A Special Summer(12)

Snatching a patient chart off the desk, Summer flipped it open writing a shift note.

Humming a tune, ignoring her friends as they went on and on about how she should start her maternity leave now and not two weeks before her due date. They must be crazy if they think I’m going to sit up in the house bored to death all day until this baby is born.

Starr whispered to Ava, “Look at her, ignoring somebody with her little nasty self. I swear she ain’t our sweet little Summer anymore since she’s been pregnant.”

“Mmm-hmm, chile done went and grown a backbone. It’s gotta be those crazy pregnant hormones.”

“Humph, must be. I can’t wait until she has that baby.” Starr threw out loud enough making sure Summer heard every word.

“Tell me about it.” Ava agreed.

Standing up walking over to Summer, Starr tugged on her ponytail. “Maybe she’ll be nice again.”

Summer giggled as she nudged her. “Get away from me. You make me sick.” Looking Ava up and down, wrinkling her nose, she playfully snapped, “You make me sick, too.”

Ava threw her head back and laughed. “Yeah, I love you too, Boo.”

♥♥♥

The week went by uneventful; Summer hadn’t had any more fainting spells. Ava and Starr were still being royal pains in the butt. Summer didn’t know why she went to work; they’d taken to tag teaming her, doing the bulk of her work before she could get to it. And if they weren’t calling her every day after work, they were popping up unexpectedly at her front door. Not to mention they would call Summer’s parents giving them minute by minute updates on her as if they were channel 6 Action News or something. Their over protective actions led to Summer getting calls almost on a daily basis from her parents. She didn’t mine though; she missed her parents something awful. Summer’s parents were upset when she told them she’d decided not to tell Nick about the baby. Her mom had called him every dirty name in the book. Whereas her father had lectured her mother that the man couldn’t be blamed if he didn’t know he was going to be a father.

Every conversation usually ended with one of her parents asking, “Have you seen or talked to Nick yet?” Summer knew her parents were hinting at if she’d told him about the pregnancy. Her response was always the same, “No, I haven’t.”

She never explained to her parents why she kept the baby a secret from Nick. She’d been too ashamed to tell them she had gotten pregnant by a man who made it clear he had no desire whatsoever to be a father. Summer innocently discovered this when he told her about a situation which occurred years ago with a woman he ‘thought’ he loved. The woman played Nick, making him believe he was about to become a father. When it was discovered he wasn’t the father, he set out to ruin the woman for humiliating and making a fool of him.

After he shared that bit of information, Summer just had to know, “What would you do if a woman told you she was pregnant by you again?”

Summer was only curious; she hardly had any plans on becoming a mother before marriage. She was somewhat taken aback when he stared at her with his jaw clenched and eyes cold as ice. “I’d tell her to flush it.”

After an awkward second of silence, he added, “Don’t find yourself pregnant…at least not by me.” His warning was unmistakable. He didn’t want to have anything to do with children.

During their early days of dating, Summer read several business articles about Nick. She wanted to know everything about him. She’d learned he was shrewd and ruthless in his business dealings. Nick was referred to as a sheep in wolves’ clothing because of his ability to be charming one second, and then cut throat the next. Many of the articles reported such characteristics were the reasons why at the age of thirty-seven he was one of the wealthiest, self-made African American men on the east coast.

Summer witnessed his wrath once after he learned a trusted employee embezzled $350,000.00 over a two-year period. Nick told her then, he only gave a person one chance to cross him. So if and when they did, they’d better make it good, worth their while.

Nick made sure the federal prosecutor filed every charge allowable by law against the man.

Vigorously, Summer rubbed her arms from the chill that ran through her as she thought about Nick. Without meaning to she’d crossed him. She had gotten pregnant and God help her, decided to keep the baby. With all her heart she believed if she’d told him right away he would have demanded she have an abortion. He had told her as much. Heaven forbid if she told him now, he’d think she was trying to trap him into marrying her or worse yet, giving her a large sum of money to avoid a paternity suit. Summer had known Nick long enough to know how his mind worked. He could think the absolute worst of someone when he wanted to.