Stubborn

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Corey soon arrived back into Melanie's office. He quietly closed the door behind himself and sat down in front of her desk. Mel sighed before sitting in her very own chair.

"This doesn't make any sense to me, Melanie," Corey finally spoke. "How can a woman who I've watched love children and spend more than enough time with them by any means necessary just shut children down because of an ex?"

Melanie laughed softly and shook her head. "Nobody gets it. Nobody gets what I went through those years and I didn't even know why. Imagine having weird things happen and you don't know why."

Corey tilted his head. He was going to give Melanie the floor to speak her mind.

"When the wedding was over, I sat down with them. I wanted to know how long and why. It was revealed to me that my best friend always wanted what I had. She wanted my life. I had the miscarriage and I blamed stress from working at the high school. I broke down, because that school gave me so much bullshit for the way I taught and handled the kids. When Ashley got pregnant, she called me first. She was so happy on that phone. We both cried, because I was happy for her and her boyfriend. I told Jermaine and he was at a disbelief. He couldn't believe that she had gotten pregnant...before me. I didn't think much of the comment at that time. I never thought anything of it when Ashley would say it over and over. When I went with her to get an ultrasound, she found out she was having a girl. When she gave birth, I found out she named the little girl the same name I told her that Jermaine wanted to name our daughter – if we ever had one."

Corey's face said it all. He was stunned, but he had to keep his composure. He was clearly still upset and baffled by Melanie's whole demeanor today.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to just get my work done for the day and then leave. My mom's gonna pick Julian up today, so I need to get stuff done," Mel said in a tired tone. She just wanted to work to get her mind off of everything that had happened this morning.

Corey dismissed himself and allowed Mel to do what she said. Back to back, she helped with cases and talked to numerous children and their parents.

Two hours past her lunch break, she decided to check up on her mother and son. Dialing her mother's number, the call was answered almost immediately.

"Hello?" Mariah answered.

"Ma! Hey! Did you get my baby?" Melanie questioned. She couldn't hear anything in the background, due to it being quiet.

"Yeah, yeah. Your sister's here. You know since you two don't see each other a lot, she's in there spoiling that boy."

Melanie could only laugh. Her sister had been on her path for about three years now. The family couldn't intervene with her life, so she came and went.

"Guess who I saw today?"

"Who?"

"Jermaine."

There was silence from Mariah's end.

"Mama what?"

"Nothing, what happened?"

Melanie laughed. "Everything is fine, ma. He's still alive and healthy for all I know. But I gotta go. Alright? I'll pick Julian up late tonight. I'll just use my key."

"Alright baby. And leave my key when you get home."

Melanie laughed hard. For years her mother had been trying to get her to give her back her key.

After gathering her things, Melanie began leaving the office. She told Corey that she would call him later to discuss things further. Right now, she needed to go to her favorite department store – Target.

As she walked through the store, picking out things from grocery to things for Julian, this precious little girl came up to her. Melanie couldn't help but notice the girl because she looked extremely familiar. Thinking that she probably had a case on the young girl, Melanie squatted down to her level. "Hi," she said in a calm voice.

The shy little girl didn't say anything. Instead she blushed. "You here to buy something?"

The girl laughed in a childish voice and shook her head. No sooner than Melanie could say another thing, she heard a voice. "Excuse me ma'am?"

Melanie looked up and it was as if she'd seen a ghost. Melanie slowly began rising back to her normal height. The connection was soon made. She had been talking to Jermaine's daughter with Ashley, her ex best friend.

"Wow, Melanie, you look great!"

Mel gave her a disgusted look. "My thoughts on your appearance haven't changed since we last talked." Melanie smiled. The last time they spoke, Melanie flat out told Ashley that she looked like the natural hoe that she was born to be.

Nodding slowly, Ashley accepted it. Melanie's eyes scanned the huge rock on the girl's finger.

"Oh!" Ashley laughed softly. "Jermaine proposed to me! I would've invited you, but you moved. No one has known where you've stayed in two years, girl."

"Bitch, pause. Don't talk to me like we're friends."

"But we were."

"No. I was friend. I was damn fool of a friend."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Girl, Melanie. Move on. Jermaine wants to see his son. Giselle wants to see her little brother. Is that so wrong?"

Melanie nodded quickly, "Yes. That means that my son will be around dirty ass people. I'm not having that."

"My daughter is perfectly fine," Ashley boasted.

"That's what you think." Melanie said before strolling off.

"This isn't the last time, Melanie. He's going to get custody of his son!" Ashley yelled after her.