Ivy's Twisted Vine Redux (23 page)

As Ivy pulled into the circular drive, she noticed that her mother was not home. In a sigh of relief, she was about to pull back out into the street, when she saw her mother pull into the drive behind her and blow her horn.

Putting her car in park, Ivy took out her frustration on her ignition as she turned the key. This was a mistake. Her mother was going to kill her dead as stone…baby or not. Ivy’s heart began to race when she made eye contact with her carefree mother bouncing out of her pearl white Volvo convertible.

Grabbing a paper bag out of her car, Sadie walked over to Ivy and kissed her cheek. As usual, although Ivy dreaded telling her mother her drastic news, she was glad to see her and nearly began to cry when she smelled her perfume and felt her soft check against her own.

Get a hold of yourself, Ivy commanded herself quietly.

“How are you?” Sadie asked giving Ivy the bag. “I’ve got one more in the back seat. You can take this one inside for me.”

“I’m fine,” Ivy said trying to pull her jacket in front of her belly.

“Well, you look great. A little bulky, but a little weight never killed anyone.”

“You look good, too. What are the roses for?” Ivy quickly noticed the two-dozen red roses in Sadie’s passenger seat.

“I’m having a friend over for dinner tonight.” She winked her eye.

“The lawyer.”

“Oh, God no. This is just a friend from college. We ran into each other the other day and decided that we should catch up.”

“Oh,” Ivy smirked. As she had told her father months earlier, she knew that the lawyer wouldn’t last long. Her mother dated infrequently and carefully with always the judgmental and suspicious eye. Plus, no one would ever measure up to Madison Winters…not even Madison Winters.

“Damn that boy,” Sadie said slamming her keys on the counter as they came into the kitchen.

Sadie looked at the three-month late Chase credit card bill that was still in her name, but belonged to her only son, Emerald. She had forgotten about that credit card when she took her name off of everything else his senior year of college. Muck runner. That was his name because that was all he had ever done…run a muck.

“Tell me why can’t your brother be as responsible as you?” Sadie asked throwing her junk mail in the garbage can.

“He is just a free-spirit,” Ivy said taking up for her older, yet less mature sibling.

“
Free spirit
my ass. Do you know that he’s been in Hawaii going on six months now? He said that he would not come home until he found himself. You and I both know that could take him a lifetime. He’s just down there following up behind that little island girl…Cake walk.”

“Kakeline,” Ivy said correcting her.

“Whatever. That boy just ruins my nerves.”

“Momma, he’s just in love. Leave him alone.” Ivy never took up for Emerald, but it seemed appropriate now.

“Well, aren’t we sympathetic, today? What’s going on with you? I thought that you couldn’t stand you brother’s wondering ways?” Sadie could see straight through Ivy at this point. Something was up, and she would get down to the bottom of it.

“I’m starting to see that everyone makes mistakes.” Ivy flipped her hair and smiled. The truth was about to come out. She had to prepare herself some sort of cushion.

“It only took twenty-one years for you to find out that you’re not perfect.” Sadie laughed mockingly as she stared at Ivy down her gold wire-rimmed glasses.
Young people
.

“I guess.” Ivy sighed as she began to pull out the skeletons from her own closet. “I know, because I’ve made my share of mistakes, too.” She looked down at her pudgy fingers and smiled. “You want to hear something funny.” Her voice cracked.

“Not really,” Sadie’s crooked smile disappeared. Sadie took a seat at her island bar and prepared herself for a classic Emerald moment.

“Well, you’re going to hear it anyway. Last semester, I did something really stupid.” Ivy fought her tears.

“Okay…” Sadie’s heart fluttered.

“Grey broke up with me. I still don’t know why. He just did. So, I went to a house party with Trina, and I ending up meeting this cop named Nicola. He invited me on a date, and I went. But we ended up at his place.” Tears came out of Ivy’s eyes. She wiped them away quickly and tried to continue.

“Ivy did he rape you?” Sadie got up off of her seat and walked over to Ivy trembling. “Oh God. I’ll have your father kill him!” Sadie begged for a mother’s worst nightmare to be coming true.

“Momma, he didn’t rape me, but I did sleep with him.” She tried to avoid eye contact.

“Sit down, Ivy.” Sadie gave Ivy the napkin. “Was this your first experience outside of Grey?”

“Yes,” Ivy said trying to catch her breath. “And now I’m pregnant and I don’t know who that daddy is.” Ivy leaned against the counter and buried her head in her face.

For a moment, Sadie wasn’t sure what to say. She prayed that she had heard Ivy wrong. Surely, her only daughter did not just tell her that she was still in college, pregnant and unsure of who the father of her child was. She took a deep breath feeling herself beginning to hyperventilate.

“Ivy could you say that again. You mother is getting old. I seem to be hearing all the wrong shit these days.” She gave a little laugh.

“I got…pregnant,” she said slowly. Ivy wouldn’t dare remove her eyes from the table placement in fear of meeting her mother’s eyes. “And I don’t know if the father is Grey or Nicola.”

There was a long silence as Sadie tried to pull her thoughts together.

“You want a drink, because I need a drink,” Sadie said standing up.

“I can’t drink. Didn’t you just hear what I said? I’m pregnant.”

“Oh, I heard what you said. I just…” Sadie leaned against the countertop. “I just can’t believe it.”

“I can’t either,” Ivy said softly. “I was thinking that maybe I should sit out and get things straight.”

“Straight? Ivy you aren’t thinking of having an abortion are you? Regardless of the father, you are still that child’s mother. And I am still that child’s grandmother.”

“I’m three months pregnant. And although I’ve thought about it a hundred times, I don’t think that’s what I want. I really want to keep it.”

Sadie let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Good.” Sadie wiped her tears away, trying to hold back all the wrong words to say.

“I know that I’ve let you down. And I’m so sorry, but I’m prepared to be the woman that I know that I can be for this baby and myself.”

“So, if you’re prepared, you don’t need to take any time off. You need to finish what you started and graduate. You have a job waiting on you…and what about the wedding?”

“Grey and I are continuing. He knows what happened and why?”

“And what did he say about all of this?”

“He’s prepared to still be the same man to me as before?”

“I’m not sure that good enough considering the man before broke up with you. You know having a child doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have a husband. It’s better to have a two-parent household. But when one parent doesn’t want to be there…”

Ivy begin to cry again. Her tears were filled with agony. It had been this easy the whole time? Her mother hadn’t said one cross word. She had been closing herself off from the world for what? Ivy’s emotions became uncontrollable. She cried aloud. “It’s been so hard to hold this all in,” her eyes were red and puffy.

“But baby, you didn’t have to keep this from me. I’m your mother. I love you regardless of what happens to you in world.”

“I know. I know, Momma.” Ivy let go of soft sobs.

Sadie held her close, rubbing her daughter’s head and kissing her check. “It will be okay. You hear me. You can make it through this. We’ll do it together. We’ll do it together, baby.”

**

Madison placed his keys on his sofa table and walked into his den where his Doberman Pincher lay on his cranberry leather sectional watching television. It had been an exhausting day and all he planned on doing was jumping in the shower and resting the entire night without interruption. Pouring a tall glass of orange juice, he stared out of his kitchen window at the full moon and cloudless sky over the Atlantic Ocean. It was on peaceful nights like this off the coast of Emerald Isle that he dreamed of being back in Memphis with Sadie and Ivy and even Emerald with his wild ass. Taking a sip of his juice, he frowned at its bitterness. Adding the remainder of the vodka sitting faithfully by the flour jar on his counter, he tasted his drink again in approval.

Surveying the room, Madison was pleased to see that his dwelling was spotless. “Kept the place well for me, did you, General?” Madison said rubbing his dog behind the ears. Lately, General had been his only companion. He had no time to date, and when he did find someone he thought would make a good mate, she always had some indelibly large flaw.

Hitting the answering machine on the end table, Madison listened to his messages. First, his son Emerald asked for five hundred dollars,
as a loan of course
. Second, Dish Network was having a special on satellite systems. Third, Sadie called to tell him that Ivy was pregnant. Wait! Replaying the message he listened carefully, praying that he heard a faint snicker in the background. It had to be a joke.

“
Madison. Hello, it’s Sadie. I am calling about our daughter. Just as plain as I can tell you…It seems that Ivy is pregnant…three months pregnant to be exact and doesn’t know who the father is. She also has moved out of her dorm into her own apartment I don’t foresee this getting any better. Call home, I mean, call me when you get a chance… at my house. You know the number. By the way, your son has run up a five hundred-dollar credit card bill that he needs to pay. You’ll probably hear from him before I do. Get in his ass, and tell him to send me a money order ASAP or else. Thanks. Take care. Bye.
”

Damn, this was no joke.
Turning off the television, he grabbed his cordless phone and pushed the dog off the couch. He dialed Sadie’s number and felt the familiar sensation of fear race through his heart. Just the thought of little sister carrying some overgrown bastard’s baby enraged him. He would kill
him
, who ever he was. Kill him dead as a…

“Hello,” Sadie said watering her houseplants.

“Sadie, it’s Madison.”

“I know. I figured you be calling soon. Just got the message, huh?” Sadie was over her initial shock, and now it was time to help him.

“Yeah. What the hell is going on down there? I told you that those kids should have moved with me.”

“So, what…she could get pregnant by some jarhead?”

“Is she there?” Madison wanted to speak with Ivy not the Grinch who stole every holiday.

“No, she’s headed back to her place.”

“Well, what’s the story? Who is the other guy?”

“A policeman. That is about all that I can tell you. She wouldn’t elaborate much more than that. And I didn’t want to push too hard. You could tell it was pretty painful for her to come out with it. But she was trying to be strong.”

“There you go giving me half the story and trying to reassure me that everything is fine; so I’ll leave you two alone. Not this time. I want to be a part of whatever type of shit storm is headed that way. As a matter of fact, I’m headed there for a while in just a second. I’m taking my leave.” He was determined to be a part of Ivy’s life during her pregnancy, and he wasn’t about to let Sadie get in his way.

“No one is trying to keep you out. Just like always, you’re making this about you. Leave it to know it all, ladies man Maddy.”

“Madison.” He said correcting her about his name.

“Maddy. You’ve been Maddy for over twenty-eight years and you’re going to stay Maddy until the day I die.”

“I can arrange that, you know.” He hated despising and loving the same woman at the same time.

“
Anyway
, when are you headed this way, so that I can make arrangements for you?” She almost looked forward to playing petty games with her ex-husband. It was their way of rekindling old flames.

“I don’t know for sure. I’ll find out. Within the month though. I’ll call you, but I’m gonna call her now. So, I’ll talk with you later.”

“That’s fine.”

“Bye,” he said yawning.

“Bye,” Ms. Winters said hanging up the phone. This was going to be a long six months.

**

Ivy had expected her mother to react totally different then she had about her pregnancy. She knew that at first she would blow up and that eventually Madison would receive a call, but she hadn’t expected the advice that her mother had given or the love and comfort that came after the opening confusion and disappointment.

Tucking her pillow comfortably behind her back, Ivy read her essay paper over for the third time to ensure that there were no grammatical errors. Even in the middle of morning sickness, a new apartment, new bills and family drama she had still managed to stay on top of her studies.

Interrupted by the phone ringing, she looked at the caller ID to see the name
Dr.
Madison Winters
. Her mother must have talked with him.

“Hello Madison,” Ivy said sitting up in the bed.

“You know that I’m mad at you, right,” Madison said pouring General’s dog food in his pail.

“Yeah, I know. But in my defense, I didn’t even know about the baby until after our lunch date. Cut me some slack.” Ivy was sure that her father would not be too dramatic about the situation.

“Sadie called. You know she gets a kick out of finding out about things with you two first. I never get the first call. I’m always the last to know. Your mother likes it that way. I wish just once, you would call me before calling her. Let me break news to her about something drastic. She’d probably have a heart attack, but just the same, I wish once…just once.” He finally took a breath. He didn’t even seem angry about the news of the baby.

“I’ll keep that in mind the next time something horrible happens in my life, ” she said sarcastically.

“Wait now. This isn’t horrible. It’s untimely and a definitely unplanned, I hope. But new life is always precious. You’ll learn about that after your baby is born. You’ll see. The minute you two meet face-to-face, no one else in this world will matter more.”