Misplaced Affections by Aleya Mishell

Author:Aleya Mishell [Mishell, Aleya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction, Urban Life, United States, African American, Urban
Amazon: B00SU5YBSO
Published: 2015-01-26T05:00:00+00:00

~

It seemed like it had taken me hours to fall asleep. After Jersey had come home, I tried to stay out of her way as much as possible. When my son had woken up and started to cry, I took him down the basement to attend to him. I did all the things Lydia used to do – changed his diaper, gave him a bottle, and played with him – and when he had finally fallen back to sleep, I carried him upstairs carefully and placed him in the room that Jersey had prepared for him. She had decorated the room with a baseball theme and made sure it had all the furniture that Tyson would need whenever he stayed here. When Jersey had told me what she planned to do to make each of my kids comfortable when they stayed over, I was grateful and appreciated her even more, but I never thought that we would be using this room like this.

After Tyson was finally asleep, I slipped in the bathroom and stayed in the shower until the water was cold. I didn’t know what I was going to do if she left me. With Jersey by my side I felt like I could face whatever was thrown my way, but without her…I couldn’t imagine my life without her. Stepping out of the shower, I quickly dried myself off with my towel and slipped on a pair of shorts. Walking into our bedroom, I climbed into the bed quietly, staring at Jersey as she slept. She was beautiful, both inside and out, and if I could do things differently, I would. I would have told Jersey the whole truth and allowed her the opportunity to fall in love with the real me. The real Emmanuel Anthony. Lying as close to Jersey as I could without touching her, I closed my eyes, replaying the events of my day. It seemed like I had just fallen asleep when I felt her hands shaking me.

“Emmanuel. Emmanuel? Are you awake?”

Wiping the sleep from my eyes quickly, I struggled to sit up. “Yes,” I lied.

Reaching over to her nightstand, Jersey switched on a small bedside lamp, and turning to face me, she crossed her arms across her breasts. “Tell me everything,” she demanded. Dropping my head, I contemplated how much I should tell her…how much I could tell her, and as if she could see my silent deliberations, she spoke again. “This is the only opportunity I am giving you to be completely honest with me in this way. The next time I find out you’ve lied to me, I am packing up my son and this baby’s things, and I am gone.” Reaching over to her nightstand again, Jersey smiled a little when she handed me something wrapped in a paper towel. Removing the paper towel carefully, I smiled at the pregnancy test with the two lines displayed, imagining a baby girl that looked like Jersey.

“Emmanuel?” Hearing Jersey speak my name broke the trance that I was in, and I blinked several times, attempting to refocus on her face.

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