The white cargo shorts he donned with a pink shirt gave a clue that he was team girl. Just as my blue romper hinted that I was team boy. We made eye contact, and I offered a cordial smile. I wasn’t interested in arguing with Isaac or giving anyone a show.
“Can we take a few pictures before everyone starts to arrive?” the photographer asked.
“Sure.” I walked over to the backdrop. When Isaac didn’t make a move, the photographer looked over his shoulder then back at me.
“You taking them alone?”
“I want to take some alone. Yes,” I smiled. And there was nothing wrong with that. I took a few pictures solo, and then Isaac and I took a few awkward ones. He didn’t touch me or my belly, and I was happy. He was slowly learning to respect the boundaries that I had put in place.
Once the photographer and event planner left, Isaac stood in front of me with pleading eyes, and I knew it was about to start.
“London,” his voice cracked, and his eyes filled with tears. “I’m so fucking sorry. Doing that bullshit was the worst mistake I have ever made in my life. I need you back with me. I don’t want this. My baby living in a separate house away from me was never in the plans. Baby, please.” A tear spilled over his eyelid, and it did nothing for me.
“Isaac, you have apologized, profusely. You don’t have to keep apologizing to me.” My tone was soft and nonconfrontational. “I explained to you once, that I don’t know if I want to remain married. I don’t think that’s a choice that I can make overnight. And respectfully, however long it takes is however long it takes. I refuse to be rushed to appease you and your feelings.”
Guests began spilling into the backyard, and he wiped the tear away giving a curt nod. Isaac not wanting to be in a separate house from his child was a him problem. He should have never cheated.
For the gender reveal, people that were team boy brought wipes, and the people that were team girl brought diapers. Before Isaac left, he took all the items upstairs to the nursery, and I was putting everything away. Exhausted wasn’t the word but theentire time I tucked diapers and wipes away in my baby’s closet, I had a smile on my face. I was having a boy. Despite the current state of my marriage, my heart was full. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t get on my knees and thank God for the strength that He was giving me. So many women spent their pregnancies crying, sad, and miserable. That wasn’t my case, and that was a blessing from the Most High. Even when I was suffering from immense fatigue, the idea of motherhood had me on a natural high.
When I was done in the nursery, I took a shower, moisturized my skin, and brushed my teeth. I pushed out the biggest sigh of relief when my body relaxed into my pillow top mattress. I wasn’t filming for the next three days, and I was going to sleep the next day away. Financially, I didn’t doubt that Isaac would provide for his son. I just had to provide for myself, and I was more than capable of doing that. Money, I made from the reality show allowed me to pay my rent up for the duration of my lease. I had money in the bank and more on the way from season two. I needed the money because I wasn’t a millionaire without Isaac’s money, but I didn’tneedthe money in the sense that I was broke.
That being said, I refused to push myself to the limit every day. There absolutely were women that worked hard during their entire pregnancies, but I didn’t have a desire to be one of them. Before I gave my career up to be a stay-at-home wife, I made good money doing PR. Despite the fact that I hadn’t worked in about two years, I was confident that if I went back to work, it wouldn’t be hard for me to pick up clients. Survival was the last thing I was worrying about. Also, since the reality TV show, my social media platforms had grown tremendously and were all monetized. That passive income allowed me to literally make money in my sleep. The views from my gender reveal videos were all doing crazy numbers. Thanks to the blogs, people knew about Isaac cheating, but I hadn’t spoken at all or givenany indication about whether we were still together. Any time I posted, people broke their necks to view the photos or videos because they were looking for clues. Them being nosey as hell was literally making me bank.
I also had an investment property that had a luxury gym on one side of the building and a beauty store on the other side. I hadn’t posted a cooking video on my YouTube channel in almost a month, but I was still getting daily views from all the videos I had on the channel, and those YouTube checks hit like dope money. So, I absolutely could afford to rest my body and chill whenever I deemed necessary because money wasn’t an issue.
One thing I didn’t like about social media were all the DM’s I got. Most of them weren’t about anything, but I still checked them at least once a day. Scrolling through, my brow hiked when I saw a DM from Chino. Chino was a popular rapper, and he was also my ex. He hated when I began doing PR work because he was insecure. The nigga knew he was up to no good and didn’t want me in the presence of successful men on a regular basis. He was the first fuck boy I’d ever dated but as with Isaac, once I was over something, I didn’t hold grudges. For what? I moved on and acted accordingly with a smile on my face. All I regretted was not being able to see the look on his face when I popped out with a football player, yet he’d only been linked to groupies that already had kids by athletes and rappers.
BigCheen: Hey. Can I call?
After the blogs broke the news that Isaac had a threesome in the club, Chino reached out to me and asked me if I was okay. At the time I wasn’t, but I told him I was. I wondered why he wanted to call me all of a sudden. I hesitated for a few minutes before typing yes and putting my number in the message thread. Two minutes later, my phone was ringing. Since Isaac had an issue with me communicating with one of my exes, I had learned my lesson and would have never let Chino call if we were stilltogether. But, we weren’t. I had only had two boyfriends when I met Isaac. My high school sweetheart, Omar, and Chino.
“Hello?”
“Damn,” Chino chuckled. “I never thought I’d hear your voice again.”
My brows hiked. “Okayyyy,” I replied slowly. “What’s up?”
“I just want to check on you man. I regret every day the things I did to cause the end of our relationship. You moved on, and I respect that. Only you know what’s going on in your relationship, but you deserve nothing but the best, London. Know that.”
“Oh, I know that for sure. That’s the reason I didn’t hesitate to leave you.”
“Ouch,” he chuckled again. “I don’t want no smoke, shorty. I just genuinely want to say congratulations on your bundle of joy. Had I not been an idiot, that could be us.”
My eyes rolled upward. When Chino’s career began to take off, we had a pregnancy scare, and he damn near lost his mind. I wouldn’t have wanted to have an abortion, but I had too much pride to have a baby by a man that was acting like me possibly being pregnant was the worst thing that could happen to him. When the pregnancy test turned out to be negative, I thanked God profusely and vowed to never get caught slipping again.
“You know what Hov says,” I joked. “Gotta learn to live with regrets.”
“Yo, you on one today,” he laughed. “You good though? All BS aside. Are you really good?”
“I’m really good,” I replied with confidence. “I’m healthy, and I’m having a baby boy. My heart is full. Unless something changes with me or my baby’s health, I’m going to remain good.”
I’d never lie to anyone like I wasn’t about to lose my mind when Isaac first cheated. What I was most proud of was that I didn’t stay there. A man making a stupid decision wasn’t goingto be the reason for me to wake up every day and be miserable. The devil was a funky ass liar. Some people acted as if they had to treat me with kid gloves, but I walked around with my head held high and a genuine smile on my face. Isaac was the one crying. Not me.
“I love that. Word on everything I love, I dig hearing you talk like that. You are absolutely the prize and just on some friendly, respectful shit, if you ever need anything I got you.”
“I appreciate that and while my granny taught me to never say never, I don’t think I’ll ever need anything.”
“Will it be disrespectful to your husband if I send you something for the baby? I dead ass just want to get him a gift, but you know what he needs, so I’d rather send the money.”
