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“I just know his first name. Nothing more. It would be impossible to find him in a large city like New York.”
“That’s true.” She said and stood up to sit beside me. “Valentina, I don’t want you worrying about a single thing. We would get through this together. You have me here with you. Those worried lines creasing your forehead should disappear this minute.” She said and I laughed lightly.
“Thank you.”
“It’s no problem. I get my first pay in a few days and we can start looking for bigger apartments. I want this baby to have enough space to run around. Maybe they’d grow taller than 5’5.” She said, referencing our height. This time I laughed out loud.
“No amount of running around space would make them grow taller than nature intended. Besides, their father is tall.”
“Now we’re talking.” She said, got up and started packing up the trash from dinner. I wanted to help when she threw me a look.
“Sit down before I smack you.”
“I’m like three weeks pregnant. I can still run a marathon.”
She scoffed. “Yeah, right. As if you’d ever run in your life.”
“Ouch.”
After Vivian went to bed, I was alone in the living room, staring at the television but not taking in its content. I thought about Leon, how he’d react if I found him and told him I was pregnant with his child. Would he want it or would he want nothing to do with me or the child? What kind of man was he? What kind of person will my child grow up to be? Did he have any family illnesses or traits that ran in his family?
I thought of my aunt, Stella, my father’s younger sister. She was the only family we’ve always known and she lived somewhere on the outskirts of Chicago. All the stories we knew of our parents were told to us by Aunt Stella. Both our parents had died in a motor accident when we were four years old and since then, Aunt Stella has been our main support system.
Vivian and I had been discussing going to visit her. Was she going to be pleased and supportive to find out about a baby outside of marriage? Aunt Stella had never been a strict woman but we’d never know if we didn’t ask her.
So, that weekend, Vivian and I went to visit her. She was really excited to see us. Her husband, Duke, was also very welcoming to us. After spending some time and it was time for us to leave, I suddenly told her,
“I’m pregnant.”
Vivian looked surprised as we hadn’t planned on telling her. Aunt Stella’s eyes opened in shock and then her expression melted into a soft, loving one. She hugged me tightly and started sobbing.
“I’m so happy for you. Congratulations sweetie,” she said.
Vivian and I were happy at her reaction. She packed some pie and food for us to take home. She also gave some advice on foods and drinks to avoid and promised to call and check up on us frequently; a promise she did keep throughout the pregnancy.
Once in a while, I thought about Leon, but I didn’t feel sad because I had the best support system in the world, Vivian and Aunt Stella. They were both amazing to me.
Soon after our visit to Aunt Stella’s house, I started job hunting. I visited various galleries, showed them my work, and asked to be employed. While most galleries refused to employ me, they sold my work, and I got some money from them.
I attended an exhibition where three of my paintings were on sale and ran into an elderly Indian woman, Mrs. Yadav, who was impressed with my work. She invited me to her office the next day, and when I went, she commissioned me to do some artwork for her family house and her office space. She told me how she managed a construction company with her husband and son and how her daughter refused to go into engineering like the rest of them. She was in Hollywood, chasing her dreams of being a star.
Mrs. Yadav paid me a huge amount of money and promised to invest in me whenever I decided to start my own gallery. The money she paid, coupled with most of my savings, went into finding a space for my gallery. At this time, my baby bump had started to show and it was a tedious experience for me. I went from one building inspection to another trying to find the perfect one that fit my budget.
Vivian wasn’t of much physical help as she had to go to work. She suggested I waited until I had the baby before continuing my search for the perfect building but I knew deep down inside me that this was the perfect time.
Eventually, I found a space in a building that had everything I wanted and was located amongst businesses making it the perfect spot. I called Mrs. Yadav to inform her, then I paid a visit to thank her for all her help. According to her, I was the most hardworking young woman she had ever met and I did all I did, while pregnant, which was why she was interested in helping me.
Mrs. Yadav sent some workers from her company to help set the gallery structures up. They worked on the offices and furniture. She sent me electricians who helped set the lights up and, in no time, the gallery was set up and I was able to employ a few staff. My dreams were coming alive barely 6 months after moving to Chicago. I was very happy I made the decision to come here.
Vivian helped me create the website for my gallery and we placed both online and physical ads encouraging artists to come submit their work for an upcoming exhibition. The exhibition was supposed to jumpstart things for the gallery and it was slated to hold after I had my baby.
When I was 8 months pregnant, we moved into a larger apartment with four rooms and a large balcony where we usually sat and enjoyed the fresh air. Vivian insisted we move even though I told her to wait till the baby was here. She refused, saying she didn’t want her niece to be born into that tiny apartment.
Chapter4
Leon
PRESENT TIME
