Dreka
Some months later
“A girl?” My father frowned in annoyance.
I laughed deeply because I knew he wanted me to be pregnant with a boy. “Yes, Dad!”
“And they’re absolutely sure? Are they competent?” He examined the sonograms again.
My mother hugged me tightly. “I’m happy as long as baby girl is healthy!”
“Me too,” Xy’s mom hugged me next and then kissed my cheek.
“Me three!” Vani squealed with excitement. “I get to dress her like her Auntie Vani!”
Jah, Rae, and Ken all took turns coming to hug me and Xy to congratulate us. Makenna instantly started yapping about how she was buying her niece a pink G-Wagon for her 16thbirthday, making us laugh.
“We should get a second opinion,” my dad continued to protest, making the room bounce with more laughter.
“Giulio,” my mom slapped his arm with a smirk.
Tossing the sonograms on the table, he looked over at Xyleek. “You know this is your fault, right?”
“How?”
“This is your karma. The story goes, ‘a man who is a player and master manipulator ends up with daughters so he can get a taste of his own medicine.’ You’re not gonna like it when someone does the same shit you did toher,” he pointed at me with his cigar. “To your own daughter.”
The lively room immediately went silent, and I let out a low groan while closing my eyes. Xyleek’s past wasn’t a secret, hell, the whole world knew, but as a now married couple, I didn’t want to keep talking about it. When I saidI doat the altar, that also meantI forgive, andI forget. Our marriage was the start of something new, and while I knew my dad had good intentions, now wasn’t the time.
“Daddy,” I whined, shaking my head. “Please.”
“I’m just saying,” his hands went up in surrender.“Harmless joke.”
My mom reached across the table and squeezed Xy’s hand. “Congratulations, Xy. I think you’ll be a great father.”
“Thank you. That means a lot.”
Studying Xy’s face, it was obvious he was trying his hardest not to react or say something slick in response to my father. It was in his nature to do so, but he really had been changing and showing more restraint in a lot of areas of his life. His thumb was tapping against the side of his leg, which was one of his nervous ticks. Most people probably didn’t notice that about him, but I did. That’s how I knew my dad’s ‘harmless’ joke was anything but harmless in the moment.
I slid my hand over and touched his leg. He didn’t pull away, but his body was still tense as hell, and I felt bad for him. The Xyleek sitting next to me wasn’t the man who played games and treated my heart like a revolving door anymore. The man sitting next to me was myhusband, the father of my baby girl, myheartbeat, and the man who had been putting in that work to be better.
His eyes were glued to the table like if he looked up, he was gon’ let my father have it. My dad said something else under his breath, and I watched Xy’s Adam’s apple bob up and down while his jaw muscles flexed intensely. It was almost like I could see inside of Xy’s mind, and I saw the insecurities swirling around in his head that told him he wasn’t good enough for me or that he wasn’t worthy of anyone’s trust or forgiveness. I hated that for him, and even when I squeezed his leg to try and get him to look at me, he didn’t.
Today was supposed to be a happy day. A day for us to reveal the gender of our little one to the people who meant the most to us. I didn’t want an extravagant gender reveal because a lot of people didn’t even know I was pregnant. I had deactivated all my personal social media accounts, only keeping my business one, obviously for business purposes. Xy wanted to keep this time in our life private, and I agreed with that decision wholeheartedly. We had been in total bliss…until this very moment.
“Hey,” I tried to get his attention with another squeeze.
His eyes slowly shifted over to me, and my heart split right down the middle. The look in his eyes wasn’t even anger or irritation, he was hurt, and that hurt me.
“You’re okay,” I soothingly told him. “I love you, Xy.”
He nodded once, but it was clear he was completely bothered, so I stood to my feet. “Come with me outside.”
“Honey,” my mom eyed me. “You alright?”
“Yeah. Me and my husband need some air,” I pulled on Xy’s hand, forcing him to stand and follow me out to the patio.
I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight. The second our bodies melted into one another,thenI felt the tension seeping out of him. His hands went to my lower back ashe held me with that same possession and protection he always had.
