Love Knows No Color Pt. 12

I never knew how much of Rose's depression was due to her impending future, and how much was due to watching Shavonda's pregnancy and the way I doted on her. I think on some level Rose understood that I would have done the same for her when we were married, except our circumstances had forced me over the road. At any rate, it was apparent to Rose that Shavonda and I were a happy couple enjoying the experience of a lifetime. It was an experience she'd missed out on, having chosen through circumstances to bear her pregnancy and childbirth alone while her husband roamed the highways trying desperately to keep the bills paid. I had been in Tulsa the day Brittany was born, and Chattanooga when Ethan was born. Both days, I'd have much rather been in the hospital holding her hand as she brought my children into the world. And she probably still blamed me on some level for not being there.

With Shavonda, I had the chance to witness the birth I had missed twice before. And I was looking forward to it. We'd already discussed how we were going to proceed. Shavonda wanted as natural an experience as possible. And I was going to be there with her, holding her hand the whole time. She'd also expressed the desire to breastfeed the baby when it came. I'd taken her out and bought several drop cup nursing bras for her in anticipation of that day.

Shavonda's addition of fruit to her diet in large quantities proved to be a hit with the kids. They got to have bananas and apple slices every day. And we all drank a lot more fruit juice than we did. With the lessening of her nausea, Shavonda's appetite had returned with a vengeance. She was eating for two. I tried to cook for her when I could. On my end, the increased duties I had taken on meant I was often running on four hours of sleep or less every night.

We'd had to make additional changes to our lifestyle. There was no more relaxing with cherry rum, at least not for the duration of her pregnancy. We were extra careful, we had a blessing and didn't know if we'd ever have another chance at having a baby. Another thing that changed was in the way we used the two cars. Shavonda would take whichever one had the most gas. I'd drive the other one and fill the tank when necessary. We would switch cars the next day, with her driving the one I'd just fueled. I didn't want her pumping gas and breathing the fumes.

We'd gradually stopped taking bubble baths as it became harder for Shavonda to get out of the tub. Instead, we showered together most nights, me washing her back with the bath gloves she'd bought. While I was exhausted most of the time, we were both still hot for each other, and the shower sessions always led to some heavy petting under the hot water, even if it didn't always lead to the bedroom. Afterwards, I'd lotion her like I usually did, but now I was also soothing her aching back as well.

By the Fourth of July cookout, her belly was big enough it bothered her. She thought she looked fat. "No," I told her. "You're pleasingly plump. And even sexier because of the baby."

The ladies of the family made an even bigger fuss over her than they did on Memorial Day, because she was so proudly showing. By this time, she'd already gained about 7 pounds. We made sure they had fudge ripple for her at the cookout, and she invaded Althea's freezer several times during the day for ice cream.

Dancing was becoming awkward. Her belly protruded enough by now that it was affecting our ability to slow dance, though we still did well on the faster songs.

That night, after we were home and the kids were in bed, we had our usual shower together. Afterward, while I was lotioning her belly, Shavonda stopped me. "Did you feel that?" she asked incredulously. "I swear I felt the baby kick." I ran my hands over her belly but felt nothing. A little while later, she felt it again.

"There's one way to be sure," I said. I blew a bubble on her stomach right where she said the baby was. It startled her, but most importantly, it startled the baby.

"I definitely felt it that time," Shavonda said with tears in her eyes. "That has to be the baby. You scared her." I held her as she let herself go. But these were not tears of sadness, they were tears of joy. "I never got to feel the baby kick the first time. I was expecting it any day when everything went to shit."

I hoped we'd passed a milestone tonight, and that Shavonda would finally be able to put the past to rest. Call me jealous in a way, but deep down I resented the subtle hold Tony had had over her emotions for all these years. Now I could freely talk about having babies, without causing my queen pain. The hold was slowly loosening the more the baby grew. I knew she'd never be able to let it go completely, but at least now she was at the point where it wouldn't be a cloud across her emotions, showing itself whenever somebody inadvertently mentioned her and pregnancy.

That weekend, Rose had the kids. We took Saturday and went up to Presque Isle on Lake Erie and walked along the beach barefoot. The sun had made the sand hot, so we walked the surf where the water had cooled the sand. Shavonda was wearing a two piece red and white swimsuit we'd bought on the way up. We often had to do things like that now. None of her old clothing fit anymore.

Finding a picnic table, we sat. We must have made quite a sight. A gorgeous but very pregnant dark-skinned woman lovingly applying sunblock to a pale white man with definite native American features, with braided tail. We walked along the beach hand in hand, Shavonda carrying a small bag that contained her sandals and the sunblock. I'd left my sneakers in the car, and wore only a pair of blue denim cutoffs. It was obvious we were in love by the way we acted. We walked in the perfect synch only those who have been intimate for a long time can master. Every so often we stopped to embrace and kiss, our mouths devouring each other. The beaches were crowded as they usually are on a summer weekend, but we didn't care.

By the pine tree, Shavonda set the bag down on the sand, and led me into the water. I looked at her lovingly. "Are you sure?" I asked. Her eyes blazed with lust and told me all I needed to know. We walked out chest deep into the lake. Turning to me, she reached down into my shorts to find my erection. "Mmmmm, I see somebody is ready. I am too. Take me, baby. Don't hold back."

Bending slightly, she worked her suit bottom down over her hips and completely off her body, lifting one leg at a time to remove them. I'd already unzipped my shorts and lowered them. Bottom in hand, Shavonda leapt up into my arms and wrapped her legs around me. Her buoyancy in the water helped by making her much lighter than she was on land. She held onto my neck and leaned back in the water enough not to crush the baby. I reached down between us and guided my manhood into her waiting tunnel.

It was a weird sensation, being in the lake making love. With probably 50 or 100 people in plain view on the beach, not one suspecting what we were doing. To them, we probably looked like just another couple embracing in the water.

Most interesting was that the water had washed away most of Shavonda's natural juices. She had anticipated this, and unknown to me had lubed herself with Vaseline when she changed into her swimsuit. It was a different feel than I was used to. With the water taking most of her weight, the sex itself was almost effortless. We found a pace we were able to maintain, looking into each other's eyes and moaning softly. Letting the sensations control our movements. Laughing, I realized she still had her swimsuit top on. It was probably the first time I'd ever made love to her with her breasts covered. It didn't matter. We were doing what we needed to do, what we'd talked about the previous summer when I'd introduced her to this very beach in a rainstorm. There'd been nobody to see us that day. Now everybody could, but nobody knew what we were doing.

We must have made love for 45 minutes to an hour, but I wasn't tired. I massaged her sweet spot under the water, she shook with her pleasure, her inner walls stroking me and bringing me closer to my own release. I didn't let up my massage or my thrusting, which was becoming more urgent. And unlike most times, Shavonda didn't resist me when I rubbed her inner thigh and ass cheek. She just lay slightly back and enjoyed herself as the sensations took her to new heights. Being a man, I often wondered what it felt like when I massaged her there. Why, of all the sweet erogenous spots I'd discovered on her body, that one was the only one guaranteed to put her over the edge. Why she normally resisted my touch on that spot. And why, here in this place, she chose to not resist and let me give her sustained pleasure.

As we made love this time, my pleasure slowly built to a peak. It wasn't the normal, bring it right to the edge then back off dynamic I was used to. Normally, I had some semblance of control. As long as I was in the right state of mind, I could stop myself from coming when I needed to, even pulling out of Shavonda if I had to. Thus, I decided when to let her pull me over the edge. Shavonda was multiorgasmic, so prolonging both our pleasure became my goal. Here in the water, I wasn't walking the edge all the time. Here the pleasure just built up slowly. I could thrust into her as hard or gentle as I wanted without fear of losing my nut, it just built. When I was finally ready, I looked into her eyes, my expression must have been pained, because Shavonda whispered, "It's okay, Jason. Let it go." I thrust myself hard and deeper inside her finally bringing myself to the edge. I remember seeing sailboats in the distance as I emptied myself into her.

We stayed like that in the water, still connected, twitching with the aftershocks for a long time. Finally, her legs released me, and Shavonda slid down my body until her feet touched the sandy lake floor. "Wow," was all she said. She leaned over and put her bottom back on, while I pulled my shorts back up and zipped them. Legs rubbery, we walked back to shore and collapsed, laughing, on the sand.

As her belly grew, Shavonda had taken to rubbing it as she sat, cradling it as she walked. As we lay on the sand, side by side looking into each other's eyes, she absently rubbed her tummy. It was a nurturing gesture, and I knew right then that she was in her element. She'd taken to motherhood like a duck to water, pampering my children while providing the necessary discipline to keep them in line. And never a word spoken in malice towards them. I knew she'd treat the baby the same way.

I only wished I'd have met her ten years earlier. Brittany and Ethan would look like her, and there would have been no Rose. There would have been no Tony. There would have been no lost baby. All the hurt and pain we'd both endured in our separate lives over the past ten years would never have happened. But I knew that it probably wouldn't have worked out back then. Neither of us were ready for each other. We both had to be kicked around by life, in order to appreciate the gems we had in each other.

Shavonda was lucky. She'd had the full support and backing of her family when her world exploded. I didn't have that. I was the only Waite from our family in the state of Pennsylvania. While they never wavered in their support of me, my closest family members were 300 miles away. There wasn't a lot they could do over the phone. I had to bear the brunt of my problems on my own. That was changing now. I had her to hold me when I felt down, to cheer me up, to love me.

That Sunday night, we had a little altercation with Rose. In two weeks, normally Rose's weekend to have the kids, we'd be heading to Grandma's birthday. I informed Rose she couldn't have the kids that weekend, but we'd give her the two weekends after that as a compromise. I thought it was a reasonable accommodation.

Rose, however, had other ideas. "You do that and I'll file a case for you interfering with the custody agreement," she threatened. I wasn't concerned. Rose was on short time. She'd be gone before the hearing even if she did file.

"Go ahead and file," I gritted as Shavonda glared behind me. "You'll never see the hearing, and if only one of us shows up, we win. You'll be in jail soon. Take what we offer. It's the best you're going to get. We've tried to abide by the court order, but Grandma is 84 and we don't know how many more years she'll be around. The kids are going with us and there's nothing you can do about it. Now do you want them the following weekend or not?"

Rose looked at me. She was not used to me yelling at her. In our marriage, she'd always been the emotional one, carrying on about little things. Now, instead of the easy-going man she'd known, was one who stood up to her and told her what was up. It was yet another manifestation of the hold she'd lost over me since Shavonda came into the picture. "Fine," she said angrily. "I'll take them the following weekend."

I had put in for Friday and Monday as vacation days. July 1 was my anniversary date on the job, so I had two weeks more vacation days to work with. Mom and Dad had invited James and Althea down as well, and we started off for southern West Virginia. I'd bought a set of two way radios with a 10-mile range for the trip, so we could keep in touch during the long drive down. We didn't want them getting lost if we got separated.

The trip took longer this time because Shavonda had to make more bathroom stops due to her pregnancy. It took us over 12 hours instead of the normal 8 or so going the most direct route. I didn't take James and Althea on the scenic route because I wanted them to be able to find their way home if we got separated on the way back. We took 79 south to 19, having an early lunch in Fairmont at a little soul food restaurant called Aunt Baby's I'd heard about. We all had fried chicken, washed down with pitchers of Kool aid. It was great. This was the first time we'd eaten out with James and Althea since the engagement party. We certainly attracted some attention with our mixed family. The staff fawned over us, especially when they found out the pregnant woman was my new wife. I told Shavonda we'd have to make a point of stopping here every time we went south. She agreed.

I told James and Althea that my parents would probably have something fixed up for us to eat when we got there, but if they wanted to stop for dinner to just let us know. I made the same stop at the New River Bridge we'd made last summer, the spot where we'd taken the first Love Knows No Color photo. I had an idea for the next photo, and I asked Althea to take the photo since she knew how to use my Nikon. I sat at the picnic table with Shavonda standing beside me, belly protruding. I put my hand on her belly and put my ear to it as well, as though I was listening to the new life inside her. We both smiled at the camera. The photo came out better than I had hoped. It showed two expectant parents, of different races, obviously thrilled at the new life they'd created together.

After a quick stop at a nearby Burger King, we continued on our way. Burger King was more agreeable to the adults than McDonalds would have been, and the kids were thrilled to eat fast food. Full, they were soon asleep in their car seats. We found 64 and headed east to White Sulphur Springs, where I pulled over. I explained to James and Althea that we were on back roads from here on in, and still had about an hour to go. If we got separated, they were to call us on the radio and pull over and tell us what they saw. I was familiar enough with the roads I'd be able to find them.

It was about 7:30 in the evening when we finally pulled up to the farm. As usual, Mom, Dad and Grandma were on the porch waiting for us. When Grandma saw me open the door to the Jeep, and a very obviously pregnant Shavonda ease her way out, she smiled from ear to ear. I was surprised, given the opposition she'd had to our relationship at first. Obviously, she'd come to terms with our color difference, and was thrilled to have another Grandbaby on the way.

Mom had made pot roast with roasted potatoes in gravy. I loved how she had the meal waiting for us after our long journey. We all sat around the kitchen table and ate, while swapping stories. With the kids still asleep, we'd put them in the same room they'd occupied the last time. James and Althea were given my old room, Mom wanted to give me my parents' room but I refused. Shavonda had wanted to try camping, and we pitched a tent in the backyard. I'd bought an air mattress for her, which we blew up in the house and carried out to the tent. I'd also brought two sleeping bags. We wound up unzipping them and using them as blankets. Since Shavonda was pregnant, I wanted to make sure that where we went camping had the comforts of home. Next year, after the baby came, we'd go primitive camping so she could get the full experience. We were both looking forward to that.

With camp set up, we all sat on the back porch talking until late. Mom said to us, "I told you she was pregnant. You didn't want to believe me. Von you look happy. Is this what you wanted?"

Shavonda smiled, "Yes, ma'am. And I can't think of a better daddy."

"Well, I'm happy for you two. Every loving couple should have a baby," Mom said. "Do you know if it's a boy or girl?"

"No," we replied together. Shavonda finished, "We'd like it to be a surprise, because it really doesn't matter. As long as we have a healthy baby we'll be happy."

"I noticed you are feeling better now. Morning sickness gone?" Mom asked.

"Yes, it's mostly gone, but I still have the cravings. The kids love it. They get to have ice cream and bananas all the time," Shavonda explained. "I'm glad I'm pregnant. We were starting to worry about my mood swings. We thought it was stress, and that I was cracking under the stress."

"You did very well, considering what we went through," I told her. "The baby is healthy so far, and given what we were doing before we found out, we're pretty lucky."

"What do you mean?" Mom asked.

"Shavonda was working with a lot of lead solder," I explained. "We were also drinking a lot of rum. Neither of us was eating healthy. That's all changed because of the baby."

Althea spoke up, "It's a miracle. Shavonda wanted a baby more than anything. They told her she couldn't conceive. We all ignored the warning signs because we thought it was impossible. You the only one knew what was going on."

"Well, we fell in love with Von the first time we met her. I was concerned for her. We didn't want to see anything bad happen to her," Mom replied.

"I'm glad we found out in time," I said. "She would have shattered if she lost this one. And I don't know if I'd be able to put her back together. So, what caused Grandma's change of heart?"

"Althea did," Mom said quietly. Turning to Althea and James, she continued. "I know you knew she had reservations about the mixed marriage. And yet, you welcomed her to your family with open arms. She was able to finally realize Von came from good people. Don't get me wrong, she loved Von too the first time she met her. But her generation saw things differently. They didn't accept interracial marriages even if they loved both the man and the woman. Jason pretty much told her off last time he was here. We had to talk her into going to the wedding. She felt betrayed. But then you two threw a party to welcome us to your family, and she hit it off with several ladies her own age. They explained we all wanted the same thing, to see Von and Jason happy. And that neither would be happy without the other."

"That's what we do," Althea said modestly. "We may not have a lot, but we got big hearts."

"I'm just glad both families gave us a chance," I said. "Mom, I knew once the initial shock wore off, you'd see Von the way I did." Shavonda sniffled, tears in her eyes. She snuggled up to me and I instinctively rubbed her back. "She's one special lady and I thank God every day that she loves me."