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lock for half an hour …”
“Who’s this guy?” Will muttered to Tracina, fully entering the hot crowded room.
Tracina looked from one man to the other, her mouth slack. It took her a moment to speak, and when
she did, she went from zero to sixty on the emotion meter.
“Why are you here?” she wailed at Carruthers, trying to stand without assistance, nearly toppling
forward. “I told you I do not need anything from you!”
“I’m here because I love you, Tracina,” Carruthers boomed. “I told you it wasn’t going to be so
easy to get rid of me. And if that’s my baby, it’s going to be impossible.”
Every woman in the room drew a sharp breath at the same time, emptying it of oxygen. Maybe
that’s why Will looked like he was about to faint, his hand feeling for the wall behind him. I wanted to
rush to him, but there were too many people between us—real obstacles, not just metaphorical ones.
“What about your wife?” Tracina boomed, still standing, her tiny fists on her hips.
Carruthers’ head fell forward. “I told her. It’s over.”
The rest of the room took this as their cue to examine the floor as well. When I looked back up,
Tracina’s eyes were full of wonder. And Will’s face held an expression of unadulterated shock. The
whole time, Dell sat stock-still, her fork poised in admiration of a slice of cake in front of her as
though this awful business were not happening at all.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Tracina muttered.
“Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?” Will demanded.
Carruthers turned to him. “I apologize for the public manner in which all of this is coming out. But I
believe I am the father of this baby,” he said. Then, to Tracina he added, “And I’m sorry to ruin your
lovely party, but you won’t see me and you won’t take my calls, so you left me no choice.”
“Is what he’s saying true?” Will’s voice was now devoid of all emotion.
Tracina’s eyes softened as she gazed at Will, her expression saying it all, even if her words (“I
don’t know”) didn’t. As if to punctuate the drama, a sudden stream of water trickled down her legs,
pooled at her feet on the pine floors. She peered down, trying to see over her belly.
“Oh my god, I’m peeing myself.”
“No, honey,” said Dell, finally bringing her fork to her mouth and chewing a bite of cake. “That’s
your water breaking.”
“My what?”
Angela screamed first. Carruthers scrambled over to Tracina and eased her down into a chair. Will
stood motionless watching all of this, while I ran to fetch towels. Water was still cascading down
Tracina’s legs when I returned, and Carruthers’ D.A. personality was in high gear.
“We’re not waiting for an ambulance to come to Treme,” he said, pointing at Will’s phone. “My
Escalade’s outside. I’ll take you now, baby,” and to me, to me, he yelled, “grab her other arm.” And
that’s how I got sucked into the maternal entourage, Tracina barking orders over her shoulder for Kit
and Angela to watch Trey, keep Trey, tell Trey not to worry.
As we piled into the back seat, I got a last look at an ashen-faced Will, his whole body shaking as
he tried to get his truck door to open, then rushed around to the passenger side and slid across. I
should be with him, I thought, helping him through this. That I ended up being the one to hold
Tracina’s hand instead of Will’s was the oddest surprise of the day.
A contraction seized Tracina and she dug her fingers into my thigh.
“Am I gonna be okay?”
“Of course. Of course you are! Just breathe,” I said, as calmly as possible, smoothing her hair off
her sweaty face.