Ivy's Twisted Vine Redux by Latrivia Nelson (books to read for beginners .TXT) 📕

“Okay, I’ll be over later,” Ivy said knowing that the news would nearly kill her mother. “Well, I have to run now.” Her mid-morning nausea had arrived.

“Are you okay? You don’t sound like yourself?” Sadie asked suspicious.

“Oh, I’m fine. I just have a hundred things to do before I head that way.” Ivy felt her mouth begin to water.

“Alright, I’ll see you in a minute.” Sadie wasn’t convinced, but she let her daughter go anyway.

“Alright,” Ivy said hanging up the phone. She was already sitting in the restroom on the floor waiting to bid farewell to her breakfast.

Pulling her hair back from her face and kneeling over the bowl just in time, she hit the lever and flushed the toilet as she felt the violent surge from her belly. Damn all men! Wiping her mouth, she stood up and ran water into her sink.

“Girl, you throw up like clockwork,” Trina said sticking her head through the door. “I’m headed to class and then work. Call me if you need me.”

“I may today. I’m going to tell Momma about the baby,” Ivy said brushing her teeth.

“It’s about time. I thought that you were going to wait until the christening.”

“I started to,” Ivy said laughing. However, inwardly she knew that this was no laughing matter.

**

Later that morning after Ivy had forced another light breakfast to stay down on her stomach, she headed to her mother’s Germantown home tucked comfortably away in Auburn Hills, where all the retired, divorced and moderately wealthy women of Memphis were flocking.

As Ivy pulled into the circular drive, she noticed that her mother was not home. In a sigh of relief, she was about to pull back out into the street, when she saw her mother pull into the drive behind her and blow her horn.

Putting her car in park, Ivy took out her frustration on her ignition as she turned the key. This was a mistake. Her mother was going to kill her dead as stone…baby or not. Ivy’s heart began to race when she made eye contact with her carefree mother bouncing out of her pearl white Volvo convertible.

Grabbing a paper bag out of her car, Sadie walked over to Ivy and kissed her cheek. As usual, although Ivy dreaded telling her mother her drastic news, she was glad to see her and nearly began to cry when she smelled her perfume and felt her soft check against her own.

Get a hold of yourself, Ivy commanded herself quietly.

“How are you?” Sadie asked giving Ivy the bag. “I’ve got one more in the back seat. You can take this one inside for me.”

“I’m fine,” Ivy said trying to pull her jacket in front of her belly.

“Well, you look great. A little bulky, but a little weight never killed anyone.”

“You look good, too. What are the roses for?” Ivy quickly noticed the two-dozen red roses in Sadie’s passenger seat.

“I’m having a friend over for dinner tonight.” She winked her eye.

“The lawyer.”

“Oh, God no. This is just a friend from college. We ran into each other the other day and decided that we should catch up.”

“Oh,” Ivy smirked. As she had told her father months earlier, she knew that the lawyer wouldn’t last long. Her mother dated infrequently and carefully with always the judgmental and suspicious eye. Plus, no one would ever measure up to Madison Winters…not even Madison Winters.

“Damn that boy,” Sadie said slamming her keys on the counter as they came into the kitchen.

Sadie looked at the three-month late Chase credit card bill that was still in her name, but belonged to her only son, Emerald. She had forgotten about that credit card when she took her name off of everything else his senior year of college. Muck runner. That was his name because that was all he had ever done…run a muck.

“Tell me why can’t your brother be as responsible as you?” Sadie asked throwing her junk mail in the garbage can.

“He is just a free-spirit,” Ivy said taking up for her older, yet less mature sibling.

“Free spirit my ass. Do you know that he’s been in Hawaii going on six months now? He said that he would not come home until he found himself. You and I both know that could take him a lifetime. He’s just down there following up behind that little island girl…Cake walk.”

“Kakeline,” Ivy said correcting her.

“Whatever. That boy just ruins my nerves.”

“Momma, he’s just in love. Leave him alone.” Ivy never took up for Emerald, but it seemed appropriate now.

“Well, aren’t we sympathetic, today? What’s going on with you? I thought that you couldn’t stand you brother’s wondering ways?” Sadie could see straight through Ivy at this point. Something was up, and she would get down to the bottom of it.

“I’m starting to see that everyone makes mistakes.” Ivy flipped her hair and smiled. The truth was about to come out. She had to prepare herself some sort of cushion.

“It only took twenty-one years for you to find out that you’re not perfect.” Sadie laughed mockingly as she stared at Ivy down her gold wire-rimmed glasses. Young people.

“I guess.” Ivy sighed as she began to pull out the skeletons from her own closet. “I know, because I’ve made my share of mistakes, too.” She looked down at her pudgy fingers and smiled. “You want to hear something funny.” Her voice cracked.

“Not really,” Sadie’s crooked smile disappeared. Sadie took a seat at her island bar and prepared herself for a classic Emerald moment.

“Well, you’re going to hear it anyway. Last semester, I did something really stupid.” Ivy fought her tears.

“Okay…” Sadie’s heart fluttered.

“Grey broke up with me. I still don’t know why. He just did. So, I went to a house party with Trina, and I ending up meeting this cop named Nicola. He invited me on a date, and I went. But we ended up at his place.” Tears came out of Ivy’s eyes. She wiped them away quickly and tried to continue.

“Ivy did he rape you?” Sadie