Chapter 71: Twilight Zone
After Jeremy gets out of the shower, he calls his mother. He had called her from the hospital, to let her know where she was so that she would not show up at his place unexpectedly and he wouldn’t be home. His neighbors did not need to put up with that. However, she did not pick up her phone and he knew she liked to sleep late.
She is after calling him several times in response to the message he left but he didn’t have the energy to deal with her but now that he feels somewhat refreshed he has to deal with her and Vanessa. He is surprised when she answers after the first ring.
“Jeremy! How is the baby? And Melissa? Is everything okay?” She asks with panic in her voice.
Jeremy is shocked for a moment. He honestly didn’t think she would care. “They are both fine, mother. They are keeping her in the hospital for another 24 hours for observation. We have to decide if we should go ahead and have a C-Section now, or wait and go for a natural birth.”
“What are you going to do?” She asks.
“I don’t know. Melissa is not in a good place right now. I’m not sure if it has really sunk in yet.” Jeremy is hesitating to ask her if she would go to the hospital with him before she heads back to New York.
“Are you at the hospital now? What hospital are you at? I can get a cab.” She asks and offers at the same time.
“I’m at home right now. I just came home to shower and change.”
“Jeremy! You did not leave that poor woman there alone! How could you!” His mother burst in. What the hell is going on with her Jeremy thinks. At least she is using her usual tone with him but this concern over Melissa cannot be real.
Realizing his mother is waiting for an answer, he replies. “She has a friend with her right now. I’m heading back over in about 20 minutes if you want to go visit her before you return to New York.”
“Return to New York? Why would I do that?” His mother sounds genuinely puzzled. “I have a grandchild I have to meet! I’m not going anywhere.”
Jeremy has to sit down. “But what about Vanessa?”
His mother snorts actually snorts! Shocking him further that she would do something so unladylike. “I sent her back home first thing this morning. Didn’t you speak to Mike? I gave him your number.”
Jeremy is getting more confused and frustrated every moment. “No, Mother. He left me a message to call him. Why don’t you just tell me why he wanted to speak to me because I really don’t want to talk to him.”
“Call him, Jeremy. He will explain everything. I have to go to the gift shop before you come to pick me up.” She spits out the name and location of her hotel, then hangs up.
Jeremy looks at this phone. What. The. Hell. Who was that and what have they done with his mother? Hotel gift shop, snorting, showing actual concern about someone other than herself. She must be going through a hell of a mid-life crisis.
Taking a deep breath, he finds his ex-friend’s number and presses talk. Mike picks up on the second ring. “Thanks for calling me back. Jeremy, I am so sorry.”
Jeremy cuts him off, “just tell what you have to say. Is Vanessa’s baby yours? I’m assuming that’s why you are calling.”
Mike laughs bitterly. “No, her baby is not mine.” Jeremy’s stomach drops. “We were well over before she got pregnant.”
“Wait, Over?” Jeremy asks. “I saw you together with my own eyes and that was after she was with me.”
“And that was the last time we were together. It was May before she got pregnant.” Mike tells him. “I don’t know what she is trying to accomplish by going to you. If she couldn’t fool me.”
“Hold up.” Jeremy stops him. “How do you know this? She told me her doctor had told her she conceived that second week of March but that she didn’t have any documentation of that. So, how do you know she never got pregnant until May?”
“Because she told me the same thing she told you. Only she told me over a month ago and she told me the baby was mine.” Jeremy doesn’t know what to say. Mike continues, “We had only been together a couple of times and after I found out she was only using me to get to you, I never saw her again after that night you walked in on us.”
Jeremy cuts in, “I am not looking for an explanation and I certainly hope you are not looking for forgiveness. Now, how do you know the date of conception?”
It takes Mike a minute to respond. “Because I made her take a paternity test. Not only did it tell me there was less than a ten percent chance I was the father, but it also gave the weeks of pregnancy at the time the test was conducted. There is no possible way either of us is that baby’s father.”
“That bitch.” Jeremy says without thinking. “I’ve got to go.” He hangs up before Mike can say anything else. Maybe someday he can forgive him but today he has more important things to do.
Next call, the real estate agent. He is getting that house and he is getting it ready for when his baby comes into this world.
When Jeremy pulls up to the hotel to pick up his mother, she can barely open the door. Her arms are piled high with stuffed animals and balloons. Even as a child, she never saw his mother holding a balloon. He pinches himself, actually pinches himself to see if he is not dreaming.
His mother opens the back door and dumps everything in the backseat and then gets in next to Jeremy. Looking over at him, as he just sits there watching her. “What? Why are you not driving?”
“Are you okay, Mother?” Jeremy asks. “You are not acting like yourself.”
“Can’t a grandmother be excited to meet their grandbaby? And hopefully my future daughter-in-law? You are going to marry that woman aren’t you Jeremy? Oh, you could come back to the club and take the spot you had reserved. No, that’s no good. You have a baby coming!” She is babbling. His mother who has always been the epitome of a socialite is sitting there babbling. “And don’t you think it’s time you stopped calling me mother? It sounds so cold. Call me mom or nana.”
Jeremy is not sure it is safe for him to drive after that last comment. But he puts the car in drive and heads to the hospital. Perhaps he can drive out of this twilight zone as well.