Chapter 4-7: Call Me Maybe

                “Hi Ace, it’s me Yalena, um, again. Just give me a call when you get this,” she hung up, leaving yet another message on his voicemail.

                 It had been weeks since he had contacted her. He had yet to respond to any of her texts, voicemails, emails, or Simbook messages. Although she didn’t condone his behavior or appreciate his insinuation, she could at least vaguely understand his feelings about ‘catching’ her and Glen embracing. She was sure if the situation were reversed, she would have been jealous as well. “But I wouldn’t have beat the other girl up”, she thought angrily.

                She could never get away from thinking about him. It hurt her that he was ignoring her, especially with their baby due to arrive soon. As she played with Brielyn, she felt that history was repeating itself yet again. With Glen, he had not been present or a part of her life because her father had gotten between them. Now with Ace, Glen was the one standing in the middle.

                 As she walked out to the side yard to dispose of the trash after Brielyn had left for school, she felt her first Braxsim Hicks contractions. She’d read about them and knew that they weren’t real but she wished that Ace was here with her. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, checking it to make sure she had no missed calls or messages.

                 “That’s it,” she thought angrily. “He’s not getting out of this so easy.” She hailed the first cab that she could and gave them Ace’s address. When she knocked on the door, she was greeted with the last thing she expected.

                “He’s not here,” Katherine, her high school nemesis said with a smirk on her face.

                “You? What are you doing here?”

                “Oh, my darling brother never mentioned me? I’m not surprised. He didn’t bother mentioning he was dating white trash to me either. Not until he needed me to run interference that is.”

                “I need to see him.”

                “No, what you need is your tubes tied and to leave. I’ll let him know you stopped by,” she said. She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Not that I suspect he cares though,” and with that, the door clicked shut resolutely behind her.

                Yalena made it down to the street and into a cab and up her front walk before bursting into tears. She couldn’t believe that Ace would completely abandon her with a baby on the way and then leave that awful bitch of a woman to send her away when she shows up. She sunk to her knees in despair and once the tears started, she couldn’t make them stop.

                 It was in that same spot Lyric found her later when he dropped in to check on her. She had cried herself into an unsettled sleep, there in the corner on the concrete floor. He scooped her up and carried her inside. He hated seeing her like this; crushed and broken from yet another guy who didn’t understand her. He had promised though that he wouldn’t push her until she was ready.

                 What he didn’t promise was not to do anything about the current situation. That evening, after leaving Yalena tucked under her blanket on her couch and getting Brielyn started on her homework, he made a stop by City Hall and waited outside the double doors.

                 “What are you doing here,” Ace asked, seeing him the moment he stepped outside.

                “I think the question you should be asking is what are you doing? She’s fucking pregnant and you’ve abandoned her. Don’t go near her again. Not unless it is to take care of your child. She doesn’t deserve your accusations stemming from jealousy and insecurity that arises from that little dick you think makes you a man.”

                Ace opened his mouth to defend himself or counter with an insult of his own but quickly snapped it closed again, ever so slightly nodded, and turned and all but ran in the opposite direction.  

                 Lyric never mentioned what he did to Yalena. After her confrontation with Katherine, she stopped trying to contact Ace. No way was she going to go through that awful situation again. If he changed his mind, he would let her know.

                Sharp pains woke her from a dead sleep late night. She realized she was having contractions, real one this time. She quickly dialed the numbers that she had in place for just this situation; Glen to come take care of Brielyn and Jeanie to drive her to the hospital. As she waited for Jeanie to arrive, her contractions got even worse and she knew this baby would not be long in coming.

                 Shortly after Jeanie got Yalena in the door, Ace arrived at the hospital. Though he and Yalena weren’t on speaking terms, Jeanie had called him to let him know that the baby was coming. He still had reservations about this being his child but, if it was, he didn’t want to miss a single moment. He paused outside, trying to calm his nerves and work up the courage to go in. Would it be his baby or not? Would Yalena even let him in the room?

                 Hours later, little Camille Avendale was born. Per Yalena’s request, the doctor’s quickly took genetic samples of both Camille and Ace and determined that he was 99.9% the father. He was able to come in and hold his daughter and he instantly fell in love. Yalena though would barely look him in the eye. Not that he wanted to risk Lyric hunting him down again but it seemed that, even if he had, that door had closed.

                 It took some adjusting to get life on a schedule back at the house. It had been a long time since Yalena had taken care of a baby and trying to do that while also caring for her school age daughter was a chore in itself. Medical bills for her labor would be arriving any day now along with normal expenses like rent and food so she knew that she would need to go back to work soon. However, she decided to take the time that she could to enjoy her new little wondrous bundle.

                Yalena made sure to still make time for Brielyn. She remembered her childhood and how, with each new addition, time seemed to spread thinner and thinner between the children and then, when her mother died, none of the kids really got any attention at all. She vowed not to repeat that mistake with her own girls. Sometimes though, she liked her older daughter better when she was sleeping.

                 Brielyn was not the biggest fan of her little sister. “All she does is poop and cry. Why do mommies all get so excited about babies?” She just didn’t understand. Especially when Camille would cry and wake her up at three in the morning.

                 “Ugh, why did she have to go and have another baby,” Brielyn glared down at her sleeping mother, as she went to rouse her from her sleep to take care of the squalling infant.

                 Yalena had her first meeting with Mr. Martin since telling him she was pregnant as she crossed into her second trimester. He wasn’t too horrified by her looks but told her that she needed to lose at least five more pounds and tone up her belly before he’d let her get back in her performing costume.

                She tried to make a habit of going to the gym but it was not something she enjoyed. She had never been very athletic and even worse, she was doing it for a job that she hated. On top of all that, it was extremely hard to run on a treadmill when there were cooking shows on tv.

                 While she worked hard at getting her body back in the shape it needed to be in to wear that horrible leotard, she went back to performing in the parks when she had free time. A girl needed to make money, right? Now that Brielyn was old enough to understand, Yalena hoped she would never have to endure the humiliation of the repoman again and have to explain it to her daughter.

                 “Hey Yalena, I just wanted to check on you guys,” Jeanie dropped in for a visit one afternoon.

                “I have some news I want to share with you. I’m not sure how you’re going to take it though,” she said, nervously fidgeting as she worked up her courage. “Zane and I, well, we’ve been dating for awhile now. It wasn’t anything serious at first. But, well now we’re moving in together. And we just found out we’re having a baby too.”

                 Yalena was quite for a moment and then pulled her friend into a hug. “You’ve always been like a sister to me and now you really will be. Our babies can grow up together! I couldn’t be happier for you guys.”

                Her little green monster couldn’t help but poke his head out of his hole, whispering softly in her ear. “It’s supposed to be you. You’re the one who is supposed to be getting the happy ending.”

Chapter 4.6                                                                                                                                              Chapter 4.8