Meadow’s face fell. “Baby…”
Tia looked down at her lap. “I want a child so bad. I want to be a mother. I want to see my husband hold our baby. Every month I get so excited, and every month it gets ripped out from under me.”
Meadow felt tears, stinging her eyes. “Com’ere.”
“It’s a phone, Meadow.”
“I don’t care. Com’ere anyway.”
Tia moved closer to the screen until their foreheads almost touched through pixels.
“I’m sorry,” Meadow whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I know, but I hate seeing you hurting.”
Tia let a tear slip. “And I hate watching everybody else get the thing I want most. I’m happy for them, but…it hurts.”
Meadow wiped her cheeks. “You gon’ get your baby. I don’t know when, but you gon’ get everything you want. You got too much love in you for God to overlook his most amazing child.”
Tia whimpered shakily, “You mean that?”
“With my whole heart.”
They sat in silence for a while just letting their souls comfort each other through the phone screen. They were locked in like that. Neither time nor distance could keep their hearts from loving the other.
Tia blinked. “You okay with your Mama today?”
“No,” Meadow admitted. “But I’m managing.”
“How’s Ray?”
“Good. Watching everything. Pretending he’s fine.”
“You need a break?”
“I think we both do,” Meadow huffed.
Tia tilted her head. “You don’t think Zaire could be…a soft place for a minute?”
Meadow bit her lip. “He already feels like one. That’s the scary part.”
“Why?”
“Because soft places turn into real places,” Meadow whispered. “And I don’t really have that luxury, you know…can’t get lost in that.”
Tia didn’t argue. “Then don’t lose yourself. But don’t lock yourself up away from joy either. You deserve something good.”
Meadow let the words settle.
After a moment, she asked quietly, “You want me to drive down this weekend? I can come sit with you.”
Tia smiled through her tears. “No, you need to breathe where you are. Stay there. Let that man stare at you.”
“Girl…”
“I’m serious,” Tia said, wiping her face. “You been carrying a house, a parent, a program, land, and your entire life on your back. Let somebody be gentle with you for a change.”
