"I'm sorry," I hear him say as he hands me a cup of ice chips; that must have been why he had left. I place a couple of them into my dry mouth, making a crunching sound as I bite down on them.
"Sorry for what?" I was actually happy that he'd come back, but I wasn't going to let him know it.
"For being inconsiderate. I know you're in a lot of pain and if you wanna flip out, you go right ahead." He sits on the edge of the bed; I scoot over to give him more room. "Roll over on your side." I start to ask him why, but instead I grab on to the rail and do as he suggests.
He unties the strings on the back of my gown, causing them to fall open and expose my naked back. I close my eyes and enjoy the massage that he gives me; I love my baby.
Almost two hours later, Dr. Tate finally gives staff the "go" for my epidural. An anesthesiologist walks in with this gigantic needle while the nurse tells Raimone that he has to step out for a moment while they give me my shot. Once he's outside the door, I get into a sitting position with one nurse holding each of my hands. I'm scared, but I don't move because if I do, the needle could hit a nerve and temporarily paralyze me; they didn't have to tell me that warning twice! Taking a deep breath, I feel a small pinch in the lower part of my back when the needle goes in; it didn't hurt bad at all. With the help of the nurses I lay back down on my pillow and they allow Raimone to come back inside.
Raimone stayed by my side the entire time, coaching me on. Even though he helped me out a lot, I ain't gonna even lie, there were times when I wanted to tell him to shut the fuck up with all that "keep breathing" shit; but I didn't. I chuckle at the thought of Raimone passing out, which could have been on his mind, from the way he was looking. He was making so many faces, and sweating so hard you would've thought he was having the baby.
Several hours later, I give the final push and out came my beautiful bundle of joy. She was gorgeous! Raisha LaShawna Ford entered the world on April 2, 200 at 11:05 p.m. She weighed 7 pounds, ounces, was 1/2 inches long and had a head full of curly black hair.
Raisha didn't look identical to either of her parents; she actually looked like a mix of both. She was going to be her father's complexion, and I knew that because I checked behind her ears, and they were a little on the dark side. She had my eyes and nose; but other than that, she was all her dad. She even had his small ears.
Raimone's face as he held our daughter will forever be etched in my mind. He looked amazed, and I believe I even saw a tear drop.
"Thank you," he says to me, handing the baby over to the nurse.
"For what?" I ask.
"For giving me a beautiful daughter and making me the happiest man on Earth," he answers quietly. "Seeing you give birth strengthened the love that I have for you. I already loved you so deeply, but now I love you even more." He was looking directly into my eyes. I'm exhausted, but I quickly shake it off when I see him reach into his pocket while getting down on one knee.
Covering my mouth with both of my hands I say, "Oh, my God!" In his hand he holds a small velvet box.
When he opens it, I see that inside there's a -carat, princess-cut solitary diamond ring.
"Sasha Denise Jones, will you make my life complete by accepting my proposal to be my wife?" he proposes with tears in his eyes. I couldn't contain my excitement as I said "yes" numerous times, just to make sure he heard me.
"Congratulations!" the hospital staff cries out as they applaud.
"Thank you," we both say in unison. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face if you tried as I showed all thirty-two of my pearly whites. I'm finally going to marry the man I love; I can't wait until the day.
Fatigue started to take over; I was getting sleepier by the minute. Giving up the fight to stay awake, I drift into a satisfying sleep. As I doze off, I am thinking about how wonderful life is going to be. But who among us at such moments ever takes into consideration that life doesn't always go as planned.
Chapter Two
Sasha
It's been two years and life couldn't get any better for us. I'm now 2 and a wife and mother. We got married last year and moved out of our small apartment. That place was cool when it was just us two, but with Raisha growing up so fast, we had to upgrade. The house-hunt didn't take too long and soon we relocated to Strongsville, Ohio, which is a lot closer to my twin sister Tasha. It's not that much further away from where we used to live, but it's gratefully out of the inner city. We now live in a four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath brick house that I absolutely love. There's more than enough room in the backyard for Raisha to run around. She turned two last week, and we had a blast at the birthday party.
We threw the party in the backyard of our house, because there is plenty of room back there. Raimone rented a lot of tables and chairs for about 100 guests.
I'm glad he did, because everyone we invited showed up. The kids had fun running in and out of the playhouses and pop-up tunnels, but they lost their minds when SpongeBob and Patrick came out. Raimone rented the characters because he knows that Raisha loves them; I swear she has every DVD ever made, and her TV is always on NICK. I have never seen my daughter smile so much. She was so happy to see all of our friends and family, and it warmed my heart to see her happy face.
She did pretty well on birthday gifts. She got a Dora the Explorer bike, a Barbie Beetle power wheel, kitchen and table set, a toy WhirlPool washer and dryer, a vanity, a few Cabbage Patch Kids, a radio, a few DVDs, some Barbies with the doll house and over 100 outfits, and her daddy bought her a 32" Plasma. No, I don't know what the hell a two-year-old would need with a Plasma TV, so you need to ask her dad that. She had two sheet cakes, one Dora and the other was SpongeBob. Like I said we had a ball, even the grown folks.
Right now I'm sitting in the house staring aimlessly at the TV, watching an Old Navy commercial. I'm waiting on Tasha's slow ass, because we are supposed to be going to the Mirage tonight; which is a club in the flats that we go to from time to time I haven't been in a nice while, because I've been doing the family thing; I'm just not digging the club scene anymore. That's exactly what I told Tasha; but after listening to her whine about how I haven't been spending time with her, I agreed. She told me that she would be here early, but knowing Tasha she'll be late as always. I don't know why I always fall for it, the next time we supposed to go somewhere, I'm gonna take my time getting ready. Of course you know that's when she'll be here on time.
Just like I expected she would, she rings the door bell almost two hours later. After opening the door I give her a once over. She just recently cut all of her hair off in a short bob, and it was dyed jet black. It was silky straight and had a shine to it, letting you know it was healthy, and her make-up was flawless. Ms. Hot Ass had on skin-tight Baby Phat blue jeans with a gold cat on the pocket, the matching jacket, and a white and gold Baby Phat belly shirt that showed off her diamond star belly ring. On her feet were a pair of gold pumps that matched the gold satchel on her arm.
"Don't ask me to go out no more," I say, not giving her a chance to say anything.
"Why?" she asks, placing her hands on her hips, causing the gold bangles on her arms to clang.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about. You beg me to go out with you, then you got me sitting around waiting on yo' slow ass," I complain. "I don't know why you even give somebody a time when you know you ain't gone be here. I should just stay home and let yo' ass go out by yo' damn self!"
"Well damn, tell me how you really feel," she pouts.
Laughing out loud, I roll my eyes and step back to allow her to come into the house. "Bitch, you get on my nerves."
"Don't hate on all this, with yo' jealous ass. You just mad because I look better then you, ugly bitch!" She moves her hands across her body in a seductive way.
Even though we're identical twins, this bitch really thinks she looks better than me, ain't that some shit?
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