Everybody just stood there in silence as what appeared to be rancid blood dripped down our gender reveal balloon. What made it worse was that inside the balloon was a placenta. Greg called everyone back into the house and disposed of the balloon. One of the most exciting times of my life had been ruined. I could barely contain myself when he came back into the house.
"Jas, I am so sorry. I don't know what could have happened. They delivered the balloon this morning. I am going to check the cameras and see if there is anything on it."
"You know who did this!"
"Who?"
"Natalia! She has been trying to tear us apart since she found out. "
"I don't know Jas when would she have had the time to do it or even known about the party?
"I don't know but I know she did it. I want you to call her right now"
“I’m not going to call Natalia and accuse her of filling our baby balloon with blood."
"Oh so you aren't going to call and accuse her but you were perfectly fine with accusing me of lying about this being your child."
"Well...look how that turned out?"
"Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing."
"No, tell me what you mean."
"Jas, I really don't want to get into this right now. We have a house full of people and right now we are being rude to our guest."
"Well, this party is already a big disaster thanks to that can't let it go cunt of a woman you call your best friend."
"IT'S NOT MINE!"
"Oh, God not this again. Really? I told you that you were the only person I slept during that time. I can't believe here I am again defending myself to you."
"I got the test run and it's not mine."
"What...How? There is no way. That's not right." I just stood there shocked not sure what to make of what he was saying.
"Look, it doesn't matter. I want to be there for you anyway. I love you."
"How long?"
"Huh?"
"How long have you known this? You said you cancelled the test and that obviously was a lie so how long have you known “this” I said emphatically?
"Not long. I did cancel the test. I wasn't even going to get the results but Natalia said if I got the results that she would drop the whole thing and stop the calls and text. She called the lab and got one of her friends to release the results and it's not mine."
"Natalia, so you talk to Natalia.....and Natalia called the lab?"
"Yes."
"So, first you lie and tell me that you aren't going to talk to her anymore then you turn around and trust a woman who calls a lab her "friend" works for about results of the baby she wanted me to abort? Yeah, she got you."
"Got me?"
"We are going to take another test at another lab. I am willing to bet 1000 % that she had the results of our DNA test altered to make it seem like you aren't the father. I just can't believe all this. Just a freaking nightmare. It's one thing to threaten me, but to try to break my family up? This is war." I gathered my things and headed towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Greg asked walking behind her.
"To settle this once and for all. I am going to talk to Natalia."
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"I really don't care what you think is a good idea anymore. I am sick of this and I won't stand by waiting for the next big event that wench tries to ruin. Tell my mom I will back”, I said as I walked outside and headed towards my car.
“Jas, STOP! How do you even know where she lives?”
“She isn’t the only one with some stalking skills. Always keep your eye on the enemy.”
I got into my car and drove 45 minutes to Sunset Palms. It was a prominent neighborhood with houses averaging a 1.5 million dollar price tag. Luckily, it was after hours and the guard that would normally handle all entries was off duty. I pulled up behind another car and followed them into the neighborhood. I had friends in high places too. A friend of mine was a police officer and ran a background check on Natalia after our altercation at the mall and gotten her address. I pulled into her driveway. Her black Lexus was parked in the driveway. Even with the long drive I was still full of rage. I rang the bell and when she opened the door I swung and landed a punch to the side of face sending her sprawling backwards onto her marble floor. She grabbed her face and looked truly stunned. The punch was hard enough that her tooth had cut her lip and she was bleeding. She looked up at me from the floor but was eerily calm.
“I suppose I deserve that” she said as she wiped the blood from her lip and stood up.
“Oh you deserve a lot more than that. First, you threaten me, then you try to get me to have an abortion, you ruin my gender reveal party, and the lowest thing of all you altered DNA results to make it look like Greg is not the father of my CHILD! HE DOES NOT WANT YOU LET IT GO! I told you not to come around me or my family again. So if you want to do this then come on! Pregnant or not I’m over this and I’m done talking to you.”
“Wow, I didn’t even know about your little gender reveal party and as far as the DNA test I’m surprised myself. I mean you seem like a stand up woman. I guess looks can be deceiving. I’m surprised he told you about that seeing that right after he found out he was all in my mouth.”
“Here you go again with the lies. I know you swapped the results you lonely, miserable trick. You can spit that crap to Greg and get him all confused but that doesn’t work on me. When my baby arrives Greg will know the truth and all of this will be a distant memory just like you. No denying flesh and blood so you can stop with all the lies right now.”
“Say what you want but it’s not a lie. Just ask him. You haven’t know Greg that long and don’t know him all that well. He has a tell. When he lies he always scratches his face. Ask him the last time he had his dick in my mouth. Anything other than a couple days ago is a lie. I don’t care what bastard kid you give birth to he will always be my man.”
“You just stay away from me or next time I will do more than cut your lip.”
I left and drove back to Greg’s house. Everybody was gone including my mom. Greg had the driver to take her home. I was exhausted from the day both emotionally and physically. We sat on the couch silent for a bit before he broke the silence.
“So did you get what you were looking for?”
“I wasn’t looking for anything. I went to let her know that she needs to stop her lies. Maybe with her lips swollen they will be a little harder for her to tell.”
“You got in a fight?”
“More like I punched her and less like a fight.”
He shook his head. “This is all one giant mess.”
“Well, when the baby gets here we can settle all this DNA stuff and she will know that we are a family and move on with her life.”
“Yeah, I hope so. I’m so sorry that the party got ruined. I checked the camera and didn’t see anyone come into the back yard.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Well, while you were gone I contacted the company and had them send over the gender reveal results but I didn’t want to find out without you. Do you want to open it?”
I perked up a bit. I was glad that he still seemed pretty excited about the whole thing despite his doubts and glad he waited for me. “Sure.”
“Ok, I had the butler put it in an envelope for effect so that I couldn’t see.”
We sat on the couch. He handed me the envelope and a letter opener. I sliced open the top of the envelope and pulled out the 8x11” piece of paper. I looked at him and smiled.
“It’s a boy!”
“Yes!” he said as he scooped me up and swirled me around the room. He kissed my forehead and sat me down and the couch.
“We are having a boy!”
“Yeah, we are having a son.”
“I love you Jas!”
“I love you too.” He had said it to me before but this was the first time I had ever said it back and I meant it.