Cassidy shook his head and smiled. He knew their dynamic, and he laughed as they fawned over Sloan.
“You’ve wanted this for so long,” Ellie crooned.“I’m so happy for you. I can’t believe I’m going to be an aunt.” She turned to Cassidy and hugged him so tightly.“Mama would be so proud of you. Are you going to tell Papa?”
Sloan stood, and Cassidy pulled her close.
“I wasn’t even ready to tell Cass yet. I need to take a real test, Ellie. I need to take so many tests. I’m almost 40 years old. So much can go wrong. I don’t want to get excited too fast. What if something happens? What if…”
“Nothing’s going wrong, sis. This baby is a gift. Don’t let fear take this moment away from you. You didn’t have to find a donor. You didn’t have to do IVF. No frozen embryos. None of that. I know you’re a doctor and you put your belief in science, but I believe God. This baby was made from love. This is already happening for you. You don’t have to pray for it anymore. You don’t have to worry about it anymore.” Ellie wrapped her arms around Sloan one more time, and Sloan broke down.
They had been through so much together. Through 27 years of friendship, to be exact, and it felt like life was just starting to get good. As Ellie, Shy, and Courtney made a circle of love around Sloan, Ellie realized no one could ever take these ladies places. They were the ones she trusted most. They were the ones she would do anything for. Cairo might have left her, and she might have fucked up things with Loyal, and who knows what other man was in her destiny, but one thing she knew for sure, her friends would be there through everything. As the New Year winded down and the countdown commenced, they all counted down together with joy, excitement, and tears in their eyes.
“Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One…”
Before Ellie could scream her salutations, she felt a tug on her belt loop. She turned to find Loyal behind her. She wanted to pinch herself to see if this was real. She had wanted him here. She thought about inviting him, but he hadn’t expressed the tiniest bit of interest since Christmas Day. He kissed her as the New Year rolled in. Ellie melted into him, and her heart exploded as he took his time with her.“Happy New Year, E,” he whispered in her ear.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. She wanted answers, but she wanted his lips more as she held his chin in the palm of her hands and pulled him down toward her. Her friends whooped and hollered around them, hyping her up. Loyal wasn’t shy, but he wasn’t with this type of shit either. He pressed his forehead to hers, and she placed her hands on the sides of his face, shielding him. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t spoken. Their connection was just as potent as it had always been. A year could pass, and it wouldn’t dilute.
“A friend told me I needed to figure out where I want to be before the streetlights come on,” Loyal said.
Ellie’s eyes watered, and she looked at Cassidy. There weren’t too many people who knew the significance of those words. Her friends knew. Cassidy knew. And her father. Papa walked into the room, and Loyal greeted him like a long-lost son.
“My guy. You made it,” Papa said jovially. He was so beguiled by Loyal, and Ellie loved it.
“Did you tell him mama’s old saying, Papa?” Ellie asked.
“Let me tell you something. Your mama got that from me. I heard her in there telling y’all to make it home before them streetlights caught you, and she meant that shit. But let me tell y’all how that started. She used to tell me the same thing. Every morning when I would put on my steppers and walk out of that door, she would say those same words.Bishop, ‘be in my door before the streetlights come on’, but when she said it to me, it meant to beat the moon home. Whatever I was doing that would keep my love out of her grasp had better be finished, and I better make it back home to my woman safe and accounted for before them lights flickered on. And I did. Every night, I’d race home to my wife because the hell I would catch if I didn’t,woooweeee,” Bishop yelled. Ellie smiled as she listened to her father recount the story.“She taught me responsibility. She taught me accountability. She taught me reliability. If I said I’d be home, then I’d better make it home. Home was safe. Home was love. Wasn’t nothing out in them streets after dark but trouble and women. She was trying to keep you out of women, Cass, and she was trying to keep you girls out of trouble. I watched her teach y’all to make it home too. If you love somebody, you keep making it home, no matter how far you are, no matter how hard things are, no matter how busy you are in those streets…” Bishopfocused on Loyal.“If you love my daughter, that’s what you got to do. Fighting or not. You come home, and you work it out.”
“Make it home,” Ellie whispered. She turned to Loyal, and she reached for his face, rubbing the tension out of his forehead.“I’m so sorry. I love you. I thought I could sacrifice myself for what my girls needed until I realized that what they needed most was a mom who was happy. I told him no, Loyal. I moved forward with the divorce. I couldn’t put my heart into my marriage because my heart is stuck on you.”
“Then let a nigga make you his home,” Loyal returned. She blushed and held onto him tightly as everyone yelled,“Happy New Year!”
“Aye, son! You and Loyal come have a shot with an old man,” Bishop stated.“We got to toast to that new baby that’s on the way.”
Sloan’s mouth dropped in stun.
“Papa, you weren’t even in here when I announced that. How did you know?”
“I’ve known you since you were a little girl, baby girl. I knew then that you would end up with my boy, and I knew when you walked in here that you were carrying my grandchild. Your motherisn’t here, and I know you don’t know much about your father, but I will always love you like my own. You’ve always got your papa. You and my grandbaby.”
Sloan was a mess, and Ellie was too. They were best friends, but sometimes your friends could be your soulmate too.
Ellie released Loyal and watched the three most important men in her life take a seat on her living room couch. Sloan stepped next to her and grabbed her hand. Courtney and Shy came up on each side of them and huddled close.
“Friendsmaswas a success,” Shy stated.
“The best one fucking yet,” Ellie agreed.
The End…For Now
