"Calm down baby, you speak with anger and hatred"
"Anger, yes because that motherfucker raped me, but hatred, no, I can't bring myself to hate him anymore because a part of him is growing inside of me, and if I hate him, I will spread the hate to this seed of his."
"That son of a gun raped you, and got you pregnant? I'm fucking going to have his head on a tray if that's the last thing I do" her dad got up angrily from the chair he was sitting on.
"Dad, I'm not trying to make an excuse for him, but he was drunk, although that is not an excuse for his action, and he doesn't know I'm pregnant, I just found out yesterday morning."
"I will still make sure he pays for taking advantage of you."
"Dad, please, I don't want him to know about this baby, the contract I signed gives him the right to take the child away from me,"
Her dad was quiet, it hurt him to see his princess so hurt and vulnerable, and there was nothing he could do.
"Dad, dad" Alisha called him out of his deep thoughts.
""Yes baby"
"Promise me you won't do anything, you won't give him a clue at all, when I'm ready to face him, you'll be by my side, but now dad, let me heal."
He did not promise, but he hugged her, and that was the reassurance she needed.
"Do you think Anna and I should relocate here so we can support you?"
"Come on now dad, I will be just fine."
"Call me when it's time to go baby shopping okay"
"I promise dad." She was glad he had come visiting, now that he knew the whole story she felt better, and she was glad he was by her side to encourage her. After he left on Monday morning, she went back to work feeling better.
Alisha tried to move on as if there was no baby growing inside of her, her joy was she had no morning sickness.
A week later, Alisha was called to the manager's office, a customer had raised a complaint against her, he claimed she was rude to him, and as he was a rich and influential, the manager would not even ask her to explain her side of the story, he asked her to apologize.
Alisha had refused to tender an apology, and the man had requested that she was sacked or he would give the restaurant a bad rating. The manager had sacked her that very day.
She got a job at a small bakery, an elderly woman managed it and she needed help, she could not pay as much as the restaurant was paying Alisha, but Alisha wanted to assist her.
A month after working at the bakery, Alisha was still ignoring Alfonso's call, her pregnancy was also two months old and she could see a small baby bump already.
Alisha got to the bakery one morning and was surprised to see the Elizabeth had not yet opened the bakery. The bakery also held her mini apartment and she opened every morning before Alisha got there.
A worried Alisha kept on knocking until Elizabeth opened the door from within, before she could say a word, Elizabeth slumped to the ground. The next two days, Alisha shuttled between the bakery and the hospital where Elizabeth was on admission. The doctor had said her blood pressure had dropped and wanted to observe her.
On the third day, she was discharged and when Alisha was about to leave later that night, Elizabeth had insisted she stayed the night with her.
A worried Alfonso stood at the door to Alisha's apartment. Immediately he had landed at the airport, he had bought dinner and driven to Alisha's place to wait for her, she was worried about her, it's been two months and he had not been able to get through to her. If he could come back earlier than he did, he would have.
He had just two days to be here and return back. As he waited for the first few hours, he thought she was closing late from the restaurant, but after waiting for almost four hours and she was not home, he drove back to his house. "Maybe she got a friend and she was passing the night there." He assumed as he ate the dinner he had bought for two alone.
The next morning, he went to the restaurant, he assumed that if she did sleep at a friend's place then that was why she was running late at the restaurant, he signaled Lisa and asked if Alisha was probably off for the day, Lisa had told him Alisha no longer worked there.
He had angrily stormed into the manager's office demanding an explanation. "Did she resign or you let her go?" he asked the moment he opened the door.
"Sir, good morning sir, who are you referring to sir?"
"Alisha"
"Hmm sir, we had an issue with a customer, we had to let…"
"You did what?" Alfonso cut him shout, and the manager was shocked, this was the first time Alfonso would raise his voice at him since he started working as his manager in the restaurant for three years now.
"Sir, it was Mr. Carter, she was …"
"I don't care who the fuck it was, how could you let her go?" Alfonso stormed out of the restaurant, and drove back to the apartment, Alisha was still not there. He was worried and did not know where to look out for her.
He wished he could move his trip to a few more days later, but the project he was currently working on was in its most sensitive stage he could not just be away for another day.
He thought about sacking the manager at the restaurant, but he knew it would be unfair on his part since he was trying to look out for the restaurant.
Elizabeth had gotten worst during the night, and Alisha was glad she had passed the night there; she had taken her to the hospital at the early hours of the morning, and was too worried to leave her side or even go to her apartment for a change of cloth.
As she nursed Elizabeth, she found out that her husband and her ran the bakery for a few years before he had slumped one morning and died five years ago. She had no children so she had no one Alisha could call to take care of her.
"You know Alisha, I really want to go, I want to go and be with my sweet Mark, I have no one and nothing."
"No don't say that Elizabeth, you have so much to live for, you have the bakery, you have me."
"Alisha, I am lonely on the inside, and even you or the bakery can't fill that void. I have had my lawyer prepare the legal papers; I am giving the bakery to you." Elizabeth gave a weak smile
"You can't give it to me; you must have some relatives somewhere or maybe you could sell it off, give the money to charity or something, I don't deserve it." Alisha argued
"Take it as my gift to your baby, don't look surprised, I am a woman in my fifties, even if I have not been pregnant before, I can see a woman and recognize that she is pregnant from afar off even if she is just two weeks pregnant."
Alisha wanted to ask her why she couldn't have children, or why she had not adopted one early enough or why she would choose to give her the bakery even when she had known her for just a month.
Alisha went home later that evening and found a note by her door. It was from Alfonso, he told her he had been trying to reach her and had waited for her, he had to take a flight back to Colorado that afternoon, he apologized for what had happened at the restaurant and told her to go back to work there. He ended the note with a "Please call me, I have reached my voicemail limit to you."
She kept the note on her table, showered and went to sleep. Elizabeth had told her to go home and rest, and to only return in the morning. The next morning when Alisha went back to the hospital, she could not find Elizabeth was no longer in her room. In panic, she went to inquire and she was told Elizabeth had given up the ghost at the early hours of the morning.
Alisha sat at a corner and wept for a while, she had known Elizabeth for just a month, and although she spoke very little, she loved her, and had learnt a few cake recipes from her.
Alisha stayed in the house for two weeks, only stepping out when she needed to get groceries, a week after Elizabeth's death, the lawyer had brought the papers, she had signed them and the bakery alongside the mini apartment were hers.
As she looked at the papers, she knew she had to get her ass up and keep the bakery going, not just for her, but also for Elizabeth. She resumed at the bakery, although the place was more quiet than usual, she occupied herself with work.
Alisha had noticed that she had gotten a new obsession for chocolate, she ate anything that had chocolate, and even added chocolate to something that didn't have a need for chocolate. She was at her apartment on Sunday resting from the numerous cake orders she had the previous day when she heard a knock on her door.
She was not ready to see Alfonso just yet, she also had no friends, she barely saw her neighbor, so she wondered who would be at her doorstep.
It turned out to be the owner of the house she had rented, he explained to her that he had money problem and was selling the apartment. He knew it was short notice, but he would like her to move out in two weeks time and would be refunding the rent she had paid.
This was illegal, he couldn't just give her two weeks to move out, she could resist this, but then she knew what it meant to be in desperate need for money, that similar desperation when she needed money for Anna's surgery had pushed her into signing a contract with Leonardo, a contract she was living to regret.
As Alisha stood in Elizabeth's mini apartment days later, she felt like she was intruding, like she shouldn't be here, until she found a note by the lamp stand, "Thank you Alisha for deciding to turn this cold house into a home again, bring life back to this place." She smiled knowing that Elizabeth had planned out everything so well.
She was surprised to see that there was no much clearing to do, Elizabeth had packed up most things in a box and had labeled it to some charity homes. Alisha sent them off to where she had indicated.
She also had her little things in her apartment moved and by two weeks she had completely moved out of her apartment and was now settled at the mini apartment.
Alisha was three months pregnant and was still too scared to go to the hospital for an ultrasound, she knew she needed to see a doctor, but she was not ready to face it yet, she was not strong to do it alone, and she didn't want to bother her dad to come over just yet.
Alisha was shopping for groceries and a few things she needed for the bakery. As she went in her swollen stomach, pushing the cart before her, she heard her name from behind.
The voice was all too familiar and she froze where she was while the voice approached her from behind.