All Signs Point to You Part Two, Navaura Campbell [best novels for students .txt] 📗

came and got me out of the bathroom."

Jordan shook his head with a laugh, "I didn't know you were in the bathroom. Why are you still yelling at me?"

Denise stared up at him, "I don't want to talk to you." She crossed her arms over each other and turned back to face the window.

Jordan sighed, "This is interesting." He mumbled.

"Why are you mumbling?"

Instead of answering, he ignored her. There were some things not worth even a breath of explanation, and that was one of them.

Denise was tired and cranky when she entered the house. Jordan came in after her. He watched her go upstairs to her room without so much as a backward glance. He waved to her from behind.

"Poor unfortunate boy."

Jordan turned toward the voice. Mr. Richards sat in the recliner nearest the television, facing away from the living room window. "Hi, Mr. Richards."

"You may as well call me Garrette now, Jordan."

Jordan shrugged his shoulders, "Ok."

Mr. Richards sighed, "Most women get cranky during like their fourth and fifth months, but apparently, you're going to get everything at once."

Jordan narrowed his eyes, "What?"

"She's going to be like that for quite a while, Jordan. Quite a while."

Jordan sighed, "I still love her."

Mr. Richards let out a deep chuckle from where he was seated. "We'll see if you still feel like that in a couple of months."

Three months later:

"It's freaking hot in here. Why isn't the air conditioning working?" Denise inquired, a scowl on her face. Jordan took a deep swig of his coffee. He could really use a little peace and quiet time.

"It's already set at sixty five, Denise." He stated from his chair across the table. Denise had her hands over her belly, rubbing it. She'd gotten to the size of a cantaloupe since her first month. She seemed to do that quite a bit. Jordan, who'd gotten a job at a Marriott Hotel in Richmond, as a front desk assistant, worked more than forty hours a week and often times came home exhausted, wanting peace. Like now, he was so exhausted, that his back ached.

"It feels extremely hot in here." She responded, looking at him with that forever etched scowl.

"Don't you ever smile anymore?" He questioned.

"Of course I smile." She hissed.

He narrowed his brows, "Well, why don't you ever smile at me anymore?"

"Because every time I start too, I'm reminded that all this Nausea, the hot flashes, the aching back, the abnormal stretching of my stomach is all because of you. Every single day it feels like I'm going through a beating none stop. Everyday that this baby grows, I'm reminded that it was you who gave me that first strawberry melt."

Jordan frowned, "I didn't intend to get you drunk. That was your own doing. I just wanted to quench your thirst."

Denise gave a tight smile, "Well, you succeeded. Look at me now." She motioned to her belly.

Jordan inhaled sharply. "You didn't have to have sex with me that night. You could have said no."

"And you should have worn a condom."

Jordan stood up from his seat, "Why am I getting blamed for this? You had your part in it too? Don't you think I'm going through a lot too? Don't you think I come home everyday after twelve hour shifts at the Marriott with an aching back, deathly tired and irritated too? Everyday I have to come home and listen to you bitch and moan about how it's my fault that this happened. Well, you know what Denise..." He stepped closer to her, narrowed his eyes and pointed, "It's your fault too. You agreed to have sex with me that night, you agreed to everything, because you didn't object." He paused to catch his breath. Then continue on, "Honestly, I don't want a baby. I never did want a baby. I had other things I could do, places I could be, but I put all of that on hold for the baby. I'm supposed to be going off to Hampton during the fall, but I can't go now, because I have to sit around and take care of you and a baby. How fair do you think that is? So, when you stand here telling me everyday that this is all my fault, think again. I didn't make that baby by myself."

Denise felt her heart pump with anger, the bitterness, tension she'd been feeling for three months spilled over, "I wanted to go to N.Y.U. I wanted to work in the state museum as a historian. I wanted to do a lot of things, but..." To her surprise, tears welled up in her eyes and fell down her cheeks. She swiped them away, "I have this stupid baby inside of me and all he does is stretch everything, all of me and sleep. I hate it. I wish I'd never gotten pregnant. I wish I'd never had sex with you!" She turned around and made her way up the stairs, to the guest bedroom. She would sleep in there. She didn't want to sleep with him.

Jordan sat at the table, staring down into his coffee. He didn't know what to do, what to say. Realistically, he had told the truth. He didn't want a baby. Not right now. A sigh came from his lips...but what could he do. He had to take care of them. It was what he was taught.

 

Chapter Fifty Five:

apologies

"Here's the feet." Dr. Price stated, displaying the baby's feet just below her rib cage. Jordan glanced up at the screen as the ultrasound showed the black and white picture of the baby.

"What's its sex?" Denise inquired, inclining her head to see the monitor.

"A boy."

Jordan glanced back at her. She smiled, "I told you."

Jordan turned his attention back to the monitor. He watched as the doctor closed in on the sex of the baby and smiled at him, "You're going to be the father of a baby boy."

"Yeah, I am." Jordan smiled back.

Denise sighed softly, remembering the words he'd spoken just two weeks ago. After that day, they'd talked, but not about what they'd said. The conversations of late were short and choppy. The doctor switched off the ultrasound machine, and grabbed some paper towels to clean off the stick.

"Well, Denise, your baby's a pretty happy little boy. He's about six months along and will be here any day come January."

Denise sighed, "January fifth."

"Yep, and I will be there." Dr. Price stated, as he left the room.

"Me too," Jordan replied. Denise looked over at him and smiled as she climbed down off the hospital bed. He smiled back. The sparkle in his eyes was really dull. This caused her to turn her head away quickly and get her clothes from the chair.

She watched as he turned his back when she put her clothes on. For some unknown reason, this made her feel less attractive. She pulled the pants up her legs and over her belly.

"Can you believe he'll be here in three months?" She stated while pulling her long sleeved shirt over her head.

Jordan nodded his head without replying.

Denise grabbed her shoes and put them on her feet. He had been doing that for quite awhile. Answering without saying anything. She stood up. "I'm finished now."

He turned around, "Ok." With that, he walked to the door, holding it for her as she walked out. When they were completely out of the clinic, he opened her door for her and waited for her to get in. When she did, he asked if she was hungry. When she said yes, he asked what was she in the mood for, she said Chinese. They didn't speak much on the way to the restaurant or on the way back to the house. Even the radio couldn't muffle out the loud silence.

Jordan exhaled softly, kissing his mother on the cheek. He could tell she was even closer to death, because the room reeked of it. She had to go to the bathroom using an catheter, because she couldn't get out of bed anymore. Usually Kathy was there to do the work, but Kathy was off now, which left him to do it. The only time he'd left her alone was when he and Denise had went for another ultra sound. Somehow, they'd managed to qualify for state assistance although he made a nice amount of money. Sighing, he whispered, "The baby's a boy mom. Isn't that great?" She didn't blink anymore, her body was almost complete in it's transition. Dr. Brooke had said that she'd have anywhere from a month to two months before she left this world. Jordan was trying to spend as much time as possible with her, just so he could make sure that she would not be alone.

He didn't want her to die alone. Feeling the tightness in his chest, he whispered, "Yeah, I'm really excited you know. I wasn't ready at first, because I didn't want to give up that scholarship, but honestly, now I don't care. The more I see that baby growing, the less I care about Hampton. I just want to take care of Denise, make sure she have that baby..." He swallowed hard, trying to defeat the lump that was rising. He even blinked to keep his own tears at bay, but it didn't work. They trickled down his cheek anyway. He opened his mouth to say something else, but his voice cracked, "c..can you hear me?" He whispered, the ache real in his throat. There was no answer. He whispered, "I love you mom, I love you so much, that I can't..."

He paused, wiped his eyes and inhaled a deep breath, trying to hold in the tears. She was going to go any day now. His mother, his flesh and blood was going to go any day now. Unable to hold back, he leaned over her and released the pain in his heart.

The problem with this house, Denise decided, was that she could hear everything through the paper thin walls. Including Jordan crying. She could tell that he was at the end of his rope. She felt like a failure. His mother had told her to take care of him and she'd done none of that. She'd managed to screw up his life and make it even more complex by becoming more of a burden herself. She didn't want this. She didn't want him to suffer the way he was. Sighing, she stared at the closet. She could always go