In Loving Memory

by Tiger00star

Huelene Freeman, the biological daughter of Huey Freeman and Jazmine Dubois, tracks down her father 30 years after she was born to ask him about his and Jazmine's relationship before she was born and how things went left.

45. Chapter 45

"After encountering Ebony, I did approach Jazmine at one point," James admitted.

"When did you have time to do this when you clearly had work to do?" Huey asked, being questionable.

"Freeman, I worked way too much, the hospital didn't mind giving me a break," James bluntly spoke.

"Anderson, I highly doubt the hospital gave you any type of break," Huey said.

"What makes you believe that Freeman?" James asked.

"For starters, you're one of their best doctors so there of course going to want to have you on standby," Huey pointed out. "For years it seems as if you've been on track with your work and I highly doubt you ever had this much of an absence. I mean you said it yourself, Jazmine was always on your mind and you couldn't stand being away from her and not knowing her every move," Huey explained.

"Fine Freeman, if you must know, I was let go from my job, which is why I was able to stalk Jazmine, but we're not going to get into that," James admitted.

"Did you still live in Washington, or did you just move to West Virginia?" Huey asked.

"A little bit of both. I had my condo in Washington but I was temporarily staying in West Virginia just to be near Jazmine and the babies. Since nobody was going to keep me updated on her every move I had to do it myself," James answered.

---

Since I was let go from my job, I moved to West Virginia to be closer to Jazmine. If the baby or babies were possibly mines, I wanted to stay as close as possible without interfering.

I know she didn't tell Huey about her pregnancy. He wasn't going to be here for everything. That being the ultrasounds, the birth, picking out clothes, etc.

I didn't want to be a deadbeat dad! I knew Jazmine was pregnant and I couldn't just stand there and not do anything.

Ever since she told me it's been on my conscious. At first, I didn't believe her but with there being proof that she was pregnant, I can't just stand back and not do anything. Especially if the baby could possibly be mine.

If they were to be born, I don't want Jazmine or those two lesbians telling the kids that I was a deadbeat dad and I didn't want to have anything to do with them.

I know it doesn't seem like it, but I love kids, not in a sexual way as Sarah and William would say, but in a parenting way. I always wanted to have a family. Believe it or not, I never wanted to invest all of my time into my career.

It's made a great impact on me today, but I don't know what else I want to do. I'm supposed to be settled down with someone and have a baby by now. Or I should have done it when I was in my late 20s.

I thought Jazmine would be the one I settled down with but it seemed as if she didn't feel the same way. Regardless of what has happened between us, I still want to be involved in the baby, or the baby's life.

That said, I want to be there for the ultrasounds, the nursery, picking out clothes, and even the birth.

The only thing I question is if I'm the father. I wasn't going to be involved if that baby was Huey's kid. I find it completely unfair to take care of a kid that is not mine. One part of me wants to be there for Jazmine while another part doesn't because the babies could possibly be Huey's.

William told me the babies could be mine. So maybe there's a rare chance it is. But what if they aren't? What if I just wasted my time caring for another man's kids and it not being worth jackshit?

Would that make me less of a man or would it make me look foolish? Regardless if it possibly might be mines or Huey's I rather still be a man and own up to my responsibilities.

I don't want them two lesbians to be telling my son or daughter that I was a deadbeat dad and I didn't want anything to do with them. That would be a lie because I do want to be involved with them.

Whatever situation is going on between Jazmine and me doesn't have anything to do with the kids. Well, genetically it does, but I don't have anything against innocent children. I have something against Jazmine because she decided to play with my feelings and throw them in the trash as if it was nothing.

But besides that, I need to man up as Tyrone said, and actually go talk to Jazmine instead of spying on her.

I wasn't doing a very good job at the moment because I was waiting outside of a building that Jazmine went into. She went in alone without Tyrone or those two lesbians so I was good. That means I didn't have to deal with them. I couldn't see much of her doing anything except looking for clothing items for babies.

Tyrone isn't much of an obstacle but those two lesbians are. Judging by the way Ebony is, she's a very difficult person to deal with. I wonder how Jazmine handles her. I know for a fact she's stressing her out.

A woman who has lost so much and is given a sudden miracle tends to do whatever she can in order to keep it. That can be both good and bad. It's good that they would put up the fight for what they truly want but it's bad if they never let it go.

Sometimes when you know what's going to happen next, denial sets a tone. You wonder if it'll ever go away and they'll move on but sometimes they stay in denial for as long as they can.

That's what I think of Ebony. After looking at her backstory everything she does has a connection to what happened when she was younger. For instance, a baby, I believe she always wanted a child but it was never the right time or person to have a child.

Now that her fertility is messed she and her wife can't produce babies, just like it's hard for me to conceive them. They want a baby, I want a baby.

In this reality, we're all playing chess. I'm going against Ebony because we both want the same things: Jazmine and the baby.

I continued to watch Jazmine as she walked through the aisles with a rolling basket. She struggled to put almost anything in the basket. It's as if she didn't like it enough for it to own her sastification.

I understand mothers can be picky but I don't think they're that picky. She left the aisles and went to the next one to do completely the same thing.

I couldn't just watch her not pick anything out because it was getting to the point she was working my nerves. I decided to get out of my car and walk into the store she was in.

I had seen a lot of pregnant women shopping with the father of their children all happy and excited. It kind of made me smile because that's a nice feeling to have when you're about to welcome a newborn into the world. I always wanted to get the full experience in but it never really happened.

I hope I can talk Jazmine into letting me be involved. I highly doubt she would go for it given what happened between us. I'm pretty sure she is still pissed off with me.

Instead of standing there in a daze, I decided to finally go approach, Jazmine.

Before I turned the corner of the aisles, I heard a lady talking down to her.

"Did you know it's a shame for a woman to be in here without a man," I heard the other lady say.

"No, I didn't think it was that big of a deal," Jazmine said.

"Well, it is, and it's also rude to look at another woman's man," the lady said. "I suggest you go find yours and stop looking at mines," she sternly spoke.

"First, I wasn't looking at your man, I just coincidentally happen to make eye contact with him, second, I think it's rude of you to assume such a thing and make a fuss about it, and third, I do have a man," Jazmine defended.

"Oh really, then why isn't he here like the rest of the fathers are?" the lady questioned leaving Jazmine tongue-tied. That's my cue to step in!

I looked around me and grabbed a somewhat squishy pacifier and came around the aisles observing it. "Hey Jazz do you think this will be better for the babies when they start their teething stage," I said making up some dumb excuse.

The lady looked at me and she was a little too stunned to speak, and then Jazmine looked at me and her color just went down and fear was somewhat plastered on her face.

I could tell she was not pleased by my presence since she strongly gripped the handle of the basket she was holding.

"Yes James, I do think it would be better," she said able to speak clearly. Her face went from fear to furious.

"Great, would you like to come to check them out, they have a lot of these in other sections?" I simply asked trying to get her to leave the lady.

"Sure!" she said still playing along. I turned to go to some other aisles and I heard Jazmine lastly say, "Sorry, I have to leave to go look at baby stuff with the father of my child!"

I somewhat smirked at her little comment and just shook my head. It's never good to get into a petty argument with Jazmine. She's always gonna have the last word.

I waited for Jazmine in the aisles that didn't have as many folks since this was the area that had loud toys. She walked around the aisles and soon met with me.

I looked her up and down to see she had on a cute sundress, her skin was glowing, and her baby bump was as visible as it could be. The glow-up is no joke when it comes to pregnant women. I wanted to rub her belly but that would be crossing the line in so many ways.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jazmine asked furiously.

"I'm just dropping in for a visit," I said telling the truth.

"Really, so you dropping in for a visit is you stalking me in a baby shop," she said not believing me. Her point sounded about right but I didn't want her to know that.

"Well when you put it like that you make it sound as if I am a stalker," I said as she cocked her eyebrow up at me.

"Ok seriously, what the hell are you doing here James?" she questioned a little frustrated. I didn't want to stress her out so I decided to answer her question.

"I need to talk to you," I lowly spoke.

"About?" she asked.

I started to gesture between us and the babies. She seemed a bit bothered when I pointed this out instead of something else.

"Go fuck off!" she sternly spoke before leaving.

"Jazmine come on," I said following behind as she dropped her basket off at the entrance and left into the parking lot.

I had to catch up to her fast-walking ass. I thought pregnant women walked slowly or at least wobbled a little. It got to the point I had to literally jog in order to catch up to her.

She made it to what I'm guessing is her car. She was about to get in until I stopped her by closing the door when she opened it.

"Jazmine, please, I need to talk to you," I pleaded.

"About fucking what James?!" she yelled. I looked around to make sure we weren't attracting any bad attention and everybody was either minding their own business or going into the stores.

"About the babies Jazz! I want to talk about your pregnancy!" I exclaimed.

"James, with all due respect, there is nothing for us to talk about after all you have done to me and my unborn babies," Jazmine sternly spoke.

"What the hell have I done to you or them?" I stupidly asked causing her to look at me as if I lost my mind, which I probably have.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe inject me with a deadly disease that could kill me and my kids who are still in my womb," she rhetorically answered.

"First off, you made the situation difficult for yourself when you couldn't just act like an adult for five seconds and admit you were in the wrong. I told you I would take it away if you just went and told Huey everything that happened between us," I pointed out.

"First, why would I do that, and second, it was unnecessary for you to give it to me in the first place," she said making a partially good point.

"The second part, I will admit, it wasn't good for me to give you AIDS, but the first part I highly disagree with you on. Regardless of whatever was going on between us, he should have known what you were doing behind his back. If you're going to get married to the guy, you don't need to start the marriage off with lies," I exclaimed

"Lies!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, you and I both know you were lying to him about where you were every night. I listened to you with those brief phone calls you had with him before you left with me to go back to my place," I argued.

"Well if you're so bothered with me telling lies and trying to start off fresh, why didn't you just go tell him yourself? You had all the proof in the world to go expose me, but you didn't, why's that?" she asked.

Jazmine was right, I did have proof of our affair. I had the agreement forms, sex tapes, pictures, receipts, security tapes, and people who had seen us with their own eyes.

Why didn't I just go up to Huey myself and expose this?

Oh, I know, it's because I didn't feel like getting a beatdown from a guy who was twice my size. I didn't know what Huey was capable of. I just knew if he were to get pissed off, all hell would break loose.

I didn't want to be anywhere near that!

But then again, I could have exposed her anonymously. He wouldn't have known it came from me and he would have also just taken all of his anger out on Jazmine. I wouldn't want her to physically get hurt, yet I just wanted her to get called out for her bullshit.

"Cause it's not my place to tell him, as his fiance you should have told him," I defended.

"James, if I told Huey everything that happened between us, it would have broken him, and the last thing I want to see is him in pain," she admitted. I felt a little bad because I had seen him in pain myself at the bar. It was the first time I had ever seen him express himself and also found out that he truly loved Jazmine.

But it was probably best for both of them if Jazmine wasn't around. A guy like that deserves better than a woman who cheated on him.

I could have told Huey everything that happened, but why should I base on how Jazmine really is?

"I get that, but if you knew from the beginning he was going to be in pain if he were to hear the news, why do it in the first place?" I asked. She just looked at me and didn't give me an answer.

"Enough about Huey, I came to talk to you about the babies because I want to be involved," I said.

"Excuse me!" she said taken back.

"You heard me...I want to be involved with the babies," I repeated.

"James, you're not the father," she said in denial.

"Well, you don't know that," I said. I was a little hurt that she didn't believe I could be the father of her children.

"Yes, I do, a mother knows best, and I know you're not the father. Your sperm count is low while Huey's is high," she said comparing the possibilities.

"I get where you're coming from with that evidence, but there is still a chance I could be the father, Jazmine," I sternly spoke.

"What makes you believe that James?" she asked.

"One, we never used condoms, two, we always did it around your conception dates, three, you were pregnant after a week or two when we last did it, four, you even admitted you didn't do it as much with Huey, and five, another reason for you leaving is the babies could have possibly been mine," I explained.

Right then and there Jazmine whole mood dropped. It's as if realization hit her and she had to process it.

"No!" she said in denial.

"Yes, and you know it's true. Just because I have a low sperm count doesn't mean I can't produce, it's a very rare chance it happens," I said.

"Your ex-wife never got pregnant when the two of you tried," Jazmine pointed out.

"Yes, but my wife was getting older, you're still young and you have a higher chance of producing at the age of 19 rather than a woman who was about to be in her middle age," I said.

"Okay, what does it matter to you? You're practically killing your so-called kids with this disease you gave me," she said as I rolled my eyes.

"First, I never had anything against unborn fetuses, it was you who I had something against. And if you're so worried about them dying from the beginning then you should have admitted you were in the wrong. You're putting their lives at risk because your stubborn ass can't admit you were in the wrong," I exclaimed.

"And second, according to what I heard from other sources, you're doing just fine with this disease and the babies are most likely gonna come out healthy," I said as I saw a bit of relief in her.

"That's good, as long as they're healthy I'm okay," she said relaxing.

"Good...but Jazmine, I want to be involved, instead of behind the scenes. I want to go to your ultrasounds with you, baby shopping, classes, your paternity shoots, etc." I said.

"James, you act as if I'm keeping the baby. I'm trying my very best to avoid doing all of those," she said as I looked at her funny.

"Jazmine, if you're trying your best to avoid doing all of this, then why are you at a nursery shop?" I asked.

"Because Ebony and Nicole made me go. They want me to be involved and that's something I'm having a very hard time doing. When I give birth to these babies, I don't want to be emotionally attached to them. I just want them to pop out and live the best of my life before my time is up," she admitted.

Now that I think about it, when she was in the store she was having a hard time picking something up for the babies.

"I think you should do the same and not get involved. Ebony and Nicole are not going to let you keep them along with me. They deserve the baby as much as we do and I think it's right to give it to people who are fully prepared to be parents," she explained.

"Hold on wait, what makes you think I'm not prepared to be a parent?" I asked a bit offended.

"Because you're too involved with work to settle down and raise a baby, if the child were to make you upset, I fear you will give him or her a disease that doesn't have a cure, you weren't there from the beginning, and last but not least the babies might not even be yours so don't get yourself attached," she exclaimed.

She always has to rub the disease part in my face. That had something to do with her and only her, no one else.

"Let me prove you wrong then," I said shocking her.

"No," she shook her head.

"Come on Jazmine, I know you and me aren't on good terms, but one thing I don't want to be is a deadbeat dad. I'm okay with you giving the babies to Ebony and Nicole, but will you please just let me be present for them, even if they're possibly not mine," I pleaded.

She looked at me in consideration and I thought she would say no, but she ended up surprising me by saying: "Fine!"

---

"So Jazmine decided to let me be involved in the babies' lives," James said.

"It didn't bother you that they could have possibly been mine?" Huey asked.

"It did, but I had to push that into the back of my mind. If I had kept letting that cross my mind then we would have had a problem. I had to be a man and own up to my responsibilities, regardless if the babies were mine or not," James admitted.

"Why didn't you just tell?" Huey asked.

"Tell you what?" James asked wanting him to be specific.

"About everything, the pregnancy, affair, and why Jazmine left," Huey said.

"Honestly, I was being a coward...I didn't know how to approach you about everything. I knew you would be upset and take some of your anger out on me so I avoided it. Plus I thought it was Jazmine's place to tell you, not mine," James admitted.

"I'm not gonna lie, I would have taken my anger out on you. Deep down I still want to, but I'm being a mature adult and talking to you instead of fighting you because that's not going to get us anywhere," Huey admitted.

"Besides that, what happened with you being more involved with the babies?" Huey asked.

---

As I asked, Jazmine started to let me come to the ultrasounds when Ebony and Nicole couldn't make it, which started being quite often. Or she would just find time to let me see for myself without them knowing.

Ebony and Nicole didn't know Jazmine and I were meeting up in secret. Tyrone played a huge part in this since Jazmine would use him as a cover. When Jazmine would sometimes say she was going to hang out with Tyrone, she would really be coming to see me.

I even went baby shopping with her and would help pick out some stuff for the babies since she had a hard time with that. It's as if she wanted to be involved but something was restricting her from it.

I kept wondering why she didn't want to emotionally get involved with the babies. At first, I thought it was just the disease but it seemed to be even more than that. Whenever I would try and talk about visitations with the babies she always turned down the idea.

Jazmine said I was not to get attached to them. She didn't want me to end up wanting the babies at the end of this. She was already being nice to me by letting me be there for the babies before they were born.

The good thing about this arrangement was that I could be involved and not be a deadbeat dad. The sad part was that I was getting emotionally attached to the babies. I know I shouldn't have but I was. I think it was just the human in me that was getting attached.

I don't know how Jazmine could just emotionally unattached herself from the babies. I always wondered if that was something she picked up from Sarah or if she developed this method over time. I wanted to say it was a little bit of both but I could have been wrong.

Sometimes when I was with Jazmine, I would always think of the possibilities if we stayed together and decided to be a family. This would have been much easier but things just had to get complicated.

I wanted to be with her but she didn't want to be with me.

At times when Jazmine and I were together, I would sometimes get a weird vibe. Romantic if you ask me! It's as if some feelings between Jazmine and I never left. A perfect example would have been one of those times I went to her ultrasounds and the doctors were highly suggesting some stuff for us.

Jazmine was laying down in the chair to get checked for her ultrasounds. We went to some other hospital because I didn't trust the people where Dr. Charles worked. He said himself that the nurses there are terrible.

Not wanting to be surprised if my kids have something going on, I decided to take Jazmine to a hospital that was good at doing simple checkups. Before I took her, I made sure to call and ask a couple of questions and to also email me their performance skills.

I booked an appointment with one of their best nurses and she was being very flexible with her schedule. I wanted to see if Jazmine was really okay with both the disease and the babies.

The nurse was rubbing the cooling gel on Jazmine's stomach. While she was at that she decided to make conversation with the both of us.

"So are you guys excited to be welcoming the twins?" she asked excitedly.

Jazmine and I both looked at each other not knowing who was going to answer her. We couldn't tell the lady the truth and say we weren't keeping them.

"Yes, we're very excited," Jazmine partially lied.

"Great, I know when you reach these stages of carrying twins you start to get a little frustrated about everything," the nurse understandably spoke.

"Tell me about it," I mumbled as they both looked in my direction and Jazmine somewhat glared at me. Who the hell made her mad? I swear pregnancy hormones are all over the place.

"How do you feel Dad?" she asked smiling.

Again, I didn't know how to answer the question because I wasn't going to be involved.

"I feel happy, I'm a little nervous but I prepared," I said rubbing my hands on my pants.

"That's good, have you thought of any names for the" she was about to ask until Jazmine cut her off, "Please do not say the babies' genders. I want to be surprised when I give birth to them."

"Oh my apologies!" she said a little ashamed.

"It's okay, you didn't know," Jazmine said.

"If you don't mind me asking have you thought of any names?" the nurse asked as she pulled the monitor out.

"No, we're staying as far away from that because I'm carrying the babies for someone else," she said as the nurse looked a little surprised.

"Oh okay!" she said not knowing how to respond to that. Just by her facial expression, I could tell she wanted to ask a lot of questions.

"She's doing this for a friend, I'm just here as her partner to support," I simply said.

"That's nice of the two of you. A little side note, you don't want to be stressed out while carrying twins," the nurse informed.

"What are you talking about, I'm not stressed out," Jazmine lied. It was so obvious, especially with how stuck up she was.

"Ms. DuBois, I looked at your records and a lot of the nurses made notes about your stress," the nurse pointed out.

"What stress?" Jazmine rhetorically asked being difficult.

"It was noted that you get irritated easily, you got into a few arguments with people who came with you, you're tense the majority of the appointment, your heart rate goes up, you lose interest, and the list just goes on from there," the nurse said.

We might have some nurses that can't do simple checks ups but they for sure will catch an attitude.

"Nurse...Clark, I'm not trying to be stressed during my pregnancy, it just happens," Jazmine said trying to explain herself.

"I understand that, but you have to keep calm so your blood pressure won't go up. This is bad for the babies and it can cause pre-term or possibly even death and we definitely do not want that," the nurse said causing Jazmine's blood pressure to go up a little.

"Now what's bothering you?" Nurse Clark asked.

"I don't know, maybe work, my disease, the babies on the way, trying to unattach myself before they arrive, and just being far away from home. A lot of things have recently happened in my life and it's hard to take in," she admitted.

"Oh, I have read about your AIDS disease. You're doing good so far especially to be carrying twins, but you need to keep up that progress and make sure nothing slips. You're on edge when it comes to your babies and the disease. I would highly suggest you do stuff to relieve your stress," Nurse Clark suggested.

"Like what?" Jazmine asked.

"Like taking an aroma therapy bath, taking a day or two off work, going for a walk, exercising, getting in a mommy group, playing games, or even possibly having sex," Nurse Clark suggested.

"Sex? She has the disease she can't have sex," I pointed out.

"You're right, she shouldn't be having sex, but sex is the most effective way to relieve stress," she informed.

"But she can't have sex so what would be next?" I asked.

"The second would depend on her, but she can still have sex, but it would have to be extremely cautious. If you practice it the right way you should be able to avoid getting AIDS yourself," she said as I perked up at the idea.

"Anyways, if you look at the screen you will see your twins," she said as I directed my attention toward the screen. I got up out of my seat to come to look closer.

Every time I would look at the screen I would feel some type of excitement. I couldn't wait till they got here. I didn't know if it was bad for me to be feeling this way about kids that could possibly be mine.

You can see the twins on the screen just curled up and it looked cute. Just a heartwarming moment to see two beautiful beings that will be here soon.

"They're so pretty!" Jazmine spoke softly.

"Yes, they are, and they're very healthy, but in order to keep it that way you have to calm down and continue your diet, working out, meditating, and also taking your medication for your immune system," Nurse Clark instructed.

"Okay!" Jazmine said with acceptance.

"You're six months into your pregnancy, you have until March when they get here," Nurse Clark reminded.

"I understand nurse," Jazmine said before Nurse Clark grabbed the towel to wipe the get off of Jazmine's belly. After Jazmine was cleaned up and Nurse Clark wrote down all she needed, we left the hospital.

Jazmine and I walked in silence to the parking lot where our cars were parked. I didn't know how to correctly address her about her stress but I had to say something. I think anything would help to get on the topic of it.

"So after all this time with you and your boyfriend being together, he still hasn't fucked you?" I spoke.

Jazmine sighed and rolled her eyes at me. "I figured you would say something about that," she said already being self-aware.

"You been with the guy for how long, and you guys haven't fucked yet?" I asked almost about to smirk.

"Jeez, I wonder why we haven't fucked," Jazmine sarcastically spoke.

Maybe because both of you have AIDS and if something goes wrong you can kill both of your babies. I wanted to say that, but she had no idea that I knew that Tyrone had AIDS. Hell, I didn't even know if she knew Tyrone had AIDS.

"I wonder the same thing," I said playing along.

"Yeah, but we haven't done anything due to my disease and him waiting till marriage," Jazmine simply answered.

Excuse me, what? She's got to be joking. Still marriage?! Tyrone seriously covered up his part smoothly. Jazmine doesn't even know he has AIDS or that he's been watching her. I wanted to laugh but I didn't feel like making her upset.

"So, you would have done it with him even though you're pregnant with either me or Huey's baby and the fact you're caring a deadly disease?" I asked her.

"James that's stupid, I wouldn't put Tyrone in harm like that. I will admit I have been sexually frustrated, but I wouldn't pass on a deadly disease to anybody," Jazmine admitted.

"Okay, since sex is scratched off the list, what are you going to do now? You can't keep harming the babies by being stressed all the time," I asked.

"I don't fucking know James, I can't just calm the fuck down when I have too much to worry about!" she snapped.

"Calm down you don't have to cuss, I didn't do anything to you," I wrongly spoke as it looked like her face was turning red.

Oh shit, here we go!

"First off, you're the last person to be telling me to calm down, especially since you're the reason why we are in this situation in the first place. I could have sex, but what's the point if the possible father of your children gave you a deadly disease that will kill me and possibly them? So don't try to act on high and mighty and pretend none of this is your fault," she exclaimed fussing at me.

"Don't act like you're innocent in this either Jazmine, I might have given you AIDS, but you did some messed up stuff behind the scenes, so don't give me that sob story of yours," I fussed back as she glared at me.

"Oh my God!" she said out of frustration.

"James, I'm up to here right now with you, I highly suggest you drop this argument before things get ugly," she sternly spoke. I was a little scared of her for a second, but I brushed it off.

"Fine then," I said as I decided to drop the argument because I didn't want to stress her out.

Women! They can't admit when they're in the wrong.

"If all you need is just sex, I can easily do that," I bluntly spoke.

"Excuse me?" she said looking at me funny.

"You think I would have sex with the person who gave me the disease?" she rhetorically spoke as I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, I'm trying to help you and your stubborn ass out," I said giving her attitude.

"Well, my stubborn ass can easily go get it from somebody else," she said making me a little upset.

"And just let somebody not only catch the disease and sue your ass but also fuck you while you're carrying another man's child. That's really low of you Jazz," I said a bit disappointed.

"James, you're the last person who I would ever consider having sex with. I would rather have sex with a homeless man than you," she said which hurt. The fact she considered me to be that low really hurt.

"Fine then, enjoy being stressed, and having a hurricane of a vagina," I lastly spoke before departing from Jazmine.

I headed to my car and drove as fast as I could out of that parking lot. Jazmine had pissed me off that day, and the whole ride to my penthouse in West Virginia I was clutching onto the steering wheel.

"Did this often happen?" Huey asked.

"Every once in a while, when she was snappy towards anybody," James admitted.

"Other than going to the ultrasounds, were you still involved with baby shopping with her?" Huey asked.

"Surprisingly yes, even though we had quite a few arguments and disagreements on stuff we still pushed through. One of the reasons why I ended up keeping Nicholas was because it was too hard for me to let go of all that happened between Jazmine and me. I was there for almost everything, and every time I was around for it, the more I was too eager for the babies to get here," James explained.

Jazmine and I had gone shopping for a few baby items for the nursery that was at Nicole and Ebony's house and dress shopping for her paternity photos and gender reveal.

Since Nicole and Ebony were well aware of Jazmine's stress, they decided to give her space so she could have time to relax. They didn't want to be helicopter parents so they relaxed and let Jazmine do stuff on her own.

According to Jazmine, it was hard for Ebony to give her space especially since she was paranoid about me wishing upon Jazmine's deathbed and the babies. Looking from a different perspective, I didn't blame Ebony for not wanting me to be around Jazmine and the babies. I wouldn't want myself around them either if I took what I said to Jazmine to heart.

Jazmine also wanted a little space from Ebony because lately she and Ebony had been going at each other's throats due to Jazmine showing a lack of interest in the babies.

We were walking down an aisle looking at baby clothes while Jazmine was venting to me about her and Ebony.

"James, I love her, but she has really been on my ass about being involved with the twins," Jazmine fussed.

"And what exactly is wrong with that? Aren't you supposed to do that?" I rhetorically spoke.

"I am, but I don't want to get attached to them. I'm trying my best to not get emotionally attached because once I get attached it's going to be hard to let go, and I don't want to disappoint them," she exclaimed.

"Jazz how would you be disappointing them if they want you to be involved?" I asked.

"I would be disappointing them by not wanting them to keep the babies. I know how much they want to have a family of their own and I don't want to take that from them. I also feel like I shouldn't be involved since I'm not going to be here for long," she said which stung me a little.

"Can you please not talk like that?" I calmly asked. Jazmine looked at me funny and I already knew she wanted to say something but I cut her off before she can even began.

"I don't want you to stress yourself over this. I know you're having a hard time trying your best not to care, but can you just do it for the babies? They don't need to know that their mother was careless for them during her pregnancy," I simply explained.

"But-" she was about to say, "But nothing, Ebony and Nicole are being reasonable when they say they want you to be more involved in the babies' lives. I know you're not going to be here for long but you should make the best of it instead of trying to act as if you don't care when deep down you do. You don't need to look back on this and realize how shitty of a mom you were because you couldn't do simple things that any mother would enjoy doing before her babies arrive. I know I'm the last person who should be saying any of this to you, but I know how you feel. I'm not going to be able to see the babies at all once they're born and in Ebony and Nicole's custody, but I'm trying to make the best of it count before they do arrive. If I am the possible father, I know I have done my part as a man and father to fulfill my duties. I wish I could do more but I understand the circumstance," I said calling Jazmine out on her bullshit.

"I know I know, you're right, but it's too painful. You don't how a mother's connection is with her unborn child," she said.

"You're right, I don't know, but it would be nice if you can start connecting more appropriately and act like you're human for a couple of more months," I suggested.

She just sighed and started to look at the clothes on the aisle. She picked out a bear onesie and held it out. "What do you think of this?" she asked as I looked at it funny because I didn't know how to feel about it. I have never been too fond of animal costumes. But this is for the babies and anything they wear looks cute.

"Sure, we can go with that," I said bluntly.

"No, you hate it, I can see it in your eyes," she said not falling for my act.

"Well, why should you care about my opinion when this is for the babies? I'm pretty sure anything you get them they're going to look cute in," I honestly spoke.

"But it's some outfits here I don't like," she said as I looked around to see there weren't that many good outfits.

"I can see your concerns but we gotta leave here with something," I said as she looked around some more and grabbed two tiny shirts that had ponies in the front.

"We should get this, this looks so cute!" she said adoring it. I don't see anything special about it but if she likes it I love it.

"Yeah, definitely!" I agreed. She puts it in the basket and goes to look for more clothes that have animals on them. If any of them have ponies or horses she would put them in the basket without a second thought.

We eventually came to have enough clothes that Ebony and Nicole stopped bothering Jazmine about it. We even got a few more toys and decorations for the nursery.

Jazmine was a picky woman, but if she had seen something she liked, don't question or stop her from getting it.

When it came to shopping for Jazmine's maturity dress, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I thought she would be picky like she was when we were baby shopping, but she was more chill and relaxed about it.

We were once again walking through the aisle and looking at the color of the dresses. Every dress we were passing by, Jazmine would hold up midway to see if the color would go with her skin complexion.

She asked for my input, but I never gave the best input.

Jazmine grabbed a bunch of dresses that were styled the same way but were different colors. She threw almost half the set in my hands. When she kept grabbing more afterward, I knew we were going to be in this store all day.

I was sitting outside of the dressing room with all of the dresses on the side since Jazmine could only bring a certain amount in the dressing room. She almost threw a fit but she didn't snap.

"How many dresses are you intending to buy?" I asked to check.

"I want 2 dresses, one for the gender reveal party and my maternity photos," she answered.

"You have an ideal color?" I asked as there was complete silence.

"Not exactly, which is why I'm trying on all of these dresses," she said coming out of the dressed room wearing white.

"Jazmine," I said giving her a funny look.

"What?" she asked not seeing what was wrong with it.

"White is saying you're a virgin. Nothing about you is innocent, no offense," I explained.

"Yeah...you're right, white is definitely not my color. I want it to not only flow with my complexion but also my hair," she said brushing her fingers through it. She turned back around and went into the dressing room.

"So, I"m guessing I'm not invited to the gender reveal?" I asked as there was complete silence.

"James, you already know Ebony and Nicole would not approve of you being there. I would love for you to see for yourself but I don't know if that's possible," she respectfully answered.

"Okay, I understand," I sadly spoke. I wasn't going to argue with her because I understood why they didn't want me there. I wish I could be there to see what the babies' genders are going to be but I know my presence is unwanted.

Jazmine came out in a pink dress and she actually looked cute in it.

"That one looks nice," I complimented.

"It does, doesn't it? The only problem with it is that it makes it look as if I'm one-sided," she exclaimed.

"One-sided?" I questioned.

"Yeah, you know hoping that the baby is one gender, I don't want my kids to know I was one-sided. I want them to feel equal," she said being considerate.

"Well, that's nice you don't want to hurt their unborn feelings. I guess we can just scratch pink and blue off the list," I said.

"Yeah," she sadly spoke. "Although I would have rocked pink and blue, I sadly cannot wear it," she said going back into the dressing room.

"By the way, I forgot to ask, what are you hoping the gender is?" I asked.

"Honestly, it doesn't matter to me, I'll still love them equally, but I'm hoping they're girls so I can dress them up," she sweetly spoke.

"What about you?" she asked me as I felt a bit tongue-tied.

"I hadn't had time to really think about it. You said not to get attached so I'm not thinking too much about it," I admitted.

"Okay, but if you were to think about it, what are you hoping the gender might be?" she asked as I sighed.

"Honestly, I would want a boy," I answered.

"Why a boy?" she asked out of curiosity.

"I don't know, my parents never raised me the right way and I don't want to make the same mistakes as they did. I want a son because I think I can have a deeper connection with them than a female. Nothing wrong with having a girl, I would love to have one as well, but I know that if a boy breaks her heart or anybody treats her badly, they're going to be meeting Satan sooner rather than later," I spoke out of truth.

"Spoken as a common father would," she giggled a little.

"I would feel more relaxed having a boy rather than a girl. I feel that if I have a girl, I'm going to be overprotective of her because I fear the world we live in," I added.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" she asked.

"What I mean is look at the situation we're in Jazz...I wouldn't want my daughter to meet a guy like me and be in a situation like this. Imagine if Tom found out what happened, what do you think he would do?" I asked as she went quiet.

"I honestly don't know, and I also don't want to talk about it," she sternly spoke.

"Okay, that's fine with me," I got the hint that she wanted to move on to another subject and I was alright with that.

She came out of the dressing room wearing a green dress, her ideal color and just smiled when she had seen herself in it. "I want this one for my maternity pictures," she said happily.

"You do!" I said smiling along with her.

"Yes, I do, green has always been my color," she said full of confidence.

"Okay, when you go back in we can just put that dress to the side and you find your gender-reveal dress for the party," I said as she turned back around and went back into the dressing room. I was so glad we were halfway through this process.

"I love the way that dress makes my ass looks," she said as I started laughing.

"What ass?" I sarcastically asked being funny.

"Don't play with me James, you know I have an ass. It might not be a lot but I have some ass," she said as I smirked and started to get a little hard picturing it. She did look nice whenever she was bent over and it perked out. I liked how it clapped whenever we were doing the doggy position.

As a young adult in my twenties, I use to wonder why a bunch of men preferred women with big asses, and when I started going out with Jazmine I got to see what all the fuss was about.

When she gained some weight it got even better from there. I sometimes wonder how she sleeps at night, especially with the baby bump.

She came out of the dressing room once again, but she had on an unexpected color, lavender. I have never seen her in a color like this before but it looked nice.

"What do you think? I never tried on this type of color before," she asked twirling around.

"You look so beautiful!" I truthfully spoke.

"Really?" she asked blushing a little.

"Yes, really! It gives a mystery...see you said you didn't want to wear pink or blue because you would feel it would be one-sided and spoil the genders. So when you mix pink and blue together you get purple, and that gives everybody a mystery and makes you look as if you're for both sides," I explained.

"You're right James! It does give a mystery, I'm taking this one too," she said smiling.

"The lady has finally made her decisions," I exclaimed as she started laughing.

"Yes, I'm going to go take this off and switch back into my regular clothes," she said going back into the dressing room. I decided to go hang the other dresses up since she showed no interest in them.

"James!" she called.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Could you come in here for a second, I need some help unzipping this," she pleaded. I felt my heart start to beat out of my chest and I got nervous.

Oh, Lord! I was already turned on at the moment, I didn't want to make it worse. After putting up the dresses, I went into Jazmine's dressing room to see she was struggling to unzip her dress.

"How do you easily put and take off the other ones but you struggle with this one?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, but when you're six months pregnant and you can have a consistent amount of stamina you can say whatever you want," she rhetorically spoke.

"Fine then," I mumbled.

I started to slowly unzip her dress to see her bare back. I could somewhat feel Jazmine's body tense at my touch. I knew she was nervous and wanted me to do something because she never tensed like this unless she really wanted it.

The thing was that she was too stubborn to say anything. I took the initiative to lean in and softly kiss her upper back and she didn't say anything, surprisingly. I worked my way down as I continued to unzip her dress and kiss lower and lower down her back.

I got the feeling that she wanted me to take her dress off and that's exactly what I decided to do. I started to slip it off as I heard her groan, "James!"

"Jazmine, just please let me do this baby," I said as she relaxed. I looked in the mirror to see Jazmine had on nothing but her underwear. I looked around for a bra to see I couldn't find one.

"No bra?" I asked.

"They're uncomfortable to wear and I'm starting not to fit mine," she explained.

"I see!" I said taking it into mind.

I looked in the mirror again to get a full view of Jazmine's belly to see what she was clearly showing. I couldn't help but wrap my hands around her belly and start rubbing it.

"Mmm!" she groaned.

I slid from her belly all the way down to her panties and slid those off. She gladly stepped out of them as I threw them to the side.

I pulled out my wallet to get a condom that I always carry just in case I were to do it unexpectedly. You never know when it's going to happen so it's best to stay prepared.

I started to unbuckle my pants and pull those down so I could put my condom on. Jazmine wasn't saying anything, she was patiently waiting for it to get done.

Once I had everything on and I was safe, I wrapped my hands around Jazmine's titties and started to kiss her lips, cheeks, and down her neck. She was groaning under her breath which let me know that she wanted this.

I knew she wanted me and how much she wanted me to be inside of her.

I bent Jazmine over and started tapping my dick on her ass cheeks until she rose up and said, "James we can't do it here, what if somebody hears us?"

"Since when have you ever been worried about that?" I smirked. I haven't always done it with Jazmine in hotels or my penthouse. There were times we did it in public places such as the hospital, parties, patio, hot tub, outside, and so on. So I had my fair share of exciting experiences with Jazmine and quite a few other women.

"Since the people in the front can possibly hear us," she said worriedly.

"If that's the case then don't make as much noise," I smoothly spoke. I made bend over once again and started to rub my dick on her pussy, trying to find her hole.

Once I was able to feel which one it was, I entered the side of Jazmine and she groaned at the sudden feeling. "How do you feel right now?" I asked rubbing her ass.

"James, just go slow," she simply requested as I started to go slow. The unexpected movement caused Jazmine to begin to groan. That would have been interesting enough with her moaning, but I knew she didn't want to get caught by the people in the front. I would occasionally do certain things just to hear her groan. Jazmine was unaware that her moaning wouldn't be the only thing that got her noticed; other signs such as the sound of her cheeks clapping and groaning as well as potential couples entering or passing by the dressing room.

We did this for a good five minutes until I climaxed. Normally, I love to go longer but since we're on a schedule I decided to make this a quickie. I pulled out of Jazmine to see I was starting to soften and you could clearly see my semen in the condom. I slipped off my condom and threw it in the mini trashcan they had in here.

"James," Jazmine said snapping at me.

"What?" I asked a little bothered.

"Why would you throw it in the trashcan where everybody can see?" she sternly asked.

"Jazmine if somebody is looking that hard there is something wrong with them, and let's not pretend some couples don't come in here and mess around," I said unbothered as I started to get dressed.

Jazmine started to do the same thing and I made sure I was adjusted before leaving the dressing room. I waited on Jazmine to come out and when she did she had both her green and lavender dress she picked out.

"You ready to go?" I asked as she nodded.

We started to walk towards the front where the cashier was awaiting. Jazmine was looking around a bit shy since there were a couple of people still in the store. Which means some people heard us!

I looked around to spot some maternity bras and went to grab some for Jazmine. I didn't want her walking around in public without a bra, so I grabbed her a couple of them. They were expensive, but she has to have good posture during pregnancy. I could imagine those wired bras weren't working out for her.

Jazmine was at the front waiting on me and I put the bras on the counter for the cashier to scan she said our total came to around 235.54. Jazmine and I both pulled out our wallets at the same time to try and pay for the clothes.

"Oh don't worry James I got it," she said swiping her card.

"I would have paid for it," I said a little offended.

"I know, but Ebony and Nicole gave me money to pay for my dresses. They're going to be suspicious if they don't see any receipts," she said.

"Okay then," I said putting away my wallet.

The lady started to bag her dresses and bras. "Did you two enjoy your time here?" she asked giving a cheeky look.

"Yes, we surely did!" I answered catching her drift. I guess she heard Jazmine and me fucking.

"Here you go, enjoy your day!" she said looking me up and down and smiling.

"Thank you!" I said before Jazmine took notice of this and rolled her eyes. She dragged me away from the store and turned to give the women a sharp look.

"Enjoy your day," she said mimicking the woman's voice. "Thank you!" she said making her voice deep just like mine.

"Jazz it wasn't like that," I said as she rolled her eyes.

"Yes it was like that, she was flirting with you and you just let her slide like that," she argued.

"Jazz, she obviously knew we fucked in the dressing room, she could just be teasing," I pinpointed.

"No she wasn't and she was flat-out flirting with you when she gave you that look," she argued.

"Why should you care if you got a whole boyfriend on the side?" I asked catching her off guard. I was waiting for her response but she didn't have one.

"Goodbye James!" she said shaking her head and heading to her car with her dresses. I didn't leave the area until she drove out of the parking lot.

---

"You and Jazmine started sleeping together, again, after all, that happened?" Huey asked shocked and disappointed.

"Unfornutaley, yes, we started sleeping together after shopping for her dresses. I felt as if I was healing again while being with her before she died," James admitted.

"Anderson, having sex with Jazmine is not love," Huey pointed out.

"See, that's the difference between me and you. Jazmine and I didn't always have to have sex to feel complete. There was other stuff that Jazmine and I did besides sex. Just because you couldn't keep your hands to yourself for 2 seconds doesn't mean I was the same way. I felt like the babies were bringing Jazmine and me together," James said.

"Together?" Huey questioned.

---

The day Jazmine had her gender reveal party, I was at my condo that day. I wanted to show up, but she said it would cause chaos.

I knew Ebony and Nicole did not like me and they were most likely going to be on the lookout for me if I were to show up.

I didn't want to cause any more problems or make Jazmine's stress level go up so I'm going to stay away. Plus I don't want to get attached by doing something like this.

The more I emotionally get involved with this pregnancy the more attached I'm going to be. Attachment is the last thing I need to happen to me at the end of all of this.

I got attached to me and Jazmine's affair and that didn't end well because she chose Freeman and dumped me like a sack of potatoes. I sometimes wonder if she thinks about whatever happened between us.

Does she feel regret?

Does she still want to return to Freeman and continue as if nothing happened?

Did she ever love me or was this all a joke to her?

And most importantly, what is going through that woman's head? I question a lot of things that Jazmine does, and I sometimes wonder if she thinks twice before doing them.

I know she is a young adult and she still is making impulsive decisions. That is something I have to remind myself of from time to time when I'm dealing with Jazmine.

Then I also have to look at myself because I am the adult in the situation. I should make better decisions that won't cause me pain in the end.

Sometimes I wish I could go back into the past and change a lot of things. One of those things is meeting Sarah. I feel there is a lot of drama that happened between Sarah and me that lead to this.

Another is my parents, I wish I could change their views on how they see certain jobs. They only had respect for jobs that had to do with health, nothing else. Everybody in my family became a doctor, but I was the only one who didn't want to become a doctor. I suppose you can assume I was the black sheep of the family. Not with just dreams but also a success!

I wonder if my decisions cause me to be a lonely and depressed person. Like was this role meant for me? Am I not supposed to be happy?

I heard a knock at my door and decided to stop whatever I was doing to go answer it. I didn't get that many visitors. The only people who come by here are Jazmine and William. Other than those two, nobody else.

If it was William at the door, I would know because he doesn't like to show up to places uninvited. So it had to be Jazmine because she likes to pop out of nowhere.

I opened the door to be greeted by Jazmine who had a box of 2 cupcakes.

"Hey James!" she excitedly spoke.

"Hey Jazz," I said a little confused about why she was there.

"What brings you by?" I asked as she came into my house.

"I felt bad that you weren't able to come to the twin's gender reveal party, so I decided that it would be nice for you to feel included as well," she said going over to my kitchen counter and placing the box down.

Why the hell does this situation feel familiar? It's like I already had been and done this before.

Jazmine grabbed a small plate from the cabinets and walked back to where the box was on the counter. She took the two cupcakes out of the box and decided to place them on the plate.

"That's nice of you, but I thought you said I didn't need to get attached," I reminded.

"How is this getting attached?" she asked confused.

"Because isn't getting worked up over the gender of the babies another form of attachment?" I asked as she just shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't think so... it's just to clear your curiosity," she said.

"You can just tell me if that's the case," I said as she frowned.

"James, you've been very supportive during this pregnancy even though you didn't have to be supportive, and it would be nice if you were included in things like this. I know you were upset that you couldn't come to the twin's gender reveal, especially with all that is going on, so I decided to bring the gender reveal party to you," she explained.

"I thank you for noticing Jazmine, but don't you think we're just repeating history?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"What I mean is us getting attached. Did you ever notice when we started having our affair it wasn't a big deal until Valentine's Day when we started to get attached to each other?" I pointed out.

"I guess so, I never exactly took notice in the timeline when it happened," she admitted.

"Well, I did, and I started noticing drastic changes when it happened. We didn't have any of these problems when we weren't attached. I was calmer, wasn't as jealous, and understood our situation. I feel we're on a good track right now and I don't want to mess that up," I explained.

I looked at her to see how she was feeling and she seemed as if she was bothered by what I just said.

"I'm very confused...I don't know where we've left off at," she said.

"I thought we were just good friends," I stated.

"Well if you thought we were good friends, why did you fuck me in the dressing room?" she asked a little upset.

"Because we were in the heat of the moment and the nurse said sex might help you to relieve your stress. She said it can damage the babies if you can't calm down. So me worrying about you and the baby's health, I decided to do it since Tyrone wasn't going to do it," I reminded.

"James," Jazmine said a little irritated.

"Jazmine, there is nothing going on between the two of us. Our agreement was to be here for the twins, and once they're born we go about our lives as if nothing happened," I said as she seemed taken back.

It hurt to say that to her, but I had to be firm. We were repeating this all over again and I didn't want things to get worse. If I had given her AIDS for playing with my feelings, what makes you think what I'm going to do the next time she decides to do the same thing?

AIDS is a deadly disease and that's a little too much I'm putting on her right now. I don't want to imagine what worse I can do.

"Okay, I understand that, but it would be nice if you were involved in this. You were the main one who wanted to come and see the babies' gender and now that I providing the opportunity you want to turn it down as if it's nothing," she argued.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong Jazz," I assured. She didn't do anything wrong, yet, but something always happens in the end. We're doing well right now and I don't want to ruin that.

"Is it because of what happened in the dressing room?" she asked once again.

"Yes!" I truthfully answered. "Jazmine, I like what happened between us but I don't know, I'm confused at the moment and don't know how to go about it," I simply explained.

"I can understand your frustration but can you not let this get in the way of your involvement? I like what happened in the dressing room as well but I understand we can't be doing that especially since I have a boyfriend," she said reminding me of Tyrone.

I don't know why it always slips my mind that he is her boyfriend. She uses him as a cover-up so much that I don't even take into account they're actually dating.

I highly doubt they do anything at this point.

"Okay, I'll do the little gender reveal, but what happened in the dressing room can't happen again," I said as she smiled.

"Great because I was too excited to show you!" she said smiling. She picked up the plate with the two cupcakes and had me take one of them. She took the other and I looked at her funny.

"Don't you already know what the gender is?" I asked a bit confused.

"Yes, but I'm hungry, so take this as me participating the second time," she said as I smiled and shook my head.

I was about to take a bite out of the cupcake and before I did, I stated, "Just to let you know I don't care what the gender will be."

"Okay, good to know!" she said taking a bite out of her cupcake. I took a bite out of mines and started to chew everything up. I looked at the icing in the middle to see it was blue and I couldn't help but feel excited.

It was going to be a boy!

I always wanted a son!

I went to Jazmine's side to see what was in her cupcake and to see she had pink icing! A girl?

She's having both sexes?!

I couldn't help but still feel happy.

I looked at Jazmine and brought her into a slow passionate kiss. When I parted from her she looked at me in shock but in a loveable way.

"James, what about Tyrone?" she asked as I smirked at her.

"Jazz, fuck Tyrone you're mine!" I said bringing her in for another kiss.

---

"The two of you sounded as if you practically wanted each other," Huey mumbled.

"I guess you can say that...we started to get along during those first couple of weeks until the last stages of her pregnancy when everything started to go downhill for us," James implied.

"Downhill?" Huey questioned.

"Yes, downhill, I don't feel I need to get into detail about us getting along because I feel you're catching on to what went on," James stated.

"How did the two of you start to go downhill?" Huey asked.

"We started to go downhill during the last stages of her pregnancy because of trust issues and attachment," James said.

"Wait, hold on, how did trust issues get into the mix of this? It's not like you two were actually dating and loved each other," Huey pointed out.

"That was the problem, I was falling in love with Jazmine and wanted what I asked for in the beginning, to be with her! I felt as if she would be down for it since she didn't have to worry about the babies. I'm pretty sure they were both going to be Huey's and Nicole and Ebony were willing to adopt them. We could have left everything behind and started all over again," James sadly spoke.

"Anderson, if Jazmine didn't want to be with you the first time, what made you think the second time would be a great shot?" Huey asked.

"Freeman, you would actually be surprised at her responses," James implied.

---

Jazmine came over to spend a night at my penthouse and she was excited about it all. I know you would think that Jazmine and I had sex every time she came over, but surprisingly it didn't happen as much as I thought it would.

We would talk and watch tv together. Didn't go out as much, but it was fine with me. I had to remember a couple of things whenever Jazmine decided to come over and spend a night.

One was to buy all the sweet and salty foods, have the trash can next to the bed, massage oil, headphones, a pillow comforter, comfy socks, and vitamins. I also had to clear out certain foods from the house since she puked from the smell.

For instance, she didn't like the smell of broccoli, boiled eggs, meat, and sometimes the Chinese food I bring home whenever I didn't feel like cooking. She threw up almost every time she smelled it.

I ate it when she wasn't at the house, but when she did show up, I kept it out of sight and out of mind.

Jazmine and I were laying in bed together watching some random tv show called Full House. It seemed to be about three dads raising three girls. I looked over at Jazmine to see she was actually watching the tv. I didn't want to break her attention but I had to ask her the million-dollar question.

I know I shouldn't be asking her, especially with all that we had gone through, but I wanted to know if she was serious about this relationship or if she was doing this because she was bored.

"Hey, Jazz?" I asked as she broke her attention away from the tv. She looked directly at me which made me nervous.

"I have something to talk about with you," I warned as she focused her full attention on me.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Okay, I know this is going to sound a little crazy coming out of my mouth, especially with all that we've been through, but since we're somewhat in a relationship and we've been going on a couple of dates, you spend a night at my house, and even somewhat battling this pregnancy out together, I was wondering if you wanted to take the next step into this?" I asked.

"What are you trying to ask James?" she asked with a little hope in her eyes.

"What I'm trying to ask is if you would like to start all over again and give this relationship a try?" I asked once again.

"Start all over?" she questioned.

"Yes, as in we just leave all of this behind...since you're going to give the twins to Ebony and Nicole and you don't want to get attached and you also want to do something with your future along with me, I just wanted to know if you wanted to start it with me? I know all of this is sudden and I don't expect you to answer right away, but I just want you to think about it," I said as she nodded.

"You're right, I'm not going to jump into it, my mother has always told me to think things through before doing it," she said. Props to Sarah for giving her some good advice.

"So are you considering this?" I asked a little shocked.

"Surprisingly, yes," she answered which put me in more shock. Why was she agreeing to all of this? Usually, when I ask her stuff like this she would go quiet and not say much.

"Honestly, James, I had a lot to think about while pregnant and almost on my deathbed. For starters, I always thought about being something else other than a doctor. I feel my parents implanted that into my head since our family is full of doctors and lawyers, and I come to realize that's not what I want to do. I thought about starting my own business and making hair products, going to agriculture school so I can start my own farming and plant business, modeling, etc." she said named. I felt a little guilty when she mentioned her death bed due to AIDS, but I can always take it away from her.

"Okay, but if we do go through with this, I need you to be aware of the decision you're making. Are you going to be okay with leaving the twins, Ebony and Nicole, Tyrone, your job, parents, and even Huey behind?" I asked feeling my throat tighten at that last name.

"James...I'm not going to lie to you and say I'm over Huey. I will admit it's going to be hard to let go because he was my first love and that's something I can't brush away easily, and I hope you understand that! But honestly, Huey and I are at the stage in our lives where we're moving on. I feel he has found somebody better and he knows what he wants to do in life and I should do the same. I never had time to think things through and make mature decisions. I want to start over and not have my parents or anybody else involved in any of this. I feel the two of us work great together and we will make a good couple, but as you said we need to start over," she said as I felt my heart skip a beat.

I was a little bothered by what she said about Huey, but I was glad she was honest and didn't lie to me. I always rather Jazmine tell me the truth then to lie to me. I can be the bigger person and learn to accept it.

"I understand and I'm okay if you're still healing. I know that is something that is not easy to get over," I said.

"I thank you for understanding, but if we do start over we're going to have to have trust in each other," she said as I nodded.

"That is something I agree 100% with you on! But aside from Huey, what about Ebony, Nicole, Tyrone, and the twins?" I asked

"When it comes to Ebony, Nicole, and the twins, I'm okay with it. It's going to hurt but I don't want to be too attached. I could take them away but I don't want to do Ebony and Nicole like that. They deserve to have a family of their own and I am willing to give that to them," Jazmine said full of hope.

"The question I have for you is are you going to be able to settle down?" she asked.

"What I mean is are you going to be willing to make time for me just as I would for you?" she explained and I thought about it.

I might as well settle down. I still want to work but not as much. When I was with Jane I always put work first, and that's part of the reason why my marriage went downhill. I can't make the same mistake with Jazmine if I plan to possibly get married to her in the future.

"Yes!" I simply answered.

"If we can agree upon some things and follow through with them, I think we'll be fine with this," she said as I smiled.

"Agreed!" I said as she giggled a little.

---

"No fucking way Jazmine agree to move with you to another state after all you had done to her," Huey said in denial.

"Freeman, everything I'm telling you right now is the truth. At this point, I don't know why I would want to lie to you," James defended.

"Let's see...I have caught on to quite a few lies you told me so far about your and Jazmine's relationship. Judging by your body posture and how long it takes you to respond to certain stuff lets me know when you're lying," Huey explained.

"Okay, but I'm not lying this time. Jazmine and I were actually doing good and after the twins were going to be born we were going to leave West Virginia and come here," James said implying the state he currently lived in.

"If you and Jazmine were doing so good and you guys planned to move here," Huey emphasized, "Why did she end up dying at the end and you speaking bad on her name?"

"That's a long story," James lowly spoke.

"I can sit through another long story...I'm retired and you're retired, I got all the time in the world to sit and listen to what happened between you and Jazmine that lead us to here," Huey stated.

"It's funny how all of a sudden you rather not poke at this topic at your and Jazmine's peak of the relationship," Huey pointed out as James' mood went down.

"It's not something I would like to bring up," James warned.

"Anderson, we come this far, you might as well finish what happened. I'm guessing Jazmine broke it off with you again," Huey assumed.

"Actually, it was the other way around," James lowly spoke.

"What?" Huey questioned.

"One of the reasons why I broke it off with Jazmine was because I didn't trust her," James said.

Ever since Jazmine agreed to move with me after the twins were born, she and I had been looking at houses in Missouri. We loved their fields and wanted to have land there. While she was at work, I would call up a few realtors and go check out the houses that both Jazmine and I could agree upon and put them on the list.

I wanted her to be happy and comfortable wherever we lived, so I had her make the final decision. She chose a decent-sized house out in the fields. We still had neighbors but they were more distant instead of close. To simplify it we were going to be living in a rural area.

I didn't mind living in a rural area. It was going to be new for me since I'm used to urban or suburban areas, but I didn't mind adjusting to it. When I went and looked at the houses in those areas they actually looked nice.

I thought it was going to be beaten up and broken but the houses looked nice. My only concern is trespassers but we can figure that out when we move.

Another good thing about being distant from neighbors is we can make as much noise as we want if Jazmine and I decide to have sex. Which might be hot now that I think about it.

Jazmine was in her third trimester and almost toward the end of her pregnancy; meaning she could give birth at any minute. The plan was for her to give birth to the twins, get treated at the hospital, and then leave for Missouri.

I knew it was going to hurt Ebony and Nicole, but as Jazmine said, we both don't want to get attached. I know those are Huey's babies but sometimes I still would have the thought of myself taking care of them. I'll be nice and let Ebony and Nicole have them but it would be nice to take them in.

Jazmine and I were at the store shopping for food and vitamins since she was going to be staying over at my place this weekend. This was most likely going to be the last time I get to see Jazmine because she was going to be giving birth at any time.

She could stay with me since I'm trained for these types of situations but Ebony and Nicole wanted her to take her maternity leave from work and stay home. Since Jazmine was almost towards the end of her pregnancy they wanted her to be at home resting.

Jazmine doing the total opposite did not take her maternity leave from work. I did agree with Ebony and Nicole that she should be taking her maternity leave but she shouldn't just be sitting on her ass the whole time.

She should still be keeping herself active until the babies are ready to come out. It's important for them to still be keeping themselves active even if it's just light work. The only time you should be resting is if it is urgent and the doctor tells you so.

Jazmine and I were walking down the healthcare aisles to find her some vitamins for her immune system and pregnancy.I grabbed a small bottle for the pregnancy and a big bottle for the immune system. Since Jazmine still had the disease, I was very strict about keeping her immune system up. The nurses and doctors from the hospital said she was doing good, but I wanted to be sure for myself.

I know you're wondering why I never gave Jazmine the vaccine to get rid of her disease. The truth was I tested it on people but I never had a patient who was pregnant and had the disease, that was new to me.

Just from experience, there are some vaccines that are not safe to give to pregnant women due to affecting them and their babies. It might be good for them but not for the infant. Sometimes they have to be a certain size to withstand that. I don't want to risk anything on Jazmine or the babies so I was going to hold off on it until Jazmine gave birth. I was going to give it to her then so that way it can have time to clear up the disease in her system.

I'm pretty sure the babies will be okay since their health isn't an issue at the moment. If they're doing okay, why tamper with that?

After Jazmine and I picked up some pills in the healthcare section, we headed over to the furniture section where Jazmine started to look at a bunch of items.

"Oh my God!" she excitedly spoke running over to a decorative lamp. First, that is the fastest I have ever seen a pregnant woman in her third trimester ever move so fast.

"James look!" she said picking up a sunlamp.

I didn't see what the big deal was about the lamp. It was like a light-up globe if you ask me.

"What about it?" I asked.

"The appearance of it is so pretty," she said adoring it. I wonder if this is her hormones or her speaking.

"We have to put this in our new place," she said holding it up to me. I observed it some more to see it wasn't as bad but the design caught me off guard because I rarely saw these unless they were in some hotels. Now that I think about it why is it in stores?

"Can we get it please?" she pleaded with her puppy dog eyes. It was hard to say no to her so I just said, "Put it in the basket."

She excitedly puts it in the basket and then looks up at me and asks, "Do you want one?"

"You can grab me one just so both of our nightstands will match," I said going along with the flow. She grabbed another of those sunlamps and put it in the basket before she started to rub her lips.

"I'm craving some watermelon!" she said licking her lips some more.

"You are just all over the place today," I said smiling.

"I can't help it, I'm just excited. I'm going to be giving birth, moving to a new state, and starting a life with you. I just can't wait!" she said excitedly. Wow, she was happier than I expected her to be. She was getting me excited about moving and starting over again.

"I can't wait either!" I agreed.

We were enjoying our time looking at accessories for the house until an unexpected guess came out of nowhere.

"Jazmine," I heard a male voice say.

I looked in the direction of the voice to see it was a white young man around the same age as Jazmine who had tattoos all over his arms. He seemed like one of those innocent-looking kids who had a secret side that no one should see.

"Hey, Archy!" Jazmine said looking at the male and greeting him. As I looked at her body movements her mood all of a sudden started to go down.

"How you been?" he asked smiling at her.

"I've been doing good and you?" she respectfully asked.

"I've been doing good too. My tattoo business has been doing good and I've been getting a lot more clients than expected. It's actually one of the reasons I'm here," Archy said a little proud of himself.

"That's good to hear, so I'm guessing you're not working at the shop no more," she assumed.

"No, I uh still work there. I just take fewer hours or I have Huey or some of the guys cover my shifts if I'm not able to be there," he corrected. That doesn't make any sense. If your business is doing good and you're not taking on that many hours at your actual job then what does that bring in for you? I swear teenagers can be both dumb and smart at the same time.

"Speaking of Huey, how's he doing?" Jazmine asked. I'm not going to lie, that rubbed me the wrong way when she asked about Huey.

"He's doing fine, our boss started to pay him what he actually deserved and he's not working as many hours as he use to. He started taking classes at Howard University and I think he has a new girlfriend," he informed.

"That's good," Jazmine said. I couldn't tell if she was happy or mad.

"I see that you're carrying a living being inside your tummy," Archy said taking notice in Jazmine's belly.

"Yeah but it's actually two," she corrected.

"Twins!" Archy exclaimed.

"Yes, they are twins, they should be here in no time soon," she said as Archy looked as if he was thinking about something and he started to look as if he was calculating numbers inside of his head.

"Who's the father?" he asked trying to be nonchalant. I was waiting for her answer because I was wondering if she was going to say me or Huey.

Instead, she responds, "I'm just the carrier for a couple."

"Oh, you're doing one of those," he said a little relieved.

"Yes, I'm being a surrogate," she partially confirmed.

Why would she refer herself that way? I knew it was somewhat true but all she was doing was giving them up for adoption.

"How's that going for you?" he asked.

"It's going great...I'm going to be giving birth to the twins in less than a month so just prepping myself for it," she said smiling.

"Well good luck with that, by the way, if you don't mind me asking who is this?" he asked referring to me.

"Oh, this is my boyfriend, James," she said introducing me. Wow, I can't believe she introduced me with no shame as if that is not her ex-fiance coworker.

"Nice to meet you!" he said holding out his hand for me to shake. I took him up on his offer and shook his hand back out of respect but as he was shaking my hand he started to squeeze it a little bit. That felt personal!

We stopped shaking hands and he just gave me this odd look.

"If I didn't know any better I would think you were her dad," he said insulting me. I'm not that old.

"Well, I'm not, I'm her boyfriend," I repeated.

"I see, so how long have you two been dating?" Archy asked.

"We've been dating for about three months," Jazmine answered with no shame.

"Three months," he said sounding as if he was interested.

"That sounds serious...but I won't hold the two of you for long, I will let you two get back to shopping," Archy said as he slowly started to back up.

"It was nice meeting you James, and nice seeing you Jazmine," he emphasized.

I looked back at Jazmine to see she started to relax before giving a depressed look. It's as if she had seen a ghost and couldn't unsee it.

That was weird!"One of your former coworkers approached Jazmine and I in the store and he was acting as if he knew something about her," James pointed out.

"Probably because he knew about our situation," Huey reminded.

"Yes, but there was more that came along with it. Knowing that you had been looking for Jazmine for months," James emphasized, "I always wondered why he never went and told you that he saw Jazmine."

"Good question," Huey mumbled.

"You mean to tell me that Archy never came up to you and told you that he had seen Jazmine?" James questioned.

"Honestly, no, he has never told me that he had seen Jazmine. The only person who came close to telling me was Ebony, other than that nobody else," Huey answered.

"Odd!" James said.

"My question for you is what did Archy say to you that made you stop trusting Jazmine?" Huey asked.After Jazmine and I got done shopping at the store, she went straight home while I decided to go have a drink at the bar before heading to my condo.

I had a long day and I wanted to have a drink before ending the night.

While I was sitting at the bar minding my own business, I sensed someone looking at me from afar. I didn't put as much thought into the individual since I didn't want to make things awkward by looking.

I looked up at the tv that was showing boxing and decided to look at that for a bit. I hated watching tv but if it could keep me out of an awkward situation I was willing to put all of my attention into the tv.

I just hoped the person who stops looking at me after a while.

Someone decided to sit right next to me and I had to keep my cool.

"Hey James, long time no see," I heard a familiar voice. I looked to my side to see it was Archy from earlier.

"Archy!" I said forcing a fake smile.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm just here getting a drink before I go see a client," he said partially lying. This city has millions of bars and you specifically came to the one that I was at across town from where we originally met.

Strange, isn't it?

"Oh okay," I said a little uninterested.

"Can I get a glass of water?" Archy requested from the bartender as I rolled my eyes. If you're going to follow me, the least you can do is not make it look obvious.

The bartender sat down a glass of water for Archy as he just took little small sips from it.

"So how long have you been doing tattoos, Archy?" I asked trying to not make it awkward. The guy was obviously here for something so might as well pull it out of him.

"For almost about two years. I was always good at drawing and creating people's visions and tattooing just fell into that category. I did them on myself at first to work up my confidence and I realized I have to start doing it for others. When I showed some of my designs and ask some friends of mines to spread the word around, I had people from other states calling me in, and they were willing to pay travel fees," Archy proudly spoke.

"That's good!" I said.

"You know, fun fact, Huey was actually of one my first clients," he said smiling at the thought of it.

"Jazmine's ex," I said as he nodded.

"Yeah, but...I have actually been meaning to talk to you about that. I wanted to talk to you when we were in the store but Jazmine was right there and I didn't want to stress her out. So, I decided to follow you to this bar," Archy admitted.

No shit Sherlock!

"What are you trying to talk to me about?" I asked.

"Look, I know you and her are worried that I'm going to tell Huey where she is, but I promise you I will not say a word when I go back to Washington," he promised holding his hand up.

"Why not? You know he's been looking for her for months," I asked.

"Yes, I'm fully aware of all the filers he has posted of her, but I have my reasons for not wanting to tell him where she's at," he said.

"And that would be?" I asked.

"One, she really broke his heart when she left without warning him where she was going, why she left, and why she also left his ring and cancelled their marriage license. She had Huey crying for months, dreading sleep trying to look for her ass, he wasn't keeping up with his bills which almost lead to him losing the house, her dad tried to kill him, his grandfather died and his little brother had to move in with him to help pay bills, and this man literally started being a drug and sex addict. I can count on both you and my hands and toes on how many women he has had in and out of his place. He just started to calm down not too long ago and get back on track with his life," Archy explained.

"Damn, that sounds like a lot," I said feeling a little bad for Huey.

"It is a lot, and I'm not going to ruin that for him when he's on a good track. She can go do whatever type of hoeish shit she got going on. She can leave him, me, and all the rest of us out of it," he preached.

"Excuse me?" I said dialing it back. "What do you mean hoeish shit?" I asked.

"Oh, you didn't know, she was fucking around with a bunch of people behind you and Huey's back and I was one of them," he confessed.

"Jazmine and I weren't-" I was about to say until he rudely interrupted me, "You can save that sorry-ass lie for someone else who believes your bullshit. I knew she was fucking around with you behind Huey's back because me and the guys from work saw her at the bars and hotels with you."

"But at the time she was only sleeping with me and Huey. She made me fully aware of that before we started sleeping together, that she only had sexual intercourse with me and him," I said in denial.

"And you believed what came out of her mouth? I can count on more than one hand, how many people she slept with besides you and I. If I were you I would reconsider any future plans you have with her because she's most likely going to cheat on you with some other guy or girl," he warned.

Girl?

"If you're self-aware of Jazmine's actions in which you participated, why wouldn't you tell Huey?" I asked.

"I don't know...at first when I did it with her I didn't know that was his girlfriend until I had seen her at our job. Then the other times Huey and I weren't that close for me to be saying anything until the end when she broke it off. Me and the other's felt too tongue-tied to say anything fearing what would happen," he explained. I know the feeling because I had been through it.

"All I'm saying is there is proof of her doing all of this stuff, like some of it wasn't just for free, and she got a fucking sex problem. So man to man, I'm warning you to get out while you still can. I know those babies might either be yours or Huey's, but if it's your kid, make sure you take him or her and just get them away from Jazmine as far as possible. This woman does not need to be having kids with her sexual behavior. Those babies might possibly be molested before the age of 5," he said which had me worrying.

I didn't want my child to go through that. Looking at how the way Huey turned out, I definitely didn't want them to go that route. What if one of those babies were mine, would they have to suffer a possible sexual encounter from somebody that doesn't need to be around them?

Such as Ebony and Nicole! What if they all shared something in common and that could lead to the kids being in danger? There is always more than what meets the eye!

"I'm not trying to scare you, but I'm just letting you know as a man to be self-aware of this and make good decisions. Do not act on impulse and do something you're going to regret later on in life. If you know Jazmine you know how Jazmine is! As long as you don't tell Huey she's here, I won't tell him what happened. We would basically pat each other on the back and make it seem as if it was nothing," Archy exclaimed.

He had a good point!

If Jazmine did this the first time without feeling any type of regret or sympathy, what makes you think she's not going to do it the second time?"

---

After the conversation I had with Archy, I just snapped!" James said with his tone lowering.

"I snapped and I was just done with it," he said smiling as if he was crazy.

"She did it again, and I was a fool to fall for it again, but I'm glad Archy came out of nowhere and gave me the heads up before I went down the same road again," James sadly spoke.

Thank you for reading!

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