Naya
After the appointment Heather sported a grin all over her face she made sure to keep the envelope secured and out of harm's way and within seconds of knowing she had already started planning my gender reveal. I didn't mind though her ideas weren't bad and she always asked me before she wrote them down. I didn't ask her to plan it but if she wanted to take time out of her day to do it then so be it who was I to go and stop her.
When we pulled into the driveway O and I stayed in the car as his mom jumped out. "Y'all not coming in?" She asked seeing that we made no effort to move "Nah we'll be back in an hour or so gotta go do something real quick" O told his mom not telling her where we were going.
"Okay be careful" she waved us goodbye, we didn't leave the driveway until we saw that she was safely inside with the door closed behind her.
"I will do all the talking" O looked over placing a hand on my thigh "Okay" I mumbled not arguing with him, he was making the right decision on deciding to be the one that talked after everything our doctor told us I wasn't going to complain.
When Dr.Burke came back into the room she let me know that my blood pressure had been high. At first, when she said it I didn't really think much of it but after explaining what it might mean I began to silently freak out. Apparently, I now might be a risk for preeclampsia which causes high blood pressure and injury to my brain or liver failure and that this was probably why I was always Nauseous. If my urine sample came back with protein in it then I was going to have to start coming in for weekly checks instead of every month. She said it wasn't uncommon for women in their first pregnancies but that didn't make me feel any better she also said if I do have it and it gets worse then my baby could die or be born prematurely that put everyone on edge real quick.
She said she would call me and if anything and tell me to come in and that if it is preeclampsia that I should continue to take my prenatal vitamins daily, eat less salt, more protein and more water. Of course, Odell wrote all of this down even asking questions on if there was a cure and where to go from here. I mean yeah I was scared but at the same time, I didn't know for sure if I had it so I couldn't freak out just yet.
"Hopefully he's not home" I say nervous about Marcel being there if he was then there was no point in even trying Nattie would tell us to leave. "I don't think he is I checked his IG story and he was in Florida last it showed" Odell had made sure he wasn't there to create more of a mess, I nodded taking a deep breath my nerves were kicking in.
When we pulled into the driveway the only car we saw was Natties Benz which confirmed what O had said. "Here" he held his hand out for me to hold helping me get out of the car.
"That gets harder every time" I say hopping down from the Rover. "Yeah I gotta get a different car... a more pregnant friendly one" He thought out loud to himself closing the door behind me.
We made our way to the door O knocking with all his might so that it was heard throughout the house "Okay hulk don't be breaking down her door now" I joked shaking my head "oh my bad"
I heard her footsteps before I saw her when she opened the door she had an unsure smile on her face surprised to see us or better yet me. "Hey guys" she was hesitant so she didn't open the door fully.
"Hey sorry for the pop up we just wanted to stop by and talk to you real quick" I say not wanting her to feel bombarded. "Okay" she moves back for a minute letting us through the door, the house felt foreign to me as if it was the first time I was walking into it. The place felt lonely and quiet and empty.
"Who's with Mally?" She questioned noticing her son wasn't with us "my mom" O answered taking a seat on the couch not mentioning that Ben was also there too and the two were inseparable. She nodded her head taking a seat on the couch across from us "soo what do you want to say" she crossed her arms leaning back into the chair.
"We found out the sex of the baby today" I say not wanting to jump right into the subject "really is it a girl?" She leaned forward now intrigued "no clue only my mom knows she's planning the reveal" O says bringing a frown to her face which she quickly covered up with a fake smile.
"Nice she must be so excited" she smiled I knew she was hurt seeing as though I had told her before that if anything she was the one that would plan my shower and gender reveal.
"So what is the real reason y'all are here" she eyed us, I opened my mouth to speak but then remembered Odell said to let him do the speaking.
"We are worried about you and Jamal" he watched for her reaction.
"Why ar-" she tried to speak
"I know those bruises didn't just come out of nowhere and I'm sorry if you think we're meddling I just couldn't sit around and fathom the fact that he-" O tried to explain only for him to be cut off.
"Guys I can handle my own when have you ever known me to take shit from someone" she tried to play it off not denying it anymore.
"Nattie you shouldn't even have to deal with this" I spoke up "he put his hands on you When has that ever been acceptable in a relationship" I argued
"I'm handling it" She sprung up from the chair arms crossed "how huh? How are you handling it" I couldn't sit quietly anymore. It was taking everything in me to not get up go over to her and knock some sense into her life.
"You think letting him do what he wants to you will make him forgive you for cheating Nattie? Because it's not it hasn't if anything his demeanor has been horrible it's like he turned into a monster" I went to get up but was held back down by Odell who shot me a look I know I promised to be quiet but I just felt so much about this how would I look sitting back and letting my sister ruin her life or better yet my nephews.
"I'm not letting him do what he wants I was just trying to get us back to what we were" she argued "and how has that been working huh?" I shot her way frustrated that she wasn't seeing what we were.
"I kicked him out for a few days while I try to figure everything out" she revealed running a hand through her hair. "I didn't expect him to do that it was a simple argument... I didn't think he would..." memories of what happened ran through her mind, O got up and hugged her as a tear fell out. It was hard seeing her like this Nattie rarely cried it had to be something emotionally draining or important for her to let out a tear.
"All I said was I didn't want to move and all of a sudden he starts accusing me of shit and one thing led to another" I hated him, I truly despised Marcel so much. She began sobbing in O's arms I sat there staring on in complete disbelief that this was my sister, she looked like someone so fragile and weak, not the strong independent woman I knew her to be.
"You can't keep living like this Nattie" I said wiping a tear that had fallen from my eye. "I know I just keep thinking I don't wanna end up like mom and dad" she stressed I nodded understanding her. Our parents were dysfunctional as hell my mother drove my father away and him being naive and young moved away without his kids, my mother fell in with the wrong lifestyle and began to abandon us that's when our dad stepped up. In no way shape or form did I think Nattie would ever be like our mother she was way too involved in Jamal's life for that to ever happen.
"That will never happen, Nattie look you've gotten farther in life than she ever has you have your whole life planned out and with dreams and plans that you're willing to go after daddy never did that" I say finally getting up off the chair to go and hug her.
"Come sit" I motioned her over to the couch where we both sat down holding onto each other's hand. "I don't know where to start" she confessed I know her whole life was planned around having a perfect family. "First things first we're going to the station and reporting that son of a bitch" A frustrated Odell spoke up slowly walking back and forth around the room.
"Please tell me you took pictures of your bruises" he stopped to ask we both looked at my sister hopeful "yeah" she nodded "the minute he left I went and took pictures that's the one smart thing I managed to do" she says sighing O nodded rubbing his beard I could tell he was thinking.
"I don't want you here, I don't want you to be anywhere where he has accessibility to you" truthfully I was terrified he would come back after her or Jamal. "I can go stay by dad's until I figure everything out" she suggested frowning once she realized she would have to tell my dad exactly why she would all of a sudden begin staying with him.
I would have suggested she stayed by us but the house was full at the moment and Odell's friends were always over so I didn't know if she would be comfortable or not. From looking at her I could tell she was contemplating if she actually wanted to go through with it all.
"Jamal can stay with us" O suggested looking hopeful for an answer I looked over at him surprised that he even wanted to go along with that.
"I can't you guys I can take care of my son" she argued feeling offended as if we had accused her of something. "We know that what O is trying to say is that you're going through a lot and while you get everything situated we would love to have Jamal" I tried to reason
"You can come over to see him or take him whenever you please" I added in looking at her for a reaction.
"You're pregnant and you have training" she pointed at us "It's my offseason I don't mind taking him to school in the morning before training" Odell took a seat in front of her.
"And I don't mind picking him up" the more we talked about the plan the more I actually wanted Jamal to stay with us. Sending her child to a different home wasn't something she was sold on and who would be but for right now I do think that it's a good option. Nattie looks like she could barely take care of herself and I don't need Mally seeing her like this at all.
"Okay" she gave in a tear slipping out and falling down her face. While Odell and Natalia spoke about taking action and going to the police I called my dad while packing up some of Mallys things to take back.
When I agreed to come over here and talk I didn't actually think this is how the conversation would play out. When Odell told me about the bruises part of me wanted to not believe it after all this was Marcel we were speaking off I've known him for over 10 years he's never shown any signs but after looking back at his recent outbreaks and how hurt he was everything made sense, I'm just mad it had to happen to my sister.
******
A week later.
It's been approximately a week since my doctors appointment the day we found out the sex. Since our talk with Nattie Jamal has been staying with us while his mother lived with my dad. At first, he didn't really think much about it, he only started questioning things when he noticed Odell was now the one waking him up to get ready for school. I knew he wanted to ask so many questions on what was going but decided against it.
Yesterday Odell finally took Nattie to the police station to file a report, Marcel wasn't back yet from Florida but the minute he was back in New York he would find out there was a warrant for his arrest.
Everyone was on edge we didn't know what he would do once he found out Nattie had left or better yet he was in trouble. I personally felt safer seeing that my dad and Odell lived in gated communities so if he tried to come by he wouldn't be let in.
On a bright side, Miss heather let us know she would be staying with us until late December they were going to spend Christmas with us and maybe invite a couple of members of the family I still haven't met yet. I was grateful for that seeing that I had someone to keep me company so I wasn't fully surrounded by all boys.
I, on the other hand, have been keeping myself busy by getting everything ready for the holiday party that we were going to have next week. I couldn't wait that's where all of our friends were going to find out I was pregnant also it was getting close to Christmas so I was excited to be playing games and eating cookies with no nagging from Odell.
I was still unsure if Nattie would attend or not though, the invite was there it was just a matter of would she be comfortable coexisting with Ben because let's be honest he wasn't going to be uninvited. As much as it sounds bad Ben has actually been a huge help to me recently and I know for a fact he feels bad about what happened between him and Nattie that being said I know he won't have an issue coexisting with her.
Also, I know Nattie was going through a lot so maybe being surrounded by people who are happy and care about you would help. Either way, I was leaving it all up to her if she wanted to come then I would be happy and make sure everything was good for her, if she didn't want to attend then I would also understand I wasn't going to be upset. Although I would love for her to be able to coexist I wasn't going to force it, Nattie was a grown woman and if she decided to never speak to Ben again I was going to have to respect that even if I didn't agree.
**********
Do you guys think Nattie will ever come around to speaking to Ben?
Where Marcel really at?
Why I've been M.I.A:
Y'all!!! The shit I don been through these past couples of months oh my lord! Basically, the day I was supposed to post that's on me, I got news my mom fell sick so from there I haven't really been in the right mindset. She's still not fully okay (don't think she ever will be) but that's just something I've put into God's hands and all I can do is pray. But basically i guess her being sick triggered a lot of my past shit for me so I've also started going to Counseling and that's actually helped quite a bit my therapist is cool af she's made me realize a lot of things about myself and about my family that needs to be acknowledged. Moral of the story is lol I have a free and peaceful mindset and I'm learning to stay positive and only speaking positive things into my life!
But other than all that I'm good and I'm back y'all!! Lmaoo and I know since I left for a grip ima post two more chapters. I hope I haven't lost y'all and I promise to communicate more so you guys aren't left in the dust feeling like I turned to a ghost.