I drove to the only place in my nightmares. Bridgeport, Connecticut. I looked around for hotels and found a nice one after 30 minutes of driving. Marriott Inn will have to work for about a week until I figure something out. We pull into the front and I wake Elisa. Her eyes flutter and she stretches a little.
"Where are we?" She yawns.
"Bridgeport." I say plainly.
"Connecticut?" she looks at me with wide eyes.
"Yup." I smile and get out. I grab my purse and Nala from the backseat. Elisa grabs Nala while I get our room set up. "Can I get one room for about a week?" I ask the blonde receptionist.
"Of course. That will be $1,230." She smiles.
I give her my bank card and after the transaction she gives me the information on our room. "Room 587, On floor 5 and here is your key and back up."
"Thank you." I take the key and we walk to the elevator. Nala is still asleep and its late afternoon right now so the sunset is just right. Elisa looks at me like I will break down any minute now. When Nala woke up asking about her daddy I started crying again. We stopped at a gas station and I heard his name and I started crying. We were driving down the road and he called me. Can you guess what I did?
We walked into our room and chose our beds. My phone rung again and I saw that it was Danny.
"Hel-"
"Where are you!" he yells through the phone.
"Bridgeport, Connecticut."
"Lena come on. What are you thinking? Y'all could've worked this out."
"You obviously don't know everything that happened so I'm not going to argue with an ignorant man." I say to him.
"He told me what happened and that shit don't even sound like him. We had just left some mess with Cyrus and he ran into Ahriyah trying to start some mess. He wasn't hisself Le come back home."
"That's not my home is anymore, where I am now is. Just give me my space and we will be fine."
What else has he not told me?
"You can leave that easy? We don't mean nothing to you. Is that how you left so easily to move to San Fran?"
"I followed my dreams and took a scholarship from a school I didn't want to go to originally to stay closer to all of you money hungry bastards. I chose to raise Nala around you all, so she wouldn't ever find out about our secrets. How dare you tell me it was easy? It wasn't. Staying with a cheating man was hard. Staying around the drugs was hard. Being apart of mass murder was hard. And on top of all my other problems-" I stopped my rant and took a deep breath.
"Okay Lena. That wasn't fair. I'm sorry I know it's been hard. When did you decide to just make all these decisions without us?"
"When I realized I had more responsibilities than K imagined."
"What you mean?"
"Danny, I'm pregnant."
"What the Fuck Lena! You gotta be playing with me right now."
"Danny I wouldn't play about no shit like this."
"You gotta come home now. You can't have a baby away from its father. That's low."
"I choose what goes on from this point on. I knew he was cheating from the jump, I've been planning to leave for awhile now."
"Why you gotta do all this man?"
"He put his hands on me. He did something he promised he would ever do. He hurt me physically and emotionally." I start to cry in the middle of my explanation.
"Alright Lena just make sure your choices are made around the fact that your children deserve the best life they can have."
"I will." I say before hanging up.
"Are you okay?" Elisa asks me quietly.
"Yeah." I say wiping my eyes and smiling. She walks gets up and sits next to me on the bed. She pulls me into her arms and hugs me like my a mom would it's new born child.
"Lena, it will get better." She tells me.
"When?" my voice stutters.
"I don't know but there is always a rainbow after the rain, sometimes." she said the last part low making me laugh. Nala starts to moves in the bed. I get up because I know she will be awake. Her eyes pop open and she smiles a little when she sees me. I pick her up and she asks about Cardo again.
"Can I talk to Daddy?" she asked me.
I pull up his number for her. He answers on the 3rd ring.
"Lena, I'm so sorry I love you so much please don't give up on us. I need -"
"First of all fuck you and second Nala would like to speak to you." I hand her the phone.
"Hey Daddy." I hear his response and he sounds so much happier while on the phone with her. I suddenly feel the urge to throw up and I rush to the bathroom. I spill my guts into the toilet and sputter when I try to regain my breath. I lay my head on the floor and hold my stomach. It's probably from not eating anything for more that 30 hours. I have to feed my baby.
I wash my face and use some of the complementary mouth wash before walking back out. Elisa is in the bed watching tv. She is also on the phone. It sounds like she is ordering something and I get a craving of crushed ice and flour. When she gets off the phone she smirks at me.
"What?" I question her.
"I don't know, you're throwing up, you suddenly have a large pudge." she shrugged smiling at me.
"I'm pregnant." I state.
"How exciting? !" she said clapping. I burst out laughing and I see Nala is dancing around the room still on me phone. I look at her and she stops and scratches her neck like she didn't do anything. That is something Cardo would do. My eyes start to water at the thought. What is up with my emotions?
"Can we go to the store?" Elisa asks me standing up.
"Yeah but lets all get our showers." I answer going through my bags.
"I don't have any cloths." Elisa said in a small voice.
"You can where mine until I get me a job and transfer my classes here." I tell her. "I have years worth of cloths in these bags."
After we all get in the shower we head to the grocery store. We get snacks and a bunch of Microwave food. Also plastic containers and reusable water bottles. I also got Nala some toys and sippy cups. On the drive back to the Hotel me and Cardo's song played on the radio. Nala started humming it and it made me smile. 'Yes, No, Maybe' by Trey Songz.
When we pulled up to the hotel the song was still playing so I didn't move until it was over. Going back up to our room it was silent and it continued as we unpacked everything into the small refrigerator. I felt the baby kick and I held my stomach. I looked at Elisa and her eyes got wide. She came right to me and put her hand over mine. Another little thump. She shrieked and pulled me into her arms. I laughed and Nala looked at us with a quirked eyebrow. "Come here." I tell her and she holds her arms out for me to hold her. I pick her up and situate her on my hip. "How do you feel about being a big sister?"
"Another me?"
"I don't know if its a boy or a girl."
"I be big sister?"
"Yes, you're going to be a big sister."
"I be the best big sister ever, Mommy!" she screeches rubbing my stomach and smiling brightly. I pull her to me and honestly I never want to let go.
