Mrs. Walker nodded but said nothing. Just listened.
“Lennox’s death. LJ’s birth. Meeting Xander…” Rylee smiled softly through her tears. “Nowthis. Pregnant. Again?! Like what the hell?”
She kissed her teeth and shook her head. “I’m struggling because as much as I try to hang on to what used to be, life just keeps pushing me forward.”
“Because you’reliving, Rylee. And that’s a fantastic thing.” Mrs. Walker squeezed her hand. “It’s a necessary thing.”
“I know,” Rylee whispered. “I just… I want to make sure I’m doingeverythingright. I want to make sure the children remember Lennox. I want to make sureIremember Lennox.”
They sat in silence for a moment before Rylee added, “I want this baby. My first reaction when I found out I was pregnant was no… but an hour after realizing it was real, that it happened, I wanted the baby. And I’m struggling because I already love it. I love the baby’s father… but I’m scared that me loving all these things that aren’t Lennox is me getting closer and closer to forgetting him?—”
“That will never happen, Rylee,” Mrs. Walker interjected, shaking her head. “If that’s what you’re worried about, let me tell you… it will never happen. You willalwayshave Lennox in your heart.”
“But I feel like I’m betraying him.”
“Rylee, my son would have been beside himself excited for you. Youhaveto know that. And if he were here, he’d tell you himself.”
Rylee squeezed her eyes closed, a single tear slipping down her cheek.
“Lennox isn’t gone from your heart just because someone else is in it too.”
Rylee lifted her eyes to Mrs. Walker.
“This baby is not a betrayal, Rylee.” Mrs. Walker’s smile gradually grew. “It’s a continuation. And I am so very grateful I’m here for this leg of your journey, baby. Thrilled.”
Mrs. Walker stood from her seat and rounded the kitchen table. Rylee stood too, wrapping her arms around her and hugging her tight. Mrs. Walker left a kiss on Rylee’s head, and in that moment… that very simple moment, along with Mrs. Walker’s simple words…
Something shifted for Rylee.
For the better.
Rylee giggled to herself as she watched Nova dance to a classic R&B track from the '80s.
Now at her parents’ house—just a day after visiting the Walkers—Rylee found herself smiling as Nova danced in her grandparents’ living room. Rylee had called her mother the moment she returned home, asking if it would be fine to stop by the house Rylee had called home from birth to eighteen. It was also the house where her water broke with Nova, when Rylee stayed with her parents after a fight with Lennox made her leave the brownstone he’d bought for them to live in together. The same brownstone she lived in now.
So much had changed since that night Rylee ran into her parents’ room to tell them her water had broken.
So much life had been lived… lost… and now, new life was forming inside her.
She pressed her hand to her belly, sitting up in her seat and clearing her throat.
Déjà vu.
Rylee remembered the same throat-clearing she’d done to get her parents and Lennox’s parents’ attention at Lennox’s condo in the city on his birthday. Where she’d told them she was pregnant. Thattheywere pregnant.
And tonight, she would be doing it all again… alone.
“So,” Rylee voiced from the seat on her parents’ couch, “I have news.”
She gained her parents’ attention as Nova and LJ remained caught up in their own world, dancing to the track and laughing hysterically in their kid-like distraction.
“I’m pregnant.”
Revealing it this time came easier. Everything had felt easier after speaking with Lennox’s mother.
Her parents’ faces lit up. Rylee’s father, Gannon, pointed at her mother, Claudia, and they both hollered, “I knew it!”
Rylee’s brows wrinkled as she laughed. “Excuse me?”
