Battle-Hardened, War Weary Ch. 06

'Fuck,' he mentally groaned.

He managed to forget that he was engaged to Suzette. He also forgotten that she had the DVD and she was in the process of blackmailing him.

"Fuck," he grunted. He pushed himself off of the desk. "Fuck," he repeated. He ran his right fingers through his hair, as an act of feeling agitated. He strolled over to the windows in his office. He stared out and focused on the view. He was quiet for a moment. He tried to think of ways of getting out of this arrangement with Suzette and attain the footage in the process. He kept coming up with scenarios, but he knew that they would hurt Kali in the process. He couldn't do that to her. He let out a sigh. "Baby, I have a problem."

"What's the problem?" he heard her say.

"I cannot break off my engagement to Suzette."

"What do you mean? If you don't want to be with her, dump her, it's simple as that," she informed him.

Ryan shook his head. "No, baby, it's not that simple."

"What's the problem: her parents had given your family the three cows and the two goats as a part of her dowry and now you can't give it back?" she joked.

Ryan chuckled. 'I wonder if she will believe me, when I tell her this shit,' he then thought as he stared out the window.

"No. The problem is that I am being blackmailed by her. She has something of mine and I want it back and the only way that I am getting it back is if I obey with her demands."

"What were her demands?" she inquired.

Suddenly, he felt her hands touch at his pectorals. His body jolted from fright. She quickly apologized. "It's all right," he said to her. He grabbed onto her left hand. He brought her digits to his lips and gave the fingers a kiss. "To answer your question, she wants me to marry her and to give her some money."

"How much money did you give her?"

"I had given her twenty million dollars—

"Are you kidding me?" Kali squealed in disbelief. "Twenty million dollars and you had given her the money? Whatever she has hanging over your head must be—

"She has the footage of us, from our graduation night" he blurted out.

The office became quiet. He assumed that Kali was shocked into silence. He expected for Kali to go berserk at that moment. Ryan expected for her to start to physically attack him. He was surprised, when all she did was give a simple 'oh'. She proceeded to caress his back with her hands. 'Shit, I was expecting another type of reaction.'

"Were you expecting for me to have another type of reaction?" she inquired.

He chuckled, even though he still felt uneasy about her reaction. "Yes, I was expecting another type of reaction."

"Baby," she sighed. Her hands stopped moving on his back.

Ryan felt his member become weighed down with arousal at the sound of 'baby'. He reached down to the front of his pants and he gave himself a squeeze.

'Are you sure that you want to do this, Kay?' her conscience asked. Kali let out a sigh and then she nodded her head.

She gave each of his shoulders a kiss. "In regards to the blackmail, you don't have to worry about Suzette any longer because I have the DVD," she confessed to him.

****

April 18th, 2001

"Todos derecho Miss Sandoval, he comprobado de Ethan ictericia y es borrado. De hecho, se trata de aclarar muy bien. Pero me gustaría que el hijo de nuevo para asegurarse de que está avanzando en la dirección correcta. (All right Miss Sandoval, I've checked Ethan's jaundice and it is clearing up. In fact, it is clearing up very well. But I would like to see the baby again to make sure that it is progressing in the right direction.)" Katrina stated to her patient's mother in Spanish.

The young mother sat in one of the reception chairs that were positioned in front of Katrina's desk. She held her five-week-old son in her arms while she stared at Katrina with her rounded, dark brown eyes. It's been five weeks since Baby Ethan was born and the doctor still saw the stress, tiredness, the sense of lack of knowledge, the sense of scariness and hopelessness in her orbs. Every once in a while, Katrina would have to glance away from the fourteen year-old girl, because it was too painful to see the negative energy inside of the girl's eyes.

"Muchas gracias, Doctor Mora. ¿Qué debo hacer si la situación empeora? (Thank you, Dr. Mora. What should I do if the situation becomes worse?)" Miss Sandoval inquired.

Katrina stared down at her keyboard. She let out a few coughs, in hopes of dissolving the lump in her throat before she answered the inquiry. "A continuación, quiero que me llame. Me Llame, utilizando el número que está en su hijo la clínica tarjeta y, a continuación, alguien aquí me llame. (Then, I want you to call me. Call me; using the number that is on your son's clinic card and then someone here will call me.)"

The mother let out a broad, toothy smile, which was infectious because Katrina released one of her own within a few seconds.

"Todos los derechos, gracias Doctor. (All right, thank you Doctor.)"

Katrina stood up from her executive office chair and traveled from behind her desk to the front of the office furniture. She stood in front of the girl and helped the child arrange her bags while she carried her infant son. The doctor placed her hand on the young mother's shoulder, as an act of spiritual support.

"Miss Sandoval, necesito para configurar otra cita conmigo, de la recepción. (Miss Sandoval, I need for you to set up another appointment with me, at the front desk.)" Katrina informed the patient's mother.

"Okay," the girl said to her son's doctor.

Katrina escorted the young mother to the front desk, where the mother had set up another appointment. Afterwards, Miss Sandoval and her son had exited the premises. Katrina stood in the now-empty, patients' waiting area and stared at the retreating back of Grace Sandoval.

"These moms that come in here seem to be getting younger and younger these days," Katrina stated. "That girl right there is living with her 96 year-old grandmother, in a one bedroom-apartment that is over a Chinese restaurant. She told me today that she saw a rat inside of her son's bedroom. Do you know that that girl has parents who own a house up in Hollis Woods? She has an aunt and uncle who live by themselves in a big house, over in Richmond Hill. But she is living with her elderly grandmother in a rat-infested apartment because no one else in her family would take her in. God forbid, if something were to happen to her grandmother because then she and her baby will be probably place in foster care."

Lulu sighed in disgust. "And they seem to be doing this alone as well," Lulu stated. "Thank God, when I had my son, I had help from my dad and my grandmother. They didn't toss me out like I know some parents do to their daughters. Thanks to them, I was able to go back to school and get my diploma. They also helped me maintain a steady job while going to college. Then, there's another person that I have to thank..."

Lulu stood up from her rotating chair and prepared for her departure from the clinic.

"There was a certain doctor who also helped me by giving me my first full-time job at this big ole' clinic. She is kind of short and kind of cute. She has a pixie cut and is single and lonely as they come—

"Fuck you, Lulu" Katrina said to the secretary.

"You don't mean that," said Lulu with faux disgust.

"Fuck you," the doctor giggled before retreating to her office.

The young, Miss Sandoval's son was Katrina's last patient for the day. As soon as the doctor reached her office, she let out a gut-harboring groan of happiness. She peeled off her pair of Aerosoles Mary Jane's off of her feet and she trekked over to her chair. With a loud and wavering sigh, she planted her 5'5 frame in her seat. She powered up her computer and opened up the music media program. A few minutes later, her 15x15 feet office was filled with music by Zero 7.

To further add on to her quest of relaxation, Katrina swiveled her rotating chair around, so she could face the wall that was behind her desk. On the wall, there was a spacious cupboard and two bookshelves below. There was another desk arranged below the shelves and against the wall. She used this space as her 'relaxation area'. There was a small, electric water fountain, a few votive candles and a potted bonsai tree. The doctor lit the candles. Afterwards, she leaned further into the high-back chair. She stared at the yellow flames for a moment and soon she felt less stressed and tense.

"Now, I am starting to feel better," she muttered under her breath.

Katrina pushed her chair away from her relaxation corner and gone back to her primary work area. Before she could go home, she needed to type up a few progress reports for her patients' records. She began to work on her reports. She was a few minutes into her work, when the office phone rang. She checked the Caller ID and saw a familiar telephone number.

"Mom..." Katrina muttered. Katrina grabbed the receiver and lifted it off of the hook. "And she's probably calling because she wants to remind me about going to BJ's." She placed the plastic receiver against her left ear. "Hey Ma, what's up?" she said into the talk-piece.

"Hi, Honey!" her mother greeted with her own husky voice. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. How are you?"

"I am doing all right. I cannot say the same thing about T.D. because I am about to kill him," her mother said, nonchalantly.

'What?' her mind screamed in shock. 'What does she mean?'

"Ma, what happened?"

"Today, T.D. came home from school, late by the way, I might add..."

The relaxed state that Katrina felt was now disappearing quicker than a pair of panties off of a whore on a Saturday night. She felt her tension return. Her stress, however, did not return. But, her anger did grow.

"... I told him to go to his pig-sty of a room and clean it up. Do you know what he did next?" her mom stated.

"No, Ma, what did T.D. do next?" Katrina asked as she rubbed her forehead.

"HE SUCKED HIS TEETH AT ME!" her mother shouted from her line.

The doctor stopped rubbing at her head. She stared blankly at the computer screen that was poised in front of her. Her stomach's muscles tighten. There was slight bit of pressure stabbing at her temples. Katrina's body tensed up. She was pissed off. She believed that her mother did not deserve such disrespect. Her fingers pinched at the flesh that was on her forehead before they traveled to her hair. She frantically scratched at her scalp for a moment.

"...He sucked his teeth at me as if I was one of his little friends that he hangs out with..." her mother informed her. "I need for you to talk to T.D. please."

"Okay Ma, tell him to come to the phone," stated Katrina as she stared at the computer screen.

Katrina heard her mother place the phone's talk piece down. In a few seconds, she heard her mom scream T.D.'s name. The volume of the voice was low, which meant that her mother's position was far away from the phone.

"T.D., BOY, PICK UP THE PHONE!"

A minute later, Katrina heard the second phone line activate. "Hello," she heard, a few seconds later. The voice belonged to a boy. He sounded as if he was bored and a bit smug, which are characteristics that was usually reserved for pre-adolescents.

Katrina lurched forward in her chair. "You listen to me and don't you dare say a got-damned word until I tell you too!" she said into the phone with her teeth clenched. She was met with silence, which let her know that he was going to obey with her rule. "Your grandmother told me what you did to her, after she had told you to clean up your filthy room. Once you get off of this phone, you are going to go to your room and you're going to clean it! If that room of yours is not clean by the time I arrive home tonight, you can kiss your summer vacation goodbye! I will not take you to Cooperstown to go visit the Baseball Hall of Fame! You will not go to football camp and you can forget about joining the Pee-Wee squad! You will not have any sleep-overs, your grandpa will not help you build your tree house and I will not take you Upstate, so you can visit the Juggernauts' training camp!"

Katrina heard T.D. scoff in disappointment. "Awww Mama!" whined T.D.

"Do not 'Awww Mama' me," she warned him. "Once you get off of the phone with me, go apologize to your grandmother!"

"I thought you said that you wanted me to clean my room after I got off the phone!" T.D. protested.

"Boy, don't you dare be a smart ass to me," Katrina told her son. "Go apologize to your grandma first and then go clean your bedroom! Do you understand me?"

"Yes ma'am," her son said to her while sounding dejected.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence between the mother and son. Katrina wanted her son to fully digest the possible repercussions of his actions towards his grandmother.

Katrina let out a sniffle and then leaned back in her chair before speaking to him. "I'll see you tonight" she said to him. "I love you baby," she declared. She never ended any of her conversations with her son without declaring her love for him. She wanted her son to know that his mother always loved him. She knew where it stemmed from: her guilt for not always being there for him, when he wanted her to be around.

"I love you too, Mama."

"Now, go and tell your grandma that I want to speak with her," she demanded.

"All right, ma'am."

She heard a clicking sound afterwards. Her mother returned to the phone, a few minutes later. "Hello, honey."

"Hey Ma, I've spoken to that knuckle-head. I told him to clean up his bedroom. I told him to apologize to you before did. Did he apologize to you?"

"Yes he did apologize to me. He did it, when he was giving me the telephone. Thank you for intervening, baby. What did you say to him?" her mom inquired.

"Nothing much, I just threatened to take away his fun for the summer. I promised him that if he didn't clean his room today, then he was going to spend a lot of time in that funky ass bedroom of his, during this summer."

Mrs. Mora chuckled, in response. "I don't know what has gotten into that boy! I remember when he would do his chores without a problem and he would do it with a smile on his face. Now, when you ask him to do something, he will give you some back-talk in return!"

"The answer's simple, Ma. Our boy is morphing into a teenaged boy," informed Katrina. "Soon, he'll be extra moody, extra sarcastic and extra sloppy. Plus, there is the extra dose of wacky hormones that will be running his body. It's normal for him to be this way, Ma."

"Well, if he is going to be like this, then he's going to need for a positive, male role model in his life," commented her mother.

"He has a positive, male role model in his life," the doctor informed her mother.

"I was not talking about your father, Katrina. I was hoping that you would get in contact with T.D.'s father and tell him..."

Katrina let out a groan of annoyance while her mother continued to speak. Now, her mother was beginning to irritate her.

'She just had to bring this shit up,' she thought as she rested her forehead in her left palm. She listened to her mother's rant for a few minutes before she decided to put an end to the noise pollution. "His father—

"Don't give me any stories, Katrina! I don't want to hear any lie that you've made up! All I am saying is that you don't owe it to your father and I; the only person that you owe is your son! You cannot keep telling him about the stork and how he is a blessing from God! He is going to get older and he is going to ask you more questions about his dad!"

Katrina felt sick. Her stomach felt unsettled. She felt queasy. She usually felt this way, when she felt guilty about something she had done.

"Ma—

"Don't give me any excuses, Katrina! Nine years ago, you returned home for your Christmas break, after spending your first semester in college and you were pregnant! Your father and I were shocked! Your father wanted to give you an interrogation about Tristan's father, but I talked him out of it! I figured that you would tell us at your own pace—

"Well, it was a shitty time for me," stated Katrina.

"It was at one point, your father and I thought that you must've been raped—

"WHAT?" Katrina said into the phone, sounding appalled. "Why would you think so?"

"We thought... Well, your father thought that you were raped because every time we mentioned anything about Tristan's father, you would become intense and then you would cry uncontrollably," her mother explained.

Katrina thought, 'Well, it does make sense for them to feel that way.' She lifted her face away from the palm of her hand and she stared at the office's door. "Ma, I wasn't raped."

The doctor heard her mother sigh in relief. There was a moment of silence which lasted twenty seconds. "So, what happened then?" she heard her mother ask.

The sound of her mother's inquiry caused the memories to resurface to the front of her mind. They were the memories of the event that led to Tristan's conception. It was also the memories that led to Katrina feeling the ultimate act of degradation. Katrina felt that lump return to her throat. This time, it felt like it was the size of a golf ball. Her throat ached to the point that the corners of her jaw felt the discomfort. Her eyes stung and her vision became blurry while her tears slipped down her face.

She lets out a soft whimper before she responded to her mother's question. The reason why I cried all of the time, it was because I was..." Katrina let out a healthy sigh. "I was heartbroken. Tristan's father was my first love and he also gave me my first taste in heartbreak. The night that I lost my virginity to him was the night that Tristan was conceived. On the next day, he said some horrible things to me and he broke my heart. He hurt me truly." By the time Katrina was finished, her round face was wet with tears.

"Does he know about Tristan?" Mrs. Mora inquired.

'No,' thought Katrina.

"Yes," she lied to her mom. "I told him, when Tristan was a year old. We bumped into each other one day, by accident. He invited me to a lunch date. I accepted. I wanted to tell him about Tristan. Plus, I thought that maybe he and I—

"You wanted to rekindle that romance with him, didn't you?"

"Yes, I wanted to make it work," she confessed. "At the lunch date, I told him about Tristan. The look on his face, his reaction to the news, told me everything. He was appalled and upset. He told me that he couldn't be a father. He told me that he was engaged to be married and he had a baby on the way. I just nodded my head and then I left the restaurant. I haven't seen him since then."

'You're going to Hell for telling that damn lie,' warned her conscience.

She heard her mother sigh. "God damn that man for neglecting that beautiful boy," her mother swore. Her mother's voice sounded cold yet passion-filled. Her mother sounded like a woman who was capable of a homicide. A shiver dripped down Katrina's spine, as a result.

"Ma, I have to go now," she announced. She wiped at her cheeks and then sniffled. "I have to do some more work before I head home tonight."

"Okay, baby, I'll see you tonight. Don't forget about our trip to BJs tonight!"

Katrina groaned inwardly. "I won't forget, Ma."

"I love you, honey."

"I love you too, Ma."

After her phone call with her mother, Katrina originally planned on resuming her work. But, now she can't even type up a word. She turned away from her computer's monitor. Her focus shifted over to the small gathering of framed photographs that lined up against the edge of her large, oak desk. The frames varied in size and were made from various materials, but each frame kept a picture that meant something to her.

She started on the left side of her desk and she gazed at a framed picture that was the first object closest to the edge. The frame was a sterling silver frame that she bought from Bloomingdale's. The frame stored a picture of her parents, back in 1969. The picture was taken on the day of their wedding. Her eyes scanned the next picture, which was encased in a frame that was molded out of Waterford Crystal. The photo captured Katrina and T.D., an hour after he was born. Her mother had taken the picture, using her Canon EF camera. In the photo, her son was lying on Katrina's bare chest while she held onto her newborn son. Her eyes were closed and there was a look of contentment was smeared amongst her sweaty face. She ran her fingertips across the glass pane that kept the picture inside. The third photo was inside of frame that was carved from slate stone. The photo was of Tristan, when he was seven-months-old. He was lying on his stomach and on a blanket. His round, dark brown eyes stared at the camera and he was smiling. The deep dimples that were in his chubby cheeks were pronounced.