Marlene just told Joshua that she's pregnant after he was shot by her sister. How will Marlene raise the baby while she and Joshua are still in the bloodline?
Book 1: Love & War: To hold
(Read that first or you'll be confused.)
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It's been a few weeks...or a few months. Marlene is 38 weeks pregnant. Her and Joshua live in a house with Hailey and Joseph. Jon and Trinity got a house a block away and Joe...well Joe is living on his own. Nobody's talked to him since. Marlene tried to get Joshua to talk to him but nope. Joshua refuses to talk to him until he apologizes and we met Joe...he'll never apologize.
"So have you guys thought about names?" Hailey asked as Joshua was rubbing Marlene's stomach.
"No, that's the one thing we didn't do." Marlene said putting her hand on Joshua's head. "Luckily we already have the nursery down and everything."
"When's the last time y'all talk to Joe?" Hailey asked.
"Not since I punched him in the face." Marlene said opening his phone.
"I'm not talking to him till he apologizes and starts thinking about other people for a change." Joshua said getting up from the couch.
"Come on he's your cousin. I'm over it already so you don't have to stay mad at him because of me." Marlene said struggling to get up. "A little help here." Joshua helped her get up before walking away.
"That's not the point baby, I always have to defend him for stupid shit. Enough is enough, if he needs me he has my number. I don't need him, I got enough money in the bank to wherever I want and retire with my girlfriend and my son. If I have to get a side to help with expenses then I'll do it." He went upstairs and Marlene looked over at Joseph and Hailey.
"So who's gonna talk to Joe?" She asked. Hailey immediately said not it while Joseph just shook his head. "Oh come on I don't want to see that fool. I may be over it but he'll say something to piss me off and we'll be right back at square one."
"You'll be fine, what is it a six hour drive." Hailey said eating a McFlurry.
"Yep now get your keys, you're gonna drive." Marlene said grabbing a jacket.
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"But I don't-"
"Wanna go I know." Marlene cut her off. "But I'm not driving that far this close to my due date so please just drive me there. You don't have to come in." Hailey groan grabbing her keys.
"I can't believe I just drove six hours to get here." Hailey said putting the vehicle in park. "Here's the spare key now get. Don't be surprised if I'm not here when you come back."
"I wish you would then Trin will be my baby's godmother." Marlene threatened getting out the car.
"You wouldn't." Hailey glared.
"Oh but I would." She closed the door and went up to the front door. She stopped and grabbed her belly as she felt a contraction. "Not now baby, I'm gonna need you to hang on for another week or at least a day." She unlocked the door and went to the kitchen.
"What do you want?" Joe asked.
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"Hello to you too." Marlene said looking around. The place was a mess and Joe looked rough. Things weren't the same without his family around...he needed his family back. "So how's your daughter doing, what's her name again Jojo?"
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"You need to leave." He said and she chuckled.
"And you need to clean up but you aren't going to do that so I'm not going anywhere." Marlene said starting to clean up. "You need to call Joshua."
"Now why would I do that?" He asked crossing his arms. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her stomach. She got another contraction but this one was more painful than the last one. "You good?"
"I'm fine, you need to call Joshua and take accountability for what you did. Then you need to call Colby and Jonathan and apologize." He chuckled but she wasn't playing. "I'm dead ass, you need them just as much as they need you. Look at this place, look at yourself. You're thirty years old, it's time to grow up and take accountability for your actions. I'm sorry that my half sister shot Joshua and I'm sorry I didn't mention her. I haven't spoken to her in almost ten years so I didn't know anything about her. I'm sorry I hid my pregnancy and I only did that because Joshua wanted to be married first. The day I was going to tell him all that shit went down.
You see how easy it was for me to take accountability for my actions and apologize for it. Something you couldn't do. Not once did you actually apologize to me for getting my friends killed. Instead you said brought up my mom and brother and tried to blame me for it. But that's fine because at the end of the day I know I'm never going to get it because you hate my guts and that's fine. But you're miserable without your cousins and they're miserable without you as well so pick up the phone and apologize!" She said as she felt liquid running down her leg.
"And tell Joshua my water just broke." She muttered looking down.
