Babymama

46

Beyonce Knowles

Two weeks later...

I walked into my office, sat down at my desk, and logged into my computer to check my emails. We hired Lauren last week, and she's been killing it - I hardly even notice she's here. She just does her thing and stays out of the way. I'm loving it.

As I heard a knock on my door, I looked up to see my assistant standing there. "There's a woman named Megan Pete here to see you," she said, glancing down at her clipboard.

I scrunched my face up but then remember the instagram dm she sent, my assistant sat there waiting on my response.

"Okay bring her in"

A few moments later, you can imagine my shock when I realized it was Megan. I don't know how I didn't recognize her from the Instagram DM. I stood up, shaking my head.

"Absolutely not, Megan"

"Bey... I mean, Ms. Knowles, please, you haven't even given me a chance yet," Megan pleaded.

"We had a relations years ago. This isn't appropriate, Megan, and you know it. You have to leave," I told her.

"I promise I'm not the same person. I can be professional, and I think I can help expand your business," Megan insisted.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose "How so?"

"You need someone with a body to represent the clothing brand in your clothing line department. I want to be the face of it," she said as she sat on the couch.

"We have all body types modeling the clothes"

"Not this one," she said as she stood up and gestured with her hands as if presenting herself.

"Just give me this opportunity to show you I can be professional, I want to start my modeling career and this would be huge for me"

I knew Nicki would be furious, but I consider myself fair and I do believe she would be a good fit as the face of my clothing brand. I'm in a dilemma about what to do in this moment.

"I'll give you a shot, Megan. First fuck up and you're out of here"

she squealed and ran over to me hugging me, I pried her hands off of me. That's way too much already.

"Space, Megan"

"Oh yeah i'm sorry, my bad thank you so much you won't regret it" she said picking up her purse leaving out.

I hope i'm doing the right thing.

I sat down, trying to continue what I was doing, when my door knocked again. It seemed like nobody wanted me to work today. I looked up and saw my wife and Brielle standing there.

"Hi my beautiful queens, why are you not in school?" I pointed to Brielle who looked sad.

"Fucking fighting, you're taking her I cannot" Nicki said stressed.

"I have a couple of meetings today baby she can't go to the salon, or where's my mama?"

"Your mom is having a self-care day. She's not obligated to watch our children; she has a life too. Besides, Brielle tends to touch things in the salon, and there are too many people there. She can sit in your office and do her homework," she explained.

"Okay, fine, go sit down, Brielle. We will talk," I said to her, giving her a stern look. Then, I walked over to Nicki.

I kissed her lips a couple of times, she looked so stressed and out of it.

"I'm tired, baby, and I'm not feeling well. I don't know why both of my girls have been acting out lately. I can't deal with this," Nicki stressed, grabbing her stomach. I looked down and then back up at her.

"Relax mamas, I will handle Brielle. You sure you don't need to just go back home and relax?"

"No, I have a couple of clients today I will be fine" she said, she looked over at Brielle who was playing with her fingers shaking her head.

"And you're not playing that ipad for a week"

"But mommy," she whined. I looked over at her, and she stopped whining. She knew better.

I gave Nicki a kiss before she left out of the office, I went to the couch where Brielle sat so I could talk with her.

"Why are you fighting?"

"I don't know"

"Brielle, i'm not playing games with you" I said.

"Because they pick on me, i'm short like mommy and they call me names" she shrugged.

"There's nothing wrong with your height, baby. You have to ignore people and let them talk. I used to be bullied in school, but I didn't let them get to me, and I didn't put my hands on everybody who said something," I reassured Brielle.

"But I have to let them know I'm not the one," Brielle said sadly, her brows furrowed in determination. I couldn't help but chuckle inwardly; she was a mini version of Nicki in so many ways - fierce and unapologetically herself.

"You can without putting your hands on them Bri, that'll only get you in trouble, not them" I told her, I grabbed her hand and she laid her head on my shoulder.

"I love you the way you are mamas, you're so beautiful and loved. Kids are miserable and they hating on you" I told her and she giggled.

"Thank you mama"

"You're still in trouble, though, so get that homework out and start it. I'll be in meetings over here, so hush," I said, getting up and walking back over to my desk. I logged back in as Brielle got her work out of her bag and began working on it.

•••

Onika Maraj-Knowles

I was in my office's bathroom, looking down at the counter with my hands on the sides of the sink, sobbing.

There it was, a positive pregnancy test.

I'm 40 years old, starting all over again. I didn't want a baby. I couldn't do this again. My oldest is 16; this is embarrassing. Everyone's going to know I'm still having sex at my age.

I heard a knock on my office door, so I hurriedly threw away the test, washed my hands, and opened the door. It was Giselle standing there.

"Girl what are you doing here?" I looked down seeing she had food in her hands.

"I'm on lunch, Mama, and I wanted to eat with you since you're not far from the school," Giselle said, holding up the bag. The smell of the food didn't sit well with me, and I ran to the bathroom and threw up.

Giselle came in the bathroom and held my hair up, I kept throwing up until I heard her gasp, huh?

"Mom you're pregnant?"

Oh damn.