Lonely

Thirty-Eight

The past 48 hours were a blur to Mona. She barely ate or slept thinking about everything that had transpired. All she wanted was her husband to be honest with her for once and he couldn't do that. He broke his promise that he'd never hurt her and yet knew all along about the pregnancy. It felt intentional to her.

"I'm worried about you," Denise stared at her.

"I'll be fine," Mona remarked.

Truth was, she was scaring herself. She didn't know if she would be fine. Her heart was broken by the same person she never thought would break it again.

"These are the cards I was dealt I guess," Mona sniffed as she felt her eyes water.

"You can fix this. Go talk to your husband. I'm sure y'all can fix it!" She encouraged.

"I have nothing to say to him right now," Mona shook her head.

"Well he's outside... he's been out there all morning trying to get you to come home with him. The least you can do is just go out there and talk to him," Denise reported.

Mona got up and went to go check the blinds and saw the he in fact was out in her driveway. A sigh escaped her lips as she headed to outside to talk to her husband.

"I'm coming back so don't lock me out," Mona uttered causing Denise to sigh.

Mona headed out the house as James quickly got out and rushed to her. He wrapped his arms around her as he sobbed. He missed her touch, her scent, and everything else. Mona let him have his moments as her arms stayed by her side.

"I'm so sorry," James whispered as she planted kisses all over her face. "Can we talk?"

Mona nodded as he led them to the inside of his car. The first few moments, James collected himself together while Mona played with her hands.

"Mo,baby, I love you so much and I'm stupid as fuck for not telling you sooner about Imani. I was conflicted on whether or not I was going to step up and be her dad. I came here to tell her face to face that I wasn't going to be able to do it and that's when she followed me home. I just wanted to keep it a secret so you wouldn't leave," he expressed wholeheartedly.

Mona glanced at James whose eyes were filled with sadness and hopelessness. She placed her hand over his hand and let out a breath before she began to respond.

"James, All I wanted was your full attention and I sacrificed my happiness for you. I was so happy before you came back... I sacrificed and took a leap of faith with you hoping that you really changed and you haven't. Yo-

"No, I'm sorry but I did change Mona. Okay? I did, I sacrificed too! I sacrificed leaving here to come to Atlanta to be with you! I sacrificed my fucking daughter... She went to New York for months while I tried to make shit right with you! I DID A LOT OF SHIT MO! A LOT! I was willing to be a deadbeat for you. You're not going to sit here and try and make this all about you! No! No..." James interrupted.

Mona pursed her lips together and slapped her hands on her thighs a sign of surrender.

"You got it," she gave up. "You're right!"

"Mona come on, let's be adults about this. I'm sorry for cutting you off. I'll let you speak. I just didn't like that you're trying to make me be the bad guy," James apologized.