Marry Your Baby Daddy

Marry Your Baby Daddy

by Maryann Reid
Marry Your Baby Daddy

Marry Your Baby Daddy

by Maryann Reid

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Overview

When their unassuming Grandma June dies, Giovanna, Keyah, and Fatima are shocked to learn she had saved a small fortune and has left three million dollars to them, her granddaughters. But there's a catch: each sister must marry the father of her children no later than six months after reading the will.

Piece of cake, right? Wrong! Each sister has a complicated relationship with her "baby daddy." Giovanna, a successful lawyer and a proudly independent woman, has no desire to marry Douglas---even if he makes her breath catch when he walks in the room and is a wonderful dad to their daughter. She's got a feeling that Douglas is keeping secrets. Keyah's boyfriend, Jag slipped a ring on her finger years ago but seems content to stay forever engaged. And Fatima's on-again, off-again relationship with Dune is filled with more ups and downs than a roller coaster. So why would Grandma June want her granddaughters to marry these men? Because sometimes Grandma really knows best. The clock is ticking. Will it be a countdown to wedding bells or disaster?


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781429908153
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date: 04/01/2007
Sold by: Macmillan
Format: eBook
Pages: 240
File size: 1 MB

About the Author

Maryann Reid, a graduate of Fordham University, has written for Black Enterprise magazine, and her novella, Single Black Female, appeared on USAToday.com. Marry Your Baby Daddy is her third book. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.


MARYANN REID obtained her masters of fine arts degree from the University of Miami, has written for Glamour magazine, and her novella, Single Black Female, appeared on USAToday.com. She is the author of Use Me or Lose Me, Sex and the Single Sister, Marry Your Baby Daddy, and Mrs. BIG. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Read an Excerpt

Marry Your Baby Daddy


By Maryann Reid

St. Martin's Press

Copyright © 2005 Maryann Reid
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4299-0815-3



CHAPTER 1

Giovanna


"You know if you need me to spend the night, I'll stay," Douglas said as Giovanna picked out two handblown green mugs she bought on a trip to Bahia, Brazil, six years ago. She handed one to Douglas with a teabag.

"It's okay, I'm used to sleeping alone," she said. "I'm getting used to those dreams about Grandma June. Even though it's been weeks since she died, it's like yesterday."

Giovanna filled the old-fashioned teakettle with more water and turned on the stove.

She poured herself and Douglas cups of chamomile tea with lots of sugar. He had been a great help to her in the past two weeks and took Isabella off her hands whenever she needed. He didn't even once complain about taking off days from his job.

Douglas stared at her while he drank from his mug. Since Grandma June's passing, Douglas had been extra attentive to her and their newborn, Isabella. Giovanna eyed his black slacks and his blue shirt hanging out. He had grown a five o'clock beard in the last week, and Giovanna liked the look. She wondered if he had a new woman in his life, but she didn't utter a word.

Douglas put his mug down, opened the refrigerator door, and pulled out a Heineken bottle. He bit the cap off and took a generous guzzle.

"Where did the beer come from?" Giovanna asked.

"Oh, I ..." Douglas wiped his mouth and burped. "Bought some when I was here with Isabella all day Thursday."

"I guess that tells you how much I look in my own refrigerator." Giovanna gently touched the rim of the cup with her lips.

"I also bought some more milk and those crescents you like," Douglas said, like a schoolboy looking for approval.

"You mean croissants?"

"Yeah, those."

Giovanna sipped her tea. She just thought it was so cute the way Douglas tried to impress her. "Thanks, I'll pay you back in cash in the morning."

"You could pay me back with a li'l somethin' somethin'." Douglas bit down on his lower lip. They hadn't had sex since they made Isabella. Giovanna smiled at his sly look and continued sipping her tea. She liked Douglas, but at thirty-five she had had enough hurts to make her proceed with caution when it came to love.

Douglas teasingly walked around her into the living room. Giovanna stayed in the kitchen and listened closely to what he was doing. She wanted to see if he was getting ready to leave for the evening. It was already 10:30 P.M. and he had spent the whole day with her. Most nights she was anxious to be alone, but tonight she didn't want him to go. When she heard the jingle of a set of keys, she sauntered into the living room.

Douglas was laid across her Victorian-style sofa, wearing black silk pinstriped boxers.

"Excuse me?" Giovanna said, forcing herself from looking below his waist. The straight line of coiled hair from his flat stomach disappeared under his boxers, which bunched up between his strong thighs. She put down her tea and scratched her head.

"Look, I don't think you should be alone tonight. Just give me a pillow and a blanket, please. Does this sofa pull out?" He got up and examined the bottom of the sofa and found the latch. He yanked it a few times and unfolded the sofa into a bed.

Giovanna couldn't believe that he was making himself so at home. He hadn't spent the night there since Isabella was born.

"Comfortable?" She smiled, with both hands on her hips.

"Yes, are you?"

"Just don't try any slick stuff. You stay out here," Giovanna said, picking her cup back up. "And thank you ... for staying tonight." She fetched two pillows and a blanket from the linen closet and handed it to him.

Then she took the long walk down her hallway to the bedroom. She left the door slightly open, in case Isabella woke up in the middle of the night. She fastened her long, thick hair in an elastic band to keep it neat in her sleep. Sitting down on her bed, she opened the drawer to her nightstand. It was the most underused drawer in the condo, containing an old bank card, a notepad, pens, and one condom. Giovanna examined the foiled wrapper and noticed that it was still good to use. But she put it back, unable to bring herself to go there with Douglas. She didn't even know if he had a girlfriend or who he was sleeping with.

She untied her black silk robe and let it fall at the foot of her king-size bed. The only light came from a small lamp on her nightstand. As she slipped under her black satin sheets, goose bumps erupted along her legs. When she closed her eyes, she saw Grandma June's coffin being lowered into the ground. An image of Grandma June, alone tonight under the earth, sent pains to her hands. She covered her eyes and turned over on her back, then on her sides, and back on her stomach. On her stomach, she felt a pressure building between her legs. She didn't know whether it was from seeing Douglas in his silk boxers earlier or if it was her body calling to be touched, comforted.

Giovanna looked at her parted door. But then she looked away. She grabbed a pillow, stuck it between her legs, and squeezed them together. She could hear Douglas snoring, and it brought some peace to her. After several slow, deep breaths her eyes began to feel heavy.


At 4:30 A.M., her door slid open. She didn't hear it open, but she felt the sheets move. The cool satin sheets were now warm. Douglas's fingers walked along the outside of Giovanna's arms. They stopped when they reached the fleshy top part of her breasts. She laid there, her eyes closed, just wanting Douglas to feel good. He slowly pulled down the strap of her nightgown and cupped one breast with his hand. His lips grazed the tip of her nipple, which hardened like a black pebble. Douglas climbed on top of her, sucking on them with the gentleness of sucking on a straw. She didn't push him away or try to understand what was happening. He lodged light kisses down her breasts to her stomach, which was round and soft. The bristly touch of his beard made her skin tickle. Sucking on the sides, he took his time as his lips drank her soft, pillowy flesh. Giovanna bent her knees and caressed his bald head. Douglas's tongue traveled down to her neatly trimmed warm, wet spot. He spread her lips with his fingers and licked her. The inside of her thighs became shiny with her own juices. When he entered her with a gentle force, her body felt loose and alive. The weight of a man on top of her was something she had missed. His gentle strokes chipped away all the pain she had within.

CHAPTER 2

Giovanna


After leaving the law firm after 9 P.M. for the third straight night this week, Giovanna was ready to go to bed and soak her feet. She didn't even have the chance to return calls from Fatima, Keyah, or even Grandma June's lawyer. Though she didn't understand why Grandma June needed a lawyer. She thought she must have owed some bills. As soon as the town car dropped her off in front of her condo complex on Ninety-sixth Street, her cell phone rang. She ignored it. But by the time she walked in her place, it rang again.

Her nanny, Magda, was already waiting inside with Isabella.

"Hello?" Giovanna answered, annoyed that the call was unidentified. She was in no mood to handle a legal crisis from one of her European clients.

"This is Jag. Where Keyah at?" Jag was her sister Keyah's man and baby daddy for three years.

Slipping off her shoes and plopping herself on the couch, Giovanna was alarmed by his tone. Keyah was always home promptly at 6 P.M "Is everything okay?"

"Not if I don't find Keyah," Jag quipped. "I get home and find out that she hasn't picked up Latrell from the babysitter. I'm blowing up her cell and no answer. What the hell?"

Giovanna knew this was a matter that she should stay out of. There were obviously issues she didn't know about. Magda nestled Isabella in her arms. "I'm sorry, Jag, I haven't heard from Keyah."

"Well, she gotta be hanging out. Did she tell you last week she pulled the same shit, got home earlier than tonight, but picked up Latrell, drunk?" he revealed.

Giovanna had no clue. She was aware that Keyah had been feeling restless and had asked her about the Cherry Lounge, a hot after-work spot in Manhattan, a few days ago. But now Giovanna was getting concerned. She wondered if Keyah could be in any trouble. It wasn't like her to not pick up her phone.

"Jag, uhm ..." Giovanna was hardly the type to be tongue-tied, but she didn't think this was something she should ignore. "She asked me about the Cherry Lounge a few days ago and tonight is their weekly after-work party."

"The Cherry who? What?" Jag asked.

Giovanna couldn't help but force down a laugh. For as long as she had known Jag, he was one of the most countrified, old-fashioned twenty-six-year-old men she had ever met. "It's an after-work lounge."

"What kind of lounge? And it's ten-thirty, way after work hours. Where is this place?" Jag asked, sounding more anxious by the minute.

"Jag, now I don't know about that. Just wait until Keyah gets home," she said, rocking a fidgety Isabella in her arms. She gave Magda a hand cue not to leave as yet.

"Listen G, Keyah is the mother of my son. I need to know where she is. Now," he demanded. "Please."

Giovanna thought for a few seconds and said, "The Cherry Lounge is on One-hundred-and-tenth and Lexington. Not too far from me. But, Jag, please don't go looking for her and cause a scene."

"The hell I won't!" he said, and slammed the phone down.

Another thing she knew about Jag was that he had an awful temper. If Keyah was drunk, she thought, it would only make for an even uglier confrontation.

"Magda, please stay an extra hour. I will pay you. I just have to leave for a family emergency," Giovanna said to Magda, who had a worried look on her face. Giovanna slipped on her coat and shoes and blew Isabella a kiss as she ran out the door.


* * *

The outside of the Cherry Lounge was almost empty, with a few late straggler-sin. Giovanna briskly walked up to a light-skinned, baldheaded, beefy bouncer.

"Hi, can I just go in for a few minutes? I'm looking for someone," Giovanna said, pulling the hood of her white cashmere coat over her head against the cold wind.

"Did you RSVP?" the man asked.

"No, I didn't. I just need to get inside."

The bouncer smirked. "You have to RSVP. This is an invitation only, private after-work party."

"And ...," Giovanna said, digging in her purse. "This is a twenty-dollar bill. Now let me in!"

Smiling, the bouncer opened up the steel door and let her pass. Giovanna stopped for a security check and continued walking into the open-space dance area. Whatever went on here was just about over, she thought, as she scanned the red-lit room for Keyah. The bass of the music was throbbing, but there were only a few people in clusters dancing together and empty glasses and cups of alcohol everywhere. Giovanna unbuttoned her coat and sat by the bar to get a better view. Her eyes darted around for Keyah but there was no sign of her. She pulled out her cell phone to call Jag, to tell him that she may have had the wrong place in mind, until she saw something: a young woman on the second-level dance floor, holding a drink in the air, long braids bouncing off her back as she pumped her body to the latest tune.

Giovanna put her cell phone away and examined Keyah from afar. She almost couldn't believe that her sweet, quiet little sister was shaking her tail feather like she had no home training. But she did look like she was enjoying herself. Yet it was going on 11 P.M., and the later it got, Giovanna felt, the less Jag would understand. Giovanna slid off the bar stool, brushed pass the catcalls of a group of men, and walked up the stairs to the next level.

"Keyah," Giovanna said, tapping her shoulder. "We have to leave."

Keyah spun around and grabbed her left breast, which hung partially out of her sheer, white blouse. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

The stench of alcohol on her breath was enough to give Giovanna a secondhand hangover. "You are pissy drunk with your titty about to do a Janet Jackson! Get your things." Giovanna took her by the arm and dragged her downstairs.

"Let go of me!" Keyah said, wringing her arm out of Giovanna's grip. A few of the club bouncers eyed them, but Giovanna reassured them all was fine.

"Keyah, please don't make a scene," Giovanna whispered in her ear. "Jag is on his way here to get you."

Keyah took another swig from her plastic cup and calmed down. "I told him I would be home at eight p.m."

"It's eleven p.m.! He's worried, Sis. Come on, get your things." Giovanna waited as Keyah retrieved her coat from behind a counter.

"Did you wear that blouse to work?" Giovanna asked, as they walked out of the club.

"I brought it with me," Keyah slurred, touching her forehead.

Was partying so important to her that she had to change from her work clothes? Giovanna wondered. Everyone there was dressed much more conservatively. Just as they got to the corner of Lexington a cab pulled up.

"Oh shit!" Keyah yelled, as she saw Jag marching toward her.

"Keyah, relax. I'm sure he'll understand," Giovanna said, trying desperately to hail a cab she could put them both into without much of a scene.

"What the fuck is yo' problem!" Jag yelled from halfway down the block. Giovanna's heart stopped when she saw he had Latrell in tow.

Why did he bring Latrell? Giovanna whispered to herself. A few people began gathering in front of the club.

Giovanna picked up Latrell, feeling better that she came now, and stood by on the curb as Keyah and Jag quarreled. She had to keep an eye on them.

Keyah stomped her feet. "Jag, what the hell you came out here for! I told you I was going out!"

Jag grabbed her by the neck of her coat and pulled her toward him. "Get your ass over here and listen. You had our son at the babysitter for hours. She had to call me and tell me to pick him up. I had to leave work early. Lose my overtime because of some bullshit."

Giovanna bought her hand to her mouth. She didn't want to get in between them unless she had to. "Jag ... ," she called out.

"It's always about you! You! You!" Keyah yelled in her drunken stupor. "All I wanted was a fucking break today. I told you I was going out!"

"You didn't say tonight!" Jag said, creating some personal space between them after a larger crowd gathered. "And what kind of mother are you, drunk at a club on a work night?"

"Work night?" Giovanna thought she heard a young woman passerby giggle and say, "Some people are so ghetto."

And for a moment Giovanna was part of that. "Jag, please, don't make it worse," she said, walking up to him. "This is too embarrassing...."

But Jag didn't pay her any mind. "You see this boy. This is our son. He ain't going anywhere, Keyah! I'm his father and you better start acting like his mother," he said, pointing at Latrell's bewildered face.

"Fuck it!" Keyah said, stomping her foot on the ground. "All I wanted was a drink and now I am the worst mother on the planet...."

As Jag and Keyah continued, Giovanna finally flagged a cab. She told him where they were headed and gave him the money for the long ride back.

Latrell cried when Giovanna let him go. It was an awfully cold night and with all the screaming and fussing it was no place for a three-year-old to be. She shuffled a bickering Keyah and Jag into the car and stood by as it sped away. She knew it would blow over, like the other times they argued. When the cab was safely out of sight, she hailed her own.

Before going to bed that night, she called their sister, Fatima, and they both agreed that Keyah was on a jet plane to Family Court if she didn't change.


(Continues...)

Excerpted from Marry Your Baby Daddy by Maryann Reid. Copyright © 2005 Maryann Reid. Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Contents

Footsteps in the Dark,
1. GIOVANNA,
2. GIOVANNA,
3. FATIMA,
4. GIOVANNA,
5. FATIMA,
6. GIOVANNA,
7. GIOVANNA,
8. FATIMA,
9. GIOVANNA,
10. GIOVANNA,
This Old Heart of Mine,
11. GIOVANNA,
12. GIOVANNA,
13. GIOVANNA,
14. FATIMA,
15. KEYAH,
16. FATIMA,
17. GIOVANNA,
18. KEYAH,
19. FATIMA,
20. GIOVANNA,
21. KEYAH,
22. FATIMA,
23. GIOVANNA,
24. KEYAH,
25. FATIMA,
26. FATIMA,
27. GIOVANNA,
28. KEYAH,
29. FATIMA,
30. GIOVANNA,
31. GIOVANNA,
32. FATIMA,
33. GIOVANNA,
34. FATIMA,
35. GIOVANNA,
36. GIOVANNA,
37. FATIMA,
38. GIOVANNA,
For the Love of You,
39. KEYAH,
40. FATIMA,
41. GIOVANNA,
42. KEYAH,
43. FATIMA,
44. GIOVANNA,
45. GIOVANNA,
46. FATIMA,
Epilogue,

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