The Reunion
EPISODE HUNDRED AND SIX
THEME: The Reunion
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, USA.
Raven opened the door to see Jacob standing at the door step with a weird smile on his face. She had wondered who it could be so early in the morning. Her thought was it might be the next door neighbor who had welcomed them with a bowl of cookies a day ago.
Raven hadn’t been feeling well for days and she was looking pale. Not wanting to appear raggedy, she had cleaned up her face and had a light lipstick on. It annoyed her that she had stressed herself for nothing.
Looking behind him, she glared. “What the hell are you doing here? And how did you get to know this place?”
Jacob stood back at the sight of Raven. Her cheeks lost a bit of color and she seem pale like she was sick. After bumping into her on Wednesday, he had decided to stay low key a bit and give her the chance to think about their meeting.
Fate had ways of doing its own things. He had always wanted to return to America to get back with his family, but coming to Brooklyn was just an excuse and slot to get in touch with his lost love and child. No one needed to tell him it was going to be hard. But he wanted to believe that Raven who had loved him years back and still thought it wise to keep his child would have a bit of love left in her for him. It did sound impossible, but he was going to at least try.
Raven watched as Jacob got lost in thought and probably was having a hard time saying what he came for. It pissed her off the more. She held the door and made an effort to lock it when Jacob’s attention returned and he immediately had his hands by the door with his eyes pleading sincerely.
“Please… I mean… Good morning Raven. I am not here to argue with you or act like a saint either. I am only begging for a chance to talk to you. I don’t want to…” He paused trying to find the right words to say to her. “Please let’s agree on co-parenting.”
Raven rolled her eyes. “Co-parenting you say? You should have just told me that was your plan from the very start when you knocked me up. Did you ever love me?”
“I love you Rav-”
She held up her hands to shut him up. “Don’t stay a word. How can you stand in front of me and lie so blatantly Jacob? Do I look like a fool to you? Do I?” Raven groaned as she held on to the door for support. She was feeling dizzy again.
Jacob rushed to hold her. “Are you okay? You look sick.”
“Get your hands away from me!” She screamed at him.
“Mom?” Rowan called from the house when he heard her scream. “Mom!”
Raven panicked on hearing Rowan’s voice. Just as she attempted to close the door back and prevent him from seeing Jacob, the little boy squeezed himself past the space his mother left.
Rowan stood still starstruck when he glanced up at the figure. “Ja… Jaco… Jacob Miller?” He stuttered. He turned towards his mother. “Mom! It’s Jacob Miller!” He announced as ran towards him.
Jacob bent down with his arms outstretched to hug him. He was surprised at the reaction. Raven held her head in pain. She had almost forgotten Jacob Miller was Rowan’s idol. How did it ever skip her mind? She mused.
“You know my mom?” Rowan asked with a very bright smile on his face. It felt like he was daydreaming seeing his super role model!
Jacob stared at the little boy closely, he looked so much like him. He held him tightly to himself again and it seemed so surreal being close to his own fruit.
“I am so sorry for not being here all this years.” He mumbled.
Rowan stared at him in confusion. He looked at his mother for help. “What’s Jacob Miller saying mom?”
She had never felt so boxed in all her life. Raven wanted to be far away from where she was at the moment. Trouble obviously loves to find her. Tiana’s words resonated in her ears.
‘You would have to let them meet eventually.’
Today was obviously the day of reckoning. Raven hoped she wouldn’t pass out in the middle of it all.
Raven inhaled and exhaled. “Let’s talk inside.” She invited Jacob Miller in. She sounded exhausted.
Rowan chatted away holding Jacob’s hands as he told him of all of his football games he had watched and how much he admired him.
Jacob had almost forgotten he was a popular footballer and might be known by his own son. What bothered him was how Rowan had no idea he was his father.
“You didn’t tell him about me?” Jacob asked as he sat down waiting for Rowan to bring the cartoon drawing he had been working on.
Raven stood by the dinning table and gave him a bad eye. “What am I supposed to him? That his father is an asshole? Or that his father denied him?”
Jacob Miller kept quiet at that knowing she was right. “We have to tell him now.” He said.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
She pointed at him with a vicious glare. “You won’t be the one to tell me what to tell my son, you hear me? Just because you are one big shot footballer and my son’s idol does not mean you are fit to be call his father!” She snapped at him.
“He is my daddy?” Rowan asked innocently. He stood in front of the room looking between his mother and Jacob.
For the second time in less that an hour, Raven felt like she would faint from shock. As much as it seem like the right think to do, she wasn’t ready to let Jacob into her son’s life. It might sound selfish; she knows.
Jacob moved fast towards Rowan and knelt down in front of him. “Yes, Rowan. I am your daddy. I am your father.” He rushed out his words.
Rowan looked at his mother for confirmation. He moved away from Jacob and walked towards his mother when she didn’t say anything. Raven had tears in her eyes now when she looked into his eyes. She had never envisioned this day happening. She never wanted it to happen so she never let the scene cross her mind.
Being in the middle of the room with her son and his father made her want to wake up from the nightmare she was having. She shut her eyes closely to fight back the tears that threatened to spill anytime soon.
Rowan held her thighs with his little hands. “Mom.” He called out to her.
Raven opened her eyes to meet his. She had been expecting different sorts of feeling but not the one she saw in his eyes. Rowan was expectant, like he wanted Jacob to be announced as his father so bad.
“Traitor!” Raven whispered to herself as a chuckle escaped her lips. Rowan was just a child after all and he wouldn’t know how much she had to endure to look after him. She knelt down in front of him. “You don’t mind him being your dad?” She asked him, looking towards Jacob who stared like a scare-cat.
“Remember you told me he was far away and might never come back?” Rowan picked his words carefully. “He is here now right?”
Raven nodded absentmindedly, wondering how Rowan still remembered her exact words since three years ago. “Yes, my baby.”
“I told my homeroom teacher and she said probably my daddy was out there fighting the world to save me. So I prayed everyday for him to come back.” Rowan looked at Jacob. “Everyone in my class would go wild when they hear Jacob Miller is my dad!” He gleamed.
Raven had never seen him so happy in such a long while since his surgery. “Go… meet your… daddy.” She said in a shaky voice.
Without waiting to hear anything is mother has to say, Rowan ran into his father’s outstretched hands. Jacob had tears in his eyes as he looked up at Raven.
“Thank you so much.” He mouthed.
Raven walked away to the bathroom at a close run as the tears flowed. She wanted to be happy for Rowan but her emotions were so jumbled all she wanted to do was cry. Just as she sat on the cold floor staring into space, she remembered the pregnancy test she had taken before going out to check who was at the door.
The dizziness and paleness she felt made her get the pregnancy test strip in curiosity. Even though she doubted it a bit, her emotions was mixed she didn’t know if she wanted it to be positive or negative. Not to talk of how exactly she would feel with either result.
Looking at the pregnancy test strip, Raven gasped at it when she saw the two red lines on it. She was pregnant and it was obviously Christopher’s baby.
“Could this day get any more shocking.” She cried out.
Raven couldn’t control the tears and she let them flow down her face freely.