wrong order. But that didn't stop her from getting up and going to do the work.
"Girl you need to rest!"
"I need to just get my degree so I can find a place to work at, I have to find clients. I can't have people coming in my house now and I have to go back to finish all my hours and credits." She would've been finished but when her hands started swelling when she was pregnant, Mariah decided to take a break. Mariah had been doing nails from her house for years. After high school, she and Deandre shared a condo. She would go to work and sometimes do nails while he was out passing around his mixtapes. All she had was a small kitchen table, a rolling chair and her supplies. So when they moved into their first home, Deandre turned one of the rooms into a nail studio work area so she could practice and be comfortable. From the start, they always had each others back.
"Just don't rush back into things.. you need some time to heal."
To pay for studio time, they both got jobs after high school. Mariah worked part time as an front desk hotel attendant and Deandre was a dish washer. Deandre decided to get off the streets when he saw all his best friends go off to college. He wasn't really a school nerd so he knew he didn't want further his education. He didn't have the nerve to sit in another classroom for four years. Basketball was fun but he didn't have a future in it. And rapping, was his heart, it made his the most happy to write. She always knew he would be a big and famous rapper so she wanted to keep herself busy so she wouldn't need to depend on him. That way, she could carry her weight in the relationship. And Deandre always believed in Mariah's skills and he was going to do everything possible to give her whatever she needed.
Mariah knew her sister was right but to her she only needed a week or two to rest. She couldn't wait to get back to nails once the swelling in her fingers went down.
Days Later..
Mariah, Deandre and Baby girl Zein spent the next four days in the hospital. At the time of Mariah's release, the nurse wheeled her out with Deandre following behind them with the car seat. He had his manager pull the car around. Mariah was shocked to see her push gift was a brand new all white suv. And she was even more impressed with the fact Deandre pulled it off without her finding out about it.
When they got to their 3 bedroom 2 bath home outside the city, Deandre walked Mariah straight up to the bedroom. Mariah wanted to stay close to her parents so Deandre made sure to find them a new place where she wanted. He gave her 50,000 dollars to make all the decorative decisions she wanted. He didn't care if she wanted pink carpet or gold everywhere, he trusted her judgment. The only room he furnished was for her nail room. Mariah wasn't an over the top girl, she constantly worried about her future and wasn't about spending too much. She was very humble and her mom always taught her save for another day. She spent 30 thousand on the decor and small renovations she wanted. The rest she put into a life insurance policy. Mariah wanted Zein to be set up just in case something happened to her or her dad.
Deandre got Zein settled and walked her to Mariah. He wanted her to be a close to her mom as possible. They needed to bond. He caught an attitude when he saw Mariah typing away on her laptop. "You're supposed to be resting."
"I'm just letting my teachers know I had baby girl."
"Can you just stop and hold your daughter for a second?" He snapped on her. Mariah held up her finger and continued to type. Deandre sighed and sat down on his side of the baby.
He waited for her to finish and tried not to get irritated with her. He just wanted her to be happy and healthy. Her being so passionate was one of the things he fell in love with when they first met. Whenever Mariah started something, she had to finish it. And he couldn't get in the way of what she was passionate about. Even if he thought she was going about it the wrong way.
"Okay give me my baby girl." Mariah was excited to finally get home. Deandre was hogging her at the hospital and she slept the whole time.
"Look at what we made." Deandre put his hand on top of hers and kissed her forehead. "Thank you."
"I lo-"
"Where's my grand baby!?" Vena knocked on the bedroom door and interrupted their moment. Deandre then realized he didn't set the house alarm after his manager left.
"We gotta get that key back." Mariah said laughing as Deandre walked over to open the door.
"Awe she's so precious." Vena snatched the baby from Mariah's arms and walked out the room. Mariah gave her mom a key so she could feel welcomed to come over whenever she wanted. And sometimes Vena didn't have good timing. Mariah was happy that her mom wanted to be so involved with the baby but Deandre wanted to show he could do it on his own. He knew how his father in law felt about him and he believed Maxwell kept track of the time Vena spent over there. Maxwell never said anything to Deandre directly but he still heard all the things he said about him. But it was her mom, he couldn't tell her to go home.
"I brought you some wedding magazines. Maybe you could look through these and in six weeks we can go visit some stores." They always planned on getting married on their 5th year anniversary but Mariah didn't want to get married while pregnant. She wanted to enjoy her reception. They got their marriage license after the accident but never had a ceremony or reception. Since Deandre had just gone through a near death experience he wanted to marry Mariah as soon as possible. They went to the courthouse with his lawyer and they sealed the deal almost immediately after he got out the hospital.
Mariah didn't talk much about planning the ceremony because she was always working to perfect her craft. And Deandre was voiding talking about his depression. And although they were already married, he wanted to give her a fairytale moment.
"I was considering going back to school next week. So I can-"
"Mariah-" They were both cutting each other off. "No just let me talk, I only have have a few weeks before my final exam."
"I understand that but I took time off to be home with you too. I thought you would be resting you know giving yourself time to heal. We talked about this Mariah, why would you wait til now to tell me you have plans to go straight back?"
"You haven't been home for us to discuss it! You were him for four days out of the two weeks you had promised and we were getting all the baby's medical care taken care of."
"So you don't think it's important to stop for a second and breathe?"
"I will Dre but I just have to finish this okay? Just this one thing." Deandre shook his head and stood up to walk out the door. "Where are you going?"
"Just to get some water." He took a deep breath and turned back to her, "You need anything?" She shook her head no and he nodded. He didn't want to argue with her mom in the house. She was going to do what she wanted to do and he couldn't blame her.