Everything For Naomi

7. Good Enough

The ride from the hospital to her uncle's house for Naomi then back home was silent. Janice stared out the window until they went under the bridge to her house. Her mother's car sat in the driveway and her heart dropped. They got out the car and silently walked into the house, upstairs where Damien and Naomi departed from Janice into her room.

Janice knocked on her mother's bedroom door. She heard her step fathers voice followed by her mother swinging the door open.

"Yes Janice?" She tied her orange robe tighter, "You've gained some weight." She snapped.

"Can we talk?" Janice asked.

Her mother rolled her eyes, "Go sit in the office and I'll be on there." She slammed the door.

Janice sat in the chair with hand under her baby bump as her mother walked into the office with her hair wrapped, wearing a mid thigh nightgown.

"What is it, Janice?" She snapped.

"I'm pregnant." Janice admitted with a heavy sigh.

"By who? How far along are you? How long were you going to wait to tell me this time?" Alice folded her arms across her chest, angrily.

"Three and a half months." She put her head in her hands.

Alice pushed her tongue against her jaw, "By who?"

"Damien." Janice whispered.

"So yall are messing around again? This hasn't happened in my house, has it?" Alice picked at her nails, carelessly.

"No, it was only-"

Her mother cut her off, "Then how are you pregnant by him again Janice? If yall aren't messing around again, then you shouldn't be pregnant by him again."

Janice leaned back for her lecture.

"You have a month and a half to find a place of your own Janice. I don't have anymore room in this house for another baby. You need to support your own little family now cause I'm not doing it anymore." She pointed to Janice's belly, "And I wish you the best of luck with this one sweetie. You better make sure Damien is going to actually help you this time."

Janice laughed, "When have you supported my little family? I've worked two jobs since I was fourteen to take care of Naomi and myself. Everything she has, I bought. I feed and clothe her and myself on my own, you don't do that."

"But who is putting a roof over you and your child's head?" She snapped back.

"I don't know. Who is? When was the last time you actually paid a cent of rent? Your little hubby has been coming to me asking me if I can help him pay your supposed half of rent these last few months. So who's really putting a roof over me and my child's head?" Janice stepped out the office and down to her bedroom.

"Make that a month to get out my house." Her mother shouted as Janice slammed her bedroom door. She turned to Damien laying across the bed, playing on his phone.

"What's going on?" He never drafted from the phone screen.

"I have a month to get out of here and get my own place." Janice sat on the edge of the bed and watched Naomi play with her Barbie house.

Damien locked his phone and sat up to comfort Janice, "So what are you going to do?"

She let out a heavy breath, "You want us to be closer to you, right? Why don't we just get a place together?" She pushed out a laugh.

"You really want to do that? Across the Bridge or on the shore Jay?" He asked.

"The shore. Maybe Easton or Cambridge so I can be close to Chesapeake. That would be nice." She laid back across the bed.

"How many rooms you thinking? Two? One for the kids and one for us?" He flicked his thumbs.

Janice turned to Damien wit a laugh, "Three. One for me and the baby, one for you and one for Naomi."

Alice banged on Janice's door and she bounced up, cracking open the door.

"Tell Damien that he needs to leave my house." Her mother snapped.

"Why? Who is he bothering? Nobody, exactly." Janice snapped back.

"He's bothering me. He's in my house. I want him out." She pushed the door open, slamming Janiceís back and head into the wall.

"Grandma, why are you being so mean to daddy?" Naomi dropped her Barbie's to look up at her.

"Damien, get out my house. I don't need or want you here and fairly you have no reason to be here anymore. You've dropped off Naomi, you've taken my daughter to the hospital. Goodbye." Alice grabbed him by his shirt to dig him off the bed until he snatched away from her.

"Man, what is your problem?" He stared down at her.

"You get come into the daughter's life, impregnate her twice now and think it's okay for your bum ass to chill around my house like this. That's my problem." She grabbed him by the shirt again, pulling him out the door with her.

Naomi ran over to Janice passed out behind the door, "Mommy! Wake up! Mommy!"

Damien managed to rip away from Alice's grip again and tended to Janiceís side.

"She's unconscious. Look at the shit you do!" His voiced cracked.

"I didn't do a thing. This is your doing, Damien! Call 911 or something." She rolled her eyes.

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Alice, Naomi and Damien sat in the hospital waiting room. Damien shook his leg nervously as a nurse came out to them.

"Mrs.Freeman?" she whispered.

Her mother nodded, "Damien, can you move over there while she talks to me about my daughter? Thank you."

"Nah, you good." He yelled.

The nurse went on to talk about Janice but to Damien, it all ran together and he didn't hear a single word of it do to his own thoughts.

"Is the baby okay?" He interrupted her.

"Baby? I think the doctor wanted to address that in the back with Janice and her mother." She tapped her pen on her clipboard.

"Why not address the baby with the father and the mother of the child?" He raised his voice.

"It's not my decision." She stepped back as he stood up.

"Then whose damn decision is it cause Janice wouldn't dare ever say some shit like that." Damien's tone was at a complete yell across the waiting room.

"Damien, you need to sit down and shut up. Janice doesn't want you back their so you're not going back there." Alice raised her voice in return.

Damien ran his tongue across his teeth and ran through the double doors into the back rooms.

"Janice?! Janice?!"

"I'm in here." Her soft came from behind a curtain.

He threw the curtain back, "Please tell me the baby is okay, Jay."

"Damien, I don't know what's going on." Janice's eyes watered and a line of tears rolled down her cheeks with Damien coming to comfort her.

The doctor tapped on the arch frame, "Janice. Dr.Howard again from earlier. I'll just cut to the chase. With you being early in your pregnancy, you already know you have a high chance of miscarriage. Now, those chances have just tripled for you with this injury happening. I know you wanted to keep this baby but with chances this high of miscarriage and the toll they take on a person, are you sure you still want to have this baby?"