Black to the Past

Chapter 13

Halle could hear her parents getting louder. Her mother was the maddest. "Harvey, I have my hands full! I have three kids under the age of four. Halle is almost grown. She needs someone to be there for her while she's going through the challenges of the teen years and college. How can I be there for her when I'm saddled in the house with yet another baby, huh? Tell me how. And besides that, I have a life. I want to get back to work myself."

"Oh my god, Sherry! Your life is as a wife and a mother. That's what you said you wanted. And Halle doesn't need you. She's okay. She'll sail through life the way she always does. The little children need you. This baby needs you. Maybe you're still having postpartum depression or something. Let's take you to a doctor and get you some more medication," Harvey said trying to reason with her.

Halle shook her head and blinked her eyes fast. Mom's been on medication, she asked in her head. Meredith was staring at her. "Did you know that," she asked quietly. Halle shook her head no. She knew that her mother hadn't been happy after Stephon's birth. She wasn't her usual energetic self the way she'd been after Maya and Seth were born. That caused Halle to spend a lot of time with Stephon as a newborn. Sherry hadn't even been interested in breastfeeding Stephon as much as she did the other two. She often made a bottle and gave the baby to either Halle or Harvey. But Halle had not known that her mother had been on medication for depression.

"You're crazy! What makes you think Halle is sailing through life? What am I, chopped liver? I've been guiding her, mothering her, taking her places, teaching her. I'm her mother! Why do you keep insinuating that I'm not? It's insulting, Harvey. And it hurts."

"All I'm saying is that you have your own kids now. Halle is older. She's going to be off to college soon and we'll be the picture perfect family, the one you've always wanted. Come on, honey. You're making a big deal out of nothing. So you're pregnant. We'll have another beautiful baby and you can stay home."

"I don't want to stay home anymore. This isn't the life I wanted. I went to school to be a lawyer. I am a lawyer. I want to practice law again and be in the courtroom and be who I thought I'd be when I grew up," Sherry said on a cry. "Being a stay at home mom is frustrating, Harvey. Everything is about them. I can't do this anymore."

"Be honest with yourself, Sher! You weren't really lawyer material in the first place," Harvey said coldly.

Sherry stared at her husband in disbelief. "How do you really feel?" The things coming out of her husband's mouth were unbelievable.

Harvey approached his wife and was in her face with a look of anger and hurt that he'd never felt before.

"I feel like we had a plan and you're not sticking to it. I feel like I told you in the beginning what I wanted out of life and you pretended to fit the bill and now you don't. You're telling me that you don't want my baby growing inside you. YOU don't want our baby, Sherry. What does that say about your character as a person?"

"I am not having this baby," Sherry spat back at him.

"Yes you are," Harvey retorted back.

"No I'm not. I went to an abortion clinic today. I am terminating this pregnancy Harvey. And there is nothing you can do to stop me," she told him before walking around him to go up the stairs.

Something inside of Harvey snapped. He grabbed Sherry by the arm and twisted her arm behind her in a vice grip that made her yelp. He yanked her back against his body. "Let go of me," Sherry screamed.

Maya started shaking and crying. They could all hear everything going on even though it was two floors under them. Seth started crying which caused Stephon to cry. Meredith and Halle were both tearing up. To hear the exchange was scary.

"So help me God, Sherry. If you terminate my child. I will divorce you and you will never see your children again. Do you understand me?" Harvey whispered in her ear and pulled her arm up higher causing more pain.

"Harvey please! Let me go! You're hurting me," Sherry cried out.

"Do you understand me?" Harvey asked again, not letting go.

"Yes! Yes! I understand you," Sherry yelled out.

Harvey let her go and pushed her away from him causing Sherry to stumble into the wall in front of her. She sobbed against the wall and sank to the floor in defeat. Harvey simply stepped over her and headed up the stairs. He could hear the children crying but he couldn't deal with that now. He needed to get his composure together before facing his children. He didn't know what they had or hadn't heard but he would assure them that nothing in their life was changing. And Sherry would have his baby and if she didn't obey him he would divorce her. It was as simple as that.