Hotel Key

Chapter 8

8 Years ago

One month later

RickyJo hauled the last box up from her truck and set it on the floor next to her bed. The room was small and the walls were concrete brick with just a tiny strip of cork where you could hand things over your bed. She had a roommate, who got there a few days before. Each girl had a bed, a desk and a small closet. RickyJo's nana got her a small fridge so they would at least be able to keep some cold drinks in the room. Other than that, she had a meal plan to eat at the student cafeteria. RickyJo was excited, but also nervous. Her Poppa pulled her out of school in the middle of freshman year when Jessica got pregnant, so she didn't even have the experience of high school to compare to this.

Her new roomate made her nervous. RickyJo had met plenty of black people before. There were a lot that worked for her grandfather and of course, Jessica's daughter was half black. But this girl looked different. Her hair was in long fat braids and coiled up on top of her head. The clothes she had in her closet looked like stuff RickyJo had only seen people on tv or in magazines wearing. While she hung her sundresses and folded up her worn jeans and shorts, putting them away in her closet, RickyJo was thinking she might not fit in here. What if all the kids at college dressed like her roomate? Today, she had on an ethnic printed dress and big hoop earrings. RickyJo took a deep breath and reminded herself that she had plenty of pocket money and the credit card her Poppa had given her when she left. If she had to, she would just go shopping.

Imani was watching her new roommate as well. She was from Chicago and this week was the first time she had ever been out of Illinois. The people in Georgia talked funny, dressed funny, and acted overly friendly. She couldn't figure out if everyone from the south was really that nice or if they were making fun of her in some strange way. And her roommate was like something off a country music video. The girl even had a cowboy hat and boots on when she showed up. And not cutie fashion cowboy boots, but worn in ones that looked years old. Imani heard a familiar voice in the doorway and looked up to see her brother. They were twins. And both of them won hard earned track scholarships to come here. They chose this school because it was the only one that offered them both a full ride and they wanted to go away to school together.

"Isaiah," she said, "this is my dorm mate Ericka." RickyJo stuck her hand out to the boy and he shook it. He had a warm smile. "This is my brother Isaiah," she explained.

"Ericka," she said, "but everyone just calls me RickyJo." The boy smiled again. That had to be some of the most redneck shit he ever heard. And the girls here dressed funny. And this one was certainly no exception. She even had cowboy boots on. RickyJo looked at the siblings, feeling sad and a bit lonely. She wished Jessica could have come away to school with her. But she was pregnant. RickyJo was one of the last students to arrive for school, since she was waiting and hoping Jess would have her baby before she left, but instead she went past her due date. They were only two hours away, so RickyJo bought a pager and told her cousin to beep her when it was time. Thinking about the pager, she dug through her purse to check it and make sure no one had called her. It read no calls.

"Is that a pager?," Imani's brother asked her. The only people he knew who had pagers were drug dealers and doctors. And this girl obviously wasn't either of those. RickyJo grinned sheepishly.

"Yeh," she explained, "my cousin is 'bout to have a baby and I couldn't wait anymore to leave for school so I got this so someone could call me when it was time."

"Oh," the boy told her, "that's cool." He liked her funny little accent. But when he thought about it, really he and Imani were the ones with the accents, now that they were living here. Most everyone else talked like this girl. "Me and Imani were going to go down to the student lounge and get an Italian soda, you wanna go?," he asked hopefully. RickyJo looked at her boxes. She should really finish unpacking. And she had no idea what an Italian soda was.

"What the hell," she said, dropping her stuff back in the box and kicking it into her closet, "I'd like that." Imani smiled at her.

"Girl, you are never going to get unpacked," she said. Then she offered, "I can help you when we come back." RickyJo smiled back at her.

"Thanks," she said.

RickyJo followed them down to the commons area, where a lot of people were milling around. She watched what Imani and Isaiah ordered and then ordered the same. The only coffee she ever had was out of her poppa's old dirty coffee mate. The menu here was way too much for her. Isaiah ordered a strawberry kiwi Italian and that sounded good so she got the same. She watched the girl make it. When RickyJo saw it was just sparking water with flavoring dumped in, she was relieved. It tasted pretty good.

They found a table and sat down to make some pleasant getting to know you conversation. RickyJo was interested to find out that they were twins and athletes and from Chicago. She had never been to Chicago, but she had been to New York and Washington DC. Isaiah was entertaining her with some stories from his neighborhood when she heard a funny buzzing noise.

"What is that noise," she asked.

"I think it might be your pager," Imani told her. RickyJo snatched up her purse and dug through it.

"I thought pagers were supposed to beep," she complained.

"Not if you have them set to vibrate," Isaiah told her with a laugh. She found the stupid dancing thing. Since only a few people had the number, it could really only mean one thing.

"Sorry, but I gotta go," RickyJo told her new friends. Then she bolted for the door and headed over to the parking garage to get her truck. She knew which hospital she was going to and it took about two hours to get there. The last thing she wanted to miss was her new niece being born.

One hour and thirty six minutes later, RickyJo pulled her truck into the parking lot at the hospital. She ran to the front desk. It felt like forever for the stupid lady behind the desk to look up what room her cousin was in and then she had to check some asshole list to see if RickyJo was allowed to go in there. She heard Poppa's voice behind her.

"She's good to go," he called to the woman, "Room 351." RickyJo turned and jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly. He had her other niece with him. It looked like they had been coming back from the hospital cafeteria. The little girl ran over and hugged her tightly.

"Mommy didn't have her baby yet, did she?," RickyJo asked the girl.

"No," the girl said, "all she is doing is lying in bed." This made RickyJo and her grandfather laugh. Then all walked through the doors that the woman behind the desk buzzed open for them and then headed up to the third floor to see Jessica.

RickyJo's grandmother was already there, of course. And Merle and Daryl were sitting on a couch looking bored. Well well well, RickyJo thought, looks like someone decided this might be his baby after all. RickyJo had her own doubts, especially since Cassie's father was hanging around about the time that Jess got pregnant again. But she figured Jessica knew best who she was doing the dirty with, and if she said it was Merle's baby, then it probably was. RickyJo rushed in to hug her cousin, who seemed a little out of it.

"RickyJoJo I had my baby, isn't she pretty," Jessica said, slurring her words a little.

"They gave her the sauce," Merle informed her.

"So much for doing it all natural," RickyJo said with a laugh.

"Yeah that lasted about an hour," Nana explained, "they should be in to check on her progress soon."

Daryl was sitting in the corner, pulling on a loose string on the arm of the awful vinyl hospital sofa. He had no fucking idea how he got roped into this, but the last thing he wanted to see was Jessica shit out a baby. And he was bored. RickyJo was here now, which was about the only good thing about the mess.

"Back from school already?," he asked her. She walked around the bed and gave him a hug. "How do you like it?," he asked.

"I don't know yet I was only there four hours," she joked. "I didn't expect to see you here," she said, giving Merle a pointed look. He shrugged. Jessica said the baby was his, so he figured he might like to have a look and see for himself. She should have taken the money he tried to give her and gotten a damn abortion, but it was way too late for that now.

Suddenly Jessica was trying to prop herself up in bed. Her grandmother was saying something about it being time. Augustus took Cassie out into the hall and motioned for Daryl to come with him. Then some nurses rushed in. RickyJo and Nana were holding Jessica's legs up and telling her when to push. Merle looked like he was about ready to run the hell out of there. RickyJo kicked him hard in the shin.

"Hold her hand," she told him. He moved closer to the bed and took Jessica's hand. At least he couldn't see as much from over here. RickyJo gave him another dirty look and then turned her attention back to her cousin.

"Good job Jess," we can see the head, "a few more big ones and she'll be out." Jessica leaned forward and gripped the metal bars on the side of the bed.

"Wait for the next contraction and then push hard," the nurse told her. Jessica took a few deep breaths and then bore down. Out came a big rush of fluid, her water finally breaking, and then the baby. Nana was crying and RickyJo was talking to her cousin.

"She's out, she's out, you did it!"

The hospital staff wiped the baby down and laid her down on her mother, clamping the cord and asking if anyone wanted to cut it. RickyJo offered and carefully cut it through as close to the clamp as she could. The nurses and Nana were helping to prop Jess up with pillows so she could nurse her baby. RickyJo watched them, getting her first good look at the new addition. The baby had a headful of dark curly hair, just like Cassie had when she was born. In fact, she looked just like Cassie as a baby. RickyJo shook her head to clear it a little. Then she looked again at her cousin, the baby, and then she looked over at Merle. And then she started laughing. Loud. It was just that funny. That baby was black as the day is long. If that was Merle's baby, she was Miss America.

RickyJo had no idea what the appropriate response to the situation should have been, but it seemed hysterical laughter was not the one, since the next thing she knew her Nana was dragging her out into the hall and giving her a hard slap across the face. This did nothing to stop her laughter, and her grandfather was given strict instruction not to let her back into the room until she got fucking control of herself.

"What in the hell is going on?," Daryl asked her. RickyJo wrapped an arm around his shoulder and tried to stop laughing long enough to tell him.

"The freaking baby is black," she said. Daryl started to smile.

"Yer kidding me," he said. RickyJo shook her head no and motioned for him to take a look. Daryl walked over and opened the door just wide enough to peek inside. Then he cracked up laughing. That baby wasn't just a little tan, she was dark and she had an afro puff of curly baby hair. Augustus watched the two of them, RickyJo and Daryl were sitting on the floor against the wall now, just laughing themselves silly. He was thinking about telling them to dummy up but he knew it wouldn't do any good.

"Come on Cassie," he told the small girl, "let's go see your new sister." He walked into the room. While the morons in the hall were finding this hilarious, he was more embarrassed and thought it might be best to get Daryl's brother out of there before the situation turned ugly. Merle was still standing near the bed staring at the new mom and baby, with a look of shock. The hospital staff had figured out what was going on and were wearing mixed expressions of concern and amusement. Augustus lifted Cassie up and set her gently on the bed, giving her a stern warning to be gentle. His wife was taking pictures of them, trying to pretend that nothing was wrong. He walked over and stood next to Merle.

"Jessica," he said to his granddaughter, "Do you have something you would like to say to Merle?" She looked at him and shrugged.

"Oops?," she offered.

"Try an apology Jessica Marie," the man told her. She shrugged again and turned to Merle.

"Sorry," she said with a smile, "guess I was wrong." She was pretty sure the baby was his, since she had only slept with the other guy once, but it seemed once was all it took. It's not like Merle wasn't sleeping around on her just the same. Augustus put his arm around the younger man's shoulders and led him gently out of the room. When Daryl and RickyJo saw him they started up all over again laughing.

"Congratulations Daddy!," RickyJo told him.

"Yeah she looks just like you," Daryl added. Augustus weighed the situation, then got out his wallet. He pulled out a stack of cash and pressed it into Merle's hand.

"Drinks on me tonight," he said.