Joy (42 page)
Anya pulled away from her grandmother and stood, leaning against the wall. “I'm a little relieved, Madear. I can't explain it, but it was getting hard with Braxton.” She looked down at her bare finger. “I still love him,” she said, feeling the soft surge of tears behind her eyes. “But … I know I'll make it.”
Madear had been slumped at the table, and now suddenly, she pulled her shoulders back and went to Anya. “You're from strong stock baby. You and I wouldn't be here today if my great-grandmother had aborted her baby. No matter how this happened, this is something wonderful because it's God's idea. You're going to come through this standing tall.”
Anya tried to smile through lips that had begun to tremble.
Madear held her for several long moments, before she stepped back, and placed her hand on Anya's stomach. “That's my great grandbaby.” Madear quivered with emotion.
Anya had planned to tell Madear about Alaister's arrest, but now she felt that news could wait. Instead, she leaned on her grandmother, and treasured the comfort she felt as Madear's strong arms held her.
“Madear, I'm scared.”
“I know, baby, but as long as there is breath in me, I will be here for you.” She leaned back and smiled. “You might not even get a chance to take care of this baby with me around.” Madear's face turned somber. “But the most important thing for you to know is that the Lord is with you. God is not a spectator, Anya. He'll be all up in your business with this baby. God chose you for this because you are special, you are wonderful, and you are loved.”
They held each other until they heard Donovan's voice boom through the living room. With the tip of her apron, Madear gently wiped the tears from Anya's face. “Use the back bathroom, sweetheart. We have to make sure the mother-to-be looks fabulous when we make this wonderful announcement to the world.”
T
he ringing would not stop, and Braxton peeked through the blinds. He couldn't see who was at his door, but Carlos's car was parked in the driveway. He waited a few more minutes, but the ringing continued, as if Carlos had no intentions of leaving.
Finally he went down the stairs. With one click of his lock, Braxton opened the door, and headed toward the living room, leaving Carlos still standing outside.
“Hey, it's good to see you, too, mi amigo. Qué pasa?” He followed Braxton. “Man, it's dark in here. What have you been doing?”
“I'm not in the mood for company, Carlos. I answered the door because you wouldn't go away.” Braxton slumped onto the couch, and stretched his feet onto the table in front of him.
Carlos loosened his tie, then sat next to Braxton, matching his posture. “So how're you doing, my friend?” Carlos asked, ignoring Braxton's words. “I've been calling you for a week and you haven't returned any of my calls.”
“I guess that means that you can't take a hint.”
Carlos chuckled. “No, because I know what you really need is your best friend. Man, you've messed up big time.”
Braxton looked at Carlos for a moment, then rolled his eyes. “Anya couldn't wait to tell you how I did her wrong, huh?”
“That's not your woman's style. What happened was, I called Madear to see how she was doing.
She
told me that you walked out on your pregnant fiancée.”
“Remember the pregnant part has nothing to do with me.”
“No one is going to forget that. You won't let us. But, man …” Carlos shook his head. “To leave her now, that was wrong.”
Braxton brought his legs down and leaned forward. “You don't understand. I love Anya. I want to marry her. I just wanted her to make the right choice.”
“The world according to Braxton.”
He ignored Carlos's remark. “Anya was the one who told me that I wasn't part of her future and she gave me back the ring.”
“So you left because she said she was choosing the baby over you …”
“She didn't say that.” Braxton sighed, remembering the moment when she stated her choice. “She said she was choosing God over me.”
Carlos whistled. “I knew she was a smart woman.”
With a quickness, Braxton stood and stomped to the other side of the room. “I don't want to talk about this with you,” he shouted, pointing his finger at his friend. “It's none of your business.”
He turned his back and went into the foyer, heading toward the stairs.
Carlos jumped up but by the time he reached the landing, Braxton was already upstairs. “Let yourself out,” Braxton shouted down coldly.
“Okay, I will. You can soak in this stuff by yourself, but let me ask you one question. Would you really want a woman who would choose
you
over God?”
Braxton looked back but only for a moment, then slammed his bedroom door.
Carlos shook his head, then walked out the door.
A
nya measured the passing of time in pregnancy weeks. She had her first official prenatal appointment in the seventh week of her pregnancy—the same week that she and Braxton broke up. In her ninth week, her agency acquired the Zytec account, which brought in a half million dollars in revenue. In the thirteenth week, at the coaching of Sasha and Madear, she bought her first maternity outfits. The fifteenth week was when she found out that Alaister had been sentenced to ten years on a plea bargain. And the seventeenth week found Anya working long hours, trying to for-get that this would have been the week of her wedding. Now twenty-eight weeks had passed, and Anya was settled into preparing her life and her business for the baby.
“David's gone?” Sasha sang her question as she sauntered down the stairs. She was still twisting her hair into the tiny braids that she had perfectly squared off on her scalp.
Anya was sitting on a pile of pillows in front of the couch. Her new laptop and piles of paper were spread out in front of her.
“He just left.” Anya didn't look up as she posted numbers onto a spreadsheet.
Sasha sat across from Anya and watched her cousin. “Don't you think it's time for a break?”
Anya removed her reading glasses and stretched, placing her hands in the small of her back. “I can tell by your tone you're not going to leave me alone, so … what do you want to do? Get something to eat?”
“Yeah, let's order in.”
Anya replaced her glasses. “Good idea. Order anything. It doesn't matter to me.”
But Sasha remained in place and said, “You and David have been working like crazy.”
“We're trying to get everything ready so that I can take as much time as I need.”
Sasha was silent for a moment. “Is it just about business with you two?”
Anya looked up, but said nothing.
“I really thought something would've happened between you guys by now.”
Anya let her eyes drop to her bulging middle. “I'm not in the position for much to happen.”
Sasha dismissed Anya's words with her hands. “That means nothing to David. He doesn't care that you look like the Goodyear blimp.”
“Nothing is going to happen with me and David.” Anya smiled.
“Don't be negative. You could drown your tears right into the lap of that fine man. You want each other anyway.” Sasha stated her words as fact.
“Get over it, Sasha. We've already tested the waters and decided we'd do better as friends.” Anya laughed when Sasha's mouth opened wide.
“I can't believe that you actually slept with David.”
Anya made a face. “You should know me better than that. It wasn't sex, but one day … our lips kinda met.”
Sasha chuckled.
“But as a friend, he's been a blessing …” Then she added softly, “Just like you.”
“Girl, I live to bless other people's lives.” Sasha smiled. “I'm going to order Chinese.” In her stocking feet, Sasha scurried into the kitchen to make the call.
Anya leaned back and closed her eyes. Indeed, her life was full of blessings. Her business was prospering, her doctor marveled at the ease of her pregnancy, and her family and friends were standing by. And then there was Madear, who called every day with a different scripture reminding her that she was surrounded by the favor of God—
Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
Psalm 139:13 had become one of her favorite verses.
She opened her eyes and reached for the Bible on the table. “I think it's in Ephesians,” she said to herself.
“Did you say something?” Sasha came back into the room.
“I'm looking for …” She flipped through the pages. “Listen to this:
Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.
Isn't that awe-some?”
Sasha shrugged her shoulders. “What does it mean?”
“I was just thinking about how God gets us through life. A few months ago, I was putting on a big-time front. I acted strong because that was the only way I could become strong. But I was scared. Now I see nothing but God's hands. Everything in my life is growing, especially this …” She put her hand on her stomach. “God is faithful.”
Sasha squinted. “So you think it was worth it? Braxton was a good man. And he did love you.”
Anya paused in thought. “Braxton
is
a good man … he was just the
wrong
good man. Or maybe he was the right man at the wrong time. I don't know.”
“Aren't you afraid that you won't find that special love again?”
“It will take time because I'm still in love with him. So I'm not anxious to move onto anything else right now. But I'm not thinking about the future in those terms. There're so many other things on my plate … maybe one day I will be in a special relationship again.”
“You're not angry at Braxton?”
“No, and never have been. He did what he had to do.”
“But he was wrong.”
“I don't know that. I'm not judging him or what he believes. We are all going to have to answer for ourselves. All I can worry about is what
I'm
going to say to the Lord about
me.”
Sasha looked thoughtful. “Umm, that's what being a Christian is really about, isn't it?”
Anya nodded slightly.
Sasha sat on the edge of her chair. “What about the baby though— aren't you a little scared to be doing this by yourself?”
“To tell the truth—I'm terrified!” she screamed playfully, and kicked her legs on the floor.
Sasha laughed too.
“But I don't feel alone because I'm truly standing on my faith and believing everything that God says.”
“Believing in God gives you the perfect life, huh?”
Anya searched her cousin's face for signs of sarcasm, but there were none. “You can look at me and know that's not true.”
Sasha leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees. “I guess I don't mean perfect, but look at how you handle everything. Even when we were kids, I knew you were different. You pulled through anything, always stronger than before. Just look at this. Anyone else would have dug a deep hole to crawl into. But you—” Sasha shook her head with amazement. “You just move on.”
“What you see is my dependency on God. I don't have any other choice.”
They both sat up when the doorbell rang.
“That's our food.” Sasha stood.
Anya pushed herself from the floor. “I'm going to wash up a bit. I'll be back in a moment.”
“Hey, Anya,” Sasha said, her face deep inside her purse, as she searched for her wallet. “Wake me up for church in the morning.” She finally lifted her eyes.
Anya nodded. “Okay.”
“Oh, don't get any big ideas. I just think I should be with you, that's all.”
“Sure.” Anya started up the stairs. At the top, she paused to get her breath. No matter what happened now, something good was going to come out of all of this.
“You go, God!” Anya laughed as she waddled into her bathroom. “You are too awesome for me.”
C
ongratulations, Braxton. You've never finished a manuscript so quickly.” Carolyn flipped through the loose pages. “I can't wait to read it.”
Braxton took a sip of water and smiled, saying nothing.
Carolyn pushed the pages to the side. “Do you want to order?”
The sun was shining directly into Braxton's eyes and he had to squint a bit. He looked into the hazel eyes of his editor. She was smiling, a bit flirtatiously, Braxton thought. He held her gaze. “No, I don't want anything.”
Slowly she moved her hand and covered his. “You haven't seemed yourself lately, Braxton. Is there anything I can help with?”
First he looked at her hand, then back at her. He pulled his hand away. “I have to leave. I'll speak to you sometime next week.”
“I'm more than just a good editor,” Carolyn persisted. “I make a great friend.”
Braxton said nothing.
“I don't get to Los Angeles often,” Carolyn continued. “And I've done nothing but work these past two days. I was hoping you could take some time and show me around.” With a gentle jerk of her head, she flipped her blond hair over her shoulder.
Braxton chuckled inside. Even if he wasn't still thinking about Anya, Carolyn would never be his choice. He didn't go that way.
He stood and put on his sunglasses. “Thanks for fitting me into your schedule.”
“You're our best; I would do
anything
for you.” Her voice was suddenly husky. “Why don't you stay? We could have a light lunch … and you never know how good dessert could be.”
This time, he chuckled aloud. “See you later, Carolyn.” As he walked away, he said over his shoulder, “Speak to you soon.”
While he waited for the valet, he thought of all the women who had tried to slip into his life over the past months. He felt like he was wearing a sign:
I'M A FREE MAN
! But he wasn't free.
Many days, he spent his time trying to figure out a way to call Anya. But he could never do that. Friends told him that she was having the baby and making plans to keep it. He sighed. He'd taken the gamble and lost the bet.
When the valet handed Braxton his keys, he tipped him with a five-dollar bill, then jumped into his car and turned onto Wilshire Boulevard. A few blocks down, he slowed as he passed Anya's office. He didn't really expect to see her on a Saturday, though almost every day, he'd hoped for a chance meeting. It had never happened.
