Bernice

38

  August 15
Bernice,

I heard a knock on my room door. "Come in." I said. The door opened and Saraphine came inside. "Hey." She said. "Hi." I responded. She sat on the bed. I am lying in bed watching TV. Trina took the kids out so I could have "me" time. I put the TV off and put my attention on her. "What's up?" I asked. She looks worried. She took a deep breath.

"I want you to meet Anthony." She stated. "Ok. That's not a problem." I mentioned. It's good to finally meet this guy she got back with. "I need you to asses him for me because I feel like something's off with him and I hope it's not some other girl." She told me. I hope so too because if he did everything to get back with her and he's cheating that's low.

"He just doesn't seem like himself and I want to know why." She added. I get what she means. To her, it seems like he's hiding something and he may not be. "Well, I will meet with him to let you know if you have any worries. Set up where and when and let me know." I assured her.

They have been back together for five months and she should know how he is by now out of college. If she feels that something is off, there might be.

"I think we should throw you a baby shower." She suggested. "I don't want one." I told her. "Why not? You've never had one and it'll be fun." She mentioned. "There's just too much going on." I simplified. We don't even know what's going to happen to August and my dad still doesn't know I'm pregnant. I know when he finds out or if I tell him he'll stop talking to me.

"I get that but you need to release some stress and this will be a good way to release it." She stated. I have four months left to go and I can't wait. I throw up most mornings and I recently just started feeling tired a lot. I drink coffee before I start work which only works a little bit. This is my last child. I can't stand being pregnant anymore. "I'm gonna pass on the baby shower." I decided.

                                                    ***

Violet rang the doorbell of Lucinda's house. We've begged her to do chemo, but she is still saying no. She thinks it's her time to go, but she's still in the early stages. She came and opened the door. We greeted each other and then we went in.

"Are y'all hungry? I made some fried catfish with Mac and cheese." Lucinda said. We followed her to the dining area where she already had the food out. "You were going to feed us anyways." I noticed. She laughed. "Of course, I was."

We sat down and dished out the food. We prayed before we ate. "There's something we have to be able to do to change your mind." Victory stated. Lucinda sighed heavily. She drank some water before speaking. "I've made peace with this illness. I know it's my time to go and all I wish is to spend the time I got left with y'all and my grand babies." She mentioned.

"We still think you should take treatment. It could keep you stay longer and you'll get to see my baby." I informed her. Violet nodded in agreement. "My future kids too." She added in. She still has more life to live and she should do everything in her power to live that life. I dont understand why she won't. I've already forgiven her for what she has done and she's already spent time with the kids.

We spent an hour trying to convince her and reminiscing our childhood with her. She said she'll think about it which is a start. We ended up watching a movie before heading out.

August,

"I found the location." Lonte spoke over the phone. "What's the address?" I asked. It has taken a long time to get any information from this number. It would have been better if we found the name of the person, but we will take what we can get. "It's not an address. The number is coming from New York City." Lonte said.

I know that Kingpin has a lot of family in New York. I'm certain it is one of them. "What are we supposed to do with that?" I asked. That's barely a lead. "If Kingpin has any family in New York City we can have them spied on to find out if any one of them is after us." He mentioned.

That was not going to work. There's a lot of them and there's no way we'll be able to spy on them all. That's a waste of time. "That's not going to work. Let me know if you find anything else." I ended the call. Why hasn't the person showed themselves? By now they are supposed to. They got us on our toes worried about what's going to happen next.

I continued helping Bernice pack. Most of the kids stuff are packed. "Daddy, I'm sleepy." Ashley pulled on my leg. I picked her up. She woke up at 7 this morning and it's eleven now. I put her down on the bed for her nap. "You've helped me enough. I can do the rest later." Bernice said while she put clothes in a box. I stopped and looked at her. "What?" She asked. "Babe we've talked about this. I'm not going to let you do most of the packing while you're pregnant." I mentioned. She rolled her eyes.

"I know but..." I held her hands. "I'm going to be by your side this whole time. I promise I'm not going anywhere. It's me and you." I assured her. She's been worried about what if we break up and she raises the kids by herself. That's not going to happen. She nodded. "I'm scared. I never thought while growing up I'll end up with three kids and only holding girlfriend status. I don't want to end up being a babymama." She feared. She had tears coming out. She's been very emotional these days.

I wiped her tears."I plan to marry you. I just want to figure this stuff out first before I take the first step." I informed her. "Really?" She brightened up. "Yes" I kissed her. I'm just waiting for the right time to give her that ring. I'm going to make it memorable. My phone's ringing interrupted us. I removed it from my pocket and saw it was Kyron.

I'll talk to him later. "Too bad we're not at my place." She playfully pushed me and walked away. I went and held her from behind and put kisses on her neck. "Babe, let me continue packing." She turned around. "Or we could be done for the day." I optioned. "What do you have in mind?" She inquired. "I can ask my mom." I thought. She doesn't care if it's last minute unless she has work or plans. She's been free today.

I hit her up and she agreed to have the kids for the night. Bernice walked back in to the room.
"What did she say?" She wondered. "She can keep them for the night." I stated.  "Ok." She said. We dropped the kids off two hours later. "I'm hungry." She mentioned. "What do you want to eat?" I made a left turn. "It doesn't matter." She shrugged. I sighed.

"Again, what do you want to eat?" I repeated. I know she's craving something. "Uhm... Popeyes." She decided. That's exactly where we went. She got the sweet n spicy wings with fries and a drink and I got the ghost pepper ones. We decided to eat in the car before going home. "I want some of yours." She reached towards my wings. I let her have it. She also drank some of my drink. "Why'd you order that if you're mainly going to eat mine?" I wondered. "I wanted both." She pouted. I shook my head.