ALIYA TORRES
Was I jealous?
Technically at some point I had to be jealous, my mother was getting married for the second time while I hadn't even gotten married yet. Then there was Ray who was bound to marry a beautiful brunette by the name of Lucy.
Practically everyone around me was getting married instead of me. Instead I would be one of the bridesmaids seating in a boutique in some mall watching the bride try gowns. Gowns which I also wanted to try.
But as the said. You can't rush marriage or is it love? Either way you couldn't rush both of them and I believed that some day I would have my happily ever after with a man who loved me unconditionally and I the same.
I decided to leave the hotel after being cooped up there all day listening to my mother ask me where she was going to buy her wedding dress and what color she wanted her bridesmaid to wear. I talked to grandpa for a while asking him if he had a home in San Francisco where we could stay at since the wedding was bound for three months.
For three whole months I was stuck here, the good thing being that I would manage the branch of Feathering which was located here in San Francisco. Atleast work would make three months seem like nothing.
I went out for a few hours going to look at the abandoned mansion just down town. I figured that if I was going to live here for three months, Jaxon needed a home where he could run around as much as he could.
By eleven am, I was already parking my car just outside the gates of the mansion rather it was more a townhouse. A sleek townhouse with a big living room, antique furniture, a large backyard with fake grass that looked elegant. Frankly, it was perfect.
It just needed a little bit more modern decorating and a new layer of paint to get it good as new. The kitchen was neat and refurbished. I opened the fridge to find some few leftovers but nothing that I couldn't clean in an hour.
There were like five rooms upstairs and two grand staircases that led upstairs. There were few paintings of people I knew like Aunt Yemena who lived in Germany, Uncle Harry who I had only seen at one thanksgiving dinner in London, even mom had her own portrait.
I started cleaning the minute I got there, making sure the kitchen was clean and spotless. I needed more supplies like washing detergents and disinfectants and after a futile attempt to move one dusty couch, I decided I needed some help if I was going to turn this house into our home.
Ray hooked me up with some handymen and by noon they were already in the house and I took the opportunity to go back to the hotel to at least take Jaxon out for ice cream.
'Cam we stay here forever?" Jaxon suddenly said and I dropped the bottle of washing detergent back to it's shelf.
'What? You want to stay here? What about home? Your friends?" I asked watching him lick his ice cream before he grimaced and said,
'Meemaw is happy here and so is Papa Vince, I want to stay with them",he jumped and I got tongue tied.
I didn't want to kill his high spirits by telling him that we would only stay here till the wedding but sadly, we couldn't stay. I couldn't stay and risk running into Ethan Carter. It was a big city but Ethan Carter made it smaller. What if I turned around and I saw him and he saw me and he saw Jaxon and how Jaxon looked like him, my life might as well have been over.
'Let's take a raincheck on that", I said walking down the aisle of the supermarket as I out some few things in the stroller.
From the cleaning supplies aisle, I went to the groceries, picking as much as I could and as much as we needed. Jaxon was already jumping merrily while looking at the apples and I could only hope he didn't have the idea to take the apples and bite them there and then.
He did that have that habit. Like when he was a kid and I would carry him in the stroller, he would pass by the fruit crates taking each fruit and biting it so much that I would have to pay extra for the damage.
I was in the middle of picking a bundle of celery when I heard,
'Aliya?"
And my heart skipped like a deer caught in headlights, stark still and unable to move. I was probably hearing things, right?
'Aliya is that you?" He asked again and I had no choice but to stand straight turn around to look at Jai.
All these years and I could recognize his voice from anywhere. He was holding a stroller and the look on his face told me he wasn't prepared to see me.
'Jai?" I smiled assessing him. His beard was bushy than I remembered but he still looked the same only bigger and broader. His hair was tousled to the side giving room for his eyes to shine. He was always handsome, I couldn't deny that but after so many years it seemed he aged like fine wine.
'Oh God, for a moment there I thought I was seeing a ghost", he commented.
'Thank you?" I said awkwardly.
'Oh no! I didn't mean—you don't look like a ghost—you look fine",he stuttered.
'You don't look too bad yourself, Jai and I get it, it's been long, I'm just as confused as you are seeing you here", I said taking a look at his stroller.
Were those? Baby clothes? My thoughts ran back to my baby who was hidden behind me and a little far away from me. I didn't want Jai to see him, not now and certainly not ever because the very minute he saw Jaxon he would run to his boss to tell him.
'So you are back in town huh?" He asked.
'Not for long though. As soon as I'm done with everything I'll leave the city", I said wishing that he would find the conversation awkward and leave.
'I can see you are grocery shopping",he stated glancing at my stroller.
'I can see you are… buying baby clothes and diapers?" I questioned.
'Yeah. I'm going to be a father and I just can't wait till he arrives", he grinned and I gasped. I couldn't have guessed that Jai…was going to be a father.
'What? Congratulations, I wouldn't have thought you…a dad? You are going to make a wonderful father, Jai", I stated and when he went to reply, Jaxon tugged at my dress.
'Can we get this too mommy?" He asked and I saw Jai's eyes fall on Jaxon. He stared at him intently and like he could finally piece everything together he looked at me surprised.
'Yes, why don't you get another one and put it in the stroller?" I instructed watching Jaxon run back to where he had been.
'Aliya is that-…"and the moment I had dreaded came. Jaxon looked like Ethan in every way starting from his hair to his miniature face.
Before he could probe any further, his phone rang and he picked it up hesitantly.
'She did what? I told her to stay at home! Fine, I'm on my way. Can you please watch over her? Okay, thanks Ethan"
And my ears perked up at the sound of Ethan's name being mentioned and I panicked looking at a startled Jai.
'Please don't tell him you saw us. For my sake, please don't", I pleaded watching him turn his stroller around pushing it down the aisle.
At that moment, I felt like picking my son up, run to the airport and take the first flight to London.
