I laughed. “Stop that. You’re not old.”
“Yeah? Well, try telling our kids that in the future when I’m walking around on a cane and not because I had an accident either.”
I pulled a face.
“My bad. Too soon?” he asked as I rolled my eyes.
“Boy, yeah. I’m gonna pull that cane out and beat you with it.”
“A’ight. I might be a freak, but I ain’t into that kinky shit.”
“Don’t knock it unless you try it.” I teased him with a wink.
“Aye, I didn’t see your painting yet,” he stated.
I turned my canvas around slowly to face him. When I walked into the house and saw the setup, I immediately knew how I would tell him my news.
“I don’t get it. It looks like a big pillow on a floor surrounded by a blanket with some shoes.”
“They’re not shoes, Deuce.”
He stared closely. “They look like . . . baby booties?”
I nodded slowly as he stared at the painting before turning to see me nodding. “Sevyn?”
“Yes?”
“Sevyn?”
“Yes.”
“This is really true then, huh?”
“Yeah,” I replied slowly, wondering if Amani had told him already.
“Shit! Sevyn, I wanted to believe it, but . . . I was afraid to hope again.”
He jumped up, grabbed me, and spun me in a circle before he set me down again. I watched as he closed his eyes, pressed his hands in prayer pose against them, and then I noticed tears falling from them. I took his hand and led him to the couch, where I sat on his lap.
He held me tightly, and his body just shook.
“It’s okay, Deuce. I knew this would be emotional for you. But everything will be all right.”
Deuce kissed the top of my head and then my face repeatedly. He stared in my eyes with a face full of tears.
“I love you so damn much, woman.”
I smiled and wiped at my own tears. “I know that you do. I’m just glad to be the vessel through which this blessing comes to you.”
“You and this baby are a gift to me, and I’m gonna treat you that way. But I got another confession to make,” he declared, wiping his face.
My heart stiffened in my chest. “What?”
“My sister told Frost that she thought you were pregnant, and Frost told me, and I called my sister, and she confirmed that she thought you were but wasn’t sure.”
I stared at him for several long seconds. He looked terrified, as if he wasn’t sure what I would say. Then I burst out laughing so hard.
“What?”
