Love Me Through The Rain 4 Page 3

“What’s up, Esha?”

  “Where you at? Why you leave?”

  “I had to make a run real quick. I’m on the way home now.” The wind from his phone was so loud Iesha could hardly hear him. “I’m about to pull up.”

  “Huh?” She pushed her finger into one of her ears so that she could hear him better, but that was pointless because he’d hung up.

  Iesha looked at the phone and set it on the patio table. She flipped the grill up and was about to start placing hotdogs on it when she heard her son yelling. The only time he did that was when his father was home. With a little more pep in her step, Iesha walked into the living room where she found Damien playing with Damia, and Damien Jr., and Jazz hanging onto his leg.

  When he made eye contact with Iesha he nodded his head and blew her a kiss. As stupid as she felt doing it, Iesha smiled back at him and walked to where he was. He leaned his head down and kissed her mouth before stepping around her and walking through the living room.

  “Fallon, why you sitting your ass up in here looking crazy?”

  She threw her hand up in the air, but didn’t say anything.

  “You straight?” He stopped in front of her.

  She looked up and nodded her head. “Yeah, I’m good.” It was clear that something was on her mind, but he went on anyway.

  Iesha looked at Fallon after Damien walked into the kitchen and momentarily wondered why the slight frown was in her forehead, but she knew that look all too well. It was probably some more bullshit with her brother. So instead of invading her thoughts and personal matters, Iesha followed Damien into the kitchen. She had enough man problems of her own.

  Once she was alone in the living room, Fallon squinted and opened the message that had just been sent to her. It was via Facebook and from some woman she didn’t know. The ultrasound held the name of the girl that had just sent her the message.

  I know you don’t know me, but I’ve been telling Drake to tell you for months, and he refuses to do so. I’m seven months pregnant with his daughter. I know how this must look, but when we first started seeing each other, I didn’t know he was married. I’m only telling you now because as a woman I feel you have the right to know. My name is Shonda, and if you want to talk, feel free to call me at any time. 229-346-0732

  Fallon’s heart dropped as she read the message. This was all bad, and most definitely not what she, nor that innocent girl needed. Judging by the tone of the message, she seemed like a sweet girl who may have some decency about herself. Fallon wanted to cry as she read the message to herself again.

  Drake was the most selfish and careless person she’d ever met. Not only did he continue to disregard her feelings and cheat like she meant nothing to him, but he did it with no protection, which meant he was purposely infecting other women with his disease. Here it was this beautiful young girl was expecting a child and didn’t even know she was probably sick.

  The father of her child, the one that was supposed to protect her and their unborn, was the very reason their lives were now at risk. Fallon shook her head in despair. This was so sad. It was so sad that she almost began to cry. That one message took her back to the moment she first found out that she’d been infected with the disease.

  “Mommy, why you crying? You okay? Your stomach hurt?” Jazz was standing in front of her with his hands resting on her knees.

  Fallon wiped the water coating her eyelids away, before smiling at him. “No, baby. Mommy’s fine. My stomach doesn’t hurt.”

  “Well, why are you crying?”

  “I’m not crying, baby. Mommy’s eyes are just watering.”

  Jazz gave her a look that let her know he didn’t believe her, but he walked away anyway. He looked over his shoulder at her once again before taking off running outside where Damien Jr. was. Fallon allowed her tears to fall as she watched him run outside to play. All she could think about was the days that she might not be there for him.

  That was her baby and he would be all alone. Not alone technically because she knew Dakota and Rain would take care of him as their own, Iesha as well, but it wasn’t enough. He was hers. He would miss her and cry for her every day until he realized she wasn’t returning. Fallon fell over on her knees and covered her face.

  She tried to keep her sobs quiet, but as they got louder she jumped from her spot on the sofa and ran outside to the patio. Iesha and Damien were standing near the grill looking like a happy family. One would never guess she was just accusing him of cheating not even an hour ago, even though he probably was.

  Iesha ran to her as soon as she saw her. “What’s wrong Fallon?”

  “I have to go. I just need a minute. I’ll be right back.”

  “Aye, Esha, she don’t need to be driving nowhere like that,” Damien yelled.

  Fallon held her hands up in front of her face. “I’m fine, really. I’m just going to sit in my car. I don’t want my baby to see me crying.” She turned away and took off running towards her car.

  Once she was in, she cranked up and pulled off. She could see Iesha standing on the porch waving for her to come back, but she wasn’t hearing it. Her foot even pushed down a little harder on the gas, causing the car to speed up a little more. Fallon didn’t know where Love was, but she figured she would try his job first.

  Rain had mentioned earlier that he was at work, so she would go there first. She had never been to the firehouse before, but he’d told her which one it was. It had been a while since she freely drove around Columbus, but she remembered a few things. She tried unsuccessfully to stop her tears from falling while she drove, but she couldn’t.

  Every time she thought about her baby she got sadder. Thinking of having to leave him and live a life where she didn’t have him every day upset her to no end. When she got on the street she remembered the fire department being on, she slowed her car down and looked on both sides of the street, until she saw it.

  There were a few men standing outside playing basketball when she parked her car. Fallon wiped her face the best she could, but it didn’t help because fresh tears fell again. Her car door slammed and caught all of the men’s attention. Being rescuers they immediately ran to her. All of them were in her space and asking what was wrong before she could even blink.

  “I need to… I need to see my… my… my brother. Dakota Love. Am I at the right… place?”

  They all visibly relaxed as they ushered her to the back.

  One of them grabbed her arm. “Is Rain okay?”

  Fallon nodded and so did he before pulling her along. When they got to the back, Love was laid out on the sofa reading a book. He looked up when he heard them at the door. Fallon’s presence had him jumping from his spot on the sofa.

  “What’s wrong?” He looked nervous as he walked toward her, almost as if he was anticipating bad news. “Why are you here, Fallon? What’s going on?” He grabbed her and pulled her to him as she tried to stop herself from crying.

  Once his team left back out of the room to give them some privacy, he closed the door and pulled her to the sofa so they could sit down. With one arm around her shoulder, he pulled her closer to him. Fallon’s head fell against his shoulder as her tears continued to fall.

  “Fallon, what’s wrong with you?”

  “I’m going to die, Dakota… and… my… my baby… will be all alone,” she tried to get out between sobs.

  “What you mean you’re going to die? No, you’re not. Take your medicine and you’ll be fine.”

  “It sounds easy, but one day I might not be here with him. What is he going to do? I don’t want him to grow up like we did, Dakota. That was so hard.” Fallon looked off in the distance.

  Love took a deep breath, but continued to rub her arm softly. “Fallon, not saying you’re going to die because you’re not, but I’m here for him. He’ll never grow up like we did. I’m going to take care of him the same way I would if he was mine. Know that.”

  Fallon nodded her head. “I know. It’s just always been him and me. Even with his
dad being at the house with us, he’s never really there. It’s just my baby and I. I’m all he really knows. I told him about you guys because I knew this day would come, and I wanted him to be ready.”

  “What day, Fallon? Just because you’re sick doesn’t mean you’re going to die, unless there’s something you’re not telling me?”

  “No, you know everything. I just hate thinking about him not having me here with him. He’s so young, you know? He’s smart, but he’s still a baby. He needs me.”

  “Well take care of yourself and stay here with him. That’s all you have to do.”

  Fallon sniffed hard and wiped her face with the palm of her hand. She nodded her head to let him know she understood, because she did. Sitting back on the sofa, she closed her eyes. She took deep breaths and calmed herself down as he sat next to her holding her hand.

  “Where did all this come from? Where were you?”

  “I was at my sister in law’s house and I got a message from some woman that my husband has been cheating on me with. She told me she was pregnant with his daughter. All it made me think about was how she and her baby may be about to go through what I’m going through now. He’s so fucking careless. He’s just running around infecting people.”

  “Who is this nigga?”

  “You don’t know and you don’t need to. He ain’t nobody worth knowing.”

  “You damn right I don’t want to know his ass. I don’t know why you still fucking with him.”

  “I don’t. I filed for a divorce already. He thinks I’m playing, but I’m not.”

  “Then why you running your ass up to my job crying like you ain’t got no damn sense. Got all these people looking at me crazy.” Love stood up and grabbed two bottles of water from the small refrigerator. “Between you and Rain, my work life doesn’t stand a chance.”

  Fallon giggled as she took the water he was handing her. She could only imagine the strain they were putting on him. When he sat back down, she leaned her head over onto his shoulder.

  “Why I feel like you’re the oldest?”

  “Hell, I might as well be. The way your over grown ass just came up here crying to me like I’m your daddy or something.”

  Fallon punched his shoulder playfully before drinking some more of her water. He laughed with her until the room fell quiet. He and her both were wrapped up in their own thoughts.

  “I’m so glad we’re friends again. I missed my baby brother.”

  “Me too, because I need your opinion on something.”

  “What?” Fallon sat up and looked at him.

  “I want to marry Rain.”

  Fallon’s eyes bulged. “For real? Y’all been together long enough for that?”

  Love shrugged. “I don’t really give a fuck if we have or we haven’t. I know what I want and I’ma act on it.” Love’s tone was nonchalant.

  It was clear his mind was made up, so why he’d asked for her opinion was beyond her. Not that she was trying to object in any kind of way. Rain was a sweetheart and seemed to be a good match for her brother. She had no complaints.

  “So what you need my opinion on?”

  “Well, I don’t know why I said that because I don’t really need your opinion. I guess I just wanted to know what you thought about it.”

  “I think it’s a great idea. You and her have already built what looks to be a pretty solid foundation. Y’all are living together. I think you should have been married the girl, to be for real.”

  Love bit the inside of his cheek. Something he always did when he was thinking. “Yeah, I know. I just wanted to make sure I was ready, which I’m still a little unsure of because I haven’t found out who the fuck is harming her. It’s crazy. I don’t want to marry her if I can’t protect her.”

  “She doesn’t care about that, Dakota. You’re not Superman. You can’t do everything. All you can do is love her and take care of her like you’ve been doing. That’s all a woman needs. All that other stuff y’all be doing is just extra.”

  “You think so?”

  “I know so. Has she blamed you for not finding the person?’

  Love shook his head.

  “Well then, nigga.” She slapped his shoulder. “Propose to the girl. It might make her feel better. I know she’s been down since losing the baby.”

  “Man, down ain’t even the word. Her ass has been getting on my damn nerves. I told her I’d give her another baby. She don’t want to take me up on that, though.”

  “It’s too soon for you to be making jokes like that.”

  “I ain’t joking.”

  He looked at her with a serious face. One so serious that she had to laugh at him. Men could be so simple sometimes. It was just embarrassing.

  “I could slap you upside your head for saying something like that to that girl.”

  “I didn’t mean it on no funny shit. I was being serious.”

  Fallon held her head down and shook it. “Men are so stupid.”

  Fallon sat at Love’s job with him for a little while longer before leaving and heading back to Iesha’s house. Spending time with her brother had reassured her that her son would be fine, which was all she needed. When she got back to the house he was outside in the backyard playing without a care in the world. That was the perfect vision to put her back in the right mental space to carry on with her fight for her life.

  Chapter 3: What Would I Do Without My Love?

  Rain grabbed her things from the sofa and prepared to leave Alex’s house. First, she folded the blanket she’d just been sleeping under, before walking it to the back of the house and putting it back in his linen closet. She looked around the apartment for him as she walked, but she didn’t see him anywhere.

  When she walked back into the living room he was coming through the front door. Still a tad bit dazed from her nap, Rain frowned and rubbed her eyes. He was still dressed in the same clothes from earlier, while holding a stack of mail in his hands. His hair was back in a ponytail and he was wearing flip flops.

  When he saw her, he smiled and walked toward his kitchen. “It’s about time you woke your butt up.”

  “I would have been up a long time ago had I been able to get my full nap out.”

  “Girl, please. You got that lil nap out. You been sleep all day.”

  “Nah, I probably would have been sleep all day if your nasty butt hadn’t been making all of that noise. You were so loud, Alex. Like for real, that was just tacky.”

  Alex smiled even harder before rolling his eyes at her. “Girl, this my house.”

  Rain walked to the sofa and sat down so she could put her sandals back on. “I would have asked who you were back there with, but being that you called the nigga’s name so loud at one point, my question is already answered.” Rain looked up at him. “How could you do that when you just got done beating his baby mama up not even a whole twenty-four hours ago?”

  Alex shrugged. “Because that was then. This is now.”

  “It’s all the same.”

  “Not really. I wasn’t beating her up for me. I was knocking her ass around for you. So if we’re being technical about the situation, that had nothing to do with me or Damien. Therefore, our sex life has nothing to do with you.”

  “Whatever, honey. Do you.” Rain stood up and walked to the table to grab her purse and phone. “Can you take me home?”

  “Yeah, hold on. Let me grab my keys.” Alex walked to the back of the house and came back with his keys and purse.

  Rain exited his apartment first, shielding her eyes from the sun. Alex was right behind her after locking his door. They talked as they walked to the car and the entire way to Love’s house. When Alex pulled in the driveway, Rain grabbed her things before giving him a hug and getting out. She walked up the sidewalk and to the front door.

  “I love you, best friend.”

  Rain looked back at Alex as he pulled out of the driveway. “I love you too, bestie.”

  Alex waited for her to get into the house before pulli
ng away. The house was cool and quiet, just as she’d left it. Rain dropped her purse on the floor near the door and looked around. The house wasn’t a complete mess, but she could have done a lot better by it. Since losing the baby, she had been down, but it was time to move on, starting with cleaning her house top to bottom.

  Love had enough pressure on him at the moment. He didn’t need any extra mess out of her. Summer and Alex had both told her that days ago, but she couldn’t get past her own feelings to consider his. That was over. She couldn’t continue on like this. She missed her happy life.

  Before doing anything, she made her way upstairs and changed out of her dress. In a pair of spandex shorts and her sports bra, Rain headed for the stairs. The kitchen and living room were first on her list. She cleaned them from top to bottom before finishing the rest of the downstairs. The top floor wasn’t as bad as the bottom because there were only two rooms up there and one they never really went in.

  After the bathroom smelled of bleach and Lysol, Rain ended her cleaning in Love’s room. It had to have been the worst. There were clothes and shoes everywhere. Between the two of them and all of their belongings, she could hardly see the floor. Dirty clothing was thrown into laundry baskets, while the clean ones were folded and put into his drawers.

  The jeans and shirts he had lying on the floor were next. His closet was packed to the max with clothing, so she had to squeeze things in wherever she could get them. The dark blue jeans she had just thrown over the hanger in the closet were barely on the hanger good when something hard fell from the pocket and hit her toe.

  “Oww!” She looked down and saw the gray box with Zales written on it.

  Rain turned her head slightly to the side and looked at the wall before stooping down to grab the box. She picked it up and examined the outside, trying to make herself believe that it wasn’t what she was thinking. It felt a little heavy, so she was more than positive it was something inside.

  Rain sat down flat on her butt and held the box smiling. “I know this nigga ain’t about to propose?”

  Any doubt she had before she opened the box dissipated quickly once she stared at the large ring that was shining in her face. It sparkled every time she turned the box. The band had smaller diamonds, while the rock in the middle shined brightly with a million different colors. She could see every speck of color in the ring as she turned it in different angles.