" Babe, will you check the oven for me," I yelled out to my husband as I shut the door on the half bath between our living room and kitchen. I intently listened as I heard Zach's heavy footsteps padding down the hardwood floors in the hall. Once I was sure he was in the kitchen, I crept out slowly holding my phone up to record him.
" Elise, why is there a honey bun in the oven." I covered my mouth to stifle the laugh that was trying to escape my lips. " El!" he yelled. " I don't know what's up with this crazy ass girl" he mumbled as he rounded the corner and ran right into me.
" Who are you calling crazy and why are you yelling" I fake pouted.
" Baby, would you care to explain why there is a honey bun in the oven?"
I gave him a bright smile in return and just replied, " Because you put it in there."
He scoffed and rolled his eyes, " El, stop acting crazy, why would I put a fully wrapped honey bun in the damn oven?"
I shrugged in response. " All I know is, YOU put a honeybun in MY oven."A look of confusion turned smirk, turned smile slowly crept on his face. " Oh shit, YOU have a bun in the oven" he slapped his forehead then lifted me off my feet. " My baby is having my baby!", He screamed while twirling me around. I was pretty sure that if he didn't put me back on my feet in the next few seconds, he was going to be decorated with the contents of my lunch from earlier. As the spinning came to a halt, I looked up in his eyes. Joy, love, and lust, were swirling behind the tears on the brim of his eyelids. His hands then slid from under my ass, up my thighs, past my waist, and up to my jawbone. He slowly brought my face to his for a sensual kiss. After giving him a soft peck, I felt his tongue swipe at my bottom lip, causing my lips to part and grant him access. He immediately deepened the kiss. I almost gave in until I jumped back realizing that I never turned the camera on my phone off.
" Babe, my Facebook live is still up, and our mamas are on there," I slapped my forehead in frustration. I pulled the phone up, and he immediately began speaking into the camera. This clown was dancing and singing R.Kelly "Having A Baby." I doubled over laughing because he was singing the girl part and all. I followed him to the couch and set down beside him as he continued to respond to comments. I just stared at my husband in awe. Joy was exuding from his pores. I know they say pregnant women glowed, but in this case, I think it was him who was glowing.
" Wait, Mama wants to know how far along are you." His voice snapped me out of the daydream, and I replied: " 9 weeks I think, but we will confirm it at the appointment on next Wednesday." He seemed to be in deep thought and then a smirk crossed his face. I looked at him skeptically and then questioned the look he was giving, " Why do you have the Stevie J face on right now?"
"It's nothing baby, I was reminiscing about the time that brought us to this moment," he replied while looking off to the side as if he were in that exact time and space. I looked at the comments and saw where Zach' brother, Jayme commented; He trapped you, sis. I laughed heartily.
" I believe you brother," I said looking at Zach out the corner of my eye. He just shrugged his shoulders, and my mouth dropped. " Anywho, now that we have celebrated with you wonderful people publicly, it's time we celebrate with each other privately," I said suggestively while winking my eye. " And yes mamas, we will be to see you both this weekend. Bye now." I ended the live, closed the app and sat my phone on the armrest. Once finished. I looked over to my husband lustfully.
Zach reached over and grabbed my right hand and pulled me up so that my right leg came over his waist and I was straddling his lap. He nuzzled his head into my neck and mumbled how happy he was and how much he loved me. The vibrations of the baritone in his voice sent shivers through me as I used my thumbs to massage the base of his neck. He slowly pulled his head back with arms still wrapped around my waist.I smiled widely at him, and my next thought slipped from lips before my brain could process it, " When should we tell the kids?".
Zach's head sunk into the back of the love seat and his arms that wrapped around my waist were now stretched out on the back of the short couch.Zachery has two kids by his high school sweetheart, Jhene, his son Zykese, is eight, and his daughter Zakiaya, is five going on six. They are indeed bright spots in our life, however their mother not so much. She is convinced that I broke up her family and brainwashed Zach into not going to the NFL with the promise that my wealthy family would take care of us. The notion was rather hilarious.
I met Zach three years after baby girl was born and from my understanding, they went their separate ways before she was even born. When I first met Zach, he was adamant that football was something that he was using to pay for school and he had no interest in taking it further, and as far as my wealthy family is concerned, my mama was a single mother of two and worked as an accountant in the Mayor's office. She wasn't necessarily broke, but she wasn't rich either. In addition to that, Zach made twice my salary working at the local water board so how she developed that hypothesis was beyond me.
Zach finally lifted his head from the back of the couch, " El, baby; I don't think the timing is right, we should wait awhile and enjoy your pregnancy before we spread the news."
I rolled my eyes, " But we just shared it all over facebook, don't you think they would rather them hear it from us than someone else."
" No, you just shared it all over facebook, you could have just recorded it and posted it at a later date," he said nonchalantly.
I furrowed my eyebrows, tilted my head to the side and reached across him grab the phone. I logged into my facebook app and deleted the video. I threw my phone onto the ottoman and stood to my feet with my hands on my hips. " Problem solved. Anybody that wasn't there for the initial live just won't see it. They'll figure it out when I start to show. You don't have to worry about your precious Jhene finding out or the kids. Everybody gets what they want... except me" I mumbled the last part as I turned on my heels heading for the kitchen because I felt myself getting overheated. I knew that if I got too mad, my word vomit would make the situation worse.
I took a long deep breath as I heard Zach's heavy footsteps padding to the kitchen, " Yo El, you got me fucked up. You know I don't give a damn about what Jhene feels and why the hell would you delete that video, that's something I would like to keep. My concern is my kids and how they would feel." I watched his chest heave up and down as he finished his rant.
I looked at him with a blank expression for a moment then it turned into a smirk. " You know what I find funny, Zakiya asked me when you and I were going to give her a baby brother or sister when I picked her up from after-care on Tuesday. I was shocked, and I asked her what made her consider that. She told me that I was a great mommy to her, but we needed another baby because she wasn't going to be a baby for long because she was getting ready to turn six. So excuse the hell out of me, if I find it hard to believe that this is about the kids". At this point, my blood was boiling, and I was beginning to feel dizzy. Zach just sat there speechless looking perplexed as fuck.
I reached up in the cabinet for a glass, rinsed it out in the sink, and got some crushed ice and water from the refrigerator dispenser. Zach's goofy ass was standing on the other side of the counter with his palms pressed into the smooth granite with his head down. " This is not about Jhene, Elise," he spoke pausing after each word.
I dramatically rolled my eyes before I replied, " The kids are fine, hell they would move in if you let them. They don't have a problem, you do, and instead of just stating the real problem you're giving me bullshit. I'm not about to let y'all stress me out. Y'all did enough of that after the engagement. I refuse to walk on eggshells or handle her like she's fragile when the bitch throws up the fact that she has your children in my face every chance she gets. But even still, it always... El ignore her, she's bitter, she's mad, blah, blah blah... I'm sick of it". Everything that I had been feeling and holding in was starting to boil over. I knew I needed to step away.
" El, I'm sorry I made you feel that way, like you were not important or that Jhene's feelings trumped yours. I want this pregnancy to be a beautiful and peaceful experience for you with no drama. I know how Jhene can be and I don't want you to have to deal with that" he shook his head as he expressed himself empathetically.
On the other hand, I was unmoved by his expression. I shifted my weight to my other leg and placed my hands on the countertop as well as I looked him straight in the eyes, " You know why Jhene behaves like that because you never put her in her place. I'm not saying be disrespectful, just be firm and assertive. You ask everyone, including your mother to ignore her, instead of putting your foot down and demanding her respect. My summation of it all is, you don't want your first baby mama to be mad but fuck it, you and her." And with that, I turned on heels and left the room.
If I felt he genuinely wanted to wait for the kid's sake, then I would have been more understanding, but both Zykese and Zakiya have been asking for a sibling since we got married so I knew they would be over the moon. The only rationale to me was he was sparing Jhene, whom I gave zero fucks about.
See this is what I was talking about when I said no one mentioned the bullshit in between. No one told me about the dramatics that came along with the happily ever after. Hell at this point, I was questioning it existence. I guess that why those stories we reserved for fairytales and movies, not Elise's life.