Silverspoons Series: Another Billionaire Baby - Book II (7 page)

“My daughter lives in another country and when she mentioned your name, I remember seeing something in the news about the Escobar family. So I looked it up.”

Hello! Your damn daughter is a grown ass woman, or have you forgot that, mother!

Atticus proudly confirmed that his company is expanding to the States. “Yes, I’ve personally finalized a couple of ventures that will at some point in the future take place in the United States. In addition, my brother is also working on a couple of deals currently. So yes, our company is growing.”

“Yes, I know of your brother too, Augustus Escobar. He’s married to Tess, correct?”

“Yes, and…?”

“Oh, and before I forget…I just remembered, Ayana, Josh sends his regards. He’s been asking for you.”

What the hell, mother? I knew it!

“Huh, Josh?! Who’s Josh? What’s going on here, Ayana?” Atticus inquired as he snatched his cloth napkin from his lap and slammed it onto the table as he jumped up.

Ayana’s mother calmly wiped her mouth and pushed away from the table, standing up as well.

“Excuse me. Oh, Josh is a very dear friend, he’s regarded as family, he’d be a better suitor for my daughter. And another thing, I also discovered some disturbing news about you. You being quite the ladies’ man. How’s that possible if you’re dating my daughter?!”

Atticus’s brow and jaw dropped. He was blood red. The fire in his eyes looked as if they could light a furnace.

“Señora Simmons, from the time you started talking you had my respect up until now, and even now I’m try to contain myself, but who the hell do you think you’re talking too?! I don’t take kindly to insinuations or anyone appearing to be a threat to my family. ”

“I didn’t start reading the article at first. It was the pictures that caught my eye. Pictures of you and other women hugging all over or onto you. And when you said the grace, it was OK, but it was as if you really weren’t a Christian or a person that pray. So tell me, is it this way with your family as well?”

“You know what, you’ve been totally disrespectful to me and my family. You don’t know who we are or the power and connections we hold, but you hold a couple of little titles and you think you’ve arrived!”

Ayana grabbed her mother’s arm and tried to separate her from Atticus.

“Señora Simmons, if I never see you again it couldn’t be soon enough. If anyone needs prayer, it’s your husband and daughter. I see why she’s lives in another country! I’m done here!”

“Yes, I know your kind! You have my daughter pining over you, and for what? She doesn’t deserve what I’ve seen in the papers and on the internet!”

“Señora! Who are you to judge me? You don’t know me, but apparently you have someone else in mind for her!”

“I have my facts!”

“You have nothing! You insulted me, my upbringing, my beliefs, and my family, none of which you know a thing about. Your mind was made up about me and my family before you arrived.”

Atticus and Ayana’s mother’s voices had escalated. Ayana had to yell to get both of their attention.

“Everyone, shut the hell up now! I don’t want to hear another fuckin’ word!”

Ayana’s mother’s jaw dropped at the sound of her chosen vocabulary.

“Ayana!” she cried out.

“I said, can-it, Mother! Or you can leave tonight, better yet, how about now!”

“Dammit, I’m not putting up with this!” Atticus growled as he walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Ayana snarled at her mother before she followed after him. “Mother, I’m not through with you! I’ll be back!”

She went outside to talk to Atticus.

“Babe, wait! I’m sorry. I knew she could be a trip and I allowed you to walk into that. I’m so sorry! Please forgive me. I can come over to your place and we can talk further about this.” Ayana pleaded as she held back her tears and anger.

“No, I’m too angry and I wouldn’t care if I never saw your mother ever again. I don’t know how your father does it. I couldn’t be with a woman like that. I hope that’s not an indication of how you’re going to be.”

Ayana took a step back and stared hard at Atticus. “What? That’s mean to say! How could you say that? I’ve never compared you to your father who’s not just a womanizer, but one who chases and sleeps around with women half his age!”

“I was right! You really are like your mother!”

Ayana slapped his face.

“I’m glad I’ve had the chance to see this now before it was too late. No, we’re over, Ayana.”

Tears swelled in her eyes. She grabbed hold of his hands to pull him close to her.

“Don’t say that, Atticus. No, you don’t mean that!”

He resisted and pulled away.

“Yes, I do. I don’t know what my brother saw in your cousin that made him want to marry her, and I damn sure don’t see anything in you to make me want to do the same.”

She tried to slap him a second time, but this time he caught her hand.

“No, that’s enough of that. So I guess you’re violent too?! Goodbye.”

No! This can’t be happening! I don’t believe this shit! She has to go! My mother is getting the hell out of my house. I couldn’t take this shit growing up and I sure as hell can’t take it now!

Atticus jumped into his car and sped off as Ayana ran into the house. She went straight for her mother. Tess tried to stop Ayana.

“Cousin! Wait, calm down. Think of your baby!”

Ayana’s mother overheard them. She rushed into the room in a panic.

“Baby! Lord, no! Girl, don’t tell me you’re pregnant by him?!” her mother screamed.

“Yes, I am mother, and excuse my expression, but it’s none of your damn business. I’m a grown ass woman, big enough to make my own decisions, and mistakes.”

This woman will never see her grandchild, her only grandchild!

Ayana walked closer to her mother. She was so angry her tears were flowing freely. Tess tried to hold her back, even her stomach aiding in the attempt.

“Look at you two, running behind these sorry men who are nothing more than players and womanizers, and for what?! To get pregnant and destroy the careers that you worked so hard to achieve?”

Tess interjected. “Hold on, Auntie! You’re wrong! We all have degrees here just like you! We’re all educated here, just like you. There’re no fools in our presence.”

“Child, please, get out of my face with that noise.” Ayana’s mother tried to walk away, but Ayana blocked her path.

Tess continued her reprimanding. “There’re no children here either, except for the ones we carry. And, I have nothing but the upmost respect for you. However, you do not get to put your mouth on my husband or get to bash his family! You’ve made a real tragic mess here.”

Althea turned to Ayana to try to justify her actions. “Honey, I was just looking out for you. Josh really cares about you and…and you can do so much better. You deserve better.”

“No, Mother! I don’t love or care about Josh! I love Atticus, but thanks to you, you’ve ruined any chances of us being a family. Thank you, Mother, thank you very much for destroying my life.”

“Well, honey, don’t you think if he really loved you, he wouldn’t have left you like this? He even walked away from his baby. What kind of man does that? I mean, just walks away from his responsibilities? You better make him pay child support too. Josh would never do something like that to you.”

This woman is relentless. I’m done with her. My mother is off the chain!

Ayana covered her eyes and her forehead, and then pushed her hair back out of her face. She turned to her mother and yelled.

“The kind that doesn’t know that I’m seven weeks pregnant! The kind that didn’t have a chance to find out because your wickedness chased him away. And the hell with Josh!”

“OK, OK, OK, Ayana. I heard you the first time. You can stop yelling now!”

Ayana put her hands up to her mouth to try and enhance the decimals of the sound of her voice. “I don’t want to hear about Josh again! If he’s so great you go with him. You probably would if you weren’t married. Leave me the hell alone, Althea!”

“Oh my, listen to your mouth and disrespect, Ayana! I’ve never raised you to be like this.”

“Yes you did, and I don’t need his money or yours! Guess what else? You’ll never see me or your only grandchild, nor will you have anything to do with my baby! I mean that with all sincerity!” Ayana growled through her teeth.

“Darling, please, say you don’t mean that! You’re my only child. I won’t have anyone.”

Her mother tried to plea and reason with her.

“You should’ve thought this sick plan through. It back fired on you. You thought I was going to just go back to the States with you didn’t you? Well that’s not going to happen.”

“I’ll leave your house, Ayana, and just go to a hotel,” her mother whined in a low tone.

Don’t pull the sympathy card because I’m not moved.

“Because I’m not a monster, trying to disrupt lives, no, I won’t have you out there when you can’t speak a lick of Spanish. You can stay here until it’s time for you to leave, but I won’t be here. I’m leaving with Tess. I’m not like you and I won’t do the things you do to my child.”

Ayana gathered some clothes and left with Tess. Ayana knew Tess was trying to comfort her, but nothing she said made her feel any better. She felt achy and sore from head to toe. It seemed like every vessel in her body was throbbing.

“Tess, I need you to still keep this to yourself until I decide what to do. I don’t know anymore.”

“Ayana, you still don’t think you should tell Atticus?” Tess reached for her hand to give support.

“Tess, Atticus said some harsh things to me tonight. I never would have thought he would ever say those mean things. My mother might be right after all. They say mother knows best.”

Tess slammed on the breaks and pulled to the side of the road.

“Hell no! What your mother performed tonight was a circus act and nothing about it was credible. You’re hurting right now and not making sense. I also think Atticus was angry when he said those things to you.”

Ayana looked out the window instead of at Tess so she couldn’t see her tears. She tried her best to hold them back, but felt like she was jumped by her emotions and lost the fight.

“He meant them. I saw it in his face, plus I slapped the hell out of him.”

I’m alone now. I guess it’s just me and my baby. I have to find somewhere to go, I can’t stay here and risk running into him while I’m carrying his baby.

“Yeah, we’re related, I did that to August too once. Sometimes I catch him still rubbing that side of his face.”

While blowing her nose on her sleeve, Ayana tried to pull herself together with no avail.

“Plus, I think he was thinking about marrying me, but he said my mother changed that and ended our relationship.”

“Ayana. I believe that Atticus was angry. Even I was pissed. Sometimes people say things they really don’t mean out of anger, in the heat of the moment. Come on, you know this. We see it all the time when dealing with our cases. We have to be strong for these little girls.”

She displayed a weak smile. “How do you know I’m having a girl? It might be a boy.”

“Because I bet you’re having another billionaire baby, and plus, my little girl needs someone to play with.”

Ayana freaked. “Please, please, don’t say that. I forgot all about that clause shit. Please, I don’t want to think about that. I want nothing to do with that. We don’t need it. I have my own money.”

The next thing I know, people will be saying that this was all a setup. Atticus might feel that way too. And I couldn’t…I couldn’t stand there and listen to him say that to me in my face. No!

She took a breath and wiped her face. Ayana didn’t want August to see her upset and start asking questions. The whole ordeal was embarrassing enough. She was sure he would find out soon enough from Atticus.

“Please, can we just go to your house? I’m tired of talking about this and I’m sleepy. I can’t get enough sleep now.”

“Sure, Cousin, I’m so sorry about this mess. But as far as sleeping goes, it doesn’t get any better when you get further into your pregnancy. In fact, it gets worse and you feel fat.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that. Thanks for being here for me, Tess. I love you, girl.”

Tess chuckled, “Yeah, I love you, too. Plus, remember my big fight with August, and I called you to pick me up in the middle of the night? You came too, so I’m paying you back. I owe you too. So close your eyes the rest of the way home and let it go for now.”

“Yes…OK, I can do this.”

Ayana’s head fell back on her headrest. She felt herself dozing off. All the fighting and arguing drained her strength. Occasionally her mind kept replaying the whole event over and over again, causing her to wake out from her sleep. So she wouldn’t worry Tess, she just lay there with slanted eyes, appearing to be asleep in the shadows of the night lights from the lamp posts they drove past.

****

A week had passed, and Ayana heard nothing from Atticus. She was still staying with Tess, due to a cancelation of her mother’s flight. As long as her mother was still in Mexico, Ayana was not going home. Her anger towards her mother was still at a ten, based on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the worst.

Her mother tried many times to reach out to her, as well as her father. Ayana knew her father would try to defend her mother, but at the same time be rational and neutral after she gave him the real story. She knew for so many years Emory gave and allowed Althea whatever she wanted, that now she was out of control and doing whatever she wanted.

Ayana took some time off of work for mental anguish. She didn’t see Tess much because she was in and out of the house working part-time. She was about to go take a swim in Tess and Augusts’ heated pool, her cell phone rang. Without bothering to answer, or checking the Caller ID, Ayana went to retrieve a towel. As soon as she was about to call Tess to ask about a spare bathing suit, she noticed that Atticus had called. She hit redial, butterflies filling her stomach.

The other line rang for a couple of minutes until a deep voice answered on the other line.