Anisette Parker is in custody. She and Mike are being checked at the hospital. Her claim that she’s pregnant worries Mike. He feels responsible and doesn’t want to back out of a responsibility. If he’s going to be a father, he wants to know.
But try finding anyone to give me a straight answer. Apparently, there’s all kinds of laws that cover that kind of thing. They can’t even tell me yes or no, or they could violate all kinds of things. I finally found the lady cop and asked her. She looked around furtively, taking me aside.
“I’m not supposed to say anything. I could get in a lot of trouble.”
“If she is and it’s mine, I have responsibilities.”
“She’s not,” she said quietly.
“Thank God.” I thought I’d pass out from relief.
“I knew that would make you feel better.”
“I don’t even know your name. I can’t keep thinking of you as the lady cop. I want to thank you properly.” I held out my hand.
“Vanessa,” she said with a grin as she shook my hand.
“Thank you, Vanessa. You saved my life.”
“Don’t get all soppy on me,” she said with a smirk. “But you’re welcome.”
“Is she going to be okay?”
“That I don’t know, sugar. But you can be sure she’ll get the best help they can give her.”
“Thanks. For everything.” I kissed her hand, then pulled her into an embrace.
“You’re welcome, baby. You go on now. That girl of yours is bout to go crazy.”
“I’m gonna name our first kid after you,” I said.
“You name some boy Vanessa, he’s gonna hunt you down when he grows up.”
“How about Vance if it’s a boy?”
“Aren’t you a little previous?” She walked us out to Chester’s car.
“Yeah, well. . . . It pays to pre-plan.”
“Oh, we found out how your fire started. Miss Parker was the one who rented the place next door. She had it already in her mind to get closer to you. I guess if the party idea hadn’t panned out, she would have worked her wiles on you some other way. She had a key already. It was pretty simple to set up the gas to blow.”
“I’m gonna have a lot of explaining to do to the insurance company,” I said. “And the complex is probably going to ask me to move.”
“That’s okay,” Sarena said as we walked to the car. “When we go house hunting with Gabe, we’ll look for a place for ourselves.”
“With lots of extra space,” I said. “For all the little Vanessas and Vances running around.”
We stopped by the car while her father unlocked the doors, kissing languidly. Chester cleared his throat pointedly, opening the door.
“Before you go making us grandparents, shouldn’t you be married first?”
“We could do that,” I said.
“It sounds good to me,” Sarena agreed.
“Okay, Chester. But only on one condition.”
“Oh?” He looked at me, obviously confused.
“I get a cheeseburger and chili cheese fries at the wedding supper.”
“Son, after what you’ve been through, you can have whatever you want.”
THE END
© Dellani Oakes 2014
