“It’s no secret. I don’t fuck with Max like that anymore.” Marli rolled her eyes as she opened her car door to exit. Her mother was already there with the boys, waiting for their flight. Kay exited the vehicle, helping her sister get her luggage out of the back seat.
“Tell Ma I said hi. I would walk you in, but I have to go pick Iman and Imani up from preschool.” She kissed her sister on the cheek.
“Okay, no problem. Thank you! Love you.” She took the handle of the rolling suitcase from her sister’s hand and walked toward the entrance.
“Love you!” Kay shouted from the distance. Marli waved.
“Good luck hiding that from Mom!” Kay yelled, causing Marli to swallow hard. She might be able to keep her pregnancy a secret from a lot of people, but Loretta Martin was going to smell the pregnancy on her the second she walked into the room. She already had. Her mom had been asking her questions and talking about her fish dreams for weeks now. Marli was grateful her mother was coming. She needed extra help with the boys now that Tres had so much going on. She would also be able to watch the boys while she went to set so they wouldn’t have any alone time with Max.
As Marli went through TSA pre-check, her thoughts went to Dru. She was having his baby for real this time. There was no possibility of him not being the father. A part of her was happy, but another part of her was terrified. She didn’t know how Dru would react. Would he play her for Janel? She didn’t know. She’d told Kay she would tell him after her trip, and she would, just not right after. She wanted to wait until after she got out of miscarriage territory, around sixteen weeks. There was no point in getting Dru in an uproar if the baby wouldn’t even survive, right?
“Mama!” Deuce shouted, running up to her as she approached their terminal.
“Hey, baby!” She leaned forward, kissing his forehead. Her eyes went to Tres. He was slowly walking over to her. Running had been hard for him since the surgery. He still had abdominal pain and swelling. Marli sped up her pace, pulling Deuce along.
“Mama! It’s a dinosaur!” Tres yelled happily, pointing to the T-Rex hat he was wearing on his head. Marli smiled. The boys had all kinds of souvenirs. They had hit their grandma’s pockets up at the gift shop.
“I see, baby! Come here!” Marli leaned down, kissing Tres on the forehead. Marli walked over to her mom, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Your sister couldn’t come in?” She greeted Marli, causing her to giggle.
“She has to pick up the twins from school,” Marli responded. Loretta folded her arms across her chest.
“Um huh. So how far along are you?” Ms. Loretta blurted, making Marli cough.
“Huh! What?” She’d caught her off guard. Loretta didn’t say anything as she held up her phone. Sure enough, there she was in 4K, on the Hollywood tearoom page, leaving the pregnancy clinic. Marli’s head dropped. Fuck! There went her attempt to keep this a secret.
“Twelve weeks.” Marli sighed.
“Um huh. So, who is the daddy this time?”
Marli thought to lie, but she knew better. Her mama probably already had done the math in her head.
“Dru,” she whispered.
“Umph. Well, maybe this will be enough to stop y’all from running around here playing these childish games.” Loretta folded her arms across her chest. Marli didn’t say anything else; she just sat there, staring at the boys. She expected her mom to continue, but she hadn’t.
“We are now inviting passengers with small children, and any passengers requiring special assistance, to start boarding Flight 289 to Atlanta,” the flight attendant announced. Marli stood, gathering her things. She placed Tres in his wheelchair and headed toward the exit.
“We get to see Daddy!” The boys shouted as they handed the flight attendant their ticket. Their excitement to see Max pulled on her heartstrings and made her roll her eyes at the same time. She hoped the baby growing inside of her had that much love for Dru. Boarding the plane, Marli sighed. She would tell him as soon as she got back from Atlanta. With Hollywood tearoom telling business, she hoped she even had that long.
Thirteen
Dru
“What you want for dinner, baby?” Janel questioned as she sauntered her way into the studio where Dru was working for the evening. She’d been back working at Eight24 Records since the day Dru showed up at her doorstep. He didn’t necessarily beg her back, but he did agree to put a label on their situation. They were now dating with the intention of seeing where things could go. It had been so far, so good. Nothing had really changed on Dru’s end, but Janel seemed to be happy. She offered him peace and consistency, something that Marli just couldn’t do, and that seemed to be what he needed right now.
“I was thinking we could order out and spend the night in.” She walked over to him. Dru heard her, but he didn’t look up. He was too occupied staring at a picture on the Hollywood Tearoom page of Marli leaving a pregnancy clinic.
@hollywoodtearoom: Attendees, look who was spotted outside of a clinic known primarily for pregnant women. None other than Hip Hop in Love star Marli. A pregnancy hasn’t been confirmed yet but it’s giving very much pregnant! If you’ve been keeping track of the drama, attendees. Just a few weeks ago we reported that Marli and producer Maximus’s son had been released from the hospital after tragically shooting himself in the stomach. Maximus has been brought up on child endangerment charges but is out on bail. It looks like now they’re adding a new baby to the mix. What do y’all think attendees do these two need to be adding another child to this madness?
Dru stared at the picture in disbelief. He didn’t know what to feel. The thought of Marli being pregnant by another man, again, was fucking him up inside. There hadn’t been a day that went by he didn’t think about her. He’d covered all of Tres’s hospital bills and had visited him every night after Marli had gone to sleep. She didn’t know he was there, just like she didn’t know he had been talking to Tres and Deuce on their iPads. He just wanted to check up on them, let them know that they had someone in their corner. He was mad at Marli, but he wasn’t going to completely abandon her kids. He just couldn’t play those silly games with her anymore. One minute, she wanted him, and the next minute, she was running or pushing him away. It was cool five years ago, but he was older and in a different head space. He was starting to want the type of love his brother had found in Kay.
“What you lookin’…” Janel slid into his lap. Her words trailed off at the sight of his phone screen.
“You dodged a bullet with that one. I mean, getting pregnant when you’re under investigation for your other kids is crazy.” Janel shook her head as she attempted to connect her lips to Dru’s, but he moved his head.
“Naw.” He waved her off. Her statement was wild, and he wasn’t going to let her speak on a situation she didn’t know anything about and then allow her to kiss him in the mouth.
“If she’s pregnant, she sure isn’t that far along; she’s not showing. Her nasty ass could be there for an STD, for all we know.” Janel rolled her eyes. Dru’s eyes zeroed in on the picture. Except for her cute natural pooch, Marli’s stomach was still visually flat in her gray crop top and short set. There wasn’t any sign of her being pregnant. He ignored that hating shit Janel was spewing as the realization that he could very much be the father of Marli’s unborn child set in.
“Shit,” he whispered under his breath. Sliding Janel off his lap, he sat back in the office chair. He needed to think.
“Um, you that offended I talked about that ran-through hippo?” Janel questioned. She was way out of line now, and any other day, Dru would check her. Right now, though, Dru’s head was too cloudy to care about any stupid shit that Janel had to say.
“Give me a minute. Order whatever you want for dinner,” he said as he waited for Janel to leave and close the door to the studio. He stared at the picture again. Swiping to the next slide, the silver car door of a Tesla told him just who would be able to shed some light on the situation. Exiting the app, he went to his brother’s number and placed the call.
“Sup, bro?”
“Marli pregnant?” Dru didn’t even let Blue’s face appear on the screen before he bombarded him. It was no need to sugarcoat shit for his brother. Blue knew what was up.
“Damn, nigga! I expected this call yesterday. Tearoom posted that picture sixteen hours ago. You slipping.” Blue laughed.
“Fuck you. Answer the question. I know yo’ pillow talking ass know,” Dru fired back.
“You know, I thought it was fuck her?” Blue joked. Dru flashed him the middle finger. His brother was getting a kick out of this shit, but he didn’t feel like playing with his ass today. Blue laughed in response before turning the phone on Kay. She was doing her best to look everywhere instead of the screen. That confirmed his first question: She was pregnant.
“Sis, is it mine?” Dru asked the second question that was plaguing his brain. The way the color flushed from her face combined with her inability to make eye contact had him standing up from the rolling chair. Kay looked torn as she bounced her eyes between the ground and Dru.
