The Present,
Things with Anthony and Jhenea had been rough for the past month and a half. Anthony was under the impression that this pregnancy was going to be just like the last, where Jhen always wanted him around, but he was completely wrong.
Jhenea grew agitated just by seeing him around the condo. She felt clustered and closed in and with so much things going on at once, all she wanted was some alone time with herself.
That was never going to happen.
The couple had finally closed on a house so they were in the process of moving. At this point, Jhenea didn't give a damn about what was going on with the move. She was just letting Anthony handle it all. She knew if she even attempted to have conversation with him longer than she wanted to, she would grow annoyed with him.
For the most part all she really did was stay in bed, eat ice cream, and throw up. When she first found out she was pregnant for a second time, she was happy and thought it would be smooth sailing, she was completely wrong. This time around, it seemed like she was going through more hell with this one than she had gone through with Artist. Nothing stayed down, she was never comfortable, she always felt the need to sleep even when she didn't want to, and she couldn't stand being around any one. She knew her frustrations with the pregnancy was being directed towards the wrong people once she yelled at Artist for not eating all of his food after she dragged herself out of bed despite how she was feeling, and cooked.
Seeing his face contort into a frown then hearing him cry ultimately made her feel bad. Since that day, Jhenea tried her best to limit her interactions with everyone.
Now at the middle of her fourth month of pregnancy Jhenea has lost all hope that things with herself would go back to normal once she reached her second trimester. Everything was still the same.
There was a light knock on the door of the bedroom which made Jhenea let out a groan. Jut thrifty minutes ago, she had to kick Anthony out, so she was hoping that it wasn't him. "Who is it?!" Jhenea called out.
"Your favorite, I come in peace," Jhenea heard Payton's voice from the other side of the door.
Jhenea sighed as she debated mentally, whether or not she wanted Payton to keep her company. "Come in," She finally decided.
Her back was facing the door, but she heard the door open up them close a few seconds after. "Um, Mrs.Taylor, this room is a mess," Payton looked around mocking how Jhenea would advise her to clean her room.
Jhenea let out a little laugh. "Quit it, I feel to sick to laugh," She muttered out.
Payton found her way to the bed and laid right next to Jhenea. "Still feel like poop?" She raised a brow.
Jhenea nodded her head. "I feel worse actually,"
Payton laughed. "Yeah, Uncle Lamont told me how you told him to shut up today, after he told you good morning,"
Jhenea chuckled with a roll of her eyes. Lamont was another one of the people she didn't mean to be rude and bitter towards, she just couldn't help it. "Why are you in here, aren't you on your stay away from Jhen streak?"
Payton nodded. "I definitely am. But, my mom and dad are in the front room talking about my behavior over the past few weeks and I don't want to hear any of it. So I just thought, why not come into the only room in here that they can't follow me?" Since Beylan and Anthony had decided to split their time with Payton equally, they had been discussing how bad she had gotten. Beylan was sold on it just being a teenage phase, while Anthony wanted to whip the attitude out of Payton.
Payton honest didn't want to hear what consequences they had in place for her, so she first resorted to plugging her headphones in, but got her phone taken away once again by Beylan. Her last resort was coming into the room with Jhenea and it seemed to work.
"Your attitude has been really stinky lately," Jhenea shames Payton.
Payton scoffed. "Have you smelled yours as of lately?" She asked Jhenea resulting in both of them laughing.
"I have an excuse," Jhenea responded while placing her hand on her now small rounded stomach. "What's yours?"
"You want me to be honest?" Payton sighed out as she rotated from her back, to her side so she could face Jhenea.
Jhenea realized that Payton had gotten serious, so she nodded her head, ready to talk things out. "Not to sound selfish or anything, but I'm starting to feel overlooked. My dad has all this stuff going on, then so does my mom, and I'm just stuck in the middle. I thought once my dad came back home they were going to embrace our relationship a bit better, but they didn't. They still treats me like eight your old Payton who's okay with anything that they decide and who's okay with not having a say in my life,"
Payton wasn't trying to discredit her parents, because she felt like they did a damn good job raising her. Since they were incredibly young when they had her, she knew they had done they best they could. However, sometimes she wished that there could be a little bit more effort, on both parts. They were so invested in living their lives separate from each other, not realizing that sometimes Payton wanted to spend time with them both at the same time.
Since she could remember, the longest conversation her parents held were always ten minutes long and always comprised of how she was doing. Fourteen, going on fifteen, Payton understood the whole coparenting thing, but it was just so draining. All she wanted was there to be a sense of comfort and normality between them both. Everything felt so structured and censored. If she was at her mom's for the week, then she couldn't mention her father, and if she was at her dad's for the week, then she couldn't mention her mother. They were making their differences with each other more obvious then they thought.
Jhenea took in a deep breath. She and Payton had deep talks before, but this one was different. Jhenea usually took the backseat when it came to how Beylan and Anthony chose to raise Payton. She wasn't her child, so her input wouldn't amount to anything. It always saddened Jhenea when Payton came to confide in her about things that she couldn't get through to her parents.
"Why don't you sit both of them down and tell them this Pay?" Jhenea suggested.
Payton rolled her eyes at the though of getting her parents into a room long enough to hear her tell them what had been bothering her. "How about you try and tell me how it goes?" She chuckled.
Jhenea let out a sigh. She was about to respond, but another knock sounded off on the door. "Who is it?" Both Payton and Jhenea called out.
"It's me," They both rolled their eyes at the sound of Anthony. "Payso, Beylan heading out, she's waiting on you," He informed her.
Payton sat up and slowly got out of the bed. "Welp, that's my cue. Catch you next week grumpy," She leaned down and hugged Jhenea.
"Bye, and still try talking to them both,"
"Got it," With that, Payton exited the room leaving Jhenea alone.
A few moments later, Jhenea felt her phone vibrate beside her. Opening it up, she realized it was a text from Anthony.
Mase
— Can I come in??
Received 2:12 PM
Jhenea rolled her eyes before responding to the text.
— For?
Delivered 2:13 PM
Mase
— I miss you
Received 2:13 PM
— Come in.
Delivered 2:14 PM
Not a second later, she heard the door open up then close. She heard Anthony's footsteps from behind her. He went around the bed and laid down on the side he use to consider his side before Jhenea started being so snappy and irritable. "So, hows it going?" He smiles at her placing a hand on her stomach.
"Anthony if you came in her to be annoying, then leave," Jhenea murmured out as she brushed his cold hand off of her stomach.
"I haven't even done anything," Anthony gasped dramatically.
Jhenea couldn't help but let out a light laugh. "Yes you have. You come in her asking dumb questions. You know how it's going. If it it was going good, I wouldn't be sitting on my lazy ass all day," She complained. One thing Jhenea couldn't get accustomed to was how easily she would become tired. So far, this pregnancy was beating her bad.
"C'mon get up," Anthony stood up with his hand out so he could assist her up from the bed.
Jhenea groaned. "No, I want to just lay here," She whined.
"You won't feel better if you just lay there, mama," He urges her to get up.
With a pout, Jhenea slowly eased her way up. She was dressed in a pair of biker shorts and a sports bra. Her hair went untamed and was mostly matted on the areas she laid on the most. The radiance in her skin became dull since she never went out of the house. She looked—miserable.
Holding both of her hands, Anthony pulled her close into a hug. "Mase, what are we doing?" She found no purpose in getting up just to sway back and forth.
Anthony looked down at her. "You use to like doing this when you were pregnant with Artist," He refreshed her memory. "You called it dancing with no music," He chuckled.
The fact that he still remembered that caused Jhenea's heart to flutter. She had been mean all month long, not realizing that he had only been trying. He took care of the household, kept the kids at bay, and was taking care of the moving situation, all the while making sure Lamont had been getting the right amount of therapy. Anthony had a lot on his plate and Jhenea was beginning to feel bad.
The two swayed from side to side enjoying each other's company. Anthony honestly thought he would have gotten kicked out by now, but she seemed to finally be enjoying his presence. "I'm sorry," Jhenea cried out. She had now buried her head right into Anthony's chest and he felt her tears seep through his shirt.
"I'm a complete mess. I just feel so tired and so horrible. I'm physically drained. I don't mean to be rude, I just don't want everyone seeing me at my worst," She confessed in full blown tears.
Anthony ran his hand up and down her back, comforting her. "It's okay mama, you're my wife. I gotta accept you at your worst to enjoy you at your best. Plus you carrying my child. At this point, you can't do no wrong right now. Right now you all sensitive and vulnerable so I understand. No worries J," He assured her. It seemed as if her cries grew harder once he said that to her. Anthony had done a complete 360 over the past couple of months and Jhenea was beginning to feel like she hadn't done any growing at all.
"You still love me?"She asked just for reassurance.
Anthony chuckled. "Always will, never stopped,"
Jhenea tilted her head up and puckered her lips for a kiss. Anthony craned down and met her for a subtle kiss. It had been a while and this kiss confirmed that things were going to get better.
Jhenea cried for a couple more minutes. She felt flustered from not being able to feel like herself, she was just letting it out now. After a while, Anthony was able to dry her tears.
"You know you turn 26 tomorrow right," Anthony reminded Jhenea.
It had completely slipped her mind that her birthday was tomorrow. She had been so invested in the pregnancy that things like such were beginning to pass her by. "I forgot," She mumbled on the verge of tears again.
Jhenea was super sensitive.
"Don't cry J, it's normal to forget a birthday every once in a while," Anthony chuckled trying his best to shine light on the situation. He knew if he said nothing, it'll make her feel bad about herself and he would be back at square one with her.
Jhenea shook her head. "No it's not," She groaned out.
"Yes it is, you're pregnant J," He assured her. "But I got a surprise for you,"
"What is it now?" She asked.
Taking her hand, Anthony led Jhenea out of the room. She shuffled behind him closely before they got to the living room. Practically everything had been moved out so the only things that filled the room was the couch which would be getting moved tomorrow. "Surprise!" Jhenea looked up to see Xander, Aven, Jai, Morgan, Artist, Lamont, Dieon, and Carson.
Immediately Jhenea began with the waterworks. She felt so loved. "This damn girl is always crying," Dieon laughed with a shake of her head. After years of working for Anthony and Jhenea, Dieon was sure that Jhenea cried 75 percent of the time. The other 25 percent was filled with her rolling her eyes—a bad habit or her's.
"I'm pregnant, what do you expect?" Jhenea laughed through a few of her tears.
Jhenea went down the line hugging everyone and thanking them for coming. Xander flew all the way down from LA just for her and Jhenea thought it was the sweetest thing. "We got the pregnant woman gifts," Morgan announced as she held her gift bag up.
"We was supposed to bring gifts?" Carson looked around absentmindedly. He barely even wanted to be in the same room as Lamont, but he put his differences aside for Jhenea and Anthony. He knew he wouldn't have been able to do this with Ashton so for that purpose, Anthony decided to let Ashton sit this one out.
Dieon sighed. "I got us," She held up her gift bag that was now from him and her.
"Awe you guys didn't have too," Jhenea pouted.
"Girl shut up and take the gifts," Aven chuckled as he handed her his gift.
Anthony appointed Jhenea a seat so she could start opening the gifts up. Since Artist was so antsy about his gift being the best, Jhenea opened his up first. "Awe, from Daddy and Tizz," She read the card before opening up the gift.
"Thank you for being the best mommy ever. You make life fun. Love Bug," Jhenea felt her tears at the brim of her eyes as she closed the card that Artist made for her.
Reaching down she sat Artist on her lap. "Thank you for making me your mommy," She kissed his cheek.
Artist smiled widely, accepting his mother's gratitude. Setting the card down, Jhenea went straight into the gift. Opening it up, she awed at the tennis bracelet that was placed perfectly in the box. "Bug got money," Jai clapped jokingly.
Artist shook his head. "No, my daddy does," He cleared up any confusion.
Dieon could attest to that. Her eyes widened as she nodded her head in a agreement. "That he does. A whole lot of it. I wouldn't be his lawyer if he didn't," She egged on causing the adults to laugh.
As time went on, Jhenea went through each and every one of the gifts that were gifted to her. She appreciated each and every one of them, they even made her cry a little bit.
The ladies stole her away to enjoy some time together since they hadn't been around each other for a while. It felt great to just catch up. "So you want a boy or a girl this time around?" Morgan asked. Lately, she began realizing how awful of a friend she had been to Jhenea who had done nothing but remain by her side through it all. She was trying her best to redeem herself and catch up on her best-friend duties as much as possible.
"Honestly, I thought I would want a girl, but I actually want a boy again," Jhenea responded with a shrug. "Artist is like the best ever so if I have another boy it'll be like a repeat of him and I honestly wouldn't mind that,"
"Girl you just want him to be a mama's boy," Dieon wave her off in a joking manner.
Jhenea nodded. "That too," She shamelessly admitted. "How are things with you and Carson," Jhenea grinned while leaning her head over onto Dieon's shoulder. As much as Dieon tried to be a hardass, she knew she was growing to love this crazy-extended ass family she now found herself apart of.
They were shameless, hilarious, and loyal and that's all she really needed.
Keeping up with her tough act, Dieon rolled her eyes at Jhenea an the rest of the ladies who were gushing at the thought of Carson and Dieon. "Don't try to flip this on me honey, we're here for you," Dieon reminded Jhenea.
Jhenea pouted. "I know, but we wanna be nosey," She spoke on the behalf of Jai, and Morgan.
Dieon let out a low groan at all the sappiness that filled the circle of women. "We're in a relationship and I like-like him," Dieon muttered, trying to keep it as short and vague as possible.
"You love him," Jai threw out there causing the three of them to give Dieon the side eye.
Dieon rolled her eyes before finishing off her drink. "See I'm about to go hang with the dumbasses, I'm sure they aren't talking about love," Dieon threatened causing the ladies to quickly stop their teasing and taunting fest.
On the other side of the condo, the men took the balcony as their own allowing them to smoke without hearing the ladies complain. Xander and Aven were the odd ball out since they weren't participating in the smoking, but they could deal with it.
The tension was pretty thick with Carson and Lamont being in the same space. Both men were trying their best to act like the other wasn't even present which made it even more awkward. "I can honestly say, these past few years been the craziest years of my life," Lamont chuckled.
The men all agreed with a nod—even Carson. "Nigga can't walk no more," Lamont shrugged. "But fuck it,"
"I'm in a relationship and got a daughter," Carson sighed. This was something he never imagined for himself.
Aven chuckled. "Hell—I'm still here," Aven said almost as if he didn't believe it himself.
"I'm a father and a fiancé" Xander added something that summed up his crazy ass couple of years.
"I'm having another kid," Anthony shook his head as it finally began to set in that he was now the father of four, it was almost surreal.
"Oh we expected it from your hot dick ass," Lamont poked fun at Anthony causing the rest of the men to laugh.
Anthony shrugged. "I mean yeah, but I ain't expect four so damn early," Anthony always wanted a big family, bigger than the one his father had; with three sons, a daughter, and a wife. It felt almost unrealistic that he now wanted to live the normal life his father craved while he was still around. Anthony use to always wonder why his father wanted to leave the street life when it came with so much power, wealth, and materialistic shit. However once Anthony got a taste of the simplistic, normal life, he understood why. It gave him a piece of mind and kept him happier.
"I like it though,"
Two Months Later, Present
"I want the art station here, then the bounce house over there, goody bag station right beside it," Jhenea walked through the backyard of their newly purchased home telling the event planner exactly how she wanted things to be for Artist's birthday.
The young girl by the name of Brianna nodded her head as she noted down everything Jhenea was listing out. "Don't mind my wife, she's a perfectionist," Anthony chuckled while wrapping his arms around Jhenea's waist.
"No, it's completely fine, I understand that she wants everything to go as planned," Brianna smiles.
Jhenea laughed while brushing Anthony's arms from around her waist so she could comfortably cup her hand underneath her rounded stomach. "Thank you, he doesn't get it,"
"Now that I have all the specifics, everything will be set for tomorrow, just how you want it," She assured.
"Thank you," Both Anthony and Jhenea said in unison.
After sharing a few more added details, they both walked Brianna out.
"I am not a damn perfectionist," Jhenea playfully mugged him.
Anthony scoffed. "You just gave this lady hell about the placement of a damn bouncy house,"
Carelessly, Jhenea shrugged. "My baby doesn't care about a damn bounce house, the first thing that's going to catch his attention is the basketball hoop. That'll be pretty stupid to put the bounce house in front of that," She explained.
Anthony smirked down at her. "I get it," He leaned in for a kiss. She granted him the kiss before they both took a seat on the couch.
"You talk to that baby mother of yours?" Jhenea rolled her eyes at the reference of Blessing.
It was like pulling teeth to even get Blessing to have a conversation with him so she knew Blessing was giving him hell. Jhenea tried her best to stay out of the mix, but she couldn't help but to notice how many times her name was brought up by Blessing whenever she was speaking to Anthony. It was always, "Jhenea this, Jhenea that," or "Your wife this, your wife that,"
For Junior to be the common denominator for them, Blessing sure loved to discuss people and things that didn't concern her. "Man I swear, somebody need to push her stupid ass down a flight of stairs," Anthony mumbled. Anthony was beginning to feel like Blessing had it out for him. She knew that no matter how horribly she treated Anthony, as Junior's father he could never take legal action against her. No matter what he pleaded with the courts thy would always side with her because she was a good mother and Anthony had a lengthy and violent wrap sheet.
Anthony didn't want to get things settled through the courts anyways because that would only strain Junior more. Right now, he was just dealing.
"She's being that bad?" Jhenea raised a brow.
"A pain in the fucking ass," Anthony groaned. "I eventually convinced her to let Junior come tomorrow though," After multiple arguments and agreeing to a shitload of rules, Anthony was able to get Blessing to cave on letting Junior attend Artist's birthday party. She claimed that he wouldn't be able to stay long, but Anthony already had plans to ignore Blessing's phone calls.
"I don't want her knowing where we stay Anthony,"Jhenea rolled her eyes. She didn't trust Blessing as far as she could throw her. Any woman who could be the grimey when it came to a child seeing their father was just manipulative and horrible.
Anthony sighed. It was stressful trying to keep both mothers of his children happy, along with his wife. Beylan wasn't much of a headache beside her never disciplining Payton; but Blessing was just hell. "Mamas, that was one of the conditions, she gotta know where he's at, at all times," He rolled his eyes.
"Her life must revolve around making ours difficult," Jhenea mumbled in agitation.
Anthony nodded, agreeing with Jhenea. "Misery loves company,"
The next day, the time seemed to pass by much quicker. The start of Artist's family came with an influx of family and friends, even Anyul who was all the way in L.A, showed up.
"We did good," Anthony praises himself and Jhenea at the turn out of Artist's birthday party. They were able to fit a little bit of everything in their spacious backyard. They got everything Artist requested, from the basket ball hoops all over, to the insane snack table he was hell bent on having. Looking over the entire party, they watched as Artist enjoyed himself with a few kids.
"Duh, this parenting stuff is light weight," She arrogantly dusted her shoulders off causing Anthony to laugh.
Anthony shook his head finding her amusing. "You a clown,"
"A cute clown," She corrected him before standing before him and doing various of different poses.
"Ight' Jhen, I see you," He amped her up. She was in better spirits and he was trying to keep it that way.
Jhenea flipped her hair over her shoulder and shot Anthony a smile. "What's poking baby?" She asked.
"I mean, you killing them with a little stomach action," He teased.
Jhenea nodded. "You know that's just the usual mommy duties. That's slight, that's slight," She continued to joke. "What else poking?" She asked before turning around.
"Yo ass getting fat, it's most def poking" He continued to hype her.
"Oh this one?" She raised a brow pointing at her rear before dropping it as low as she could go.
By then Anthony fell out into laughter. He was sure people were giving him odd stares but he didn't care. Jhenea was back to being herself and he couldn't be happier or more grateful. "Alright chill out before you pull something," He joked.
"This baby don't stop anything, Jhen is still out here popping," Jhenea advises him.
Anthony playfully side eyed her. "You wanna be the cool parent so bad," He shames her with a shake of his head.
Jhenea waved him off. "You're hating because I am the cool parent,"
Before Anthony could respond to her childishness, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Extracting it, he let out a sigh once he noticed it was Blessing. "Whose calling us?" Jhenea asked as she tippy toed to look over his shoulder.
"Your best friend," Anthony laughed before showing her it was Blessing.
Jhenea mugged him before walking off so she could give Anthony the privacy he needed to talk with Blessing.
"Hello," Anthony answered.
Blessing didn't bother to greet him, like always. "We're outside," She stated before hanging up.
Anthony took in a deep breath. "Lord, gimme the strength,"
Anthony approaches Jhenea who managed to end up having a full blown conversation with one of the moms from Artist's little league basketball team. Anthony politely cut in before telling her that Blessing was out front. Jhenea excuses herself from the conversation and together they went to the door.
"Behave," Anthony warned her.
Jhenea rolled her eyes before opening the door with a polite smile. "Hey, thanks for coming," Jhenea played cool even though she wanted to smack her.
Blessing was already not in the mood to bring Junior in the first place, but seeing Jhenea open up the door with her stomach poking through her shirt annoyed the shit out of her. "Wow, it's like deja vu," Blessing muttered.
Anthony stood awkwardly behind Jhenea hoping and praying whatever she was about to say next wouldn't cause Blessing to fly off the handle. "Yeah, but this time you're more familiar with who I am and know better than to try me on some—" Anthony quickly intervenes by taking a hold of Jhenea's waist and gently putting her behind him.
"Come here man, how was your last game?" Anthony poured the attention on Junior as he pulled him into an embrace. Anthony knew all about Junior's last game since they talked about it over FaceTime, but that was the only distracted he could think of to have the ladies realize it was a bigger picture to all of this.
"We lost but, scored a touch down," Junior gave a brief run down.
"Good job," Jhenea congratulated him as she initiated a high five.
Blessing rolled her eyes. She didn't like Jhenea at all, and she hated how she had to act like she had no problem with her for the sake of her son. "I'll pick him up tomorrow," She told Anthony as she handed over Junior's bag.
"Tomorrow?" Anthony asked. Although he wasn't aware he would be having Junior overnight, he took the bag anyway since he knew it had to be a miracle to have Blessing agree for Junior to spend the night.
Blessing rolled her eyes at his question. "You heard what I said. Take it or leave it," She shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly.
Anthony took in a deep breath. " See you tomorrow Blessing," He agrees to having Junior overnight.
He said goodbye to his mother before Jhenea quickly shut the door right in Blessing's face.
"I can not stand that girl," Jhenea murmured out low enough just so she and Anthony could hear.
"Me either baby, me either,"