“Yea, the baby’s heartbeat. The best thing you’ve ever heard, ain’t it?”
“Fuck yea. It’s strong and steady, like an 808. I’ve never heard anything like it.”
“That feeling in yo chest right now… that’s how it feels to be a father. There’s no greater love.”
“But what if---”
“Ain’t nowhat iflil’ nigga… just decisions and actions.”
Kas nodded, understanding what his brother was saying to him. He couldn’t see himself forgiving Yanna anytime soon, but the sound of that heartbeat gave him a feeling he’d never experienced. “Aye, you can send me that recording?”
“Already did,” Onyx stated before slipping his phone back into his pocket.
Kas went to his text messages and played the recording again. Pride swelled in his chest, and emotion pooled the brims of his eyes as he listened to the rhythmic sound. Proof of life. His brother was right; he needed to get himself together and figure out what he truly wanted to do.
“Alright, I’m done drawing blood. Next, we’ll extract some platelets.”
“Aye.” Kas started, placing his phone back in his pocket. “What all does this whole process entail?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Yanna was supposed to be going to the hospital to keep her mother company, but she felt stuck. Like the weight of all her transgressions, irrational actions and bad decisions were suffocating her, making it difficult to move. She had to do something to rid herself of the current desolation that consumed her. She needed to start along the path of getting her life together because, in its current state, she wouldn’t survive much longer. The most pressing situation of them all was by far the paternity of her baby. She couldn’t believe she put herself in such a perilous position, but there she was, and she needed to exude some sort of responsibility. Her first thought was to call Trell, because that had to have been easier than talking to Kas at the moment. Swallowing what little pride she had left, she grabbed her iPhone from beside her, sat up on the bed, and dialed Trell’s number.
“Wazzam.” Trell answered, loud music filling his background.
“H—hey, Trell, this is Yanna.”
“I knew that. What you need, love?”
“I um, I need to talk to you about something.”
“I’m listening.”
Yanna released a deep breath because she could already tell her task wasn’t going to be an easy one. “Well, it’s kind of important, so I think it would be best we talk face to face.”
“Oh, so what you gone hop on a flight?”
“Well, I wasn’t planning on it. I got a lot going on here.”
“I mean, if you need to talk face to face, the only way you gone be able to do that is by catching a flight to Nola. Unless you wanna wait until the next time I’m out in VA, but who knows when that’ll be.”
Annoyance was growing within Yanna, but what other choice did she have? Dropping news to her two-time one-night stand that he’d potentially gotten a perfect stranger pregnant was not news to be broken over the phone. However, she was not about to fly to the bottom of the map when her mother was in the hospital, knowing anything could happen.
“Can you at least go somewhere quiet?”
There was silence on the phone for a moment as if Trell was contemplating it. “Yea, hold on right quick.” The sound of walking then a car door closing sounded through the phone. “Ight, go ‘head speak yo piece, love.”
“Ok, well, I really don’t know how to say this, so I’mma go ahead and just spit it out. I’m pregnant.”
“Uh huh.” Trell was waiting for her to tell him more. Waiting for the part that was relevant to him.
“What you mean,uh huh? I don’t know if your memory is bad or if you fuck that many girls, but the second time we were together, we didn’t use a condom. There’s a possibility that my baby is yours.”
“Possibility, ha?” Trell didn’t try to conceal his laughter.
“I’m sorry, this situation is funny?”
“When you think about it, it kind of is. I told yo ass all I had to offer you was one thing, right?”
