As Taylor sat in her old bed, exhausted physically from her flight home and drained emotionally, her mother walked into her room.
"As much as I enjoy having you home sweetie, you've been quiet since we drove you from the airport. What's wrong?" Mrs. McKessie said, sitting down on her daughter's bed. Monique shook her head, and drew her knees to her chest. Mrs. McKessie gazed at her daughter, concerned. Taylor stared at her mother, and decided to tell her Keisha's story and show her a picture of Corrina.
"I'm sorry baby. To be honest with you, I knew something was wrong when my 30 year old daughter called and let me know to get her old room ready." Mrs. McKessie joked, trying to lighten Taylor's mood.
"Momma, I just don't understand. He was supposed to love me, till death do us part, to be exact. How could you cheat on someone you love? Every time I look at him, and I kid you not, my heart hurts. The poor woman cried when she started to tell me about everything." Taylor explains, more tears rolling down her face. It was bad enough she'd cried the entire flight.
"Well baby, did you let him explain?" Mrs. McKessie asks, suddenly fearing that her daughter had treated her husband unfairly.
"He didn't have an answer. He just repeated 'I'm sorry baby. I don't know. I didn't know.'" Taylor explained as Mrs. McKessie shook her head.
"Hmm… Here's the phone." Mrs. McKessie replied, handing Taylor the house phone. Taylor looked at her mother curiously. Mrs. McKessie then exited Taylor's room.
As Chad waited for Keisha at a Starbucks near his house, he caught a glimpse of himself in the window. His hair was a mess, his face was covered in stubble, and his clothes were disheveled. Chad couldn't believe Taylor had walked out on him. He called Gabriella, Sharpay in New York and even Martha in Denver. No one had heard anything about Keisha or Corrina except Gabriella. His last resort was Taylor's parent's house in South Carolina.
When he called, Mrs. McKessie advised him to let Taylor cool down for a couple of hours and call back. Once Chad hung up, he called Keisha and organized a meeting with her at Starbucks. Chad nearly jumped out his skin when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. When he turned around he came face to face with a woman, who looked no less than 19, carrying a carseat.
"Keisha?" He asked questioningly, the woman's face looking terrifyingly familiar. The woman shook her head and sat down, a latte in her other hand.
When Keisha finally got a good look at him, she almost started to cry. The poor man looked like he had been to hell in back in the last past days. Keisha, being one to notice small details, saw him messing with his wedding ring. His wife had left him, but hadn't put in for the divorce papers quite yet.
"I'm so sorry Chad; I didn't know this would happen." Keisha whispered, tears falling down her face. When Chad actually looked at her, she looked like she could be Taylor's younger sister.
"It's not your fault Keisha. May I please see… my baby?" Chad asked, swallowing the last words. The more Chad thought about it, the more he reminded himself of his own father, unreliable, deadbeat and just plain no good. Keisha nodded, and withdrew a baby that looked exactly like him, placing her in his arms.
"Chad, this is Corrina Riley Danforth, Corrina this is your daddy." Keisha introduced, Corrina looking up and smiled at Chad. As Chad held his daughter, Taylor echoed in his mind, 'That child is yours. She has your eyes, you hair, your face and for god's sake, she even has your smile.' As always, Taylor was right. He and this little girl shared the same curly brown hair, honey brown eyes, facial features, and even smiles.
"I'm so sorry Keisha. I had no idea. I never would've just left you. I could've helped you; I don't want my daughter to have the same life I had. My mother didn't marry again until I was 12 years old. Before that, the only men I knew in my life were my grandfather and my uncles." Chad said, swallowing back his tears. As Chad rocked the baby gently in his arms, she drifted off to sleep.
Keisha digested everything Chad said, word by word, seeing that this wasn't the monster she'd wanted him to be, to make herself feel better. This was a man that Taylor, Keisha thought, couldn't afford to lose.
"Have you spoken to your wife since, Monday?" Keisha asked, praying that she'd not ruined a blissful marriage. Her suspicious were soon confirmed as Chad flinched at the word 'wife'
"No, she left for her parent's house right after your first phone call." Chad replied, his tone not reflecting anything except remorse. When Chad look up from his arms, still mesmerized that someone so small could look exactly like him, he saw Keisha began to cry.
"What's wrong Keisha?"
"It's-just-if-I-wouldn't have-told-Taylor-or-you-about-the-baby, you'd guys probably be working on your own kids."Keisha cried, Chad realizing she was completely right.
" Again, this isn't your fault. I think the main reason Taylor is upset, is because not only didn't I sleep with another woman, I got her pregnant and Taylor and I had been trying for a baby that whole year. She just wanted to be a parent before we got any older." At this, Keisha cried more, not due to the fact that she'd ruined a perfect marriage, but also to the fact that she'd taken that from Taylor. She'd taken the priviledge of giving him his first child, away from her.
"Keisha why are you upset?" Chad asked, confused.
"Can't you understand? I took that from her! I took the honor of giving you your first child away from her. I took something that was promised to her as soon as you said 'I do.'" Keisha explained, between sobs. Chad finally calmed down Keisha, before speaking again.
"The other thing I want to talk about before you go is about custody. I know you've been raising Corrina alone, and I'd like to help you. If you'd like, we could arrange times and dates. I want to be a part of my daughter's life." When the words left Chad's mouth, Keisha almost cried for the pure fact of how Chad honest wanted to get to know his daughter.
Back home, Keisha had never seen such things. When one of her friends, Tia, got pregnant when they were still in high school, Keisha wasn't shocked. The baby's daddy still lived in the same area, in close proximity to see his daughter at least once and the only time Tia ever saw Darren was when he was either drunk, in court or in jail. Here was a man who cared about his child, wanted to be a part of her life, and offered any help Keisha may need.
"Chad, we don't need to do all that legal stuff. I told you I didn't want to cause any trouble. Whenever you want to see or spend time with Corrina, you may come and pick her up. I know you have a good heart, and that you'd take very good care of her." Keisha replied, squeezing Chad's free hand. Chad pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and wrote his cell phone number, home number and address.
"I know you already have some of this, but here. You can drop her off anytime you want, just give me a heads up. I'll need to make everything ready for her." Chad said, getting up to leave. "It was nice to talk to you again and to meet my daughter. If you or Corrina need anything, anything at all, just call. I won't deprive her of anything." Chad added, placing a kiss on top of Corrina's head and smiling at Keisha.
As Chad walked away, Keisha started to feel even more terrible. He was truly a good man, and a man of his kind, was a rarity. Suddenly all the animosity she had tried to direct at Chad when she was pregnant and when Corrina wouldn't sleep through the night, disappeared. So many nights before, she'd tried to convince herself that Chad was the bad guy. Now looking at him, she couldn't muster up any ill feeling towards him. This man was impossible to hate.