The Mafia Boss's Possession

Chapter 23

I dug my spoon into my Oreo ice cream once again as Cassandra droned on about how Jasmine had been ignoring her lately. I nodded, pretending to follow along while I actually followed along with Olivia Pope as she rushed into the Oval Office.

"... that would make sense, right?" Cassandra turned to me, her head tilted as I bit down onto the cold spoon.

"Totally, why else?" I agreed, watching as her face fell.

"Nothing registered." She deadpanned.

"Not one syllable." I agreed, offering her some ice cream. "Why don't you just relax? Stop being the mother hen and take it easy." I suggested, watching her grey hair fall from behind her ears, the bob reaching up to her shoulders, and she took her own spoon and dipped it into the tub.

"I have to be the mother hen, with you being so young and Jasmine being so positive, I have to be the one to shine down some reason onto you two."

"I'm sure she's alright, perhaps she's just feeling a bit clustered, you know how big this town has been getting, I heard that three new companies just established their headquarters downtown." I started a conversation, trying to make her worry disappear.

Although, what she said was true. Jasmine was very positive, and she needed someone to give her the hard facts every once in a while, and that someone was Cassandra. Cassandra was in her early fifties, and she never married, nor had kids, but that didn't stop her from acting like a mother hen. Jasmine was in her early thirties, and while she was very mature, I sometimes felt like she had an unrealistic outlook on life, but I never said anything. We all had our flaws, and I was sure that Jasmine just needed some space to herself. What I had said was true, this town was getting crowded quite quickly.

It had been seven months since I moved in, and since then, more jobs and schools started opening up. People were moving in like a swarm of bees coming to their honey. I couldn't blame them, this town was flooding with positivity and kind people left and right. Before, we used to be the only daycare around, and it was starting to get a bit packed, but now, with a lot of people moving in, two more daycares opened up, relieving us of some of the stress of having too many kids over. Unfortunately, that did mean that we had competition, and we had to step up our game if we didn't want all of our clients to move away. Thankfully, since we had been the first daycare business around, a lot of people trusted us with their kids. Mrs. James didn't want to admit it, but Cassandra and I knew that she was starting to worry about clientele.

"It seems as though everyone is getting worried about all of the new people coming in and their business." Cassandra commented, looking down at her cell phone.

"Do you want to head down to her apartment, see if she's alright?" I offered, seeing how worried Cassandra actually was.

"You wouldn't mind?" She asked, getting ready to bolt to the door.

"Not at all." I agreed and stood up, slipping on some flats as I retouched my makeup a bit before heading out, locking my apartment door and heading down the elevator. We walked silently to my car, and I slowly pulled out of my driveway, starting my way towards Jasmine's house. I could see Cassandra's leg bounce up and down from the corner of my eye and her hands fidget with her own house keys until I felt my head on the verge of popping. "Cassandra, we aren't going to make it."

"What? Why?" She turned to me as I took turn down the street where I knew Jasmine's house was near.

"Because your fidgeting is killing me, stop moving, I can't drive with your keys jingling, or your leg making me dizzy." I joked, pulling around to Jasmine's house where her car was safely parked out, along with another one.

"Sorry, I'm just worried, do you recognize that car?" She frowned, unbuckling herself and leaving my car.

"No, but not like you're paying attention to me." I muttered as I got out and followed her. "Let's just knock, like normal people." I called out to Cassandra who was peeping through windows.

"I'm trying to see if everything's okay." She explained and I snorted, walking up to the front door.

"You're acting like your in a CSI episode, just chill." I chuckled and knocked on Jasmine's front door, listening to her hurried footsteps rush over. "She's walking over to answer, quickly, pull out your camera and gun, she might be armed." I joked as Cassandra scowled, walking over bushes to stand beside me.

"Wait until you're old enough, then you'll start questioning everything." She muttered as the front door swung open by an older man.

"You're not Cassandra." I blurted, feeling Cassandra nudge me in the arm.

"Course not, I'm right here." She snickered and I felt a wave of heat fall over me in embarrassment. "What she means is, where is Jasmine?" Cassandra corrected as she stepped in, pushing the man out of the way.

"Cassandra!" I hissed, amazed at how she just shoved her way inside.

"Don't sweat it, she's always been like that." He moved over as I smiled, entering the house. "Jasmine's just out back, we were just about to have dinner." The man lead me back where Cassandra was already sitting beside an emotional Jasmine.

"What's going on?" I frowned, watching as Jasmine cried, her cheeks all blotchy and her nose red.

"Oh, Ayva, how are you? Have you met Henry? He's my brother." Jasmine introduced us and I smiled politely, waiting for her to explain what was going on.

"What's the reason of why you've been hiding out this past week?" Cassandra dug right in as Henry brought me a chair, and then headed back inside, probably to take care of dinner.

"Well," Jasmine sniffed and dabbed her crumpled tissue to her nose, "Truth is, I'm pregnant." She spoke quietly, and everything stilled.

I took cautious glance at Cassandra who only stared at Jasmine in shock. I, for one, couldn't help but to smile in excitement, so I burst into a cheering squad. "That's so cute! How long have you known for? Isn't this exciting?" I went over to hug a very grateful Jasmine while Cassandra stared. "Oh come one, this is good news, at least she wasn't out doing drugs." I patted Cassandra's back excitedly, trying to get a reaction out of her frozen form.

"Cassandra, are you okay?" Jasmine frowned as Cassandra looked down at Jasmine's belly before jumping up in excitement, squealing.

"This is fabulous! Imagine having a little one around! Oh, I can already see his adorable cheeks and beautiful eyes!" Cassandra hugged Jasmine as she bounced up and down, and rushed to hug me too. "Isn't it fantastic, Ayva? Jasmine's having a baby!" Cassandra repeated and I laughed, seeing how excited Cassandra was getting at the mere thought of Jasmine's baby.

"I don't know if it'll be a boy or a girl, it's only my third week." Jasmine admitted as she reached over to grab a sheet of paper and hand it to us.

Scanning my eyes over it, I saw that the letter was one of confirmation that Jasmine was indeed pregnant, and she was doing just fine.

"Doesn't matter, he or she will get all the love in the world." I assured her, feeling happy to see how excited she was to have a baby.

"But I know, I'm going to be it's aunt, trust me, it's going to be a baby boy." Cassandra nodded with certainty as she finished reading the doctor's note.

I was happy for Jasmine, so happy, but I couldn't help but to feel saddened to remember the fact that I didn't get the opportunity to have the same reaction with my past baby. I didn't even have the chance to find out that I was pregnant before I was told about the miscarriage. I know that I would give the world up just have known what my child was going to be. There were certainly days where I couldn't stop thinking of a baby that would've been a year old now, and how Vescovi would reacted, but then I'd remember what my mom said. She had specifically told me that everything happened for a reason, and I believed her.

My love with Vescovi didn't exactly work out, and that was sad, I still remembered him and felt a tug at my heart, but then I'd look at my life right now, and I know that moving here was definitely for the best. Perhaps within in time I'd find someone, someone whom I could share a life with and not have to worry about whether or not I'd live to see the next day because my husband could kill me.