"When did you find out Jazmine was lying?" Huey asked Ebony.
"It didn't take long for me to find out she was lying. As soon as she moved into our house and stayed in the guest room, I did a background check on Jazmine, and I had come to find out she came from a very wealthy family. Her dad was practically popular around the area," Ebony exclaimed.
"Yeah, I still don't know how that flew over some people's heads," Huey said.
"Exactly, and I even found a paper with her face on it, and when I read it, I realized she ran away from home and people were looking for her," Ebony added.
"I sent out a lot of copies, so I'm not surprised if it was able to make it to other states," Huey said rubbing the back of his head.
"How did you confront her?" Huelene asked Ebony as she thought about it.
While Nicole worked as a psychologist, I led a nonprofit organization that cured Patterson's disease, a real-time and uncommon terminal condition. My organization was doing so well that I began creating my own schedule.
Jazmine would be alone at the house, and I didn't trust her. So I started working shorter hours just so I could watch Jazmine. She didn't appear to be a threat. She spent most of her days cooking, cleaning, or watching cartoons or the news.
When I ran a background check on Jazmine, I discovered that she was born in Woodcrest, Maryland, and later moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a nurse. What helped the situation, even more, was the discovery of a lost and found paper with her face on it. And it instructed me to dial this number.
It had both a home number and a work number on the front.
I strongly assumed it had to be her boyfriend's number since she said that's who she was last with.
I recall coming home to find Jazmine washing the dishes. I had made sure that Nicole was not at home because I wanted to address Jazmine alone.
She didn't take notice of me until I had to catch her attention.
"Hi, Jazmine!" I excitedly spoke as she looked up from washing dishes and smiled at me.
"Hi Ebony!" she said greeting me with a warm smile.
I went and sat in front of her in one of our tall chairs. I had the paperwork in my hand and made sure she didn't see it yet.
"How's your day been?" I asked her still smiling.
"It's been alright," she simply answered putting one of our plates aside to wash another dish.
"What about you?" she asked.
"You know the usual, saving lives, and curing people," I answered.
"That's good!" she said scrubbing another one of our plates.
"Yeah, so are you comfortable here?" I asked her.
"What do you mean?" she said looking up at me.
"What I mean is are you and the baby alright with your living environment?" I asked.
"Yes, we're both fine," she said looking down at her stomach.
"I can't imagine what you had to go through," I said with my tone filled with sympathy.
"Yeah!" she simply spoke.
"You never got to know your real family, you had to be on your own when you turned 17, your relationship didn't survive with your boyfriend, then you found out you were sick and pregnant, you ran away, you stayed at a women's shelter, and my wife and I took you in, even when you lied to us about your whole situation," I said calling her out towards the end.
"Excuse me?" she said dropping everything she was doing.
"I didn't lie to you and Nicole," she tried to lie once again.
"Oh Sweetheart, don't lie again! I did a background check on you to find out you didn't grow up in Virginia, you grew up in Maryland and then you moved to Washington D.C. where you worked as a full-time nurse. Then I also found out you left your home, but your family and your boyfriend are looking for you, and I don't know how you're poor if your dad, Tom DuBois is a famous lawyer in Maryland," I said placing all the paperwork on the counter.
I crossed my arms as she turned off the sink to dry her hands. She started looking at all the paperwork one by one and she started tearing up.
She wiped a tear that was about to slide down her cheek and then laid all the paperwork back into its original spot.
"I can explain!" she said trying to contain the other tears.
"Explain, explain what, how you basically lied to me and my wife and you're putting us in a bad position?" I rhetorically asked.
"No," she said shaking her head.
"Well, that's what it looks like! I don't want any part of what you got going on with your family and your relationship with your boyfriend," I said getting up from my seat and walking out of the kitchen area.
"What are you doing?" she asked following me.
"I'm calling whose number is on that paper," I said heading to the living room to retrieve the house phone.
"Ebony, please don't call my boyfriend," she pleaded.
"No, Jazmine, I'm not trying to get in trouble because of what you got going on in your life. For all I know, that baby and you both might not survive your sickness," I said entering the living room and picking up the house phone on one of our small tables.
"But, Ebony, if you and Nicole adopt my baby it can really help me out," she pleaded.
I immediately started dialing the first number I had seen on that paper. I had a great memory so I didn't need to go back and look at the paper.
As the phone started ringing Jazmine started to cry even more. I put the phone on speaker because I wanted to get a reaction out of her to see if she recognized the other person's voice.
"Hello!" I heard a woman's voice on the other line.
I looked at Jazmine to see her covering her mouth trying to not make a noise.
"Hello, who is this?" I immediately asked.
"This is Adaline," the woman answered.
"Are you the owner of this phone number?" I asked to make sure.
"No, my boyfriend, well friend is the owner," she said nervously laughing.
"Who is he?" I asked.
"It's Huey Freeman's phone, do you need to talk to him?" she asked as I looked back at Jazmine to see she looked hurt and in shock.
She could hear every word of what was coming out of the female's mouth and she just looked as if she was broken.
"Yes!" I answered as we both could hear the woman walking.
"Hey Hue someone on the phone wants to talk to you," she whispered.
The phone was being exchanged.
"Hello!" I heard a deep voice on the other line.
"Hello!" I said once again.
"Who is this?" he asked as I looked back at Jazmine to see she just walked away out of the living room.
Did she not care?
"Hi, do you happen to know a girl by the name of Jazmine DuBois?" I asked as I could hear sudden movement. I took the phone off of the speaker because it was starting to hurt my ears.
"YES...umm do you know where she's at or have you seen her?" he immediately asked.
"Umm," I said as I looked around to see if I could find Jazmine.
Did I hurt her?
"Where are you located?" he asked.
"Is she okay?" he asked.
"How did you find her?" he asked.
"Umm!" I said once again.
"No, speak English!" I said in a somewhat Spanish accent. I wasn't that good at forcing an accent when I was under pressure.
"I can speak a little Spanish, just tell me all you know about Jazmine so I can come get her," he said trying to assure me.
"I don't know!" I immediately said hanging up.
I went to go look for Jazmine around our house. I couldn't find her in the kitchen, the guest room, the laundry room, or either the bathroom. I got worried for a second.
That was until I passed by our backyard and I could spot strawberry-blond hair.
Jazmine was outside on the swing Nicole and I had built. She had her head down, with her legs crossed, and she was touching her stomach.
I opened the door and closed it behind me to approach her.
She didn't move, she just sat there.
When I came closer to Jazmine I could see that she was silently crying.
I didn't mean to hurt her, I just wanted her to admit what she had done.
"Jazmine are you okay?" I asked her.
She didn't say anything for almost a minute.
"I didn't mean to hurt you, I just didn't want you lying to us," I said trying to explain.
"He moved on," she sadly spoke.
"Who?" I asked wanting to know.
"Huey," she said wiping a tear.
"Is Huey your boyfriend?" I asked as she nodded.
"He seemed pretty worried about you on the phone," I told her.
"I know," she said with her head still down.
"Did something go on between the two of you?" I asked as she shook her head.
"Then why did you leave him and your family? Why didn't you tell them about your pregnancy or your sickness?" I calmly asked her wanting to know.
"I left because if they knew the real reason why I was sick or pregnant I will never hear the end of it, and dying is easier than dealing with all the drama," she answered.
"Why, what happened?" I asked as she sighed and raised her head up.
It broke me to see her face and how sad she was.
"I slept with another man behind my husband's back," she answered.
"What, I thought he was your boyfriend," I said knowing she was referring to Huey.
"He's really supposed to be my husband because we went to court to go fill in the paper and get our licenses, but we couldn't pay the fee because we needed it to pay one of our house bills, so we just had it on standby," she explained.
"Oh, okay," I said.
"So why did you sleep with another man behind Huey's back, was he treating you wrong?" I asked her as she shook her head.
"No, he has never done such a thing. I slept with another man behind his back because I was trying to get money and it backfired," she said as I widen my eyes.
"You were selling yourself?" I exclaimed.
"Kind of! The thing was I knew the guy, and he was offering," I said as I shook my head.
"What kind of relationship did you have with him, did Huey know anything about him?" I asked wanting to know.
"He was my coworker and Huey met him a couple of times and I told him about the guy," she answered.
"So what happened, what made you sleep with him?" I asked.
"Huey and I were barely getting paid at our jobs because of our race and gender. Our bills need to be paid along with our tuition for college," she told me.
"Huey wanted to be a lawyer and I wanted to be a doctor, but that required a lot of money, especially on my part. So my coworker, Dr. Anderson, who was a well-known doctor was trying to help me with my studies before I started attending Howard University," she said.
"Dr. Anderson, I believe I've heard of him," I said. I think I met him once at a party and I admired his work because he saved a lot of people.
"I don't know what happened, but we ended up sleeping together one night and I regretted it. I strictly only came around him for my studies or to help with a patient. It soon became more when he kept trying to go out with me, but it angered me because he knew I had a boyfriend," she said as I had to ask another question.
"If you regretted it the first time, how come you kept doing it?" I asked.
"I was working 24 hours at the hospital to get a bigger check, but it wasn't much from my original check and I was done with it. I couldn't do it anymore, there was no way Huey and I were going to kill ourselves to try and go to college when our bosses were giving us a little check for working long hours," she said getting upset just talking about it.
"I thought I was never going to achieve my goal, but that was until James offered me a proposal. He said if I sleep with him he would pay me more than what I earned at the hospital, and normally I wouldn't do anything like that, but I had to think about my and Huey's future, so I slept with him," she said.
"And how did this all backfire?" I asked being slow as she looked down at her stomach.
"It's not Huey's?" I asked.
"That's the thing, I don't know," she said shrugging her shoulders.
"I had sex with them around the same time," she said.
"Then how did your sickness come into play?" I asked now confused.
"My sickness came into play because I found out around the time I was pregnant that I also had AIDS," she said as I looked at her funny.
"AIDS?" I exclaimed.
"Yes, AIDS," she repeated.
"Who did you get it from?" I asked.
"I got it from Dr. Anderson, and I asked him to take it away because he doesn't have it anymore, but he told me if he takes it away he'll tell Huey everything that's been going on between the two of us, or I had to be with him," Jazmine exclaimed.
"And there was no way in hell I would leave Huey for him or have him tell Huey because I later come to find out he's a very sadistic asshole," she shook her head.
"So you don't know who the baby daddy is and you have AIDS?" I asked to be sure as she nodded.
"And why do you want my wife and me to adopt your child again?" I asked.
"I don't want she or him to be a burden to Huey, my family, and I don't want Jame's taking the baby," she simply answered.
"A burden?" I asked.
"Yes, I just don't want it as a reminder of my mistakes and she and him growing up to know the reason why I'm not in their life," she admitted.
"Huey will be broken if he found out about my sickness and how I got it. My parents will just shame me and be more disappointed," she said.
"About your sickness or the baby?" I asked to be sure.
"Both! They're both disappointed in me because I wanted to live with Huey and go to Howard University instead of Yale and Harvard where they went. They told both me and Huey to not ask for a dime from them. I wasn't surprised because I had seen a different side of my parents when I entered high school," she answered.
"It'll just be too much stress on me and the baby, and even though I could have a possible support system, I just don't want him or her to go through that," she explained.
I felt bad for her, she had been through a lot, and she was really only looking for peace in her last moments of living.
"Do you really want to give your baby up for adoption?" I asked.
"No, I wanted to keep my baby and raise him or her, but I know I will never be able to do that because I'm going to die," she said tearing up.
"I won't be able to breastfeed, watch them roll over, crawl, or walk, be up with them for long hours, and just watch them grow up," she said crying.
"I ruined my and Huey's future, and I broke him by leaving without an explanation. I can understand him moving on but I didn't think it would be so sudden," she said wiping the constant tears that kept pouring.
"And I won't be able to make it to Oklahoma with him," she broke down.
I couldn't help but just give her a hug. She was hoping for a future but she couldn't have it. She couldn't get help from her family, she couldn't have a future with Huey or her baby. I just felt bad for her.
At that point, Jazmine didn't need two people trying to adopt her baby, she needed a mother!
Huelene was silently crying along with Ebony who was trying to stay strong.
It pained her to talk about everything. She never thought she had to resort back to it but she knew that Huey and Huelene both deserved to know her side about Jazmine.
Huey wanted to cry, but he held it in. He didn't let one tear show, and he just bit his tongue.
He tried to stay as calm as possible as he listened to Ebony's side of the story.
He knew there was more to come and he didn't know if he wanted to hear the rest.
To know that Jazmine didn't want to come home because of her family, him, and Dr. Anderson.
She was afraid of the outcomes that could happen and all she was trying to do was have a safe and peaceful pregnancy.
He felt bad that he was trying to move on from Jazmine. He remembered the day he got a phone call from Ebony.
I was barely dressed when I entered the kitchen. I was wearing my joggers and eating a bowl of oatmeal. Adaline was in my and Jazmine's bed in the other room. I was upset at Jazmine at the time, and I was sleeping with any female that threw themselves at me.
I met Adaline at another Howard party I attended, and we had a one-night stand. She then left me her phone number and left. I assumed I'd never see Adaline again, but she showed up at my workplace one day to have one of her friends' cars repaired.
We became close friends, and I slept with Adaline occasionally. I even slept with other women because Adaline and I weren't dating and I didn't see the point in staying loyal to her.
I had drinks with her the night before and I brought her to my place and we ended the night with heated sex.
Adaline had to go to class so she started getting dressed. I had to go to work later that day so I wasn't in a rush.
I heard the phone ringing and I wasn't going to be able to answer it because I wasn't in the room. She was in the room, so I asked: "Hey Adaline, could you pick up the phone for me?"
"Sure!" she answered as she picked up the phone and introduced herself.
I could hear her talking to the person and she soon came to the kitchen with the phone in her hand.
"Hey Hue someone on the phone wants to talk to you," she whispered covering the bottom part of the phone.
I took the phone and sternly asked: "Who is this?"
I didn't get many phone calls so I was wondering who it was.
"Hello!" I said trying to get an answer from the person.
"Hello!" I heard a female voice say on the other line.
"Who is this?" I asked once again.
"Hi, do you happen to know a girl by the name of Jazmine DuBois?" she asked as I immediately started dropping everything I was doing to find a notebook and pencil.
I was looking through the refrigerator, the living room, and the bathroom, and then common sense told me the drawer.
"YES...umm, do you know where she's at, or have you seen her?" I came back to the phone to let them know I was still there.
"Umm," the woman said unsure.
"Where are you located? Is she okay? How did you find her?" I immediately asked all of the questions.
"Umm!" the woman said once again.
I awaited her response because I was desperate to know where Jazmine was at. I know I was mad at her but I still was worried sick about her. I just wanted her to come back home, and I wanted to hold her tight to let her know she was safe with me.
"No, speak English!" the woman said in a terrible accent. I just heard her speak fluent English when she answered. I guess she only knows some words in English.
Just by her accent, I could tell she spoke Spanish.
"I can speak a little Spanish, just tell me all you know about Jazmine so I can come get her," I assured. I knew a little Spanish because one of my coworkers spoke Spanish and he was teaching me to speak the language a little because some of our customers were Spanish speakers.
"I don't know!" she exclaimed before hanging up the phone.
"FUCK!" I yelled. I threw the phone across the where I was at and just wanted to scream and cry but I held it in.
I was just shaking cause it was hard to contain.
I felt someone embrace me and I looked down to see it was Adaline who was giving me a hug.
I kept shaking and just hugged her back.
I missed her!
I didn't know if she was safe or in danger and I just wanted her to come back home.
When I told her parents and my family about her disappearance, Tom was trying to kill me and Sarah broke down crying. They thought I did something to Jazmine but I tried to assure them I didn't do anything.
Tom was trying to shoot me, but my Grandad and Riley came to the rescue.
I ran outside his house as he followed me loading his gun.
I didn't want to hurt Tom because he was Jazmine's dad but I really should have considered defending myself.
I never thought Tom would be one to own a gun but I was mistaken. This was another time I had seen Tom go nuts.
I somehow tripped to the ground and ended up falling. There was no way I could escape because as soon as I turned around he had the gun pointed directly at my head.
"Tom you don't want to do this," I warned.
"Shut up Huey! I knew you were trouble as soon as you and Jazmine started dating and what made it worse is you both started living together. You ruined her life by changing her future and now she's GONE," he exclaimed.
I could see people coming out of their houses to watch.
White people are worse than black people. Nobody wasn't doing anything.
I heard the door open and I could hear a gun be loaded.
"Tom, step away from Huey!" I heard my Grandad say as I looked behind me to see he had the phone ringing while Riley had his gun pointed at him.
"Or what?" Tom sternly spoke.
"Or I will call the cops," my Grandad threatened.
"Hello?" I heard we heard the clerk on the other line.
"Hello?" she said once again.
"And there are witnesses around," Riley said as Tom looked around to see most of our neighbors were watching us.
He put his gun away and just cracked a smile.
"It's okay everybody, we're just rehearsing for a scene for an upcoming protest," he lied.
I looked around to see everybody sighing in relief and they just went back inside their houses.
Tom glared back at me and my family and just left and went back to his house.
What made me upset was that nobody didn't report this to the authorities. Tom got away with almost murder.
From then on, my family, and Tom and Sarah never talked to each other again.
It wasn't the last time I had seen Tom. I'd seen him again when we were going against each other in court later on in the future because we had clients, and then not long after he retired and he was running for Mayor after that.
Huey just sighed from the memory and shook his head.
He felt so stupid for moving on from Jazmine. It hurt to know that she was heartbroken just like he was.
He could understand why Ebony didn't want to contact him or Jazmine's family. He had never thought she received a judgment from them. Tom and Sarah had always seemed nice and understanding but he should have seen some of the red flags they possessed.
He hate to admit it, but Ebony was right for not contacting them afterward!
Thank you for reading!