My Baby's Daddy Wants Me Back

“Wake up! Everyone is at the table,” fifteen-year-old Dennis shook his sister violently on the bed.

“What?” Celia asked as she turned around on the bed, feeling too dizzy. She couldn’t say what had come upon her, yet she always felt so tired and dizzy in the past few days. She couldn't help but feel she had caught the flu.

"Get down to the dining room. Everyone's ready to eat," he stomped his feet.

"Fine," Celia said, and she walked down to the dining table, where most of her family members were seated around the round table, drooling over the large turkey they had roasted for Thanksgiving.

Celia strongly wanted to throw up when she perceived the smell of the turkey and food.

"Sorry, everyone," she apologized as she ran to the guest toilet and threw up.

“Are you okay?” Her mother asked from the head of the table, her face creased in worry.

"I am fine, mom. You guys can start without me."

Celia washed her mouth and looked at herself in the mirror. The flu barely made her throw up, and she knew it was high time she went to see the doctor.

“Come on now. We are not having dinner without you,” her mom said, and Celia walked back to the table and got the urge to throw up again. She couldn’t explain it, but the food seemed to make her throw up. She had only seen something like this happen when her mother was pregnant with one of her younger siblings.

Celia managed to sit through grace and only put a forkful of turkey into her mouth when she ran to the bathroom again, unable to hold down the food.

“Celia, are you okay? What the hell is wrong with you?” Her mother, Sonia Vender, asked as soon as Celia returned to the table.

“I don’t know. The turkey just keeps on making me feel like throwing up," Celia said, barely able to look down at the food on the table. Suddenly, the turkey she had always loved during Thanksgiving smelled so horribly.

“That sounds oddly familiar. Sonia, didn’t you use to throw up whenever you perceived turkey when you were pregnant?” Uncle Fred said this while chewing on a mouthful of seasoned roasted turkey.

Sonia’s eyes popped wide upon hearing this. Suddenly, everything made so much sense to her. Celia had been so sleepy and lazy in the last few days. Her face had become much fuller, and her breasts looked so tender.

Sonia didn’t want to think it was possible, as she had raised her daughter as best as she could after her husband died. But right now, she couldn’t let the possibility of her daughter being pregnant pass her by.

With an agility that was both shocking and nerve-racking, Sonia stood up and ordered Celia to follow her, surprising everyone at the table.

“Where to?” Celia asked as she bounded up the stairs after her mother.

Sonia burst into her bathroom and rummaged through her cabinet for something, angrily ignoring Celia.

“Mom? What’s wrong?” Celia asked, confused by the grimace on her mother’s face. She had never seen her mother like this and feared it wasn’t good.

“What is wrong? What is wrong?” Sonia yelled in exasperation. “What is wrong is that you just might be pregnant, and we are going to verify that now," Sonia said, handing a pregnancy test stick to her daughter.

Celia's mouth hung open on hearing this. It couldn't be possible. She had never... Or maybe she had. Her face suddenly went ashen as she remembered that drunken night at the club. But Amanda had assured her that the pills she had given her were going to take care of it.

“Now, pee on this stick,” her mother commanded.

Swallowing hard, Celia sat on the toilet bowl and peed on the stick, her heart beating as hard as a rock.

The following five minutes spent waiting for the result from the stick were the longest five minutes of Celia’s life. Her hands were crossed all that time, praying that the results were inaccurate. The results couldn’t be accurate. She couldn’t and wouldn’t be pregnant.

But alas, when the time had expired, and Celia’s mom raised the stick to read the lines, Celia couldn’t help but let out a sob, not believing how her life had turned upside down.

“You godforsaken daughter of mine,” her mother yelled and smashed the stick at her. Celia was so filled with shame that she could do nothing but cry.

“How could you? After everything I had done for you, Sonia yelled, tears running down her eyes.

Celia couldn’t bring herself to look into the heartbroken eyes of her mother. Not after all her mother and father had done for her. After all the promises she had made to her dad before his demise, she went ahead and got pregnant and disgraced her family.

“Who is responsible?” Sonia stormed toward her daughter and barked.

Celia felt her throat constrict as she tried to reply. This was the most challenging and stupid part of all this. She didn’t know who was responsible. They had been drunk, and it was only a one-night stand. She had seen no pictures of the man and barely remembered his appearance.

“I don’t know,” Celia cried. That seemed to tip Sonia over the edge as the older woman began hitting Celia most absurdly.

Celia's yells were loud; soon, everyone at the dining table was rushing to Sonia's bedroom, wondering what could be wrong. Two of Celia’s uncles had to pull Sonia away from her.

“Tell her to get out of my house. Tell her to go away and never return until she knows who has that bastard growing up in her womb,” Sonia yelled, annoyed that they were grown assed men obstructing her from raining down beatings on her daughter.

“I am sorry, but I don’t know who is responsible. It was a drunken night at the club Ria had made me go to. I swear, I never meant for any of these to happen,” Celia begged, kneeling at her mother’s feet.

Sonia glared at Ria, her second oldest daughter, and shook her head in disgust. But Ria was her favorite, and she couldn’t put her in this mess.

"Well, Ria didn't force you to have unprotected sex with someone you know nothing about," Sonia yelled, and she burst free from the stronghold of the men holding her captive.

Her hands curled around Celia’s head in no time, and she dragged her down the stairs. "Mom, please have mercy on me," Celia begged.

“Mom, please.” Dennis sobbed, but Sonia was adamant.

She listened to no one, and when she got to the door, she pulled it open and pushed Celia out.

"I never want to see you ever again," Sonia yelled, and she gazed hard at her daughter while panting from all the pain and anger.

Celia stared at her mother; she had never seen her so stubborn. She could see the newfound hatred etched for her in her heart.

Soon, the door was closed in her face, and as she stood up from the front porch that evening, she knew she had lost her home.

There was no coming back for her.

Celia knew she couldn’t knock on the door to her home and expect an answer. She could even hear her mother yelling a warning for no one to let her in. She had lost her home, and she knew that.

While she stood by the door, she knew she had to find a roof over her head, and right now, the only place she could think of was the home of her boyfriend, Derrick.

The walk was slow and laborious, and it didn’t help that the night was chilly. Gingerly, she walked until she got to the dingy part of town. She never felt safe coming here alone, but now it was so vital that she ignored the crackheads calling out to her.

She finally got to the apartment building and walked in without a hassle, as there was barely any security in this part of town. It was why her mother was against her relationship with Derrick, but her love for him knew no bounds.

She got to his door and rasped quickly on it. Rays of light streaked out from under his door, and she was sure he was home. She didn’t have to wait too long when the door opened, and she was shocked to find a girl barely dressed standing by the door.

“Yes, who are you, and what do you want?” The girl asked Celia with scorn.

“Umm, sorry, but I am looking for Derrick. He lives here,” Celia said with a heavy throat. Derrick had never told her of a sister, so who was this lady standing here right now?

The girl glared at Celia and called out into the room. "Derrick, baby, some prude is here to see you.”

Celia swallowed hard at being called a prude. Yes, she was conservative, but Derrick loved her and never referred to her as such. Derrick appeared at the door in no time, and his smile disappeared as soon as he saw Celia.

“Hey, I…” Celia was saying when Derrick cut her off.

“What are you doing here?”

"I need your help," Celia begged.

“For what?” He barked. “To take responsibility for that bastard you are carrying?”

Celia’s mouth dropped on hearing that. How did he find that out so quickly? Celia was about to say something when Derrick cut her off.

“You thought I was never going to find out? Well, here's a newsflash: Your sister posted about it. Now get out," he yelled and shut the door in her face.

Celia was on the verge of crying, but there was no strength for her, and with a broken heart, she stormed out of the building and walked down to the one last place she could think of.

**********

“Oh my god, I have been so worried about you,” Amanda, Celia’s best friend, said.

It hadn’t been easy convincing Amanda’s parents to let her stay the night, but they had been somewhat understanding after Amanda explained how Celia came about with the pregnancy.

“Well, here I am, a disgrace to myself and my family. I feel so ashamed,” Celia said and blinked back as the tears were now forming.

"You shouldn't feel so bad. This is all our fault. You wouldn't have gotten drunk if Derrick and your sister hadn’t insisted you come to the club that night. And if I had just opened up to my mom, maybe I would have been able to get the right after-sex pills for you," Amanda said.

“It’s nobody’s fault except mine, and don’t bother trying to convince me otherwise. Right now, I just want to find the father of this baby. He is the only person who can take me out of this mess.”

“What if he doesn’t want the baby?” Amanda asked.

Celia shot her a glare. "Then I would be a single mom. I am not hurting this baby.”

“Fine. I know a waitress who works at the club; I would see if I could get any leads.”

"Thank you so much," Celia said, hugging her friend.

“Here, have this. I don’t know how she could pull this off, but the waitress at the club was so certain that this was the number of the man with whom you had a one-night stand. She refused to tell me his name, but we will find out after this call,” Amanda said, thrusting a piece of paper at Celia.

Celia looked at the number scribbled on the paper, and with a nod from Amanda, she called the number. Unfortunately, the call went straight to voicemail, and she had to leave a message.

“Umm, my name is Celia, and I know this would sound silly, but we had a one-night stand at Club Dance and Music, and I wouldn’t leave a message if it weren’t important. I am pregnant, and I am open to having a DNA test to confirm if you are the father. Please feel free to call back as soon as you get this.”

“That was great,” Amanda encouraged as soon as her friend dropped the phone.

“I just hope he is the one and wants the baby," Celia whispered.

“You don’t have to worry. Everything will be okay.”

"Hey, a message just popped in," Amanda said after they sat quietly for five minutes.

With shaking hands, Celia picked up the phone. “It is a message from the same number.”

“Quick, go on and read it,” Amanda insisted.

Celia unlocked the phone, and tears rolled down her eyes when she read the message.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Amanda asked, worry etched on her face.

Celia couldn't bring herself to talk and instead pushed the cell phone toward Amanda. The latter took the phone, and after reading the message, she took an annoyed breath.

“How dare the bastard? He is asking that you abort the child,” Amanda cussed out, visibly shaken.

"Yeah," Celia barely whispered.

“I would run his number and find out who the hell he is," Amanda stated, annoyed at the man's audacity.

“No, don’t do that; he doesn’t want to be a part of the baby’s life and won’t,” Celia said with a note of finality.

Amanda took one look at her best friend and knew Celia was right. She was bent on doing this on her own.

*********

It had been six days since the news of Celia’s pregnancy spread, and yet, Celia’s mom wasn’t budging on letting her back home.

So, it was a rude shock to her when Amanda walked up to her that afternoon and told her some people were there to take her home.