Huey knocked on Ebony's door and waited by Huelene's side to answer.
"Are you sure she's home?" Huey asked.
"Yeah, it's her day off, so she's definitely home," Huelene answered.
"Okay!" he said as he could hear footsteps approaching the door.
The door opened to reveal Ebony Brown who had on a blue dress, blue slippers, glasses, and a cup of coffee.
"Hi, mom!" Huelene said waking Ebony up a little.
"Hi Baby," she said before taking a sip of her coffee until she stopped drinking and looked back at us.
She wiped her eyes and fixed her eyes up.
"Huelene, what are you doing here, and what is he doing here?" Ebony sternly asked pointing at Huey who glared at her.
"Mom, he's here because he has questions about Jazmine," Huelene simply answered.
"Huelene we've already discussed this, I'm not telling you anything about Jazmine's disease or why she left you," Ebony said.
"Ebony, I already know why she left me, I just need to know what she told you," Huey said as Ebony cocked her eyebrow.
"What do you mean you know why she left you?" Ebony asked, confused.
"What I mean is, I know she got AIDS from Dr. Anderson and died because of it," Huey said as Ebony widened her eyes.
"I just need to know a little more to fill in the pieces because at the moment I'm assuming she cheated on me because she fell out of love," Huey slightly warned.
"Okay, well just come in," Ebony said stepping aside so Huey and Huelene could enter.
Huey looked around to see that Ebony had a very classy setting. Almost everywhere he looked it was white. It really makes you afraid to make a mess in any area of the house.
"Do you have a specific place for us to sit?" Huey asked not wanting to be rude.
"I rather you sit outside but you can go sit on the couch," Ebony pointed.
"Right, but I don't know why you're having a whole attitude with me when I'm trying to simply ask questions about Jazmine. Did she tell you bad things about me?" Huey asked.
"No, surprisingly she only had good things to say about you," Ebony said taking a seat.
"Then what did she tell you was wrong with our marriage?" Huey asked taking a seat on the couch with Huelene.
"I don't think there was anything major wrong with your marriage. I remember she left because she had AIDs and she was pregnant with Huelene," Ebony answered.
"I already know that," Huey raised his voice as Ebony looked at him funny.
"Don't you raise your voice up in my house," she sternly spoke as Huey looked guilty.
"I'm sorry, but I just need to know! Tell me from the beginning when you first met Jazmine," Huey apologized.
"Okay!" Ebony said sitting her coffee on the table.
"But just as a warning, I only know so much from what she told me," Ebony warned.
"What do you mean you know so much, I thought she told you everything," Huey asked confused.
"Yes, but she only told me so much, I don't know the whole story. I can only go by my side of the story. The only other person who might know everything is Dr. Anderson," Ebony informed.
"Dr. Anderson?" Huey questioned, unsure.
"Yes, Dr. Anderson, as I remember, Jazmine had some type of relationship with him," Ebony said thinking as Huey's blood boiled because he knew what type of relationship they had.
Or so he thought!
"Okay, I will ask Dr. Anderson next, but at the moment I want to know from your perspective about Jazmine," Huey said just waving off Dr. Anderson.
"Okay, I'll start off from the first time I met Jazmine," Ebony said crossing her legs.
For a long time, my wife, Nicole, and I had wanted a baby. We'd been married for five years, had a steady home, and good jobs, and were both financially secure. We were on our way to starting a family. Because of our friends and coworkers, we kept getting baby fever.
We couldn't conceive children without a guy because we were both women, so we decided to find a sperm donor. Nicole said that she would carry the baby, and she attempted to do so, but something in her system prevented her from doing that.
I couldn't have kids because of an accident that happened when I was young, so I thought there was no way we could have a baby.
Then a friend of mine had mentioned that we could adopt.
So we started looking for agencies in our area and most of them were turning us down because we were a gay couple. They thought it was disgusting and they didn't want us to adopt.
Plus it wasn't legal for both sexes to adopt at the time.
So we were looking for adoption agencies out of state. The agencies either turned us down or the parents turned us down.
Usually, when they didn't care about the law, they leave the decision up to the parent to make. And most of the parents didn't want their kids being raised by a same-sexed couple.
I thought there was no hope of Nicole and I having a baby until there was one person who was willing to let us adopt their child.
They said it was a young girl who was 19 years old, she was biracial, and she has just gotten out of a marriage. We were excited to hear that she was near our state. We lived in West Virginia and she was at one of Virginia's adoption agencies.
I kept wondering why they were allowing us to adopt the baby and they informed us the girl had some type of disease.
And I got mad because there was a possibility the baby couldn't survive the pregnancy.
Diseases around those times were spreading fast and it was killing everybody. There could have been a possibility the baby was infected while in the womb.
I was about to turn down the offer but my wife, Nicole, had convinced me to go meet the woman. So, we drove to the state, Virginia, and we went to the adoption agency the woman was located at.
When I first walked into the office she was in I was amazed by her appearance. She had strawberry blond hair, unique green eyes, and a welcoming smile.
Unlike other girls she was in the highest spirit I've ever seen.
I honestly had wondered what happened in her past relationship for her to be here. But I assumed it had to be something bad.
I had come to find out her name was Jazmine DuBois. At the time I didn't think too much about it but I had heard the name DuBois before, I just couldn't remember where I heard it from.
My wife and I had took Jazmine out for lunch just to get to know her. We went to this fancy restaurant I can't remember the name of but we were eating on the patio.
She ordered almost everything off the menu. And when she was eating she was eating as if she hadn't eaten in weeks.
I was concerned because I've never seen a pregnant woman eat like that. I've seen them have a mix combination of disgusting foods but I have never seen them eat like pigs.
"So, Jazmine, where are you from?" I asked to start a conversation.
"I''m…..from here," she answered as I cocked my eyebrow at her. She seemed unsure about her answer.
"Okay, do you have any family members around here?" I asked another common question.
"No, I never grew up knowing my family," she said.
"Oh my God, that's terrible! Who took care of you?" my wife asked feeling bad for her.
"I was raised in foster care for a long time until I was on my own," she answered.
"Okay, do you have any relations with your boyfriend, does he know anything about your pregnancy?" my wife asked as I smacked myself on the forehead.
I really wanted her to be quiet because there were some questions that didn't need to be asked.
"He doesn't and I was hoping I could find a nice well stabled family to adopt my baby," she answered looking uneasy.
"Why?" I asked crossing my arms. None of this sounded right to me, like something wasn't adding up.
"Well, I'm not prepared to have a baby because I don't have money, a nice house, a college education, and I'm sick and I'm most likely gonna die soon, so I want my baby to have a future to look ahead to without no worries," she answered.
"Right!" I sarcastically spoke.
"Jazmine, if you don't mind me asking, where are you staying?" Nicole nicely asked her.
"Okay this is a little embarrassing, but Im staying at a women's shelter," she answered as I widened my eyes.
A shelter?
"So you're homeless?" I asked to be sure.
"Yes, and also jobless," she nervously spoke.
I once again looked at her funny and she could sense my questioning.
"Not many people around here wants to hire a pregnant woman," she simply spoke.
"Right!" I said once again.
"Nicole, can you please accompany me to the restroom?" I asked my wife who looked worried.
"Sure!" she said as I got up and immediately walked to the nearest restroom.
I brought us into one of the big stalls and thankfully there wasn't anybody in the women's restroom.
"What's wrong?" Nicole asked, concerned.
"You're seriously not considering trying to adopt her baby are you?" I asked.
"What's the problem with trying to adopt her baby?" Nicole's asked being serious.
"Nicole, she's sick, she doesn't come from a healthy environment, she has no money or a job to prevent the disease from harming the baby, she's living in a shelter with unknown women, and for all we know her baby daddy could be crazy," I pointed out.
"Ebony you don't know the possibly outcomes of this," she said denying it.
"Possible outcomes? Nicole, she just admitted that she's most likely gonna die soon," I argued.
"Yes, and she's asking us to take care of her baby afterwards," she said.
"Nicole, why do you think the agency offered her as a suggestion? They don't want us to have a baby and by offering a woman who's gonna die soon along with her baby just shows how cold they are about the whole thing," I strongly implied.
"Ebony, again, you don't know the possibilities, and we can help Jazmine and prevent the baby from getting sick," Nicole tried to convince.
"By doing what, she lives far away from us and we have to deal with our professions," I argued.
"Or we could ask her to live with us," Nicole suggested.
"Are you out of your mind, the answer is no!" I said.
"Come on Ebony, it's obvious the poor girl needs our help," Nicole pleaded.
"We can help her get back on her feet and she can have a safe pregnancy instead of struggling to survive in the streets," Nicole convinced.
"Fine, but if she and the baby don't survive, don't cry about it because it was your idea," I pointed out as she nodded.
"I'll take full responsibility," she said raising her hand.
We left the restroom and went back to our table to see Jazmine was asleep. I already rolled my eyes in embarrassment because people from other tables was looking at her.
I tapped her on the shoulder and woke her up. She sat up from her position and started to rub her eyes.
"Jazmine, we have a proposal for you," I simply spoke as she was alert.
"My wife and I would love for you to come live with us, for safely reasons," Nicole asked as Jazmine looked surprised.
"So to sum it up, you didn't like Jazmine?" Huey asked.
"Yes, I didn't like her because something seemed odd about her. I come to find out she wasn't telling the truth about her background," Ebony answered.
"I just didn't want her wasting our time because Nicole and I had gone through so much pain trying to have a baby, and with Jazmine coming in saying she was sick and gonna die was already a red flag for me," Ebony explained.
"Understandable! I would hate for that to happen to anybody," Huey said as Ebony agreed.
"Hello, I'm standing right here, and I'm still alive," Huelene said waving to get their attention.
Thank you for reading!
I guess if you have questions about current chapters in the book on , you can go to the Inbox or Out ox thingy and ask me questions, but don't be surprised if K don't respond back because I don't know how to use half the things on this app.