You Think You Know...But (pt. 26)

He was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.  He was perfect as all babies are, but Tia reasoned that her baby had to be the most beautiful baby on the planet and she had a room full of people there who agreed with her.  She was shocked to see it but everyone from her old salon had paid her a visit to gush  over her new pride and joy.  Monique had even paid her a visit along with Velle and Robin and because it was such a joyous occasion, she hadn't told her to get the hell out of her room, like she had wanted to.  Vanessa had been there the entire night and even though she had missed the delivery, Tia had not been alone during the miracle of birth.  It had been a long night and now that the nurse’s had assured her that the baby would be well taken care of in the nursery, Tia was ready to finally get some sleep.  Vanessa cleared her room of everyone but one guest who refused to leave, but she didn’t mind that he had decided to stay.

Once the room was clear, Tia reached over and grabbed her visitor’s hand and said, “I’m glad you are here Sterling.  I don’t know what I would have done if you wouldn’t have come last night.”  She could here her voice trembling as she fought back tears.  Sterling was special to her.  Whatever, whenever, however…if there was something she needed or just wanted Sterling would move mountains to get it for her.  As he sat there slowly stroking her hand, she wished that she had never started seeing Ricardo behind his back.  Sterling was an average dude who didn’t care about designer labels, expensive cars or social standing.  Tia had always felt that he was the type of guy a girl settle for when she couldn’t get a baller.   He made sure the bills were paid, money was in savings and food was on the table.  He would make a good husband for a simple girl who would be content with the simple pleasures of life.  She had loved Sterling when they were together and a part of her still did love him, but not nearly as much as he loved her.  She wanted him to find that woman who would love him the way that he deserved to be love.

“You call me; you know I’m gon’ come. No questions asked.”  He replied. He kissed her hand before settling back in the rocking chair conveniently placed beside her bed, then said, “have you called that sorry ass Ricardo yet?”

“Not yet,” Tia replied, “I don’t even think that I’m going to.  I called him last night and he didn’t even bother to get out of bed to come give me a ride to the hospital.  I wish I had seen this side of him before, Sterling.” She could feel her eyes wanting to release tears but she was not about to let thoughts of Ricardo ruin this joyous occasion

“Well, baby girl, you know what they say…mother made ‘em, mother fuck em.” Sterling said as he rocked slowly in the chair.  His statement was funny and rang of the truth that Tia was feeling in her heart.  They shared a laughed before Tia drifted off to sleep under the watchful eye of the one man she knew loved her the way a man should love a woman.

The birth of Tia’s baby would have been hard for Nikki to swallow had she not just spent an amazing night and unbelievable morning making love to Justice.  Flashbacks were causing her to smile during random moments during the day and her night of passion had given her an unusual burst of energy.  She wanted to call him but she didn’t want to read too much into what they had shared, and she definitely didn’t want to come off as some kind of desperate chick.  She did however hope that something would come of her night of passion with someone she had considered a friend.  She had stopped by her parent’s house to pick up her daughter so that she could take her to see her new baby brother or sister, Velle hadn’t said when he called.  Nikki believed in family and even though their father had created them under unsavory circumstances, Tia’s child and her daughter were still siblings and would be raised as such.  

As they pulled in the parking lot of the hospital, Nikki looked into the rearview mirror and noticed that her daughter seemed less than thrilled to be going to see the new baby so she said, “What’s wrong Muffin?”

“I don’t wanna go see that stinky baby.”  Said Nikki’s daughter, whom she affectionately referred to as Muffin.  

“Muffin that’s not nice.  Why don’t you want to see the baby?  Babies are beautiful and you get to be a big sister!”  Nikki said trying persuade her five year old to get excited about what was happening.

“I don’t care.  If it wasn’t for that stupid baby then daddy would be home with us.  I don’t want to go see that baby.  I don’t even like that baby.  I heard Nana say that that baby was the only reason why daddy doesn’t live with us and so I hate that stinky baby.”  Muffin said folding her arms as her mother turned into a parking space.  She sunk down in her seat and poked out her lips.  It was then that Nikki realized that she hadn’t taken any real time to explain what was going on in her marriage with the one person who needed the most help to understand.  Muffin was visibly upset and the mother inside Nikki cried inside, as her eyes fell upon a child lost in the middle of a confusing and complicated situation.  She didn’t want to seem like the bitter ex-wife, blaming her ex-husband for every wrong deed in her life, but she didn’t want to be the bad mother forcing her daughter into a situation that she hadn’t prepared her for.  

“Come here, Muffin.”  Nikki said as she motioned for the daughter to climb over the seats and onto her lap, “Look, if you don’t want to see the new baby then you don’t have to but I want you to know that Mommy loves you and Daddy loves you.  Daddy loves you more than anything in the world.  Sometimes mommies and daddies just stop loving each other and sometimes they have fall in love with other people and have other children, but they never stop loving the ones they had.”  Nikki scrambled through her mind trying to find the words to make a five year old understand what she as an adult didn’t fully understand.  The tears in Muffin’s eyes told Nikki that she didn’t understand, so Nikki said, “How about we just call daddy on the phone later? Let’s go get some ice cream.  Will ice cream makes it better?” Muffin nodded and gave her mother a kiss before smiling at the thought of going to get an ice cream cone.  Nikki smiled at the thought that a frozen dairy treat could make everything better.  She would see her daughter’s new sibling for the next eighteen years, give or take; she could wait another day to meet him or her.  For now, she would just send a congratulatory message in the form of a gift basket to the women whom she had ruined her life by bringing a new life into the world.