Forgive for Joy's Sake (Part 11)

Later that night, I once again found myself sitting at my mother’s table, only this time Mel was with us. Wes had come by exactly at 5:30, called to let me know he’d arrived, and waited until I came out to the car. On the car ride over to my parent’s house, I asked him how his project was going, made small talk about things that happen when we were younger, and kept the conversation away from the buddy kiss we had shared earlier that day. Wes played along which had me leery about the ride home.

“Joy, you will be over Monday night, right? Your dad and I fly out early Tuesday morning and Chelsea won’t be able to arrive until 7:30 a.m.” My mom’s voice was overflowing with her excitement. She had been looking forward to this trip for years.

“For the umpteenth time, I will head over as soon as I log off of work on Monday. I promise you I will not forget.” I took a bite of the oven fried catfish Mom had made and then a bite of the sweet potato and spinach hash. “Ma, this is delicious by the way. I’m going to need the recipe on this one.” For the last year since they booked their cruise Mom has been my supplier of healthy but tasty recipes. She was determined to look good on her trip and I must admit, I hoped to look half as good as she did when I was sixty. My father was nine years older, but he held his own by working out and eating healthy too.

Dinner conversation was kept light. Mom kept her end of the deal and provided dessert which was berries and whipped cream. After dinner, Dad invited Wes into the living room to watch sports. Mom declined my offer to clean up the kitchen and instead nodded towards Mel which was my signal to handle my end of the deal.

“Mel, are you ready to head back to your room? I can take you,” I offered and stood to push her to the room in her wheelchair once she nodded yes.

Once in her room, I helped her into bed. She leaned back and said in a voice even more slurred than usual, “I’m so tired. I really need some rest.”

I sat on the foot of her bed and said, “Nice try but you know what we need to talk about and you know I’m not leaving this room until we talk about it. Oh and just so you know, this is non-negotiable. If I’m supposed to be looking out for you and Joi while my parents and Wes are away, you best believe you are about to tell me who your daughter’s eye twin is and if he could potentially be dangerous.”

She swallowed hard and tears coated her chocolate brown eyes before spilling on to her cheek. “His name is Lamar Eldrich and there is a slight chance he might be Joi’s father. Whether he’s dangerous or not I couldn’t tell you because I don’t know him all that well. He was a one night stand.”

“You don’t do one night stands,” I said, frowning.

“Since the tumor, I have done some things I normally wouldn’t do, as you well know.”  Mel looked over at me and then looked away.

“Point taken. So if he was a one night stand, how did he find out about Joi, and what is he hoping will happen here?” I grabbed a tissue of her nightstand and handed it to her before sitting back down at the foot of the bed.

“He wants me to find out for sure if he is his father and if he is, then he wants to be a part of her life.” Mel started crying harder and I had to take a couple of deep breaths to make sure I didn’t say, “Uh DoDo bird,” before saying, “That sounds reasonable Mel. Why not have the paternity test done?”

“I was hoping he would go away and I can just raise Joi as Jackson’s daughter. I don’t want to have to tell my daughter one day that she is a product of her mother’s indiscretions.” Her beautiful face crumpled and her tears turned from a stream to a river as she broke into her ugly cry. I held my tongue again, not wanting to point out that sleeping with your best friend’s husband may not be a great story to tell your daughter about her conception either. 

“I know what you’re thinking and appreciate you not saying it,” Mel said through sniffles as she tried to get ahold of herself.

“No worries. Look, I think you should go ahead and have the paternity test done. If you want, I will help you through it and then at least you can have peace of mind knowing for sure. And you will be able to tell Joi who her father is with certainty which is something you owe her.”

“I know, I know. Will you tell him if you come across him again?” Mel eyes pleaded.

“Since he now knows where I live, I’m pretty sure he’ll be back and I’ll tell him you agree to the paternity test.”

“Thank you. I appreciate you helping me and Joi despite everything.” A huge yawn escaped Mel and her eyes genuinely began to droop. 

“I’m going to go check on Joi and let you get some rest.  I’ll let you know if or when I run into Lamar again.” I stood and walked over to the door. 

“Joy, please don’t tell your parents and Wes that Lamar was a one-night stand. Just tell them that he was from a relationship that didn’t work out.” “Sure, I won’t tell them,” I said, not planning to lie about their relationship either. Mel thanked me again and I left to check on Joi.

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