A Knock at the Door and A Baby’s NameIrish snuggled near Justin on her couch as they went through the names in the baby book. After going through the entire
book, they settled on discussing several names. “Okay,” Justin sat up and gabbed a piece of paper and
wrote down the
names they thought were the best to pick., “Here’s what we got. Annika, it’s Scandinavian
for ‘Grace’. Amanda,
that’s Latin for ‘Worthy of love’. Catylyn, which is Welsh version
of KATHERINE ,it means ‘pure’.” Justin leaned
back and put an arm around Irish. “And the last
two are, Chantal which is French for ‘A song’. Last, but not least
is Shani, its Swahili for marvelous.”
Irish
thought about the names and yawned. She then cleared her throat and spoke. “How about ‘Shani Annika’?”
Justin looked at her and made a face. “It doesn’t sound right. Well, not to me. Oh, how about ‘Chantal
Amanda’ ?”
Irish shook and looked at the names again. “Well, we are both agreeing that she needs
a first and middle. So, you pick
the first name and I will pick the middle.”
“Okay.” , Justin
agreed as he focused back to the names. “I pick, Shani.” He said as she looked to her. Irish let it roll
around
in her head. The sound in her head of the name was a perfect. “Okay, I pick Chantal. So, Shani Chantal. How
does
that sound?”
“I like it. Shani Chantal.” Justin said it out loud. At that moment the baby kicked.
Irish smiled as she grabbed Justin’s
hand.
“Say it again.” She told him.
“Shani
Chantal.” Justin said the name again. The baby kicked at the sound of her new name. Irish and Justin laughed
as
the baby kicked a few more times.
“Okay, then Shani Chantal it is.” Irish smiled “Shani Chantal Elliot.”
Justin
stopped smiling as he dropped his hand. “Elliot? You mean Timberlake?”
Irish frowned at the sternness in
his voice. “No, Justin. She can’t have your last name. Then people will know and they
will fight just
to take pictures of her. Your child. Justin Timberlake’s firstborn. Justin Timberlake’s bi-racial little girl.
I can’t have that. I won’t have my daughter live in a fish bowl. This is one of the reason’s I was
prepared to raise her on
my own. Or with John.”
Justin felt hurt, even though he knew she was right.
He was about to speak his case when there was a knock at the door.
Irish walked away and went to open the door, thinking
it was one of guys at work, coming to say hi. Once she opened
the door, she quickly wished that she could vanish right
then. “John?”
Justin heard Irish say the name of her ex-boyfriend as he walked to her. His mind raced as
he tried top figure out why
was he here.
“Hey, baby. I thought about how I left you and realize that
I don’t care who the father is. I want to help you raise the
baby.”
Irish looked at John stunned
as she tried to speak. “John, um this is a really bad time. I have company right now. Can
,you come back and
we can talk later?”
John reached out a comforting hand and touched her shoulder as he saw the panic in her face.
“Why? Who’s in there
with you?”
Irish opened her mouth to speak when ,she heard Justin from
behind her. “The baby’s daddy.”
