Chapter 23
Nikki
The last twenty-four hours of my life had been an ill-choreographed dance in hell. The test came back positive for Ahmad being the father of my sister’s baby. I’d cried so much that my eyes were almost swollen shut. I stood staring out of the hospital window at the ambulance bay.
How do I deal with this? Shannon is the mother of my husband’s child.
Ahmad had tried so hard to talk to me but I couldn’t even pretend to be interested in anything he had to say. My life had just been turned upside down by his lies and deceit. I couldn’t even stand to look at him.
“Nikki, you have to talk about it,” Sabrina said.
“Are you still here? I thought you got off of work at seven this morning.”
“I did but I couldn’t leave you. Not like this.”
“Thanks but I’ll be fine,” I said. I wasn’t sure if I even believed my own words. How could anyone be fine with this situation? “Go home, Sabrina. I know you must be tired.”
“I ain’t going anywhere until I know that you’re cool.” Ahmad walked up and motioned for Sabrina to leave.
“Nikki, are you ready to talk to me?”
“No. I don’t have anything to talk about. You’re the one with the problem. You do the talking,” I snapped.
“Well, you’re right. I’m just happy that you’re willing to listen.”
“Whatever, Ahmad.”
“Can we go back to the hotel and have this conversation in private?”
“Private? Why be private now? All of our business has just played out in an emergency room like a daytime television drama and you’re concerned about privacy now? Unbelievable.”
I couldn’t believe what Ahmad was saying. Taking me back to the hotel would not make any difference.
“Please, Nikki. Let’s go.”
“What about your daughter?”
“I’ll come back later and deal with that. I need to talk to you first.”
I am tired and I’m hungry. Going back to the hotel is a good idea. Can I trust myself not to kill you when we are alone? I want you so dead right now, Ahmad Franklin Jacobs, Jr.
“Okay, let’s go,” I said, gathering my purse.
I looked for Sabrina at the nurse’s desk but she wasn’t there. The receptionist assured me that she hadn’t left the hospital yet. Just as I was about to have Sabrina paged, I saw her walking down the hallway with a handsome young man who was wearing a white coat and carrying a clipboard. I could tell by their body language that the conversation between the two of them was serious. A part of me smiled inside.
Sabrina has a man? Hmm, that figures. In the middle of my tragedy, she makes a love connection. I wonder if he is a doctor.
Sabrina looked up, made eye contact with me, and pointed in my direction.
“Nikki,” she said as she got closer, “where’s Ahmad?”
“He’s over there waiting for me. We’re going back to the hotel for a minute.”
As I spoke, I noticed concern in Sabrina’s eyes. “Can you get him, please?” “Sure,” I said, hesitantly.
What’s wrong now? Has something happened to the baby? Oh my, God, I will feel just awful if there is something wrong with her.
“Nikki and Ahmad, this is Carlos Scott. He is a social worker,” Sabrina explained.
“Social worker? Why do we need a social worker?” I asked.
“Are you Shannon Evans’ sister?” Carlos asked, watching me carefully.
“Yes. Why?”
“Nikki, she’s gone,” Sabrina blurted out.
“Gone?” Ahmad and I said in unison.
“It appears that Miss Evans left the labor and delivery floor at some point during the night. Probably shortly after she was admitted,” Carlos explained.
“How does a woman who has just given birth just get up and walk out of a hospital undetected?” I asked.
“Where is the baby? Where’s Aliyah?” Ahmad asked, franticly.
I didn’t realize that you knew her name.
“The baby is still safe and sound in the nursery,” Sabrina assured.
“Do you have any idea where Miss Evans has gone?” Carlos asked.
“No. I don’t have a clue. My sister and I are not that close. I only found out about her pregnancy last night.”
“What about you, Mr. Jacobs?”
“I don’t know.”
“Has anyone notified the police?” I asked.
“We’re doing whatever we can to find her. But, in all honesty, we don’t expect that we will. There is no evidence that points to a possible kidnapping. This has all of the signs of child abandonment. That’s why the Department of Children and Family Services was called in.”
“What?” I still could not wrap my mind around the words that were coming from Carlos’s lips.
Shannon just up and left her baby?
“What does this mean for the baby?” Ahmad asked. If nothing else, Ahmad was consistent when it came to the welfare of his children. I had to give him credit for being a concerned father.
“It means that the baby will stay in the hospital for forty-eight hours and then be placed with a foster family,” Carlos explained.
“No. No it doesn’t. I am her father. I’ll take her home with me.”
What! Home with you? You mean home with us.
“Ahmad, we need to—”
“We need to what, Nikki? Didn’t you hear what the man just said? Aliyah, my daughter, your niece, has just been abandoned by her mother like some animal in the woods. Shannon is gone God knows where. Can you actually stand there and tell me that there is anything to talk about? I know that this whole situation is fucked up and it is my fault but Aliyah will not go home with a foster family.”
Although I wanted to, there was no way I could argue with Ahmad. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t step up to the plate for Aliyah. None of this was her fault and she didn’t need to be with strangers when her family was right here.
If I ever get my hands on Shannon, I will ring her goddamn neck for this. The story about how Aliyah came to be didn’t seem so far-fetched to me now. Shannon did trick Ahmad. Hell, she was still tricking him. She left him with all of the responsibility while she got away foot loose and fancy-free.
“You’re right. Carlos, Ahmad and I will take the baby when she’s ready to go home.”
Ahmad reached for my hand. It took everything inside of me not to snatch it away. I knew that he was truly sorry for all of this. Part of me still wanted him to pay for my pain but now was not the time to concentrate on that. There was a little girl upstairs who needed both of us. I had to pull up my big girl panties for Aliyah’s sake.