Tears were pouring out of Cami’s eyes as she sat on her bed and watched the end of a documentary which was coincidently about a woman who wanted to place her baby up for adoption. The pregnancy was unplanned; and although she was married, the woman and her husband were facing financial difficulties. The woman, Tessa Baskin, who was thirty-nine years of age, had hidden her pregnancy for five months from her husband of fourteen years, Roy Baskin.
Once she revealed the pregnancy to him, she told him that she wanted to give the baby up for adoption. They already had three beautiful children together, and although they were going through financial difficulties (Roy worked in construction and she’d be laid off from her job as a human resource manager when the company was moved overseas to China), he still wanted to keep their baby. After she told him how far along she was, he became very angry that she’d kept something like this hidden from him for such an extended period of time. That night he left their home and spent the remainder of the night at his brother’s place playing cards.
Eventually Roy came back to the home that he and Tessa shared. He loved his family and he could never stay away from his children too long before he longed to see their faces.
He and Tessa had numerous conversations about the adoption. Each still felt the same way that they had before: he didn’t want to give up the baby and she did. Through all of the arguments and turmoil that this had taken on their marriage, Roy was there for his wife throughout the entire pregnancy. He drove her to and from the doctor; he would massage her back and feet; he would do anything to make sure that she was comfortable because she was carrying his child.
In the end, Tessa decided that she couldn’t part with her newborn. After she’d held her baby for the first time in the delivery room with Roy by her side, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to go through with the adoption. She told him with tears in her eyes, “I can’t give him up. I thought it was best but I just can’t.” They shared a kiss and smiled in bliss.
They weren’t sure of how they were going to make ends meet. All that mattered to them was that their family was staying together.
Several months later cameras followed the couple and their four children as they moved from Jackson, MS to Atlanta, GA into their temporary two bedroom apartment. Tessa had been hired as a manager at an upscale department store and Roy had been hired as a construction manager at a booming construction company. Both had managed to save up enough money within five months to move into their dream home.
The moment that Roy had opened the front door to their new home for the first time, she began to cry because she was just so excited that they had finally purchased the home of their dreams. He held her there in the foyer while the children danced in circles in the living room. They were all thankful that they could kiss cramped apartment living good-bye. Their new home was a beautiful craftsman style home that had a bedroom for everyone and the kitchen of Tessa’s dreams. All of their dreams had finally come true.
Kaci stood in front of Cami’s door and stared at her for a moment. She had thought she heard crying. Once she saw what Cami was watching, she walked back downstairs to resume watching a new reality show that she’d been dying to see.
Watching Tessa made Cami think about her recent decision to place her and River’s baby up for adoption. One of the main things that worried her is whether or not she could provide for her own child. She didn’t have a job or any sort of extra cash flow coming into the home to help out, and she didn’t want to rest everything on her mother’s shoulders. Although River said that he’d be willing to buy the baby whatever he or she needed, Cami still wasn’t so sure about that. He had left her before and he could most certainly do it again. And she didn’t want that to happen to their baby, too.
Even though Tessa didn’t want to keep her child with Roy, she had a husband who loved his family and provided for them. She and River didn’t have that.
But there was something about this documentary that made her believe that if she’d decided to keep her child that she could do it but she wasn’t sure if it was something that she should do.
Cami got up from bed and went into the bathroom to wash her face before heading downstairs to eat dinner. She still hadn’t told her mother or Kaci that she wanted to place the baby up for adoption; but since she’d told River, she knew that she’d have to tell them soon. But she didn’t want to think about that right now. The time for that would come soon enough.
As soon as she’d made it to the kitchen, she saw Kaci eating spaghetti with breadsticks and studying with notecards for her child development class.
“Hi, Kaci,” she said, helping herself to a plate of food that her mother had already prepared for her on the kitchen table.
“I was wondering when you would get down here,” Kaci said, looking up from her notecards. “I could hear you crying all the way downstairs.”
“Sorry about that. But I heard something too.”
Kaci stuck her notecards between her child development text book and closed it. “What?” she asked her sister, giving her undivided attention.
Cami stuck a mouthful of spaghetti in her mouth, swallowed a large gulp of sweet tea and then said, “You were watching that new reality show.”
“I was but it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped,” Kaci admitted.
“Why didn’t you like it?”
“They were doing a lot of fighting and arguing, and I just didn’t like it.”
“They do that on all of the reality shows.”
“Well,” she began, as she put a finger to her lip, “most of them do but I didn’t think they’d do it on this one.”
“Why?”
“They didn’t advertise it when they were showing the commercials of what the show was supposed to be about.”
Cami gave her a puzzled look. “I find that hard to believe with reality TV,” she said. She looked at her watch and saw that it was after 7 p.m. “When is Mom getting back home?”
“She ran to the store to get some milk but she should be back soon,” Kaci answered.
There was something about the look on Cami’s face that bothered her. It was as if she wanted to say something but just couldn’t bring herself to do so. It was clear to her now that her sister was upset and she knew exactly why.
“Did River upset you today?” Kaci asked Cami staring at her dead in the eye. Cami dropped her fork. She hadn’t mentioned that she’d invited River over today so how did she know?
Judging by the surprised look on her face, Kaci could tell that she’d stunned her. “I guess you’re wondering how I knew that he was here, right?”
Cami nodded.
“I could smell his cheap cologne as soon as I walked through the door,” she replied. “So did he say something to upset you?” Before Cami could even respond Kaci continued, “And don’t lie to me. I saw the look on your face. What did he say?”
She wanted to talk to her mother—not Kaci. She needed to tell her the truth about the adoption before she changed her mind again and decided to wait any longer.
Chapter 18