As Time Goes By: A BWWM Interracial Romance (8 page)

 “You’re blaming me for something I haven’t even done yet?”

Delores suddenly stepped toe to toe and nose to nose with
him. “I’ve begged my silly sister here not to just throw herself at every dream
guy that passes, because chances are he’s some emotional vampire in disguise,
sucking away her heart’s lifeblood until she’ll end up being nothing but some empty
shattered shell.I wish she had the backbone to make you put up or shut up.”

 “What does that mean?”

 “For a guy that seems to know all there is to know about
becoming mayor, you seem not to know anything at all about anything else. It
simply means to let her know where she stands. Are you in a long term relationship
with her or are you just having fun, and getting your thrills? And if you are
just getting your thrills, then you need to admit that and get them someplace
else. She’s not some damn slab of meat to be used for your convenience.”

 Marg picked up on her sister’s argument and decided to run
with it. “Okay Arnold, maybe we ought to cool our relationship for a while
until you can figure out which way you are going with me. And in the meantime,
you can simply get yourself another campaign manager.”

 “You’re not being fair. You can’t just quit mid-stream, all
suddenly like that.”

 “Why can’t I Arnold? Aren’t you the one that just finished
saying, and I quote, ‘I made no promises?’ I’m sure that’s what I heard you
say.”

 “So that’s it then? You’re quitting my campaign?”

 “And what if I am Arnold? Does that mean you’re quitting
our relationship as well? Does that mean you’re just going to turn around and
walk out that damn door and never look back? Because if that’s what it means,
then you were simply using me all along. I thought we meant something to each
other?”

 “We do.”

 “Other than me helping you become mayor? Obviously that’s
all I am to you, a means to an end.”

 “I never said that.”

 “You never said a lot of things, like what you’re going to
do with me long term. And that’s because you can’t, can you? There isn’t going
to be any long term for us, is there?”

 “I never said that either.”

 “Then what did you say? You tell me? Only don’t go spouting
that crystal ball shit again because I am definitely not in the mood.”

 “I love you.”

 “Really? Just three words tossed at me to placate my worry,
and to try and keep me massaging the press while you keep your eyes firmly on
the prize, and that is becoming mayor. But after that?”

 A swirl of guilt, anger and bewilderment swept across
Arnold’s worried, weary mind. She had made some pretty good points. Why was it
so hard for him to even hazard a guess as to where she might stand after the
election was over? He now supposed it was actually because he hadn’t given it
much thought, or perhaps even any thought at all. He sighed. Had he really been
that selfish and short sighted? Had he really only been using her? Was his
definition of love something that was only going to last for another two months
but not beyond? He had to begrudgingly admit to himself that she had every
right to fully expect answers to those questions. Only he wasn’t giving her
answers. He was saying he loved her without any of the specifics.

 “Honestly Arnold,” Marg’s mother suddenly said. “I told the
press you and my daughter were engaged because I honestly thought you were. You
both seemed so damn happy and you both seemed so perfect for each other. It
never dawned on me that such a relationship might only be temporary. But what
is really important in all this is that the stress of her thinking she was
going to lose you, made her collapse. She almost had a damn nervous breakdown.
You lead her to believe you’re going to be by her side forever, and then
suddenly, you act as if she’s just some off the cuff date, about to be replaced
by the next flavor of the month.”

 The sound of the room door opening startled them all.

 A doctor in a long white lab coat walked in wearing a
plastic smile.

 “So how is my favorite patient doing this morning?”

 “Hello doctor,” Marg’s mother said, adding, “she is going
to be alright, isn’t she?”

 “That depends on whether she’s going to be getting any rest
or not. I heard raised voices out in the hall. The purpose of keeping her here
overnight is so that she can stay calm and relaxed.”

 He glared at the monitor recording her vital signs.

 “Her blood pressure is way up and she seems in distress. I
think it best if she were left alone for now, at least until tomorrow. We don’t
want her passing out again and going into a relapse.”

 “You’re saying we should leave her for now?” Marg’s mother
asked.

 “Ideally, yes.”

 Delores was the first to kiss her on the cheek. “Bye sis.
You take care. We’ll be right outside.”

“Nonsense,” Marg answered. “You fly back to Chicago to be
with your family. I’ll be fine, honestly.”

“Shhh, just do as the doctor says and get some rest. We’ll
at least stay until you fall asleep again, and then return in the morning.”

“A splendid idea,” the doctor said, still examining the
monitor.

Arnold reached down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips
before retreating his head hastily. He had moved far too quickly for her to
turn her face away from his descending lips.

Her mother squeezed her hand. “As Delores said, we’ll be
right outside.”

“We’ll talk later,” Arnold whispered, showing concern in his
face over the fact she had almost passed out from the stress again. He knew
that a lot of it was his fault.

“Fine, but when we do talk again, you make sure it’s
something I want to hear.”

He left without uttering a remark or a rebuttal, and
followed the two women out of the room.

“Just me and you left now, doc.”

“Not quite just me and you,” he responded, eying her
carefully.

She glanced around. “Who else?”

“The baby you’re carrying, of course. You did know that you
were pregnant, didn’t you?”

She was stunned and stared at him with saucer sized eyes of
disbelief.

“Then I take it you didn’t know?” he asked.

Her eyes were suddenly dancing and wild. She had made love
to Arnold early on in their relationship without the benefit of her birth
control pills, and he hadn’t managed to pull out on time during their first
night together. But after that night, she had picked up her pills and he made
sure nothing further got inside until her pills took hold. Only she now
realized she had been a day late and a dollar short. Their very first and only
time not using her damn pills had come back to haunt her. And that was six
weeks ago. Six weeks pregnant? If she did decide to stay in his campaign then
she would surely start to show before it was over. Both press and voters alike
would all know that the future mayor of Detroit had put her in the family way.

“Marg?”

“Huh?”

The doctor sighed. Obviously her mind was somewhere else.

The machine started going haywire. The unexpected news was
sending her blood pressure sky rocketing and her pulse racing. She was actually
starting to pant. He noted a sudden surge of salty sweat beginning to form on
her brow.

“Please, try to stay calm. You don’t want a relapse.”

She rolled her eyes at the ceiling. Suddenly it was all
coming together. She had vomited and felt nauseous, no doubt attributable to
morning sickness from the pregnancy she had no clue she had.

“I’ll be okay, doc,” she said softly, her mind churning in a
dozen directions. “It’s just a lot for me to digest right now.”

He nodded and clasped her hand, taking her pulse manually
while flashing a light into both of her stunned brown eyes. Then his emergency
pager began going off. He was needed desperately elsewhere. “I’m going to go
get the nurse to bring you a sedative and then I want you to go back to sleep,
do you hear?”

“Promise doc, but please don’t mention to anyone that I’m
expecting.”

He nodded, then smiled, then left.

She sighed. Pregnant? Fucking really? She now wondered what
the consequences might be. How would Arnold react? Would he be delighted? Or
would he be upset?

She mulled over her own feelings. She had always been
desperate to one day have a baby, only she didn’t want it unless she was
married. But time had been marching on. If she were going to have a kid, then
now was certainly the time to do it. She wasn’t getting any younger. And at
thirty-three, she couldn’t wait too much longer. She shook her head in anguish.
At the rate men were passing her by, and proposing to everyone else but her, would
she ever get married? And at what age? Who wanted to have a child at age
forty-five? Or even forty? She sucked in her breath and made the conscious
decision to keep the baby, even though it would be so much easier to just get
rid of it. But if fate had conspired to give her that baby she always wanted,
why not relish the moment? Even if it was going to be bittersweet? She was now
determined that come hell or high water she was going to keep it. And even with
that damn fence post up his butt, Arnold was going to be a father whether he
liked it or not.

 She now wondered when she should tell him, or even how she
should break the news. Or should she even break the news to him any time soon at
all? The last thought seemed silly, and she almost sarcastically chuckled over
it. Not tell him he was going to be a father? How could she not tell him when
she was going to be showing by the time he took the mayor’s chair? Trying to
hide such a thing, even if she could, made little sense to her. In the first
place, she now wondered if a baby might actually even push him closer to
marrying her. At the very least it would tie him to her permanently. And it
would obligate him to start tossing money her way. She was legally entitled to
receive financial compensation from him for the growing seed she was carrying.
Why shouldn’t he pay? It was, after all, his baby? She now smiled wryly. If he
had been planning to dump her after the election, then he was in for a rude
awakening. That would be when their new relationship as the child’s parents
would be just beginning. She pondered the circumstances. His ex-wife had been
unable to give him children. Surely a baby now would get him to cough up an
engagement ring, would it not? Her mind began to churn in every direction.
Normally she would be wroth with herself for making such a colossal blunder at
getting pregnant. But she now wondered if such a curse might not actually be a
blessing in disguise. She knew in her heart of hearts that Arnold walking away
from her would not be as easy now as it would have been if she were not
pregnant. Still the timing of when to tell him was important. It could still be
that he might end up committing to a long term relationship even without
knowing about the baby. He had, after all, just a few minutes earlier assured
her that he loved her. Perhaps he really did love her a whole lot? She suddenly
made the conscious decision that she was not going to stop campaigning for him
after all. She would remain by his side, and do all she could to get him
elected. Her baby, after all, needed a well off father. And she certainly
needed a well off husband. She pursed her lips at the realization that if she
played her cards right, anything was possible. But for now, she would say
nothing about the child.

 XXX

 Arnold walked briskly, having a bounce in his step over
Marg’s latest phone call telling him she was definitely going to stay on for
good as his campaign manager. The press loved her, and seemed to hang off every
genius word to exit her ultra-pretty lips. But there was much more to it than
just that, a sort of recognition deep down that his feelings for her were far
stronger than he realized. The thought of possibly losing her had scared the
shit out of him, and knocked the wind out of his sails. But now he was on cloud
nine. She seemed happy and determined. And she was no longer whining about long
term commitment nor blackmailing him about having to produce an engagement ring
or else. Their relationship was on its way back to being sexually intense, and
yet light and airy otherwise at the same time.

 Marg’s first order of business since coming out of the
hospital, had been to re-organize the rally for the restaurant that was
closing. She had taken out an ad in a local newspaper asking for a hundred
volunteers to pledge they would eat lunch at that eatery for a whole year,
thereby giving it enough financial support so that it wouldn’t close down. The
results were unbelievable. With the press in a frenzy and clearly on her side, she
had managed to garner five hundred names. The next day the restaurant was so
busy that the thankful owner had to run out and hire two new chefs, three new
dishwashers, and five new waitresses. The local headlines were quite
gratifying. “Arnold’s team saves a local business, and not only saves their
twenty jobs, but adds ten new ones.”

 The headlines went from local to state wide, and then to
national. Even some international stations as far away as Canada and Japan were
picking it up. Everyone was saying the same thing, that Arnold was innovative
and able to not only keep jobs but make new ones. Even some businesses that had
left were expressing an interest in coming back if Marg’s five point plan for
urban renewal should ever become implemented. Most gratifying of all, was the
massive influx of new checks and donations flooding his campaign office. Money
for new ads was growing fast and furiously.

 The only one seemingly not happy with the Arnold juggernaut
for re-election was the incumbent mayor, David Dodds. The well-publicized restaurant
escapades was pushing Arnold way out in front in the polls.

Over the next two weeks the desperate David Dodds became
very busy slinging mud at Arnold in the press, even though most of what he was
asserting was either grossly exaggerated, or unfairly untrue. Still, both the
press and the voters were able to see right through his deceptions, challenging
him on his shady facts and even catching him sometimes in outright lies, so
much so that Arnold was now running a whole fifteen percentages ahead, and so
entrenched in first place that only a miracle would keep him from getting
elected in six weeks time.