SIX MONTHS EARLIER
The phone rang and when Curtis saw the words Mitchell Memorial on the Caller ID screen, his stomach immediately started to churn. He felt a nervousness that he hadn’t felt in a very long while and the fact that his wife, Charlotte, was sitting right next to him and had clearly seen where the call was coming from wasn’t helping.
He knew with everything in him that Tabitha was calling to announce the baby’s arrival.
He answered after the third ring. “Hello.”
“Baby, I’ve got the best news,” she said, clearly ecstatic. “You’ve got the most beautiful little girl in the whole wide world!”
“Is she healthy?” was all Curtis could think to say.
“She’s wonderful. She’s the most precious little thing I’ve ever seen and, baby…she looks just like you. I mean, she’s only been here for less than an hour but I can already see so many of your features. Baby, she’s everything you could possibly ever hope for and you just have to come see her. You have to come see what a beautiful child you and I have created together.”
Curtis was speechless. Literally speechless. Not because he didn’t have a ton of questions for Tabitha, because he did. But it was just that Charlotte was now standing across the room, looking as though she were ready to pounce on him at any moment. She was outraged and he knew he needed to choose his words very carefully and end this conversation with Tabitha as soon as possible. Not to mention, Charlotte would become even more irate if she knew Tabitha was referring to him as “baby.”
“Did you hear me, baby?” Tabitha continued. “I said, you need to come see your daughter.”
“You know I can’t do that,” Curtis finally told her. “You know we have an agreement, and once you send me a certified copy of the birth certificate, I’ll be transferring the last half of the fifty thousand dollars into your account.”
“And then what?” she asked, and Curtis could tell her happy attitude was changing.
“You and I won’t contact each other again. I’ll continue to send you fifteen hundred dollars every month for child support until the child turns eighteen, and I’ll also pay for all health care. Then, when she’s out of high school, I’ll cover all college expenses, and I’ll give her a monthly allowance until she graduates. But other than that, this will be our last conversation.”
“How can you be so cold? I mean, how can you sit over there and just pretend you don’t have a new baby to worry about?”
“I’m really sorry, Tabitha. More than you know. But this is the way it has to be. You and I made a terrible mistake, and I regret that the baby will have to suffer certain consequences, but this really is best for everyone.”
“What you mean is that this is what’s best for that crazy wife you’re married to.”
“Like I said, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you even want to know her name?” Tabitha asked, and at the same time, Charlotte said, “Curtis, why are you apologizing to that witch? Hunh? I mean, do you even see me standing here?”
Curtis sighed and wished he could run and hide the way he had done as a child whenever he’d done something he shouldn’t have. He wished he could vanish and never have to deal with this fiasco ever again. Better, he wished he could turn back time, because if he could, he would surely do things a whole lot differently. He would be faithful to Charlotte and he would never get mixed up with Tabitha under any circumstances.
But it was too late for that. Too late and no way to send his baby girl back into her mother’s womb.
“Tabitha, please try to understand. I can’t change the past but know that I pray only great things for you and the baby. I pray for all the blessings I know God already has in store for you.”
Tabitha laughed out loud, and Curtis wondered what was so funny.
“At this point, your prayers don’t mean one thing to me. And just for the record, I’m not asking you to change the past. I’m asking you to do right by your daughter or else.”
“Or else what?”
“Keep blowing off our baby like she’s some unwanted little orphan, and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.”
“You know what, Tabitha,” he said. “I think it’s time we end this conversation.”
“Do whatever you want but just know that I’m not going anywhere and neither is Curtina. She’s here to stay and you can either do right by her voluntarily or involuntarily. Makes no difference to me. But understand that if I have to force you, it won’t be pretty.”
A second later, Curtis heard the phone click.
She’d hung up but her words were still lingering midair and making him more uncomfortable than he wanted to be. Uncomfortable because her tone had sounded vindictive and like some sort of guarantee.
Curtis pressed the Off button and set the cordless on the kitchen island.
Charlotte folded her arms and leaned against the refrigerator. “She was threatening you, wasn’t she?”
“If you want to call it that.”
“What did she say?”
“It’s not even worth going into. You heard what I told her and whether she likes it or not, she’s going to have to accept it.”
“And you’re naive enough to think it’s going to be that simple?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” he said, although he knew Charlotte had a more than valid point. Especially after just hearing Tabitha speak to him the way she had.
“Curtis, are you that blind? Are you so blind that you can’t see that this woman is going to be a serious problem?”
“What can she do? Because it’s not like I want anything to do with her. When I said I was committed to you and that I was finished with Tabitha, I meant it.”
“But now there’s a baby in the picture. It was one thing when she was pregnant but now that she’s actually had it, she’s thinking she has another chance with you.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. Really.”
“And why is that?” Charlotte asked, now tapping her foot against the floor with her arms still folded. She could be so sarcastic when she wanted to be, and Curtis could hardly stand it.
“Because she knows my decision.”
“What did she say to you exactly?”
“That she just had the baby and that it’s a girl.”
“I hate that whore,” Charlotte said, moving toward the counter and slamming a crystal glass into the sink.
Curtis could no longer see the gold-trimmed goblet, but he’d heard it shatter into what seemed a million pieces. He knew Charlotte was thinking of their daughter, Marissa, and how she’d tumbled down the stairs, hit her head, and died almost instantly. He knew Charlotte despised the fact that she no longer had a daughter of her own but now Tabitha proudly did.
“Baby, please,” he said moving closer to where she was standing and pulling her into his arms once again. “I love you with everything in me, so please don’t let this come between us. Not now.”
This time, to Curtis’s surprise, Charlotte didn’t pull away from him. She hugged him tightly and wept in a way that said her pain was deep within her soul. She wept over the loss of her own child and now Curtis was feeling sorrier than he had been.
What a huge mess all of this had turned out to be, and he had no idea what he was going to do about it. If he didn’t go see his new daughter, there was no telling what Tabitha might actually do. But on the other hand, if he did, Charlotte would spin into an uproar and the peace they’d shared between them over the last year would quickly cease to exist.
So his hands were tied. Tied because he loved his wife and even though he hadn’t seen her yet, he loved his baby girl. Curtina. His youngest and the one Tabitha had decided to name after him. His own flesh and blood.
Curtis continued holding Charlotte closely against his chest but he couldn’t help trying to picture what his daughter looked like. He tried and tried and without warning, tears slowly streamed down his face.
He and Charlotte cried while still holding each other.
They cried, but sadly, for very different reasons.