“Ding. Ding. Ding. The pull-out method didn’t work on you boo. Welcome to motherhood. Glad to have you here with us. We’ve been waiting on you boo,” Tommie said with so much excitement dripping from her voice, as she picked up the pregnancy test that was right at the end, showing it to all of us.
Right there, where I’d written my initials, you could see that it was my test. When the ladies in the room saw that, they all started screaming, and rushing over to me, hugging me.
You know that I was the ultimate drama queen, so I slouched down to the floor, and I started crying. I swear I wasn’t crying because I was upset. I can’t really explain what I was feeling right now. I just knew that my emotions were all over the place.
“I’m a baby mamaaaaa. I can’t believe I’m a baby mamaaaaa,” I cried, not knowing why I said that out of all things.
When I said that, the women around me were cracking up. My mom was standing over me, cradling a sleeping Liberty in her arms.
“Dionne, hush! You’re having a baby by a man that loves you. Loves, and adores you. You’ll be a wife soon. Oh my God. I’m about to get emotional. All my girls are mommies now. I need a damn shot. Freedom, come get the baby,” my mom said, her eyes misty from the emotions that she was feeling.
Through my blurred vision, I watched as my sister took the baby from our mom, and I flat out laid down on my back, stretching my legs out in front of me, with my hands over my eyes. I really was having a moment, and these bitches were around me, laughing like it was funny.
“Go upstairs to your man and tell him. Here boo,” Tommie said, and I felt something hit me on my stomach.
I looked up, and she was standing over me, having each of her feet planted on either side of me. She’d dropped the pregnancy test on me, which is what hit me. I picked it up, and sure enough, it was bold, double lines on the stick. As if I was in pure disbelief, even though I was aware of how pregnancy worked, I stared at the test, not believing that I was actually knocked up.
“What’s going through your mind? Why you crying?” Free asked, sitting right next to me on the floor. She had her knees pulled up, with Liberty resting on her.
“Because I’m scared,” I was honest.
“Dionne, you’ll make a great mommy though. You’re an amazing big sister. I remember when Nivea was here, and your ass swore up and down that you were her damn mama. You’re a great aunt to Tailynn, Tru, and Liberty. You just have the traits about you that will make a good mother. It’s really nothing for you to fear. Plus, look at the man that you’re getting ready to have a baby with. It’s a little sick how much the two of you love each other. The only time that I’ve seen you sit on your own ass this entire trip is whenever he’s not in the room. Other than that, you’re on him, in his skin. That baby was made out of love, and he or she will be loved when they get here,” Free let me know, and her words really did help in calming me down.
The words that each of them poured into me really made me feel a little better. I eventually sat up, and I kept the test in my hand.
“I’m going to go upstairs and tell Tank. I probably won’t come back down, so ya’ll have fun,” I let them know, and then I went around the room, giving out hugs.
I kept the test inside the pocket of my pajama bottoms. I walked out of the room that we had been in, found the hallway,which I walked, and then I went up the stairs, which led me onto the main level of the house.
I took the spiral staircase up, and once I was on the second floor, I walked down, taking the first right, and I was standing in front of Tank’s and I bedroom. I could hear the TV playing from inside the room. I walked in, and I spotted him standing up, right in front of the bed, and there was a mug on his handsome face. His hands were in his pockets, as he looked at what was being advertised on the news. Seeing how he was reacting to it, it made me close the door, lock it, and I stood next to him, looking in the direction of the TV, so that I could see what was going on as well.
There was a picture of his cousin Rico flashing on the top right of the screen. I had no idea what was going on, and before I could even ask, I heard…
“Star wide receiver Rico Briggs is under investigation, followed by allegations that are tied to illegal sports betting activity surrounding multiple games this season with the University of Miami. Earlier this morning, the league confirmed that this matter is under investigation, and being reviewed. At this time, there aren’t any charges that have been filed against Mr. Briggs. No further details have been released,”the news anchor finished, and then it paneled off to them showing clips of Rico this season, and they continued to talk about what was going on.
“Fuck, man!” Tank snapped, walking away from the TV, and he went over to the corner of the room, where he placed his back against the wall, and put his hands over his head.
He was shirtless. The only thing that he was wearing was a pair of black sweatpants. Socks were on his feet, and his do- rag was on his head, protecting his twist.
I didn’t know what I should do in this moment. I didn’t know if I should walk over, and console him, or give him some space.I feared the rejection that might come if I went over to him. I would look like such a terrible person if I left him by himself, so I walked over, stood in front of him, and I shifted my body weight onto the right side of my body, looking up at him.
I chewed on the inside of my jaw nervously, trying to come up with what I should say. It took about a minute, but I sighed, and went ahead, and asked.
“They’re lying, right? You think that someone is trying to frame him for this, right? You don’t think your cousin was really doing that, do you?” I asked, not believing what they were saying on the news. When I asked that, Tank sighed, and he looked me in my eyes.
“Nah. They telling the truth,” he was short with his response.
Immediately, I started thinking about that dude from outside of the club. The night that Tank beat his ass and got arrested for it. I remember when I picked him up from jail, and I had so many questions about who that guy was. All he told me was that Rico was into the wrong kind of business with him. That was literally all he told me. I knew that it was something that he didn’t want to involve me in, due to the little bit that he’d shared with me, so I didn’t press.
“It’s the dude from the club that you beat up, huh? I remember before the fight that he kept telling you to stay out of Rico’s business. Is that who it is?” I asked, and he nodded his head, letting me know that I was right.
“I don’t know how sports betting works. What was Rico doing with him?” I genuinely wanted to know.
“To put it in so little words, Rico got caught up in some shit last year. Toby was there to witness it, and he’s been hanging that shit over my lil’ cousins head for two seasons now. Black mailing him. Toby is a sports better, I guess. He was using Rico to illegally put bets in. He’ll have Rico play, going against the odds, missing passes, not getting a certain amount of yards. Shitlike that. Rico felt like he had to do that shit because of what Toby has against him. Damn man,” Tank let me know, and you could hear it in his voice that not only was he angry by this, but he was sad too.
“Wow. Can Rico go to prison for this?” I wanted to know.
“Not really. We going to make sure he gets a good ass lawyer. Even though he’ll escape prison, bae that shit don’t make him safe though. If they really got the proof that they saying they got on him, and they can show that he was doing that shit with those games, man it’s over for him. All that NFL shit is out the window. Those heavy endorsements, contracts, shit the name that he made for himself…that’s over with,” he informed me, and I grew quiet, just thinking about that. That was truly sad.
