Chapter 90
“SURPRISE!” the girls yelled when they all came in the door that evening.
“Well,” Montana asked, obviously pleased. “What is all of this?”
“We heard what happened,” Beverly explained, “and a hero’s welcome was in order.”
“What a spread,” Mariah commented. “You must have spent a king’s ransom.”
“We all chipped in,” Shaun nodded. “It was worth every nickel. By the way, we saved all the articles too. Thought you’d like to have them for your photo albums.”
“Papi and Uncle Spanky are heroes,” Kira said proudly. “Real life heroes!”
“I wouldn’t go that–” Paul began.
“Yep,” Mac cut in. “He kept a mami and her baby from dying and Uncle Spanky caught the bad guy.”
“You know, not many people would have risked that,” Shaun added. “You guys took a very big chance.”
“Kind of a good thing we thought to see what the hell was going on when we heard the shots,” Paul replied. “I would have hated to think what the outcome would have been otherwise.”
“Hey, check it out, lots of dead animal!” Brian said cheerfully, digging into the buffet.
Mariah rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “You’d think I starved that man to death all the time.”
“No offense, Mimi, but most of the time, you do. Hell, recently, you’ve been even puking up some of your own shit. Now that’s pretty bad.”
Montana turned to her. “You didn’t say anything about that. Have you been sick?”
“Um….just a little. Listen, Mon, could we discuss that in private a little later? I meant to talk to you about something, but with what happened the last few days, I didn’t get much time to get around to it.”
“Sure, we can talk later.”
“Hey, Spanky, save some for everyone else,” Paul warned laughingly, digging in himself.
Montana picked up Michael, who gave her a wide smile. “Come here, you,” she said. “Let’s get your own dinner. We can‘t let you have that little tummy empty, can we?”
“Of course not,” Shaun laughed, giving Michael’s stomach a little tickle. “We’re a growing boy, aren’t we?”
“He grows any more, he’s going to pass up his papi by the time he’s toilet trained,” Montana joked, preparing Michael’s baby food.
“Speaking of Papi, what’s with the humble act? He saves two lives and acts like it’s nothing.”
“Oh, you know him, Shaun. He’s not one that doesn’t want a big fuss made over everything he does. But this is a big deal. Mr. Southerlyn came so close to losing his entire family and a gunman almost got away. It was almost as if those two guys were meant to be there at that time to prevent a further tragedy from happening.”
“Amen to that,” Shaun agreed. “As they say, things happen for a reason.”
She then turned to Mariah. “You’ve been awful quiet.”
“Yeah, well, I got some stuff on my mind.”
“I kind of gathered that. There isn’t anything wrong at home, is there?” Montana wondered.
“No….it isn’t that. Everything’s fine, at least for now.”
“Wait, does this have to do with you being sick lately?”
“Something like that,” Mariah nodded. “Let’s just say I missed a couple of pills.”
“Oh God, Mariah,” Beverly said softly. “Are you trying to say….”
Mariah nodded. “I’m late anyway. I’ve never been late in my whole life.”
“You don’t know for sure?” Montana pressed as she fed Michael. “How long has this been going on?”
“Just the last week or so.”
“We’re getting you tested,” Montana said firmly. “No use jumping to conclusions until we have a firm answer.”
“Something tells me if this thing’s positive, I am so dead,” Mariah sighed.
“Or maybe not,” Montana reassured her. “I had my doubts when I first found out about Michael too, but as you can see, things worked out for the best.”
“Yeah, Mon, but you were already married, plus Paul already had two girls to boot. I’m in a totally different situation.”
“Bri’s great with kids,” Shaun replied. “You just never know.”
“Yes, but those are the ones he can give back,” Mariah sighed. “One of his own, I’m not so sure.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet,” Montana said. “I’ll call my doctor in a little while and set up an appointment for you to get a test. Once we get the results, then we will know how to proceed.”
Mariah smiled a little. “Thanks, guys. I feel a little better now. And maybe you’re all right; this just might work out for the best.”
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