It's been a year since I bore Emanuel's child, a baby girl who I named Destiny. Little Emanuel is doing fine. It turned out, via a paternity test, that he is in fact Emanuel's. Ally gave birth to a little girl too, and her name is Emma, named for a distant relative of hers that she'd always admired growing up. Our families have adjusted slowly. Our mothers again, more so. Just as they were coming around to Ally and me, they then got blindsided by our love for Chance, who they actually liked, and still like. Then came Emanuel and our torrid relationship with him. Haley came as yet another shock and harlot began being whispered amongst our friends and family. Since bearing him a child too, a boy name Joshua, she ended up returning to her family for support. We see her occasionally in the city. As far as Ally and me, we're solid. Our love has endured, even after our misadventure with Emanuel. We raise our babies together and support each other. Our mothers help all the time. Chance and Jasmine have a baby girl named Rosalyn, named for his grandmother. They have another on the way. As far as Jasmine herself, she's become a regular to our bed. She even held each of us as Chance reclaimed us, making us his again. This time, it's permanent. No more men for us. Even Ally has quieted down on that front. It also helps that we've discovered that we're pregnant again, Ally and I both. Chance is elated that we're going to bear him more children.
As far as Emanuel...well he's regulated himself to a quiet life with the first woman he'd hooked up with before beginning his career as a model. He had no choice. Yes, most of the women he'd seduced and bred children with did know about each other. Rather they had been willing to go along with it or not is now a moot point. One of the girls that hadn't known...well she filed a lawsuit after she discovered the truth. Apparently, she suspected infidelity and hired a private detective. If that hadn't been a shot across his bow, she blew up his carousing ways on social media. Since then, it has gone viral and more lawsuits began being filed for child support that he evidently never paid. The backlash became so hot that many companies began to consider him untouchable, a pariah even. To say the least, his career began to tank. He came by a few months back. I guess to see if we were going to sue too. He and Chance got into it. Chance won out and Emanuel left in a huff. At least it didn't get physical between them. I got the feeling he knew he'd lost the battle, as if he'd actually ever wanted to win it to begin with. I still don't think he did. It was all about the game, like it is with most guys. I'd thought as much about Chance in the beginning, that once he'd had us he'd lose interest and move on. He didn't. He stayed. He never looked at another woman till Jasmine, and even after he'd begun sleeping with her he stayed. He stayed because even though he loved Jasmine he loved us too.
And then Chance made his confession. He'd been keeping a secret for years, and that secret was that he'd once had a brief love affair with another man. He didn't go into details about how it began and why it had been brief. Only that he wanted to come clean now that he'd begun a family...well a bit of an unconventional one I should say. Then two days ago, his old flame showed up in town and from then on he'd been fighting his emotions. He won't say it, but it's possible he still loves him. It's possible that all the old feelings he'd had for him came flooding back. Such things just don't vanish entirely. Not even time can erase love once it's got you in its grip.
"You're quiet." Chance said as we danced together at the same club where I first met Emanuel. It was a different setting tonight. It was the usual crowd, locals mostly, but a few tourists hung out here till the early hours of dawn. Ally had to work and couldn't be here. Faith was in London. Our mothers were at home with Jasmine babysitting. "You're thinking of the babies at home, aren't you?"
"I guess." I said, not willing to mention where all my thoughts had been. Emanuel was still a sore subject, and to be honest I was trying to not think of him. It didn't hurt because I never truly loved him. I loved the sex. I loved idea of being with him. Truthfully, it had all been a fantasy. That was it, nothing more, and once I was no longer captured by Emanuel's allure and his dominating behavior, I woke up from it, and so did Ally. I certainly didn't regret it, for I have my daughter now and I love her more than anything in the world. "I'm just not used to you know...not being there?"
"You need a night out, Grace." He said. "We need a night out."
"I know." I said but I could feel he was on edge. "But now that Christian is in town..."
"Grace, I'm not sure how I feel about this, about him." He responded with a distance in his voice.
"He's meeting us tonight." I reminded him.
"I know..."
"Do you think you still love him?" I pressed.
"Maybe...maybe not." He said. "I just don't know."
"You kept it even from Ally and it's hard to hard to hide things from her."
"It was easy because it happened after she and I dated."
"Chance, we're not going to judge you. You know that. Hell, we're no position to." I said as I felt him pull me closer to him, so tight that are bodies began moving as one. I had on a similar dress to the one I'd worn the night I danced with Emanuel. It was a one-piece, and it too was black. The original dress had been thrown out during a fit of guilt and shame. I felt his hands heading south. Once more I was without panties. "We love you."
"I love you too." He choked up, his words pregnant with emotion as he pressed his head against mine, forehead to forehead. "I love you to the moon and back." He smiled.
"Chance."
