“You should still be in bed.” He skimmed her in the ivory two-piece satin gown and robe set that covered her slim-thick frame.
Giselle had them Nia Long curves that would force any man to glance in her direction, with the perfect angelic face to match. He’d missed being able to touch her and hold her. She’d really cut him off, only allowing access to the children and making herself scarce when he was around. Saturdays, the twins usually spent with Maisie and Crew, but he knew on Sundays, Remi demanded everyone over for dinner, so that’s where the kids typically ended up, aside from the few times she let him take them himself to Petal’s for the same ritual.
The only place they hadn’t been was to his house, and that was because he didn’t want to take the twins there; he wanted Giselle with them. Not used to being a patient man, he knew he had to move different with her. She wasn’t the type of woman you said things to; she had to see the effort and the action. Otherwise, in her eyes, you were on bullshit.
“I was thirsty, and I didn’t realize you were still here.” Giselle huffed.
“Where would I go?”
When he got back from the store, he doped all three of them up, and it didn’t take long for them to pass out one by one. While they slept, he did laundry and cleaned a bit to keep himself busyafter checking in with the shop and letting them know he wasn’t going to be there.
“I just got them back down. They woke up a little whiny and uncomfortable, but both fevers broke. Petal got me whipping up her chicken noodle soup, and she gave me a recipe for this tea she said works on decongestion.”
“I’m glad they’re sleeping. I talked to the pediatrician, and he said to keep them hydrated, and if any symptoms get worse to bring them to the ER.”
“I think they’ll be fine. When they wake up, they can have some soup. I grabbed some popsicles at the store, too. I wanted to make sure you have stuff to eat here while you recover.”
Smiling, Giselle lowered herself to the small circle table nearby. She’d gotten winded just that fast. Heavy could tell she wasn’t feeling the best but was trying to push through.
“You’re hardheaded, though. You should still be in bed. I can bring you whatever you need.” He strutted over to her and pressed the back of his hand against her forehead. “You’re still warm.”
“You know you’re just exposing yourself to whatever this is, right?” She craned her neck upward to look at him.
“I’m good. You the one who can barely stand.” He was so stern.
His concern was sexy, causing her to bat her big brown eyes.
“It’s fine.” She yawned. “I’ll go to the living room and stay there with them. I’m sure you have to leave soon and have things to do.”
“I told Pops to look after things for now. I’m where I need to be. If he needs anything, he’ll call me. Come on, let’s get you back upstairs.”
Kneeling, he scooped her out of her chair bridal style and carried her back to her bedroom. He eased her onto her side of the bed where she already had the covers pulled down, andGiselle fell out against the pillows behind her. Heavy pulled the covers around her, and she took in his serious face as he made sure she was good.
“Thank you,” Giselle whispered.
“You ain’t gotta thank me. Just let me be there for y’all.” Sighing, he dropped on the side of her bed and stared ahead.
“Is that all this is for you? Obligation? Because if it is, I don’t want that.” A frown flitted over her face.
“Now you sound like Pri.” Slowly, his gaze shifted to hers. “She basically said the same thing. With her… it was true. It’s why I showed up, because I knew she expected me to, and I didn’t want to let her down. When she lost Pierre, it broke something in her. She won’t even admit it, but she never quite bounced back from that. She struggled with her mental and raising a toddler, and I couldn’t watch her go through that, knowing Pierre wouldn’t do that if the roles were reversed.”
Giselle didn’t know if it was the flu or all the meds, but she got choked up and blinked back tears.
“I get that. I can even empathize with Prischa. Not sure she’d ever admit the same?—”
“Prischa is good people. She’s looked out for me too. She doesn’t agree with my lifestyle, which I get because she lost him the same way. I can’t be nobody but who I am, though.”
“I like who you are.” A faint trace of a smile touched her lips. “And I love who you are to our babies. I think about if I was on the receiving end and missed the first moments of their lives, how I would feel, and I don’t know how you can even look at me sometimes.”
“You’re a good mama.” Heavy responded. “I know because mine was a hot ass mess. They love you, and I can see that you’ve done everything in your power to give them the best life. It’s just time to share the load, princess.”
“Sharing the load means sharing them, and I’m selfish.” She sniffled. “But seeing you with them is like a dream come true.”
“I ain’t trying to take you from them, you know that, right?” Heavy queried.
“I know.” Her eyes fell on the covers. “And yeah… I am insecure about Prischa. She knows you, and I don’t know how to compete with history.” She shrugged.
“Pri knows me to an extent, and yeah… the history is there, but meeting you, it was almost like part of you already knew part of me. Like we were supposed to connect that night, and now we have two smart, funny, bad ass babies.”
