"Glad to have you two back inside," Ebony spoke as Huey and Huelene were seated.
"So what more do you want to know about Jazmine?" Ebony asked.
"Literally almost everything," Huey said as Ebony frowned at him.
"Do you have any specific stories you want me to share?" she asked as Huey thought about it.
"I want you to share her ultrasounds, what was going on at her job, her relationship with Tyrone, her health, the birth of Huelene, when she tried to reach out to me, and just what she was doing in general," Huey said with mixed emotions.
"When it comes to her health and ultrasounds, it didn't seem like anything was wrong with her. Even though she had AIDS she still had a good immune system, so the disease wasn't as bad as you think it is. The medication my friend prescribed to Jazmine was really helping her and Huelene," Ebony explained.
"Okay, but how did her appointments go?" Huey asked once again.
Since me, Nicole, and Jazmine were all busy working throughout the week, the best days to get her ultrasounds were on the weekends. She would go Saturday afternoons and the nurses would always check her.
Jazmine was lying down in the bed as the nurse rubbed the cool gel on her stomach. She looked to be nervous as the nurse was preparing to check the baby.
Ebony and I were nervous too because there was a possibility the baby wasn't healthy.
This was our first time checking Jazmine's ultrasound and we were hoping for the best.
The nurse was taking down notes and when she finally put her pen down she looked up at Jazmine.
"So how am I doing Nurse Jenkins," Jazmine asked the nurse.
"From my understanding of your disease and the medication you're taking, you and the baby aren't doing as bad as I thought you would," Nurse Jenkins informed a bit surprised.
"Really!" Jazmine said relieved as she smiled.
Nicole and I had to breathe as well because this was a relief. We thought the same thing the nurse had thought.
"Yes really! I highly doubt you drink, smoke, or consume any bad foods," Nurse Jenkins said.
"Yes, I don't drink, smoke, or eat any bad meals. I make sure to take my medication on time, do yoga, and eat nothing but natural goods," Jazmine smiled.
"That's good to hear," Nurse Jenkins smiled back.
"Nurse, if you don't mind me asking, how far along is Jazmine?" I asked the nurse.
"According to my data, she's five months pregnant," Nurse Jenkins informed.
"FIVE MONTHS!" the three of us all exclaimed.
"Yes, five months! She should be due somewhere in March," the nurse informed.
"Okay, that's not so bad," Nicole said.
"Not so bad... Nicole, we haven't bought any clothes, set up the nursery, pick any names, taken pictures, or even gone to court with all of this. Hell, we don't even know the baby's gender," I exclaimed.
"I can inform you the gender of the baby," the nurse added.
"No, I would like to be surprised," Jazmine answered.
"You don't want to know the gender of the baby?" Nicole asked, taken back.
"Not at the moment, I want to be surprised," Jazmine said rubbing her stomach.
"Will it be okay if we know the gender?" I asked because I desperately wanted to know the baby's gender. This was the most exciting part of the pregnancy.
"I don't mind you guys knowing the gender, but I don't want to know the gender yet," Jazmine answered.
"But what if we know the gender, and we start picking the color of the clothes or outfit choices, you'll know what the gender is," Nicole pointed out.
"Yeah, but you guys can just go clothes shopping without me," Jazmine told us.
"Jazmine, this baby is yours as well, and whether you're going to live or die, you still need to be part of those little moments before he or she is born," I sternly spoke.
"But the baby is going to be you and Nicole's, I don't think I should be as involved if I'm not going to have much time with him or her," Jazmine argued back.
"I know you're going to give the rights to me and Nicole, but you don't know the outcome if you're going to live longer," I said.
"But what if the data Nurse Jenkins just presented is false," Jazmine argued.
"Jazmine, Nurse Jenkins just said that you and the baby are good, and this could possibly have you live a normal life and you can watch your baby grow up and you can continue your life dreams," I argued back.
"Ebony, there is a 50% chance Nurse Jenkins can be wrong. These types of things always seem good until out of nowhere it's bad results," Jazmine said as I frowned at her.
I looked over at Nurse Jenkins to see that she looked nervous and scared. She started looking back at her data and then she looked at Jazmine.
"Jazmine you should be able to live longer if you keep taking your medication, eating right, and having your regular checkups," Nurse Jenkins defended.
Jazmine rolled her eyes and I just glared at her.
"See Jazmine, even Nurse Jenkins just added reasoning to it," I said.
"Ebony, the baby is going to be you and Nicole's and you should have full involvement," she said which threw me over the top.
I was about to say something until Nicole stopped me in my tracks.
"Jazmine, regardless if we're going to have rights over the baby, your lifespan should not define your lack of involvement with the baby. At the end of all of this, you're going to hurt your baby because you weren't involved and you didn't put thought into any of it. He or she already has Huey not present in the involvement they don't also need to have you intentionally following behind it," Nicole reasoned.
Jazmine listened and she took a minute to think about it all.
"You're right Nicole!" she spoke as I widened my eyes.
Are you fucking serious right now? Nicole literally said the same exact thing I said and she didn't argue with her as she did with me.
I rolled my eyes and just crossed my arms.
"Nurse Jenkins, my wife and I would love to know the gender of the baby," Nicole nicely spoke to the nurse. Nurse Jenkins looked to be relieved and then she stepped as far away from Jazmine to write down the gender on the paper.
She showed Nicole and me and we both were shocked.
"Oh my God it's a-" Nicole was about to say until I tapped her on the shoulder.
"Don't say anything, Jazmine wants to be surprised," I exclaimed.
"Alright, you didn't have to hit me," she said rubbing her shoulder.
"I didn't even hit you," I argued.
"Whatever!" she rolled her eyes.
"That's weird!" Huey said catching Ebony off guard.
"How so Freeman?" she asked.
"If both Jazmine and Huelene were healthy, then why did Jazmine end up dying at the end?" Huey asked confused.
"That part still confuses me till this day," Ebony sighed.
"Do you know if something was off about her before she died?" Huey asked.
"There was always something off about her. It wasn't her physical health I was worried about, it was her mental health," Ebony admitted.
"Why were you more worried about her mental health than her physical health?" Huey asked giving Ebony a suspicious look.
"I was more worried about her mental health because she was very doubtful throughout her whole pregnancy. Whenever the doctors and nurses would tell Jazmine about her and Huelene's health, they only had good things to say, but she never believed them," Ebony explained.
"Do you know what she was doubtful about?" Huey questioned.
"She was doubtful about her lifespan, health, and whether or not Huelene would survive the pregnancy," Ebony named.
"I don't know why she was doubtful of everything if she was only being told the good news," Huey mumbled to himself. He was trying to think why was she so worried throughout her whole pregnancy.
"I wondered that too, and I suspected that it was because of her disease. It was very popular around that time and people were dying from it," Ebony said.
"But she was taking her medication," Huey pointed out.
"She was taking her medication, but for some odd reason that wasn't calming her down. I thought if I really wanted Jazmine to have hope throughout her pregnancy, I had to find some way to get rid of her disease," Ebony explained.
"So, what'd you tried to do?" Huey asked.
"I tried asking other doctors and scientists who were searching for cures to see if they knew the cure of AIDS. A lot of them had always come back with bad news and said they didn't know. The only thing that was in the best case for Jazmine was the medication they had provided for AIDS and if she kept her immune system up," Ebony explained.
"So no one you knew had the cure for AIDS, even people who might have been trying to see if works?" Huey asked still trying to find the answer.
"No, no one knew the cure for AIDS, except for one person," Ebony held her finger up.
"Who?" Huey asked dumbfounded.
"Dr. Jame Anderson, dumbass!" Ebony exclaimed looking at Huey funny.
"You're so invested you didn't think of his name from before," Ebony scolded.
"I can't help it I need to know," Huey spoke frustrated.
"Okay, but, he was the only person I could think of that knew the cure for AIDS. He knew the cure for a lot of diseases and he was the only person who could help Jazmine," Ebony continued.
"So what'd you do?" Huey asked.
"I called him and asked to meet up somewhere in Washington so we could have lunch and discuss possible cures," Ebony said.
"That's what you told him?" Huey said in disbelief that she would say it.
"Yes, and he somehow believed it and agreed to have lunch with me," Ebony exclaimed.
"Okay, but did Jazmine know anything about this?" Huey asked.
"I don't think she knew at the time, but I remember at one point I started hearing his name a lot whenever we went to Jazmine's ultrasounds," Ebony stated.
"Did you and Nicole always go with Jazmine to her ultrasounds?" Huey asked.
"No, we didn't always go. Sometimes Tyrone took her or she would go alone," Ebony said as Huey scowled when he heard Tyrone's name.
"Did you know if Jazmine and Dr. Anderson ever encountered each other?" Huey asked.
"Huey, if they did talk to each other, I wouldn't know about it," Ebony shrugged.
"So you didn't know if Dr. Anderson ever came around Jazmine or if she was ever safe when she was alone?" Huey re-questioned.
"Look Freeman, I'm going based on my perspective of her everything, not Jazmine's...there's only so much that she told me. I wasn't with her every second of the day. And once again if Jazmine and Dr. Anderson did see each other and talk I wouldn't know about it. If anybody knows it would be Dr. Anderson," Ebony exclaimed.
"Okay, I apologize, but how did the conversation go when you met with Dr. Anderson?" Huey asked as Ebony looked a bit guilty.
Dr. Anderson was waiting for me at Al's Steak House, where we had agreed to meet. I was anxious because one, I wasn't supposed to be here, two, Jazmine and Nicole had no idea where I was, and three, I kept remembering Jazmine's portrayal of Dr. Anderson as a sadistic asshole. I was afraid of what he would do if he discovered my genuine reason for being here.
When one of the waiters brought me to the table he was at he was drinking a glass of wine. My heart kept beating as we got closer to him. "Here is Dr. Anderson," the waiter spoke as Dr. Anderson stopped from what he was doing and looked at me. He smiled and then stood up from where he was seating.
I looked him up and down because this was the first time I had seen him up close in person. He seemed to be 6 feet and 3 or 4 inches. James Anderson was in good shape, he was white, had healthy dark brown hair that was a quiff style, dark blue eyes, and he had a beautiful smile.
I could see why Jazmine didn't mind sleeping with him. The man didn't look bad at his age.
"Hi, you must be Ebony Brown," he said holding out his hand out for me to shake. He had a very nice comforting voice. He didn't seem like he could be a threat.
His voice wasn't wimpy or sensitive but it made you feel as if you were safe.
"Yes, we talked over the phone," I said shaking his hand.
"It's nice to meet you," he said.
We stopped shaking hands and then he looked over at my seat. He walked over to pull it out for me and I sat down.
"Thank you!" I spoke as he scooted me in.
He went to go sit in his chair and he scooted himself in.
"So, over the phone, you said you wanted to talk about possible cures, is there a reason for that?" he asked.
"Yes, I believe I need to exploit myself into finding other cures, and you're so successful that I thought I could get advice from you," I started.
"It's not as easy as it looks, I have to do tons of research just to find the preventatives," he spoke.
"Yes, I know," I said trying my best not to roll my eyes.
"If you don't mind me asking, what does your organization do again?" he asked.
"My organization," I said until the waiter came up.
"Hi my name is Marcus, I will be your waiter, can I get you guys anything to drink?" our waiter asked.
"We already have wine, unless you want something different," he said looking at me along with the waiter.
"No, the wine's fine with me," I assured.
"Okay, well would you guys like to put in your order?" he nicely asked as I looked at the menu.
Everything on here was expensive!
I didn't find paying for it but it was a lot they were charging for simple things.
"You can order whatever you'd like it's on me," Dr. Anderson assured.
"Okay," I said a bit unsure.
"I'll just get your chicken parmesan," I simply ordered.
"Okay, and you sure?" Marcus asked directing his attention towards Dr. Anderson.
"I would love your bone-in ribeye and shrimp cocktail," Dr. Anderson ordered.
The both of us closed our menus and handed them to Marcus.
"We'll be right up with your orders," Marcus said before walking off.
"Would you like a glass of wine?" Dr. Anderson asked me.
"Sure," I said as grabbed a glass and started pouring one for me.
He handed it to me and I said, "Thank you!"
"So back to my question, what cure does your organization do?" he asked.
"My organization helps people with Patterson's disease," I spoke.
"Patterson's disease...that's something you don't hear," Dr. Anderson said a bit surprised.
"Have you heard of it?" I asked.
"I've heard of it but I've only seen one or two people in my life with the disease, so it's very uncommon," he explained.
"Yeah," I said.
"So, what disease are you trying to find a cure for next?" he asked interested.
"I"m trying to find a cure for AIDS," I said as his eyes widen.
"AIDS?" he questioned.
"Yes, I feel like the sexual disease is killing a lot of people and I want to find a cure to help people," I half lied. I was trying to see if he would tell me so I could try and help Jazmine.
"Well, Ebony, AIDS is a hard disease to find a cure for," he stated.
"Do you possibly know the cure for AIDS?" I asked him.
"I don't know maybe I do, maybe I don't!" he said taking a sip of his wine.
"If I did know I would have helped a lot of people," he said as I gave him a disbelief look.
"You don't say," I said.
"Yes, so why don't you tell me the real reason you wanted to meet up with me Ebony?" he said snapping out of his happy act.
"Real reason, what do you mean?" I asked, confused.
"The real reason you're asking me about the cure for AIDS, specifically," he simplified.
"I'm asking because a friend of mine had got it and she could possibly die from it," I answered.
"Really, and would this friend of yours happen to be Jazmine DuBois?" he revealed.
"I've never heard the name before, it's a friend of mine I've been knowing for a long time," I tried to cover up.
"Bullshit...I know you came here for Jazmine," he called me out once again.
"What makes you think I would come here for Jazmine?" I asked wanting to know.
"Let's see, you drove almost three hours from Virginia to speak with me about cures, and you specifically point out AIDS, and you say a friend of yours has it," he explained.
"So what if I did come here to talk about Jazmine and her disease?" I rhetorically asked.
"Then I say you wasted your time and gas, I'm not helping that bitch out," he cursed.
"Excuse me but watch your language," I snapped. He started laughing at me and just shook his head.
"I don't know why she would send you up here to talk to me. I'm not changing my mind unless she agrees to my terms," he said grabbing the bottle of wine to pour more into the glass.
"She didn't send me up here, I came here on my own terms to ask you myself. She's pregnant and depressed, and you're taking her life away. The least you could do is cure her," I said.
"I'm sorry Ebony, but I can't do that, not after all she's put me through," he said shaking his head.
"What has she put you through that you had to give her AIDS?" I seriously asked.
"That fucking worthless bitch made me fall in love with her and come to find out she was using me the whole time. I don't think she felt anything while we were together," he exclaimed calling Jazmine out her name.
It made my blood boil because he was being so disrespectful.
"What made you think she would feel anything, she was with Huey and she loved him," I said stating the obvious.
"You see this is the thing I hate about women when it comes to their choice of men. They always go for the poor and worthless men that's not going to get anywhere in life and they can't even notice the good things in front of them," Dr. Anderson shamed.
"But you have to be dumb to not notice that she was in love with Huey," I said.
"Yeah but the guy couldn't even provide for her. You should have seen the house they were living in. He didn't deserve her! She would be starving and having bad hygiene whenever she came to work, it was just sad to look at," he said shaming Huey.
"You have to understand they were teenagers that were entering the world," I defended.
"And teenagers that should have been smart about their decisions," he said not caring.
"Yes, but why won't you help her? You know you'll hurt her child as well right?" I asked to make sure he was self-aware.
"I know, but it's better for her not to be in the child's life. A woman like that doesn't deserve to live, she's just like her mother if you ask me," he simply spoke.
Her mother, what does this have to do with her mother?
"Ok, but I don't think the child will care if Jazmine has AIDS. I feel it is important for the baby to grow up knowing their mother," I said.
"What about the father?" he asked taking me back.
"Excuse me?" I questioned.
"You know she's keeping me and Huey out of the baby's life right?" he asked.
"I'm well aware, but she might possibly want to have Huey in the baby's life," I tried to defend.
"How would you know if the baby is Huey's? From what I've recalled, they were barely having sex around her conception date and she was with me," Dr. Anderson informed.
"It can still be Huey's," I said trying to have hope.
"Or it could be mine," Dr. Anderson stated.
"No," I denied.
"You know if the baby is mine, me as the infant's biological father, I have the rights to the child, and you won't be able to adopt it," he informed.
"The baby will be in a two-parent household and Jazmine said she would sign the right's over to me and my wife," I tried to defend.
"Yes, but I also have rights, and in today's society, your same-sex marriage isn't legal, and nobody wants kids raised by same-sex parents," he sadly revealed.
He wasn't wrong, no one wanted same-sex couples to raise babies.
"And if the child is mine, I'm going to make sure he or she comes back home with me. I highly doubt Jazmine will live any longer afterward," he said.
"For your information, Jazmine is healthy, and she'll have more of a say than you will since she is the carrier," I exclaimed.
He stopped looking careless and he looked like he had just seen a ghost.
The waiter had appeared with our order: "Your food is here!"
"We'll like it to go, I have to get back to work, and she has to go to another meeting," Dr. Anderson immediately spoke.
"Okay, I'll just have to make sure you pay before you leave," he said as Dr. Anderson pulled out his wallet and he took out a couple of $1oo bills. I think it was $500 and he put it in Marcus's pocket.
"That should cover everything and keep the rest as a tip," he patted.
"Okay, I'll go get your to-go boxes," he said excitedly before he left.
"And when Jazmine is still living and the baby is born and if it's Huey's she'll go back to him and because I don't think she'll want the father of her child out of his or her life," I said once again as he still was shocked.
"You know the reason she left Huey is because she has AIDS and she doesn't know who the father is right?" he reminded.
"I know, but it'll be a relief when the baby is his," I said.
"Well, even if it is his, she wouldn't want to go back to him because ever since she left he's been sleeping around with a bunch of women that look almost like her," Dr. Anderson exposed.
"I think she'll bypass that," I said shaking my head.
"Yeah right, you haven't met Jazmine, she doesn't put up with any of that stuff. She might as well stay with her new man instead of going back to that crackhead ex-husband of hers," he said as I looked at him funny.
"Excuse me!" I exclaimed.
He just mentioned she had a new man like he knew it all along. Has he been watching her?
I was about to say something until Marcus came back with our orders in a to-go box and bagged.
"Here are your orders," Marcus said setting them down on the table.
"Have a nice day," he said walking away.
"As I said before Ebony, I'm not curing Jazmine, for all I could care, she can die tomorrow and I'll celebrate it at happy hour," he said getting up from his seat and picking up his food.
Before he walked away he patted me on the shoulder and lastly spoke: "Enjoy the last couple of months with her...if I were you I wouldn't get attached."
My heart had dropped because what if he was right, what if Jazmine wasn't going to live. It seemed as if he had predicted her future and he wasn't even fazed about her being healthy.
"Now that I look back on it, I think I made the worse decision in my life by contacting Dr. Anderson," Ebony admitted.
"It just some stuff that isn't adding up about her death," Ebony shook her head.
Huey agreed, something didn't seem right.
"Do you wish you could go back and take back you guys' conversation?" Huey asked as Ebony nodded.
"Yes, it's just made matters worse on me mentally," Ebony answered.
Thank you for reading!