I glance at the screen again. Nickoi’s outside now, seated on what looks like a patio. He’s silent, watching.
Then he speaks, voice low and full. “Mi love yuh enuh.”
My heart splits wide open. “I love you too.”
Dr. Jacobs prints the picture and hands it to me. I take it with trembling fingers, studying the small form like it’s a miracle.Because it is.We schedule the next appointment. She talks with Nickoi a little, then sends him the images. I get dressed, wiping my eyes once more before stepping back into the hallway.
We stop at the grocery store on the way back. Mama grabs a basket and heads straight for the breakfast aisle. “Mi nuh need much,” she says. “Just some cereal and thing for you while yuh here.”
“Gavin eat out everything,” she adds with a little huff, making me laugh. “Gavin nuh easy eno.”
She grabs cheese, oats, fruit. “You want eggs?”
I wrinkle my nose. “Can’t stand them since mi get pregnant.”
“Dat normal,” she says, moving toward the freezer. “Pick out what yuh want.”
My eyes scan the shelves. Then I see it; kidney. I smile.
Mama catches it. “A kidney yuh waan?”
I laugh. “Mi know… mi used to hate it, but lately? Mi love it.”
She gives me a knowing look and moves on. I carry the basket while she finishes up. When we get to the register, I hand her the money before she can protest. We pack the bags and head to the car. I get behind the wheel, watching Mama settle in beside me. The ultrasound picture is on the dash, catching a little bit of sunlight. And just like that, I started smiling again.
NICKOI
“So your G never bury yet?” Dwight asks.
He’s my dawg, grew up a few doors down from Grandma, Miss Cherry. She’s living here again, but she still keeps a place next to my mother’s in Jamaica. That’s where she was staying before she started traveling so much.
I shake my head. “Nah. With how him dead, and the way it look like gang war, dem a hold out the funeral.”
I take a sip of my Henny, the taste burns, but soothing. Dwight nods, serious. Just then, his sister steps outside. She’s giving me loose gyal energy, the kinda girl who pree you hard, pop her gum loud, and can’t keep her eyes in her head.
“Wah ‘bout Rick girlfriend?” he asks.
“Same ting mi a wonder. Gina get shot same time too. But maybe ‘cause it was a woman and she died inna the hospital, dem never wul out fi har thing.”
“Yeah man, probably dat,” he agrees, chin tilted like it’s making sense to him.
Then Chi calls him from the porch. She’s watching me hard, gum still smacking in her mouth. “Who’s this fine ass?” she says with attitude. She reminds me of Sash. That same energy.
“Mi bredrin this from box truck days, back when mi did live a yard,” Dwight says.
She flips her hair. “Oh, I’m Chyanne. But everybody round here call me Chicago. Or just Chi.”
I nod once. Mi nuh give a f—
I glance down at my phone. Zara flashes in my thoughts. She’s the only one mi actually care ‘bout. Dat a dat. “Later wi talk enuh, cuz,” I say, turning away. He stretches out a hand, surprised I’m cutting it short.
“Alright, mi G,” he says as I head inside.
I call Zara. The screen lights up and there she is, lying on the bed, looking soft and glowing like she missed me. “Hey… mi miss yuh enuh,” she says, her voice lower than usual.
“Mi miss you too, but mi uncle nuh reach yet. So mi still deh a foot,” I tell her.
She nods, then smiles to herself.
