Booby Trapped and Baby Proofed Read online

  Harrison counted heads of the children assigned to him as he got off the school bus at the petting zoo. Besides Ethan, Angel had assigned him Roy and another little boy named Tony. Her excuse, kids behaved better on field trips when they hung out with their friends. He didn’t know if that was true or not, but he didn’t want to press his luck.

  The kids really got a big kick interacting with the sheep, guinea pigs, goats, rabbits, and miniature horses.

  Ethan liked feeding grass to the horses and playing with the rabbits. Harrison captured as much as he could on video, all the while glad that the zoo didn’t have any snakes for him to worry about.

  By lunch, they carted a bus load of excited kids back to the day care and he even enjoyed the time he got to bond with Roy. The three kids laughed and ran around, literally wearing themselves out. Both he and Ethan took a nice relaxing bubble bath when their day finally ended. And for the first time in a long time, Angel didn’t come over to visit because she kept sneezing while they were at the petting zoo and didn’t want to affect him or Ethan.

  They fended for themselves, man style, with vegetable pizza. Harrison had to cut Ethan’s pizza up in tiny pieces, which he discovered was a waste of time since Ethan only ate the vegetables and left the crust.

  Harrison settled down to watch a baseball game on television after Ethan went to sleep. And by ten, he too settled down. But he felt as lonely as hell without his beautiful African American princess beside him.

  ****

  Angel was still sneezing the next day and couldn’t go to work. Harrison dropped Ethan off at the day care center and drove home to get her to take her to the clinic. Of course she put up a pretty big fuss and told him she could go to the clinic on her own.

  “Nonsense,” Harrison told her. “That’s what lovers are for.”

  Angel pouted like a child and Harrison smiled smugly because he’d won the argument. She climbed into his car, sneezed, and secured her safety belt.

  Harrison got into the driver’s seat and buckled up. He turned on the radio and then drove in the direction of the clinic.

  Angel sneezed again and then groaned. “Damn animal dander.”

  “You didn’t know you were allergic?” he asked.

  “No,” Angel replied. “And it has my stomach upset too.”

  “Poor baby.” He felt so sorry for her. She probably needed an allergy shot.

  Harrison drove into the parking lot of the clinic and helped Angel out. She threw up before they made it to the front door.

  “Uh,” she groaned. “Maybe I have the flu.”

  He sighed. She’d been so busy taking care of them she’d neglected her own health. “I’ll take care of you, darling. I’ve had my flu shot.”

  “I had one too. I can’t allow you to get sick.”

  “Tough,” he said, leading her into the clinic. The waiting area was already crowded for so early in the morning. Harrison escorted Angel over to the triage desk to speak to the nurse. The nurse handed her some forms to fill out, made a copy of her insurance card, and got a co-pay out of her before she saw a doctor.

  A half hour and several sneezes later, someone called her name.

  Harrison helped Angel to the back because she still felt queasy and the nurse allowed him to help her into the room. He walked back to the waiting room, picked up a magazine, and thumbed through it while he waited.

  ****

  Angel shivered on top of the examination table. She didn’t know why doctor’s offices had to be so cold. Someone once told her the rooms had to be kept a certain temperature to keep the germs away. But what sense did that make if patients caught colds in the process? Now that she thought about it, the idea was an ingenious way to guarantee return visits, which equaled to more money in the doctor’s pocket.

  Angel didn’t understand why they needed a sample of her blood or urine just because she had a bad case of sneezing.

  The nurse came in and took her vitals. “The doctor will be in shortly to see you, Ms. Robbins.”

  “Thank you,” Angel said. She sneezed again.

  “Bless you,” the nurse said as she left the room.

  Angel read all the medical posters on the walls. There were on high blood pressure, migraine headaches, and diabetes. She also checked out the mini replica of a diseased lung on the counter and basically just looked around killing time until the doctor entered.

  “Good morning, Ms. Robbins,” the doctor said. “I’m Doctor Shelly.”

  “Hello,” Angel said, still trembling.

  Doctor Shelly sat down in a chair, flipped open her chart, and asked her a series of questions. “What is the date of your last period?”

  Angel actually had to think about the question. “February, I think.”

  The doctor jotted down her answer.

  Oh my God. Angel sneezed again.

  “Bless you,” the doctor said. “How long have you been sneezing?”

  “About a day,” Angel answered. “I went to a petting zoo with some students from my day care center.”

  “And how long have you been suffering from nausea?”

  “On and off about a month.” It had started happening one morning when she got out of bed, but she didn’t think much about it.

  “Are you sexually active?”

  Angel sneezed again. “Yes, but what does this have to do with the flu?”

  “I don’t think you have the flu,” Doctor Shelly said with a chuckle. “I think you’re pregnant.”

  Angel raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  “I won’t be sure until I get the results back from your lab work and until I examine you. But I’m about ninety percent sure you’re expecting a baby.”

  His words registered in her head. Harrison is going to be a father again. Oh God, how am I going to tell him? She wondered how he would take the news. The doctor made her lie on the table so he could examine her.

  ****

  Angel looked pale as a ghost when she stepped into the waiting room.

  “Are you okay?” Harrison asked her.

  “Yes,” she said. “The sneezing has stopped.”

  “What did the doctor give you for it?”

  “He sprayed my nose with nasal spray.” She walked to the exit and he followed.

  They headed toward the parking lot. “Would you like to go get something to eat? Or is your stomach still upset? I know you probably won’t feel like eating if you have the flu.”

  “I don’t have the flu,” Angel said, getting into the car after he unlocked the door. “And I’m famished.”

  Harrison climbed into the driver’s seat. Angel was acting so strangely, like she was hiding something from him. “What do you want to eat?”

  She looked at her watch. “Its noon, so breakfast is out of the question.”

  “Not really,” Harrison said. “I know a place where they serve breakfast all day.” He winked at her and Angel smiled shyly.

  Ten minutes later, they were seated in a restaurant browsing over menus. The waitress reappeared to take their orders.

  “What will you have?” she asked Angel.

  “Waffles, sausage, scrambled eggs, coffee, apple juice, and fresh fruit.”

  Harrison eyed her curiously. “That’s a lot of food.”

  She nodded absently.

  “How about you?” the waitress asked.

  “I’ll have the same,” Harrison replied, handing his menu to her.

  The waitress walked off to place their order.

  “Some of your color is returning,” Harrison said.

  “I think that nasal spray did the trick.” She chuckled. “No more trips to the petting zoo for me.”

  “What would you like to do after we eat; since we’re both have some free time on our hands?”

  “I don’t know. I really don’t feel like going to a movie or shopping. I’m probably going to need a nap after eating.”

  “A nap can be arranged,” he said. Angel didn’t want to go shopping? Yup, something is up.
“We can go for a walk along the beach and watch the boats.”

  “I’d like that,” she said. “And then a nap. I’ll get dinner ready while you pick up Ethan.”

  “I’ll see to dinner,” Harrison told her. “You need to rest.”

  “But I already have the fixings for beef stew and corn bread.”

  He wasn’t going to argue with her, especially since she had her heart set on cooking.

  The waitress brought their food.

  Angel attacked her food, pouring maple syrup over her stack of buttermilk waffles and sighing after eating the first bite. Her mother would have been proud of her because she ate everything on her plate.

  Harrison paid for their meals and they walked to the car.

  “I don’t feel so good,” Angel said once they were midway to the beach.

  “Maybe I should take you home,” he suggested. They could go to the beach anytime. He would take her to her house and put her in bed so she could get comfortable. “I’ll fix the stew,” he told her.

  Angel shook her head. “Have you ever fixed stew before?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Believe it or not, I have.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Maybe I’ll feel better later after a nap.”

  They barely made it to the front door when Angel got the urge to vomit again. Harrison got out the way while she ran to the bathroom.

  He supposed he should have followed her to hold back her braids, but he knew most people didn’t like others to see them being vulnerable. He opted instead to start dinner. Harrison walked into the immaculate kitchen, took the fresh ingredients out, and lay then on the counter. He heard the shower turn on and then off again about fifteen minutes later. With the stew cooking, he went to work on the corn bread.

  He decided to check on Angel and found her asleep, buried up to her chin in covers. He smiled. She looked like a little girl. Harrison tiptoed out of the room and went back to the kitchen. She needed to sleep for a while to regain her strength and he could watch some television in the kitchen while he cooked.

  Two hours later, he poured the stew into a container and cleaned the kitchen.

  Angel peeked in around four. “Something smells good,” she said.

  “I don’t think you should attempt the stew just yet. I fixed you some gelatin.”

  “What kind?” Angel asked.

  “Orange,” Harrison answered. “And I added fruit cocktail.”

  “Did you fix that for me or for Ethan?” she asked, walking over to the refrigerator and taking out the big bowl.

  “Both of you, but I don’t think he will eat it because the gelatin is sweet.”

  “He’s a strange kid when it comes to food,” Angel said. “But he’ll have strong, healthy teeth if he doesn’t eat candy.”

  Harrison grabbed two small bowls from the cabinet and two spoons from a drawer. Moments later, they sat across from each other eating the gelatin.

  “Ethan doesn’t know what he’s missing,” Angel said. Five minutes after she ate it, she ran back to the bathroom to throw up.

  This time, Harrison followed her and waited while she brushed her teeth and gargled. She looked startled when she exited the bathroom and found him seated on her bed.

  “Maybe I need to take you back to the doctor,” Harrison said. “You’re not sneezing anymore, but you can’t keep anything in your stomach. You sure you don’t have the flu?”

  She sat down next to him. “I don’t have the flu.”

  He braced himself for the bad news. All day long he felt she’d been hiding something from him. He could deal just so long as she didn’t tell him she had cancer. He didn’t think he could deal with losing another woman he loved to the deadly disease.

  “I’m pregnant,” she said.

  Harrison sat in silence for a moment while what she’d just told him sank in. “You’re what?”

  “Pregnant,” Angel said. “About two months.”

  Harrison ran the dates around in his head. That would be right around the time they’d had sex in the living room while Ethan slept in her bed. They hadn’t used any protection back then because they both were so turned on that they didn’t take the time to find the condoms.

  “Aren’t you going to say something?”

  Harrison wrapped his arms around her. “You’ve made me so happy,” he said. His voice broke. He kissed her on the side of her head. “I’ve always wanted more kids and you are going to make the perfect mother.” He released her so he could wipe the tears from his eyes. “I thought you were going to tell me that you were dying.”

  Angel started to cry too. “No, your sperm just got lucky.”

  They laughed through their tears.

  “There’s so much we have to do,” he said now that he could think. “We have to get married and decide on which house we’re going to live in. Or, we can buy a bigger home.” He laughed. “I can’t wait to tell Ethan.”

  “Whoa,” Angel said. “This is all too much. Let’s just enjoy the news for a moment. We can make plans later.”

  “I want to make love to you,” Harrison said.

  She chuckled. “Isn’t that how we got pregnant in the first place?”

  He slipped the gown from her body while she rationalized the situation. “I love you,” he said, placing her on her back in the center of the bed.

  “Huh?” Angel asked as he slid the panties down her hips and off her legs.

  “I said, I love you,” Harrison said.

  The smile on her face at that very moment could have lit up the entire state of Florida at night.

  “I love you too,” she said, pulling him down on her. “Ethan too.”

  Chapter Ten

  Harrison woke, took a shower, and went into Ethan’s room to get him ready for day care.

  Ethan wasn’t in his room.

  “Now, where can he be?” Harrison searched the house quickly, checking closets and rooms. The front and kitchen doors still had the child protection safety locks on them. He heard something coming from the den. Ethan sat on the sofa watching SpongeBob. Not the television show, but the DVD.

  “See,” Ethan said pointing. “SpongeBob.”

  Indeed, he did see. The little genius had somehow started the DVD player. Harrison spotted the remote control next to him. “Well, I’ll be,” he said, scratching his head. Ethan can work the remote. “Next you’ll be grunting and drinking beer just like the rest of us men.” A new baby in the family would mean he’d have double the surprises and double the concern. Would the new baby be equally intelligent? “It’s time to get ready for school. We have to turn SpongeBob off.”

  “No,” Ethan said. “SpongeBob.”

  Harrison smirked. He sure hoped the new baby wouldn’t be as straight-forward as his older sibling. He lifted Ethan from the sofa. “You can finish watching after I dress you.”

  Ethan protested for a moment and then relented.

  “You woke up with a dry diaper. Good boy,” Harrison told him. He put Ethan on the toilet and waited patiently for him to pee. After he finished, Ethan got down from the toilet and flushed. Harrison continued to watch him as he pulled his step stool over to the sink and washed his hands. “Why have I been carrying you around?” Harrison asked. “I think you’re ready for a job.” He put the toothpaste on Ethan’s toothbrush and the child brushed his own teeth and rinsed. “Congratulations,” Harrison told him. “Today you are a man.” He washed the child’s face.

  Ethan’s giggles delighted him while he wrestled him into his school uniform. In a few months, he would be three years old and would be moving up to another teacher. Right now he and Roy were the tallest in the two-year-old class, and the more advanced. Harrison didn’t know if Roy had always been this way, or if being around Ethan had rubbed off on him. Either way, he knew now that he couldn’t do anything to part the two of them.

  Ethan chatted animatedly on the ride to the day care center, pointing out things, and naming them when he could. Harrison helped him out with the ones he missed.<
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  The neighborhood hadn’t changed much since he’d left. There was a big-named grocery store where the bowling alley once sat. A mall now occupied a lot where some row houses had been torn down. And the neighborhood now had an arcade. Harrison didn’t know if he liked that much, since a lot of kids would be hanging out there instead of studying. They used to hang out at the beach when he was a teenager, but most of them were smart enough to head home by dark.

  “We’re here,” he told Ethan as he drove into a parking spot at the day care. He got out, took Ethan out his car seat, and let him walk inside.

  Angel had already made it to work and was busy helping to feed the early arrivals. She waved to him and then beckoned for him to bring Ethan.

  Ethan spotted her and ran to her. Angel picked him up and hugged him.

  Harrison didn’t know if that was such a good idea for her to do now. Ethan weighed a lot and he didn’t want her to strain.

  Angel put him down in a seat next to his best friend and fed both of them oatmeal and fresh fruit.

  Ethan pointed to her. “My Angel,” he told Roy.

  Harrison smirked, even though it was wrong for Ethan to stake his claim on his soon-to-be mother. They hadn’t told anyone about her pregnancy yet. Both of them decided to wait until she passed the first trimester.

  Harrison waved goodbye to them, left the day care center, and went to work. He had a two early morning classes to teach. Both a class of females. “The first one, a class of young women aged eighteen to thirty, and the second one, a class of older women, aged thirty-five to elderly. It surprised the hell out of him when he’d gone over the registration forms upon opening the dojo. And what surprised him even more was that more women were signing up.

  “Your class is packed again today,” Frank told him as they changed into their costumes. “When are you going to share the wealth?”

  Frank was a forty-five-year-old confirmed bachelor.

  “You’ll be teaching them Tae kwon do tomorrow, and then and Bill will be teaching them jujitsu on Friday. You’ll have your hands full keeping their hands off you, especially the older women.