I’ve Got You

Scowling at her sister, Aleshia conceded the point. Vaneese had always been a forceful personality. She had also been one of the people who knew what she wanted out of life from the start. Aleshia still remembered her sister’s warning when she first got together with Peter.

“Did you know, Peter’s been messaging me as well?”

Aleshia hugged Amy, stroking her glossy black hair. “He what?”

“Yeah.” Vaneese placed hands on her hips, looking disgruntled as she began chopping vegetables. “Doesn’t leave you alone, so starts on me instead. I blocked that creep. I ain’t hearing it anymore.”

Although it remained a sore point for Aleshia, again she felt relieved at her sister’s no nonsense tactic of airing out grievances. At home, Aleshia would drown her sorrows, sometimes look through old photos, or stare at her belly, which now began to show the hint of a bulge. First trimester over. Two more to go. Over bowls of home-made salad, they once again dissected the way their lives had diverged and converged, with the focus of conversation being on Vaneese’s attempts to gently remind Aleshia that she should consider blocking Peter once and for all.

A family friend came to pick up Amy and take her to their house, so their children could play together, and it left Aleshia alone with her sister, both sat at either end of a plush leather sofa, talking in low voices.

“We lost you for months, Ally. You stopped calling so much. It was sporadic contact. Mom was going crazy, wondering what was happening to you. I told them you were just holing up in your den with your writing, but there was something more going on. I knew it.”

Vaneese reached out to touch Aleshia’s knee. Again, Aleshia detected a stab of jealously inside, looking at her perfect sister. Full lips, high cheekbones, a curvy body, a stunning smile and a successful family reminded Aleshia of what she didn’t have. She wanted the husband, the kid, and a nice place as well. Instead she had landed with Peter, and a growing lifeform which she still didn’t know if she was prepared to raise, especially alone.

The one thing she refused to do, however, was abort it. The tiny nugget inside deserved more than a denial to live, just because one half of what formed it refused to be a parent.

“Didn’t you see any warning signs at all, Ally? Didn’t he hit you? Yell at you?”

“He only hit me once.” Aleshia set her jaw. “In the year we were together.”

The confession made Vaneese pat her forehead in dramatic relief. “If you ask me, you got out of that one just in time.”

“Not just in time,” Aleshia said, patting her belly for emphasis.

“Still might be a blessing in disguise.”

“Yeah, well. We’ll see. I can’t believe Peter’s been messaging you over this. Do you think I’ll need a restraining order?”

Vaneese laughed into her glass of water. “Someone like that isn’t prepared to move out of their hometown, let alone out of state. Really, Aleshia. I don’t understand what you saw in him.”

Neither did Aleshia, the more she thought about it. The memories of the charming, soft spoken white man who had once held a place in her heart felt tarnished by more recent, darker recollections. She needed to actively sift through a deluge of twisted, emotionally charged and bitter thoughts in order to once again find the ones that once regarded him as her other half.

“He was charming, Vaneese. Real charming. Swept me off my feet. Handsome, too, in a rugged way. Good job. Nice family. His parents were nice. Perfect gentleman in every way.”

Her sister nodded in time to Aleshia’s meandering thoughts.

“Fu*king bas*ard,” Aleshia said.

Vaneese slapped her sister’s knee, generating a pained wince. “No! You don’t dip and switch subject like that. I’ll have none of your whining here. Continue. Leave the ‘fu*king bas*ards’ out of it.”

“Ow,” Aleshia said, rubbing the place on her leg, where a bruise would likely form. “Fine. Before he became a fu*king bas*ard, I saw nothing wrong with him. If there were signs, or whatever, I didn’t spot them. Rose tinted glasses, I guess. I stopped talking to you and Mom because… I wanted to pursue this new interest. I thought now that I finally had a boyfriend, one who seemed genuine and kind after all these years, I could settle. Start a family. I wanted it.” She laughed, expression rueful. “Was a little jealous of you, to be honest. You have it all. Nice husband with a good job. Wonderful kid, and a location to die for. I spent all my time in front of that laptop writing stories, or hanging out at local bars. Not the best place to pick a good man from. But, living with Mom did mean I could kick start my career.” Aleshia glared at her sister, when she went to grab a beer from the fridge, teasing off the bottle lid. Vaneese saw the reproach in her sister’s eyes.

“Just because you shouldn’t be drinking any, doesn’t mean I can’t,” Vaneese pointed out. “I’m not the one pregnant, you know.”

“That’s unfair.”

“Life’s unfair. Su*k it up. Now. Continue. You were jealous of me because I have an awesome life. What else?” Vaneese gleefully chugged down the beer.

Aleshia blinked, annoyed and impressed at the same time. “Jesus Christ, it’s like watching a pelican swallow a fish whole.”

“Shut up.” Vaneese placed the bottle to the side, grinning. “So?”

“So. I didn’t contact so much. Then he was asking who I was seeing. Nothing bad, you know. Then he asked if I didn’t mind canceling some plans to do things with him. Then he started getting upset if I did things without him. Accused me of cheating on him at one point. So… when I fell pregnant. I thought maybe… I could use the pregnancy as a way of proving to him I was committed.”

Vaneese’s jaw dropped. “What? No! That’s so bad!”