Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Five
Three months later …
Milana looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes looked hollow, her cheeks sunken in. Her hair had lost its luster and her stomach was so big she couldn’t even see her feet. The last five months had not been easy, but somehow she'd come this far.
She still worked for Clean and Shine and she still had the weekend shifts. Her utilities were expensive and for the last three months she went without electricity for the last four days of each month. She’d tried to be careful with her money but her well had dried up two months ago.
In the beginning she’s supplemented her income by waitressing during the day but they had let her go last month. Her lethargic state of mind, the size of her pregnant belly and the fact that she struggled to carry the heavy trays had all counted against her.
She took all the coupon pages from the newspapers in the office building she cleaned but even with all those coupons her budget was limited. She realized with a start that she wasn’t ready for this baby, didn’t have nearly enough things hoarded up to care for him or her.
She never went for the gender revealing ultrasound because it was just too expensive. At the clinic they checked her vitals, listened to the heartbeat and declared the baby healthy, other than that she knew nothing else.
Like so many days before, Milana sat down on the toilet and cried, feeling hopeless. What kind of life would her child have? She wouldn’t be able to work for six weeks after giving birth and no work meant no income.
She’d spent Christmas alone and it had been bleak. New Year’s had been the same and she’d spent it working, pulling in some double time. She was tired of struggling, tired of worrying but the kick that fluttered through her abdomen made her smile.
She’d worry about that later. She took a shower and braided her hair. She had an hour to get to the office building of Marchant Investments. They had ten offices and a reception area that she cleaned every weekend.
Milana left her apartment, trying not to breathe in the smell of marijuana lingering in the halls and clutched her bag to her side. A man appeared at her side and placed one arm around her waist and took her arm in his other hand.
“Hey, Milana. I see you keep growing and growing.”
Milana smiled. “Hi, Jerome. You really don’t need to help me down the stairs.”
“You’re pregnant and you got no baby daddy. I ain’t the best person in the world but no way am I gonna let a single, pregnant woman fall down these damn steep stairs,” he said.
“Thank you for your kindness. You’re a sweet man,” Milana said.
“Sweet? Damn, woman, now that’s a sure way to ruin my street cred,” Jerome laughed.
Jerome lived in the apartment right across the hall from her and was what you would call a street thug. She’d come home from the store one afternoon and Jerome had been sitting on the steps of the apartment building with a group of other guys.
The group had started hassling her, wolf-whistling and blocking her way up the stairs. Not in the mood for any trouble after a particularly long wait at the clinic and with her feet killing her she’d sat down on the steps and started crying.
Jerome had gotten the men to back off and had sat down next to her, his arm around her shoulder. He hated crying women and from that day on they’d been friends, kind of. He always heard her leave and always escorted her down the stairs.
Jerome walked with her to the bus stop since the area they lived in were filled with young teens just waiting to grab a woman’s purse. Most people left Milana alone since Jerome had made her off limits but anything could happen.
“You give some thought about what you gonna do when that baby’s born?” Jerome asked her.
“Not really but I have to at some point. I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed with everything,” Milana replied.
“Well, my grammy said her offer’s still on the table. She’ll watch the baby for you when you work, no matter the hours,” Jerome said as the bus pulled up to the stop.
“Thank you, Jerome. I’ll definitely take her up on that offer.”
Milana settled on her seat and waved to Jerome who was still standing by the bus stop. He always waited until the bus left before walking back to their shared apartment building. She hadn’t expected to become friends with a street thug, but he had some honour in him and she always felt safe in his presence.
Milana yawned as the bus pulled to a stop and she climbed off in the business district half an hour later. She scanned herself into the building and waved to the security guard manning the reception desk.
“Hi, George,” Milana called as she took her coat off.
“Hey, Milana. How’s the baby doing?”
“Kicking up a storm.” Milana smiled as her hand absent mindedly went to her stomach.
Milana walked to the worker’s lounge, deposited her coat into her locker and pulled the cleaning cart out of the storage room. She checked off all her cleaning supplies and the equipment she needed and stifled another yawn.
She was always tired lately, her ankles always swollen and her lower back in constant spasms of pain. She pushed the cart to the elevator and went up to the twenty-third floor. She kind of liked her job, not the cleaning part, but the quiet of the place appealed to her and working alone gave her a sense of peace.
She started on the far side of the floor, wiping desks, emptying trash cans and dusting picture frames. She mopped the floor and headed to the second office. She took a water break when she was done with the five offices on that side of the floor and sat on a chair in their small kitchen.
