The Obstacles Of Devotion

Secreative Interactions

Very early Saturday morning, Luke awoke alarmed that Laurie was missing from their bed. He stumbled through the dark of their Manhattan apartment looking for her. He found her in the bathroom perched against the side of the toilet. She was sweaty and breathing heavy with a look of extreme guilt on her face. Laurie looked up at the tall, husky man standing in the doorway.

“Luke, there’s something I need to tell you.” Luke sat down beside her, scooped her limp body into his arms, brushed the sweaty hair from her face and stared into her eyes. He took a deep breath and tried to prepare himself for the blow but nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to hear. “Luke…” Laurie said weakly. “I’m pregnant.”

For long while they both sat in complete silence. The shock of knowing he had fathered a child was overwhelming. He suddenly became a new man in a different world.

“I’m going to a father?”

“Yeah, and I’m gonna be a mom…I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I didn’t know how. I know this going to change everything for both of us.” Laurie pulled Luke closer to her. Luke lifted her chin to look into her eyes.

“Laurie, you never have to be afraid to tell me anything. I know I can be a jerk sometimes, and I understand how it can be hard to tell me things that might upset me, but honey we’re gonna have a baby! This is good news!” Tears swelled in Laurie’s eyes and she exhaled in laughter. Luke held Laurie tight, helped her stand and walked her back to bed. He laid beside her and stroked her face, “Guess we have a lot of work to do?”

“Yeah, and a lot of announcement’s to make.”


Cat Emwar hung up the phone ecstatic about the news of becoming an aunt. She was very happy for her brother and Laurie. She knew they deserved the joy of being parents, but the news also bought sad thoughts into Clavel’s mind. Cat wasn’t much younger than Luke, soon it would be time to settle down and pop out a couple of kids of her own. The problem was Cat hadn’t had a serious relationship…ever. She barely even liked most of the men she had dated. How could she ever get married and have children, if she couldn’t even keep a boyfriend? Cat went to her mother with her frustrations.

“Do you think there’s something wrong with me?” Cat asked, lying back on her parent’s bed staring up at the ceiling.

“Maybe, you’re just not ready for a serious relationship.” Marie responded, semi-preoccupied with cleaning out her closet.
“No, that’s no it. I really do want someone to love and someone to love me back. I want that closeness and intimacy. I want what Clavel and Michael have.”

“I’m more than sure Clavel and Michael have their problems just like any couple. Maybe you just haven’t found the right guy, yet.”

“That’s what you’re supposed to say to single people.”

“It could be true.” Marie stopped cleaning for a moment to sit next to her daughter on the bed. “Listen, honey, there is someone for everyone. God makes sure of that, but it’s up to us to see it. Sometimes we know at first sight. Sometimes it takes years of struggling through a difficult relationship. And sometimes we get too wrapped up in other things to realize we found hat special someone and we lose them. But rest assure your dream man is out there.” Cat gave a polite smile, hugged her mother and left the room. She understood her mother’s words; she believed them. She knew there was someone out there who would be able to give her the kind of love she had always dreamed of. But it was the vision of that person which she held in her mind that excited her as much as it scared her. It was a vision to which she wasn’t sure was a man.


One month later, Clavel was slowly becoming stressed out. Construction wasn’t going at all to her plan and against her hopes, she had not yet gotten used to Sean. He was a distraction that was always around. It made it very hard for her to work or do anything else, but stare in awe at him. She had even forgotten to call Michael a few days. Sean and his hotel were the only things on her mind. Michael though didn’t mind Clavel absence; he was very distracted himself.
One afternoon Michael received a phone call from Clavel’s cousin, Treesha.

“Hey, Mike. Listen I’m only a few minutes from your building. I know you’re busy, but I just broke up with my boyfriend and I think I really need a friend. I was thinking we could have dinner or something.”

“Yeah, sure. Come on by.” Fifteen minutes later Treesha walked through the shaded glass doors of his office. Michael’s twin brother, Tony was sitting across from Michael at his desk that sat on a platform in from of a large window at the rear of his office. Tony turned around to see who had come in and his jaw dropped. Treesha’s curly; shoulder length blond hair outlined her round face. She wore a skin tight red spaghetti strapped dress that stopped six inches above her knee and three inch red sandals with a strap around the heal. Her finger and toenails were painted the same red as her dress and Michael thought all that red really brought out her piercing blue eyes and full pink lips. He couldn’t deny she was attractive. A few moments had gone by before any of them spoke.

“I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything. Your secretary said I could come on in.” Treesha explained.

“Oh, no. It’s ok. Come one in and sit. You met my brother, Tony right?” Michael replied.

“No, I haven’t, but it’s nice to meet you Tony.” Treesha still stood at the door. “Well, if you want I could wait outside until you’re done. I called Luke for a table, so we have a little while.”

“Ok. That sounds good. We’re almost done here, so I’ll be down in about ten.”

“Alright, no problem. My car’s right out front. It’s the red Mercedes sport.” Treesha said as she swayed her hip around on her thin stiletto heals and existed the room. Tony wasted no time on commenting.

“Oh…my…God, now who was that?” His expression was a mix of stunned and stupid.

“She’s Clavel’s cousin on her father’s side, Treesha Emwar. I could have sworn you two have met before.”

“No. I would have remember that. She is amazing!”

“Yeah, I guess.” Michael answered, preoccupied with gathering his belongings.

“I mean, did you get a load of that body? Damn! What are you doing with her anyway, I thought you were taken?” Tony asked rising from his chair.

“I am.” Michael stared blankly at the wall as if he were in deep though. “Tony, can I talk to you about something?”

“Yeah, bro. You can talk to me about anything” Even after Tony answered it took Michael a few moments to respond. When turned his chair around to face his brother he saw a worried look in his eyes.

“Never mind. Treesha just needs someone to talk to and I was the closest. I love Clavel and I want to marry her. I will marry her. It’s not fair to say I can’t still spend time with other women. Besides Treesha’s like family, soon she will be.”

“All that being so, I saw the look in the eyes of the woman who walked in her. And it wasn’t dinner she wanted, if you know what I mean.” Michael took in his brother’s words, grabbed his briefcase and headed for the door. Tony stood and as Michael opened the door he said, “Mike, be careful. Clavel is a great girl. I’d ate to see her hurt by a stupid mistake and I have a hunch that that woman can lead a man to make many mistakes.” Michael shook his head to let Tony know he understood and disappeared into the hall.

An hour later at Italia, Luke and Laurie were meeting Marie and Steven to break the news of Laurie’s pregnancy. Luke had been hosting at the restaurant all day, while Laurie spent the day in bed resting. She got herself together well enough, and went down to the restaurant. Laurie sat down at one of the private tables near the back of the restaurant. Several minutes later Marie and Steven joined Laurie along with Michael and Treesha. Luke soon relieved himself of his hosting duties and joined his family.

“So Treesha, what drags you into this part of town?” Steven asked. He was never very trusting of his niece.

“Well, it’s the funniest thing. I had to oversee a shipment this afternoon at my nightclub, so I decided to stop in here and get a bite to eat before I head back and open for the night. I ran into Mickey here out back and we came in to chat for awhile.” Lying was a familiar trait to Treesha.

“Yeah, I got hungry on my home from work and I though I would stop by.” Michael went along with her lie, knowing his future in-laws wouldn’t agree with their plans if they knew the truth. He began to believe that Treesha’s reasons for calling him went far beyond talking and dinner. Perhaps she did want more; perhaps she wanted him. As wrong as he knew it would be, he wanted her too. As Michael’s mind wandered through his thoughts, the conversation went on.

“Luke, why don’t you just tell us the big news. I can’t wait to hear it!” Marie said. She didn’t trust Treesha either and didn’t want to know about whatever mayhem she was about to unleash. Marie wanted to get down to business. She hoped the whole drive down that the news was a wedding announcement, but was disappointed when she spotted no ring on Laurie’s finger.

“Ma, we do have exciting news for you, but let’s eat first.” Luke told her.

“Now, come on. Don’t keep us waiting all afternoon. You two aren’t very exciting. Whatever news you got can’t be that big.” Treesha exclaimed. They all looked at her as if she has burst into flames; the bitch was back.

“How the hell would you know what big news is? You’ve never had any! God, you’re such a …!” Laurie said, letting her hormones get the best of her.

“Laurie!” Luke interrupted. “Let’s all try to stay claim, please?” Luke held on tight to Laurie’s hand. Any other time Luke would have loved to see a catfight, but not when his girlfriend and unborn child were involved. The table went quite for a few minutes. Laurie and Treesha stared in disgust at each other as Luke protectively watched over them both. He was in love with Laurie, but he cared about Treesha as well. She might have been rough around the edges, but she was family.

They made it through dinner with minimal conversation and after they ordered desert Luke decided the time was right.

“So, mom, dad, everyone…Laurie and I are going to be expanding our home really soon.”
“Oh, yeah. What made you want to do that?” Steven asked.

“Well, I don’t know. Maybe because we’re going to be adding a new member to the family this winter.”

“You’re not…” Marie asked Laurie with a hint of a smile on her face.

“Yeah. I am.”

“Oh, my gosh. This is wonderful. It’s a blessing.” Marie grabbed Laurie’s hand from across the table. “I’m so happy for you.” Steven got up, looked into the eyes of his son who was going to become a father himself, gave him a hug and was overwhelmed with joy.

“Well, hasn’t this been eventful month. You two are having a baby and Clavel and Michael are getting. God has certainly blessed us.” Steven said.

“Yes, he has…But speaking of getting married, I assume that you two will be tying the knot soon.” Marie said, taking a sip of her drink.

“Now, mom why would you assume that?”

“Members of this family do not have children out of wedlock. I don’t have to tell you about the influence our family has. Society pays attention to the things we do. Bastard children would completely scandalize us. A baby is great news and we’re all very happy for you, but I speak for the family when I say a baby out of wedlock will ruin our reputation as a whole.”

“Ma, stop making it sound like I’m selfish because I don’t want to get married right now. Laurie and I have talked about this. We want to get married, but after the baby is born. Maybe even in a few years, when he or she can be apart of the ceremony. I’m still gonna be this kids father and we are still gonna be married, so what’s the use in rushing thing?” For Luke to admit he wants Laurie to be his wife was a big step for him. He hoped his mother would be satisfied to hear him say it.

“Luke, we don’t want our customers, our friends, the public to think we are anything other than perfect. We have a strong, clean, family reputation, don’t ruin it!” Marie was angry, the idea that the image she’s worked so hard to keep up might be ruined by a simple act of defiance irked her to the bone. “Get married before Laurie starts to show, there are no other alternative. Just do it!” Marie whispered angrily across the table. She looked around the room to make sure no patrons heard her, stood up, threw a few fifty-dollar bills on the table and walked out of the restaurant. Steven gave Luke and Laurie a worried look before following his wife away.