Treacherous Love

Hired Help

Instead of taking me into the kitchen, we walked into the dinningroom. The table was set up for candle light dinner for two. The was a large vase with fresh flowers in the middle and a ice bucket with a bottle of champagne. "Oh wow." Was all Raichelle could say. Maurice let go of her hand and pulled out a chair at the head of the table for her to sit in. Once she sat down he went to the opposite side and pulled his chair to the table. "This is nice. What did I do to deserve this?" She asked with a smile. "Ahhh honeymoon" He said rolling his eyes and chuckling. "Right. I keep forgetting that. It seems so unreal that were married now." Her eyebrows creased like she was in a deep thought. "Do you regret marrying me?" His voice wavered and he seemed uncertain. "That's not what I meant. It's just I went from being a pregnant fiancé getting ready for my babyshower to the next day I'm somebody's wife and mother. I guess I'm just getting used to everything." She said looking into his eyes. He nodded his head and stood to get the bottle of wine. He poured a full clglasd for himself and half glass for her. "You got enough milk to last Simone a day?" He asked after taking his seat. "Yeah, there's more than enough cause I pump every time I feed her." Raichelle responded grabbing the glas and taking a sip. "Good, cause I want you to atleast get a buzz, which shouldn't be hard cause you haven't had a drink in months." She smiled and sipped some more. "Oh, you want me tipsy huh? Well what's gonna happen when Simone wakes up? I don't know if that's such a good idea." She said putting the glass down. "Don't worry about it, I got it all under control. You trust me right?!" He asked taking a sip from his glass. "I do" She replied and took another sip of her wine.
"Alright here you go." A woman came out wearing an apron and placed a plate in front of Raichelle then Maurice. She disappeared quickly as she came. "Who is that?" If she didn't know better, that woman looked like the nurse that was taking care of Malik in the hospital, but she left so quickly Rai couldn't be sure. "Someone whose gonna help you take some of the load off of being a new mother and wife." Raising one eyebrow she looked at the plate of seafood alfredo surrounded by crab legs. "I can take care of my own child Maurice and if I need help Lady is more than willing to help. It unnecessary to spend money on outside people." She pushed the alfredo around with her fork examining it. "I know babygirl, but this way your mom can come and just visit, she can relax with you and the baby. She still working and taking care of her own home, we don't need to stress her by adding our load." He said as he wrapped some of the alfredo on a fork. "Well what do you mean by help make the load lighter? Like a nanny or housekeeper or something?" Raichelle asked pulling a the crab leg apart so she could get to the meat. "I mean...yeah" He shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever you need her to help with. Grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, watching the baby so you can rest a little, running errands...whatever." chewing the crab meat she screwed her face up "Do you think I'm really gonna need all that help?....like you don't think I can take care of my motherly and wifely duties alone?" He wiped his mouth with a napkin "No, love that's not what I meant. I just think you gonna need a little time to used to going about your daily routine with an infant added. I'm just trying to make things as easy as possible for you." She covered her mouth, because she had a mouth full of the pasta "I get that, and I appreciate you, but I don't need a helper. How am I supposed to get a routine going with a crutch? I'll be used to the help and then when it's time for her to leave I'll be out of sorts." She shook her head no and sipped her wine. "I don't think that'll be a good idea. I'll just do it the old fashion way and learn to juggle the added responsibility. I mean it's not like I'll be doing it alone. I have you, Lady, my cousins. Hell I gotta whole village." Maurice took a deep breath. He stood up and walked to her. He pulled a chair up next to her seat and grabbed her free hand. "Baby, I'm not telling you that you can't do this, because I'm sure you would tackle this like you do anything you put your mind to and be successful. I'm making it so you don't have that burden to bear. You can take an extended leave and bond with our daughter without all the added headache you see your cousins dealing with. You can put your full focus on just being a mother and wife. Can you just try it for me?" Raichelle eyebrows raised and her jaw dropped. "Wait...hold on...so not only are you saying I have to get used to a stranger being in my home around my newborn, your also telling me you don't want me to work either?!" She shook her head no and pulled her hand back. "We did not discuss this Maurice. You said you wanted me to take my full maternity leave, because I said I would go back after three weeks. Now your basically saying I have to have a maid slash nanny and you want me to extend my maternity leave more? How long do you expect me to say out of work? And why wouldn't I be able to take care of Simone and the house if I'm not working. I'm not the barefoot and pregnant type and you knew that!" Maurice pinched the bridge of his nose and sat back in the chair. "The bottom is Rain as my wife I feel like you should respect my wishes and do as I ask when it comes to this. It's not like I'm doing something to harm you, I have your best interest at heart." Rai bit her lip and nodded her head "So marrying me what your way of trying to gain control over me? Well imma grown ass woman and married or not I'm still more than capable of making decisions for myself. You may have my best interest in mind, but I can take care of myself and my child without your hired help. I'm also more than capable of being a working mother. Have I not always seen to it that you were happy, fed and the house kept up?! I feel like you made this decision and your just telling me how it will be rather than discussing it with me to see how how I really feel about this." Maurice nose flared and he got up from the chair to return to his original seat. "Damn Raichelle...you gotta war against everything? Does it give you pleasure being at odds with me, because as long as I want it, you want the opposite. How do you figure I'm trying to control you? I married you because I don't see a future without you. I don't need to go through this lengths to get a woman to comply with my wishes. Maybe that's how things worked out in your brain, but if that's the case why did you say "I do?" He squinted his eyes and stared at her. Raichelle took a deep breath to calm herself before speaking. "Ok, let's put this in prospective. You want me to extend my leave till when exactly?" She asked, trying to move the conversation from an argument to a discussion. "I prefer you wait until she starts school to go back to work. It would be good for Simone to have her mom home." He said sitting back in his seat. "Till she.....aaarrrgghh!" She was so angry she didn't even finish her sentence. She waved her hand and threw everything in front of her to the floor, causing the dishes and glasses to shatter on impact. "I hate living with you! Im.not a child!" She said stomping her foot and putting her hands on her hips. "Yet....you constantly act like one. Look at what you just did, that is called a temper tantrum, usually displayed by unchastised children." He responded calmly. "Every damn time I think we've made progress you go and do something to throw us right back where we were! I was fool to take you at your word and believe you actually show that you had remorse for the way you've been treating me and will change your behavior. You just don't give a damn about anyone else's feelings but your own and I'm sick of this shit. I'm not your child and you'll do good to remember that!" Raichelle grabbed the baby monitor off the floor and headed upstairs.