-
“It was the same way with me,” Imani said as we pulled off from Planned Parenthood. “That’s why little TJ is here now. They had his heartbeat on max and had me staring at the sonogram screen. And just like you, I couldn’t do it.”
“Your situation was different.” I sighed. “You know his father. Y’all created him together. It wasn’t like that for me.”
“It doesn’t matter how they got there. They’re still yours, and you have every right to still want them.”
“Even without their father?”
“Yes. Shit, I know who my baby daddy is and I’m still doing it on my own.”
“I know, but I also know that was never your plan. You wanted a family.”
“I do, and I still have one. It just looks a lot different than what I planned.
I sighed as I wiped my tears. “Why would I willingly choose to be a single mother?”
“You don’t have to.”
I sighed. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Snow, you just found out you are pregnant with twins. Give yourself some grace and time.”
“Ok,” I said as I looked down at the sonogram. They’re mine, I thought as I wiped my tears. All mine.
Chapter 5
2 weeks later,
Today, we were using peaches in five ways. We planned on making grilled peaches, peach cobbler cupcakes, peach crumb cake, peach ice cream, and brandied peaches. After eating about three peaches myself, I decided to start on the peach cobbler cupcakes. I preheated the oven and then started on the ingredients. I grabbed the unsalted butter, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and a few other things.
Once the batter was ready, I filled two trays and placed them in the oven. When the crisp tops filled the cupcake liners, I took them out of the oven. I placed them on the cooling tray, then I tossed the sliced peaches into a skillet. I slowly added cinnamon and water. When I finished that, I moved on to the peach crumb cake. The bakery was doing everything it should today. It was keeping me busy.
The mixers were too loud for me to hear my own thoughts, and the recipes were too specific for me to be distracted. Unfortunately, I knew the moment I left here; I would go back to thinking about the twins. I was really having a hard time convincing myself to get rid of them. Abortion was the mostlogical and rational thing to do, but with these hormones, I was anything but that.
As the day wound down, I found that I was more tired than usual. I burnt the peaches I was caramelizing and almost slept through an alarm for the cakes I had in the oven. When five came around, I was more than ready to go. After sweeping the sprinkles from the oak wood floors and cleaning the fingerprints from the display case, I headed home.
-
I stood in the corner of the elevator. I was trying to stand as far away from the piss on the floor as I could get. Not only was it disgusting, but it had me gagging. I sucked my teeth when my phone began to ring in my hand. I was too tired to talk. When I saw it was the Bloom agency calling, I ignored it. When the call ended, I got a voicemail alert. I put the phone to my ear and listened as I walked toward my apartment.
“Hello, this is Kate Samson from the Bloom agency. I’m just calling to confirm you had the abortion that was scheduled for you two weeks ago. Please call me back at your earliest convenience.” I deleted the voicemail, just like the last six she had left. What I did with my babies was no longer any of her concern.
I opened the door to my apartment and turned the lights on. I let out a small scream when I saw a man sitting on my couch. I tried to run out, but there stood two other men blocking my exit. I whipped my head back to the man on the couch, assuming he was the fucking mastermind behind this.
“Who are you? What do you want? How did you get in? Oh god! Is it my mother? What did she do this time?” Each question I asked had me panicking. I could feel myself hyperventilating.
The man got up and walked toward me. He was tall, and that was saying a lot for me. I was 5’8 and he made even me feel petite. He had to be 6’4. He sat on the edge of the couch and looked at me. “Just relax.” He said.
“I can’t. I’m scared.” I cried.
He looked over at the guys who stood in front of the door. “Y’all go downstairs. We’re good here. Right, mama?”
I nodded as my chest hiccupped.
When they were gone. He turned his attention back to me, “Now breathe in and out, and I’ll answer all your questions.”
“Ok.” I sniffled.
