ISABELLA

      “That’s enough!” I finally snapped. “I know that the two of you mean well but you’ve got to go!”

      “What?” my mother asked surprised.

      “I am sick and tired of the two of you dragging me to do this and telling me I can’t do that because I’m pregnant. Yes, I’m pregnant but I’m not handicapped!” I told them as I placed my hand on my denim covered hips.

      “Calm down honey,” Imani said softly. “You don’t need to over exert yourself.”

      “You’re not listening to me,” I mumbled to myself as I slipped my feet back into my sneakers, grabbed my purse from the nightstand and made my way to the front door.

      “Where do you think you’re going?” my mother asked as I unlocked the door and was about to walk out of the apartment.

      “Away from the two of you,” I spoke shortly before closing the door and catching the elevator.

      I'd been driving around for a good hour and ended up stopping at a Barnes & Noble. I gathered a few things to read before making my way to the store's Starbucks . I couldn't really indulge in any of the caffeinated products so I settled for a passion shaken iced tea lemonade and sat at one of the empty booths. My cell phone had been ringing non-stop since I left the house but I'd been ignoring each call. They were all from my mothers and I felt I'd said all that was needed to say.

      I was flipping through one of the magazine's I'd grabbed when I happened to glance up and see Omari's ex walk in with a few women at her side. While I wasn't intimidated by the woman, more drama wasn't what I needed in my life so I grabbed my things and stood. Obviously that was the wrong move because her eyes snapped right towards me.

TERRI

      "What the fuck?" I asked myself as I stared at the rounded stomach of Omari's wife. While she wasn't huge, the thin material of the orange tank she wore clung to the curve of her rounded stomach and it didn't take a genius to know that she was pregnant.

      "What's wrong with you?" Asia questioned as she glanced over Weapons of Mass Seduction.

      "You see that woman over there?" I questioned as I nodded my head towards a visibly pregnant woman in the coffee shop.

      "Yeah," she replied as she glanced from the woman to me.

      "Well, that's Omari's wife," I told her.

      Her mouth dropped as she looked closely at the girl. "She's pregnant?" Asia replied, asking the obvious. "Wow. I guess Omari's serious."

      "Excuse me?" I snapped. She was my best friend and thereby supposed to be on my side through all this drama.

      "Come on," Asia whispered as she grabbed me and pulled me towards the entertainment area of the store and pulled me down an empty aisle. "You know as well as I do that Omari was all about strapping up because he wasn't trying to have any kids roaming about."

      "And so what?" I asked her not seeing where she was going.

      "Well obviously she's pregnant. Omari must genuinely care for that girl so just leave it alone," Asia replied softly.

      I looked at her and shook my head. She just didn't get it. Omari was my perfect guy and I couldn't just sit here while some next chick got all the things I wanted to have with him. I mean, think about it. He's under thirty, college educated, successful, handsome, can dress his ass off, is great in bed, and on top of all that he's straight. I mean we live in Miami and you really don't meet too many men with all that going for them and is capable of being with one woman.

      Living in Miami had it's perks. I mean we have great weather (for the most part), amazing shopping, our housing is great, night life is what any twenty-something or thirty-something could dream of, and there's more than a few job opportunities here but finding a lasting relationship is damn near impossible. Think about it. It's hot here most of the time so it's pretty damn acceptable for females to walk around in barely nothing. Do you really think an average guy is going to try to be a one-woman-man with all this in front of him? I think not. Add to that the fact that a lot of them men I look for (career driven men that were at least in their mid to late twenties who wanted the most out of life without kids) were usually gay or bi.

      "And you said that to say what?" I asked her.

      Asia shook her head and said, "Don't do anything stupid Terri. You know good and well that Karma is a bitch. Don't go messing up someone's happy home."

      "What, like she did me?" I questioned before rolling my eyes and walking off.

PAULA

      "Paula!" my roommate Jennifer called as soon as I walked in the dorm.

      "Yeah?" I asked her as I stepped out of my heels and held them in my hands.

      "Some people called for you today. I left the messages on your desk," she replied before closing the door to her room.

      A frown marred my features at that. Everyone, at least those who had my numbers, knew that the best way to get to me was my cell. Who would have called my dorm looking for me? A professor maybe? It must have been Professor Lambert since I'd applied to be his teaching assistant for next semester. With that thought, I headed to my room and headed towards my desk to get the message from Professor Lambert only to pause when, instead, I saw Drew scribbled on a post it with a message to call him back.

      "Drew?" I questioned. I didn't know anyone named Drew. I glanced at the message again before calling for Jennifer.

      "What?" she asked as she made her way to my room door.

      "Did this guy leave a call back number?" I questioned.

      "He said you had it," she replied with a shrug.

      "Well when did he call?" I asked as I grabbed the cordless.

      "Around three maybe?" she replied but it sounded more like a question than an answer.

      "That was helpful," I said dryly.

      "I mean what do you expect? I wasn't just staring at the phone all day," she snapped back before saying, "If it helps any, the call came from a 305 area code."

      "Thanks," I replied as I thought of who I knew in the 305 area code.

      "Is!" I snapped and then paused when I remember the name wasn't hers. The name on the note said Drew. "Drew?" I asked myself confused as I started to scroll through the caller-id for a number with a 305 area code. "Dreux!" I finally snapped with recognition.

      I tossed the cordless phone on my full sized bed and scrolled through my cell phone's rolodex and pressed the call button when I got to his name. The phone rang twice before his familiar voice spoke.

      "What's going on stranger?" he asked.

      "School. What's going on with you?" I asked him as I plopped down on my bed.

      "I was thinking about you earlier and wanted to know how you'd feel about me coming to visit you?" he asked.

      "I'd like that but I have spring break coming up and I was going that way anyway," I told him. "How about you save some time for me?"

      "That goes without question," Dreux replied.

      I giggled at that and made a mental note to tell Isabella about this before continuing on with the conversation.

ISABELLA

      "Where are you?" Omari's voice questioned over the line.

      "Away from those women," I replied with a huff as I walked out of Barnes & Noble with a huge green bag filled with various books on 'what to expect now that I'm expecting' as well as a few romances I couldn't leave the store without.

      "Baby," he started and I knew he was going to try to talk me into going back to the apartment but that wasn't about to happen. I needed time to myself and being around two hovering women wasn't on my list of fun things to do. "You can't just leave and be out the house by yourself. What if something happens?"

      I paused the motion of putting on my seat to look at the phone. I placed the device back to my ear and said, "I'm pregnant not an invalid Omari. I'm perfectly safe and I'll go back to the apartment...maybe."

      "Is-"

      "Could you deal with the two of them being up under you twenty-four seven telling you what to eat and what not to eat? How about them decorating our child's nursery and not really letting me have a hand in it? Just because I can't lift heavy shit doesn't mean I can't work a paint brush Omari. Now granted, what I've seen of the nursery is nice but I would have liked to be apart of making it what it is!" I vented.

      "I know where you're coming from but they don't mean any harm. You're carrying their first grandchild and they just want to help," he replied soothingly.

      "I know this," I replied as I pulled out of the store's parking lot. "I just need some space. Some air to breathe and not have to worry about people asking me if I need something every three minutes or telling me to relax and stay in bed when I walk out the room. Do you know I feel like I have to be a secret agent just to get something from the kitchen. It's ridiculous man."

      "So you're not going home," Omari replied with resignation.

      "Are our mothers there awaiting my arrival?" I questioned as I turned into a nearby park.

      "Yes but-"

      "Then I'm not going back," I snapped and then sighed. Omari didn't deserve to get the brunt of my anger. After all, he wasn't the one annoying me. "I'm sorry. Look, I'll call you later and let you know where I am if I don't go home tonight, okay?"

      "That'll have to do," he replied.

      "Relax. I'm safe and so is our baby. I just need this time to myself."

      "I understand," he replied.

      "I love you baby."

      "I love you to Bella," he replied softly before ending the call.

      I grabbed my Barnes & Noble bag from the passenger seat and headed towards an empty picnic table where I proceeded to read and enjoy the warm weather.

PAULA

      It had been a little over two weeks since my initial phone call from Dreux and since then we've been talking pretty regularly. It didn't take a genius to see that we were both attracted to each other but were keeping things on a pretty casual level. Neither of us were too pressed to attach labels since we were living in separate states and there was also the fact that there wasn't a need to rush anything. Whatever was going to happen would and we'd decided to just let things flow. On top of that, I had a very pregnant best friend who's mothers were playing double dutch on her LAST nerve.

      Somehow she and Omari had talked the two women into giving them some space but that didn't stop the call and drive-by visits. You know those, 'I was just in the neighborhood and decided to stop by' visits. They knew damn well they weren't in the neighborhood. They lived in entirely different states and last time I checked New York and Georgia weren't exactly in Miami's neighborhood.

      As I exited the plane, I pulled my phone from the confines of my purse and turned it on, waiting a moment to see if I had any messages before tossing it back into the large hobo bag. It didn't take me long to get to baggage claim and almost immediately I found Isabella. She stood near the belt that would be unloading the bags from my flight, dressed semi-casually in a pair of extremely low slung jeans I knew weren't maternity wear along with a cream wrap top that showed her visibly rounded stomach and a pair of cream colored heels I wasn't sure she should be wearing.

      "Hey mommy!" I spoke exuberantly before giving her a warm hug.

      "Hey Paula," she replied with a bright smile as her left hand instinctively went to rest on her belly.

      "Awe."

      "What?" she asked with laughter in her tone.

      "You're pregnant," I stated the obvious as I turned to look at the ramp, making sure my bags hadn't already passed me. "Are you supposed to be wearing heels that high?"

      "Not you too," she stated with a groan.

      "What? That's a logical question," I replied.

      From what I remember reading, quite a few pregnant women got back aches and sore feet. I'm pretty sure that the shoes she was wearing wouldn't be helping those ailments.

      "I swear, you and Omari are too much alike. He and I got into it this morning when I was getting dressed. I mean I know what I can and can't wear. If my feet were hurting me I wouldn't have put the things on!" she snapped.

      "Uh-huh," I said hesitantly as I backed up and gave her some room. I heard somewhere that pregnant women were aggressive and I wasn't trying to have her anger directed on me.

      Isabella noticed me giving her room and her anger evaporated and was replaced by amusement. She shook her head before pointing to the ramp. "Go get your stuff so we can go."

OMARI

      "What? I'm just curious," I defended myself as Isabella finished placed the makeup brush she'd just used to blend the red-orange and shimmery gold highlight shadow together.

      "We're going out to eat and then to a club," she answered as she began to line her lower lash line with a shimmery blue powder.

      "I don't think that's such a good idea," I told her. I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't overprotective of Isabella. Shit, she was carrying my first child so I believe I have a right to be.

      "I've got to eat Omari," she replied dryly as she clutched her robe tighter around her form and walked around me to leave the bathroom and head to the closet.

      "That's not what I meant and you know it."

      She shrugged her shoulders to slip off the robe before stepping into a burnt orange dress. "Zip me?"

      I did as she asked before continuing, "I just don't think that going to a club is wise. What if someone puts alcohol in your drink?

      "I'm visibly pregnant Omari," she replied as she pointed towards her stomach, "no one would be that stupid."

      "But-" I started but was interrupted as the bell rang.

      "Will you get that for me sweetie?" she questioned in a sugary sweet tone as she slid a sapphire and pave diamond ring on her left ring finger.

      "Sure," I replied knowing good and well I didn't have a choice.

      "What's good O?" Paula's energetic voice asked as she sashayed through the open door in a short orange dress and matching stilettos. Like Bella, her eye shadow was bright and elaborate and I was even more apprehensive about their girls night out.

      "Not your best friend," I replied as I gave her a warm hug.

      "Uh-oh," she groaned. "What's going on?"

      "Nothing but Omari's idea that I can't take care of myself," Isabella replied as she came out of the bedroom with incredibly high blue pumps on her feet while dangle earrings fell from her ears while a matching tennis bracelet covered her right wrist.

      "It's not that you can't take care of yourself," I argued. "It's the fact that you're not trying to take the right precautions."

      "Wearing heels isn't dangerous Omari. Pregnant women do it everyday," she argued softly.

PAULA

      I snorted mentally as I watched Isabella work Omari. She had that man wrapped so tightly around her finger it wasn't even funny. Omari gripped her slightly wider hips and whispered something in her ear that caused her cheeks to redden. I definitely didn't want to know what he said.

      Five minutes later the two of us were out of her and Omari's apartment building and in the comforts of my rental car. Isabella pushed the passenger seat of the two seater back a bit and gave me directions to Casa Juancho.

ISABELLA

      "Whoo," I said breathlessly as I fanned my face. "I think I'm going to get some water and sit this one out."

      The attractive Cuban guy I been dancing with for the last twenty minutes walked me back over to my table and waved over a waitress before kissing both of my bright cheeks before making his way back over to his friends. I'd barely had a chance to take a sip of my water before someone joined my table. I took my eyes away from the dance floor and turned to see who'd joined me only to be shocked to see a smug looking Terri staring in my face.

PAULA

      I was at the bar, breathing a little heavy from the high energy salsa I'd just finished dancing, waiting for my Mojito when I happened to glance at the table Isabella and I'd occupied earlier in the evening to see her standing from her seat with her neck snapping while a female across from her had her hands in her face. Oh-HELL-no. "Excuse me?" I spoke as I tapped the bar. The bartender glanced up and I told him to have a waitress bring it to table 35 before walking off.

      "What's going on over here?" I questioned Is as I looked between her and the girl still spewing venom at her.

      "That's Omari's ex," Isabella replied before turning her attention back to the girl. "Do you know how childish you look right now starting shit with a woman over a man who's married and not thinking about your ass?"

      "Bitch-"

      "Whoa," I interrupted the ex and said, "I think it's about that time that you catch a corner."

      "And I think you need to mind your motherfucking business cause wasn't nobody talking to you. Why don't you catch a corner before I add you to my list of bitches to fuck up," the girl snapped.

      I glanced to the side and asked myself if this chick was talking to me. I shook my head, she must not have known who she was playing with. She already had two strikes against her; first and foremost was getting in a pregnant woman's face and the second was acting as if she was going to hit my best friend. Now she wanted to add calling me out my name and threatening me too?

      "For real?" I started as I gently coaxed Isabella behind me, just in case this crazy bitch decided to escalate things from a verbal confrontation to something physical. "You need to take your ass on because you're not going to call me or Is too many more bitches. I understand that your little feelings may be hurt because O dropped your ass but get over it. The man does not want you and we don't need your harassment. Now be a lady and turn around and go about your business."

      "Or what?" she replied.

      "Or we'd have to take this outside," I said easily. I was raised to hold myself as a lady but this woman across from me, and I use the term loosely, was taking this shit a little too far. "Don't mistake my upbringing or exterior," I told her as I waved over my well put together appearance, "for my abilities I will beat your ass. I've fought bigger and better in my day and please believe that I will give you the business."

      "You think?" she taunted and looked as if she wanted to try me.

      "No, I know so. Not only did you threaten my best friend but you threatened the safety of my God-child which gives me all the ammunition I need to push my normally tight morals to the side and act as if I wasn't raised to ignore trollops like you. And know that after I beat your ass in front of all these people I won't even get a slap on the wrist," I told her. Having one of the best defense lawyers since Johnnie Cochran as a mother had it's perks.

      She looked me up and down before turning her attention to Is. "Aight. You're good for now but don't think your little friend will always be around to save your ass." Isabella rolled her eyes and waved her off with her middle finger.