Aftermath by Tracy Brown

friend, but Camille was now pregnant with his child—a child that Frankie never wanted. To make matters worse, Camille’s sister had murdered Frankie’s brother in retaliation for molesting her son. Toya wanted to put on a smile and be happy for her friend. She wanted to say something lighthearted and sweet the way Dominique had. But all that came to her was, “Wow.”
    Camille smiled weakly. “Yup. Nine weeks. I told Frankie tonight when I went to Gillian’s town house to confront them.” Camille explained the events leading up to her coming home and discovering a murder scene in her home; how she’d announced to Frankie and his mistress that she was expecting a child.
    Toya couldn’t keep her game face on for too long. “So Frankie knows that you’re pregnant and he still walked out like that tonight?” She thought back to how coldly Frankie had acted, not just tonight, but on every occasion on which she’d seen them together in the past few weeks. The once-doting husband seemed to have no love left in his heart for Camille. Toya knew then that things between him and Camille would only be worse now that she was having a baby.
    Camille nodded. “I mean…” Camille’s voice trailed off. She seemed to be searching for words, and she swallowed hard before continuing. “I can understand him being upset. His brother is dead and my sister is responsible.” A tear fell from her eye and Toya shut her mouth.
    â€œAm I crazy to want to still make it work with him?” Camille asked, looking from one friend to the other, her eyes flooded.
    â€œNo, Camille,” Dominique said, hoping to soothe her before Toya said something negative. “You’re not crazy. You love him. He’s your husband and having a baby is a blessing.” She smiled at her friend, hoping to reassure her at what was obviously a terribly painful and confusing time. “You’re gonna be a great mom, Camille. And with or without Frankie, you’re gonna be all right. And so is your baby. Frankie is hurting right now. You have to let him have space to deal with what happened. The Gillian situation aside, you and your husband need to take a time-out for a little while and sort a lot of things out.”
    Toya agreed. “Exactly. Right now you have to focus on yourself and on Misa. She’s all alone and I can’t imagine how she must be feeling locked up in there right now.”
    They all thought about that and Camille seemed to tremble at the thought.
    Toya thought about the fork in the road each of them was facing at that moment in time. She had often likened them to a black version of Sex and the City . But those fictional characters had no problems compared to the ones their foursome was now dealing with.
    â€œLadies, let’s promise to stop keeping shit to ourselves.”
    Camille and Dominique looked confused, so Toya happily elaborated.
    â€œAll of us had a problem tonight and none of us reached out to each other until blood was spilled. Camille, when were you gonna tell us that you’re pregnant?”
    â€œI was—”
    Toya cut her off. “As a matter of fact, until tonight you never admitted out loud that Frankie left you.” Toya looked at Camille as if to dare her to correct her.
    Camille closed her mouth. It was true. Camille had been so ashamed to admit that her marriage—the picture-perfect million-dollar marriage—was over. She had clung to Frankie for dear life in an attempt to save face.
    Toya continued. “We all knew the deal. We could tell that you two were having problems. But you kept it all to yourself.” Toya saw Camille nodding and knew that she had made her point. “Dominique, you came home and found your daughter missing and you ran out into the night all by yourself like you were Wonder Woman.”
    Dominique had to smirk at her friend’s sarcasm. “You’re right,” she