The first thing that had waked up Cassandra was the infant screams of her nine-month baby boy, Lucas. She sighed as she stumbled out of bed and went to the crib that had its place near her bed.
She picked up Lucas and cradled him with tired arms. Thirteen years ago, she would’ve came to her baby’s cries with genuine worry. Thirteen years ago—when she was only twenty-one—she would’ve wanted babies. But, they seemed to never stop coming. Other than Lawrence, David, and Lucas, she had Sabrina who was spending the weekend with her father and Miranda who was spending the night at a friend’s.
Five supposedly ‘joyous’ babies. Nothing was joyous about them. Over the past thirteen years, she hadn’t slept soundly.
She climbed down the stairs and gave her baby the bottle he was probably looking for. She performed the old-aged ritual of feeding and burping with a robot-like mind.
Lawrence was thirteen and a quarter, David was ten, Miranda was eight, Sabrina was five, and now Lucas was nine-months. When had they grown up so fast? Where had all the time that she had spent with them went?
She stared at Lucas, noticing how much he looked like his father…or how much he looked like that other man who was supposed to be his father. “Maybe…maybe you’re the miracle?”
The coldness of the walls of her apartment crept into her skin. She wished she was still at the Goth house, where right now there would be a nanny for her baby and a heater for herself. Where there wasn’t an old lady who came what seemed like every day instead of every month for a rent. Where there wasn’t a lack of water because more than five rooms were using water from the same system at the same time. Where there was her father…who wasn’t mad at her anymore.
Like a scratchy record being played, she remembered that fall morning when they were walking in the park and Don Lothario asked her to marry him. She remembered how they had made love in that pavilion and how Lawrence was conceived.
She remembered that summer afternoon at the beaches of Blue Water where she met her old friend Darren who became more than a friend when he summed up the courage to admit his love. The kiss he had given her that night ignited the flame that she thought she had with Don.
Don went on that business trip to Tokyo to oversee Mortimer’s company shortly after Lawrence’s third birthday, and after a bite of cake, the lonely mother accepted the lonely widower-father into her bed…technically, in the back seat of his car. David came along nine months after.
Don came home, but no child came out of their frenzy. During that time, Darren had been accepted into the upper class society, so he was busy with other things. A year after that, Cassandra found out that he had married someone else—a psychiatrist from Strangetown. She wanted to cry, wanted to do something. And, that was probably why she had a miscarriage without knowing it. Darren came to visit her.
He had attempted to reconcile and explain, but nothing came out of it. On the third day, when she actually thought about forgiving him, his wife appeared behind him.
“This is my wife,” he had awkwardly said. “Danni, this is my friend, Cassandra.”
Danielle was a beautiful woman with full lips and bronze-ebony skin. She even brought flowers and a fruit basket…
When Danni had excused herself, Darren explained. He said he didn’t love Danielle and that he only married her because his family had been good friends with the Leroy family for a long time. He swore he only loved Cassandra.
And, she was stupid to trust him.
When she recovered, she went on a date with him, and that resulted in her conceiving Miranda. Afterwards, Mortimer had learned about all of this when Cassandra was pregnant with Don’s Sabrina. David was lucky to receive all of his mother’s looks, but Miranda was not as lucky. She received all of her father’s looks.
Mortimer kicked Cassandra out of his house, keeping Lawrence with him. Don—being the player that he was—never once thought that Cassandra would be the one to betray him. He called off the prolonged wedding, but still paid for child support. With what part of the inheritance she had, she bought a rundown apartment and raised the four kids that had been given to her. Luckily, Mortimer would sometimes allow David to his house and Don would come to pick up his kids.
But it was Lucas whom she really didn’t know belonged to. All she could remember was the one night when Don dropped off Sabrina and how nice he looked. She recalled that about two days afterwards, she ran into Darren alone and how they had hastily checked into a hotel.
The phone blared and Lucas wailed once more.
“Jessica is pregnant,” Dina announced as she stepped into the new house with a bag of groceries.
“Is that so?” Gilbert asked, not turning away from the stove.
“I hope it’s a girl.”
Gilbert nodded, finally turning around. After moving from Blue Water, he couldn’t believe that he had managed to transform the slut of Pleasantview into an actual woman who now gave him three children. No matter what, Dina had kept her beauty after the twelve or so years that they had been married.
“Where are the kids?”
“Noel was doing his homework…Patricia was taking a nap, and Robert was watching TV.”
Dina lewdly smiled. “You know, they never get along…maybe because they’re only three siblings? Maybe we should have another one…?” She sauntered to him, her Spanish hips swaying with some unknown dance. She easily placed her hand on his shoulder, enticing him.
“Well…”
“Now that Jessica is pregnant, it makes me want to be pregnant as well…” Even in her mid-thirties, Dina remained very attractive. Everything she wore, everything she did, everything she said captured her and kept her in her eternal youth.
With one kiss from Dina, Gilbert had no time to prepare the rest of the dinner. Hopefully, the children would help themselves as Gilbert helped himself to something far greater than dinner…
The TV was playing Cinderella. It was nearing the part where Cinderella tries on the shoe.
On his right lap, Sabrina had laid her head. On the floor in front of him, Marc and Tiffany were already stretched out. On his left shoulder, Alyssa was in a deep sleep.
Don tried to not wake the kids up when the doorbell rang. Luckily, he succeeded. He approached the door and opened it. He was surprised to find Tiffany’s mother in front of him. “Evening,” she announced.
“Kaylynn.” He opened the door a little wider. “Come in. She just fell asleep.”
Kaylynn nodded as she stepped into the place. She noticed the crowd of children in the living room. “So, it was your night tonight?”
Don nodded. “But, Lawrence couldn’t come.”
Kaylynn nodded. “Last I heard, Mortimer is giving a chunk of his fortune to him. You should be happy. He’s your son, after all.”
Don nodded as he went to Tiffany and shook her. She slowly opened her eyes. “Kiddo, your mom’s here.”
“I-I thought I was staying the night…” Tiffany sleepily stretched and stood up. “You said we were going to eat grilled cheese tomorrow, Dad…”
Don smiled. “Next time, Kiddo. Next time.”
“Tiffany, why don’t you wait in the car? I have something I need to talk about with your dad.”
Tiffany nodded and went back to the Benz outside.
“She’s growing up fast,” Don commented. “Want a smoke?”
“I quit.”
“When was this?”
“About a week ago.”
“Congrats.”
“Thanks.” She looked at the car, where Tiffany was already dozing off in the passenger seat. “God, it’s nearly ten years…I feel so old.”
He laughed a bit. “You shouldn’t be talking, Kay. I’m hitting thirty-five in two months.”
“You still look the same.”
“Honestly, so do you.”
“Thanks. The job’s been keeping me on my toes.”
“It’s good that you’ve got a promising job as a dance instructor. Seriously, now that Tiff’s here, she needs you the most. And…the job wasn’t…wasn’t promising.”
“…Don, I didn’t regret it. You know that. How many times do I have to tell you? I forgot and forgave. Having been your maid had its perks.” She motioned to Tiffany and smiled. “Well, I was just wondering if you would pick her up from school on Tuesday. I have a new student and I have to show her around and I have a prima ballerina coming in.”
“Sure, Kay. I got your back.” It wasn’t awkward when they gave each other a small hug and when she waved bye. What was awkward was the sudden feeling of sadness that overcame Don when he saw the Benz driving away.
“Daddy, can I have some ice cream?” the seven year old girl asked as she plopped into the chair next to her father’s.
Darren folded his evening paper and eyed the toothless girl. She had just lost her second tooth the night before, and she was ecstatic when she found the dollar he had slipped under her pillow. “Did you be a good girl?”
His smart daughter looked at him, then faced her mother who was busily cleaning the dishes. “Mommy, have I been a good girl?”
“Good girls help their mommies when they clean dishes,” Danielle replied as she turned around. Her expanding womb showed prominent signs of yet another girl. “Deanna, help Mommy and Mommy will give you ice cream.”
Deanna jumped out of her chair and brought the stool to help her mother clean. A few seconds later, the other baby girl came into the kitchen, bringing a picture that she had drawn to her family.
“Look, Daddy! Look!” She climbed her father’s lap and showed him her picture.
“Oh, what an artist!” Darren smiled with absolute pride. “We have to put this on the fridge, right, Mommy?”
Danielle glanced over her shoulder, but it was a quick glare. She quickly stared at her soapy hands. “That’s right, Denise, Mommy will put it on the fridge for you. Let Mommy finish the dishes first.”
“Okay, Momma.”
“But, Mommy will also put my report card on the fridge, right?” Deanna asked.
“Of course, Sweetie.”
The dishes were done in ten minutes. As always, Dirk came in after dinner. It was because he was working at the hospital at the moment and it took a while to drive from this part of town to that part of town. Since he had dinner already, he volunteered to take his sisters to bed.
Danielle was busily preparing Dirk’s lunch, when she heard the kitchen door swing open. The shuffled footsteps could only belong to Darren.
The tension followed like a shadow.
Darren spoke first. “Denise’s picture is on the table.”
Danielle nodded. “I know…Dirk’s principal called today. There’s going to be a parent teacher meeting this upcoming Thursday. Something about graduation, and we both have to attend.”
“Daniel was talking about that today.” His eyes wandered to her and her protruding womb. “…When’s the next appointment?”
“I’m going Tuesday.”
“Alone?”
“Jennifer will drop me off, since we plan on going somewhere with the kids afterwards.”
“I’m free Tuesday. You shouldn’t bother her on taking you and the kids to the hospital. Plus, you know Deanna doesn’t like it there.”
She sighed using her irritated sigh.
“What?” His voice sounded nasty.
“I already said I have a ride. You don’t need to drop me off…Plus…Miss Cassandra called…”
Mixed emotions formed into one lump of steel in Darren’s throat. Swallowing this lump of steel was impossible and he felt as if he needed to gasp for air. “Danielle…”
“Darren, I was thinking that after the baby’s born, I’m taking the kids with me to visit my folks in Strangetown…Dirk also said that he wants to visit his friends.”
Someone had just punched Darren’s gut. She was making up another excuse to file for divorce. Danielle was crafty; very crafty. She played this before.
When Lucas was born and no one was sure about the father, she heard that Darren was one of the prospects. Her best friend—Jennifer Burb—was not the gossiper, but she was at the hotel’s café when she had seen the two. She immediately filed for a divorce. Darren found the papers and eased her out of it, saying that she should think about the kids and at least try to stay together for them.
Danielle was a psychiatrist; many cases that she had seen had been sprouted from the fact that her patient had come from a broken home. She agreed. But, every time she went to the elementary to pick up her kids, she would see Darren’s other children and she would have her heart broken.
Once, she had almost succeeded. It was that one time when she decided to visit her sister in Desiderata Valley with her kids and Dirk. It was before she was pregnant. She told her sister what had happened in her marriage and her sister was surely going to report this to someone—since the Leroy family had connections, even if they were from Strangetown.
But, it was Dirk who stopped everything: he called Darren to say so. Darren came to Desiderata Valley and took his family home.
The days got worse. Cassandra began to call, though she had never done so. Sometimes, she would get the little girls; at worse moments, she would get Danielle.
The issue of the last pregnancy was due to one of Cassandra’s phone calls. At first, it would’ve seemed like he was going to have to rape her, but she succumbed to the love she once had for him. She regretted it in the morning.
Darren took the pregnancy as a symbol that they would stay together. He had been wrong: this pregnancy caused her to become even craftier and to nearly severe all feelings she had for him.
“Then-then we’ll go as a family.”
“…I think that Miss Cassandra wants you to visit her and the baby. I wouldn’t want you to deny being a father to…Lucas…”
