Chapter 14

“What do you mean? It’s exactly what it is.” She said as she twirled before me with the biggest smile on her face.

“How is this even possible?” I asked as I pulled out an ultrasound and a onesie that said ‘Daddy’s Best Friend’.

“Whatchu mean baby, you came in me and now I’m pregnant, about to give you a child. You know what this means right? We need to get married!” She ended the last part with a loud squeal as she went to her side of the bed and pulled out her laptop. “I'm about to start looking for wedding planners.” She said with excitement evident in her voice.

“You're supposed to have been on birth control and I know I've been careful. So what exactly happened, how is this even possible with the morning pills you took in addition?” I asked her as I looked closer at the ultrasound for a date, seeing it was taken a week ago.

“Ohh I got off my birth control like a month ago,” She waved me off, looking at dresses online. Feeling my anger rise, I placed the box on the bed and walked into the kitchen, deciding to cook to get my frustration out.

Justine and I had talked in detail about children and all that. I told her that I would only have children after getting married and that was something that was important to me. Growing up in church, this is something that was important to me. I was not okay with having a child out of wedlock and she knew this.

I can’t even begin to imagine how disappointed my mom would be when she found out. At this point, I was contemplating eloping and getting us married immediately or proposing properly and getting married in like 2 months since money wasn’t an aspect that would hold us down.

After plating the finished meal of chicken chow mein, I carried Justine’s plate and a cup of juice up to the bedroom and handed it over to her before going back downstairs to my man cave and eating while watching an NBA game between the Rockets and Warriors.

2 weeks later

The annual Brown family vacation was coming up and for the first time ever, I was bringing a ‘girlfriend’. We had a rule that stated that we would not bring people we were dating unless they were at fiancee status because we wanted this to be a super close-knit time between us.

We were leaving in one day and Justine was beyond excited. She went shopping and spent a huge amount on beach-type outfits since we would be in Cancun Mexico this time around. Justine was currently out with her friends, spending some time with them before we left. Walking over to my briefcase, I pulled out the 10-carat ring I had bought to propose to Justine with since it was the only thing left to do.

I remember specifically asking my older brother Kordell to go ring shopping with me, something which he wasn’t really okay with but supported me nonetheless. I also asked him because I knew he wouldn’t tell anyone in the family what was going on. He wasn’t really chatty when it came to other people’s business.

*Flashback*

After hearing that I am about to be a dad, I decided that I might as well marry Justine hopefully before the baby comes. I realize that I might be sacrificing my happiness for this but it is what it is at this point.

Pulling up the family jewelers, I hopped out and walked in, being greeted by Dell and Mr. Carter, the man that provided all the jewels that everyone in the family wore. He was my dad’s best friend and my godfather. When my dad made it big, he made sure Mr. Carter’s business went up as well, ordering only from him and referencing all his friends and business partner’s to him.

After dapping them both up, they looked at me and waited for me to say what I was looking for. Taking a deep breath and preparing for the disappointed looks, I dragged my hand over my waves and down my face before speaking.

“Okay, so I-I need to get an engagement ring,” I said as I looked over at Dell and saw a look of confusion flash across his face.

“Ohh wonderful! I can’t believe how grown you are now! So who is the lucky lady?” Mr. Carter asked with a smile on his face.

Looking up at the ceiling and taking a deep dramatic breath, Dell rose his hands up to the ceiling before beginning to speak. “Nah Mr. Carter unless he got another girlfriend and didn’t tell us then it’s the same woman I told you about the last time I was here to pick up the necklace for Kali.

“Ohh, I heard about her and I don’t know if you might be making the right decision.” Mr. Carter spoke as he put a tray of engagement rings on the glass display that divided us.

“S-s-she’s pregnant,” I managed to spit out before feeling a slap on the back of my head, delivered by Dell.

“Bruh mom is going to kill you literally,” He said as he looked over at me with a look of pity on his face.

“Thank’s a lot captain obvious,” I said as I picked up a ring and looked at it closely.

“Well, all I can say is that I hope you are making the right decision by marrying her just because she is pregnant. This isn’t the olden days where you would have to marry her by force. You can support both her and the baby without being married to someone you are not truly in love with.” Mr. Carter said, hoping he’d be able to change my mind.

“When are you going to propose anyway?”

“On the family vacation. Yes, she’s coming along.”

“Oh, you’re going to be killed killed,” Dell said as he let out a loud, obnoxious laugh that annoyed me to my core.

“Shut up,” I mumbled

Feeling like they were succeeding in starting to sway my mind. I quickly blurted out “I’m marrying her before we have the baby and that’s my final decision.”

I quickly paid for the ring, bid my farewell’s and went home after asking them both not to tell anyone what was happening.

*Flashback over*

Dragging my suitcase downstairs, I placed it by the door before going back up and packing my carry on. We usually spent the day before traveling at my parent’s house and just left from there as one cohesive unit.

Taking a quick shower with Justine and dressing up, we shut the house before walking to the car and hopping in the back since Mr Cobby, my driver would be driving us over and bringing the car back.

After a tense 15 minute drive for me, I took a deep breath as we pulled up to my parent’s house and buzzed in, waiting for the guards to let us through. A couple of minutes later, we drove up and got out of the car.

“Please don’t say anything about the baby. We’ll let them know in Cancun.” I told Justine with a straight voice, hoping she would know not to run her mouth.

“Ugh, now you’re trying to hide the pregnancy or something?” She asked with an eye-roll

“Nah, I just know about correct timing. You’re not even supposed to be coming on this trip anyway. Everyone is going to trip when they see you.” I let her know, holding her hand and assisting her up the millions of stairs we had to take to get to the front door since it had rained.

“Fine.” She blurted out, letting me know she understood.

Opening up the door, we were immediately greeted with the smell of food and children running around, ignoring our very presence. Hearing voices coming from the kitchen, I walked in that direction, not ready for what was about to happen.

“Yoo,” Dell greeted me with a smirk on his face, knowing how the mood was about to change in .5 seconds.

“Hey ugly,” Krystal greeted as she gave me a hug and walked back to the counter where she was preparing a salad.

“Hey son,” My mom came over to me with a smile on her face, opening her arms for a hug. “Why does it look like you are losing weight? Is that girlfriend of yours not-”

“And what in the hell is she doing here.” Krystal interrupted mom and I, making the kitchen go quiet as everyone looked in the direction she was pointing to and got quiet when they noticed Justine.

“Hi everyone,” She said with a slight wave and a small smile on her face.

Looking up at me with a disappointment written all over her face, I felt my mom squeeze my arms before whispering “What is she doing here? You know the rules.”

“I-I, she just needs to come this time mom. I’m sorry for doing this though. Please let it slide just this once.” I begged while everyone went back to what they were doing, acting like Justine didn’t exist. “Fine.” my mom said before letting go of me and continuing to cook.

After greeting everyone and hearing a million and one side stories, I took Justine up to my room and watched as she plopped down on the bed, pulling her phone out and calling her friends as usual which prompted me to walk out and go back downstairs.