Borrow Trouble. Mary Monroe

the many things that I was thankful for was the fact that Inez and I had never competed for the same man. And there was no reason for me to believe that we ever would. As far as I was concerned, I was married to Leon for life. And Inez could hop into as many beds with as many men as she wanted to. I just hoped that my girl would settle down and be with one man on a permanent basis before it was too late. I knew of a few elderly sisters in the neighborhood, some in my own family, who had spent the best years of their lives playing musical beds. But now their most frequent companion was loneliness. I looked at Inez and blinked back a tear, hoping that she would not end up in that club. She caught my gaze and gave me a puzzled look. I grabbed a napkin and pretended that I had something in my eye.

      I didn’t order anything when the waitress came to the table. Instead, I looked at my watch and rose, pulling Leon up by his hand.

      “Baby, we need to get going. I need to stop off at the grocery store and pick up a few things for dinner,” I said.

      Leon was hesitant, but with an annoyed groan, he rose, dropping a wad of bills onto the table.

      “You sisters have a nice evening,” he said, following me out of the door. As soon as we got outside, he got loose. “Woman, I don’t appreciate you clowning me in public like you just did,” Leon barked, shaking a finger in my face the same way I often did with my unruly students.

      “I don’t know what you are talking about. I didn’t expect to see you in that bar with all those women,” I snapped, hands on my hips. We had reached his Range Rover, parked at the curb. I stood by the passenger’s side, with my mouth hanging open. He snatched open the door on his side and jumped in and started up the motor.

      “I need to talk to you,” I said, opening my door and easing into my seat. I kept my eyes on his face the whole time.

      He stepped on the gas, and the vehicle shot off like a bullet. “I’m listening,” he said, grunting and glaring at me. He frowned when he noticed that I didn’t have my seat belt on. “Don’t you need to buckle up?”

      “Uh…I think I can make it home all right without it.”

      “Baby, I know you don’t like the way the seat belt wrinkles your skirt, but I think your safety is more important. Now buckle up that seat belt before I buckle it for you.”

      “My stomach is feeling kind of weird, so I don’t want that belt strapped against it.”

      “What’s wrong with your stomach? And how come you didn’t order a drink? Oh, I know. All of that crap coming out of Inez’s mouth made me queasy, too.”

      “Inez didn’t say anything worse this evening than she’s said before. I don’t think that there is anything she can say that would make me sick,” I said, speaking like I was reading a cue card.

      “So, what is wrong with you then? Why are you looking and acting like a zombie?”

      “Leon, I was hoping to tell you in a more romantic setting, but I guess this will have to do.” I stopped and looked at Leon. “I…We are going to have a baby.”

      He shook his head and cussed under his breath. Then he started laughing.

      “I know you don’t want any more kids right now, but I’m pregnant, and we have to deal with it,” I said, crossing my legs. I was losing steam. I was no longer interested in telling him off when we got home.

      He laughed again. Then he did something that surprised me more than finding him in the bar with three women. He pulled to the side of the road and stopped. Then he leaned over and kissed me long and hard.

      “I hope that means we are not going to fight about what I just told you,” I said meekly. I licked my lips, savoring his kiss. “We’ll have a beautiful baby….”

      He let out a hearty sigh before he replied. “And it better be a boy,” he said, with a smug sniff.

      “Does that mean you’re happy about this?” I asked. I was apprehensive, to say the least. This man was full of too many surprises for me not to be.

      He pulled another surprise out of his bag of tricks. He pulled into the parking lot of a motel at the corner, even though we were only a few minutes away from our house.

      “What are we stopping here for?” I wanted to know, looking around the deserted parking lot. This was the kind of place that rented rooms by the hour, with nervous couples coming and going at all times.

      “Bring your fine ass on,” Leon ordered, pulling me by the hand out of the Range Rover. We checked into a room, where he made love to me like it was the first time.

      In a way it was. Things would never be the same between us after that day.