She tried to speak, but she couldn’t get the words out. She was cryin’ too hard, and her body was shakin’ like she couldn’t hold herself together.
I pulled her back into my chest and held her tight, and I kept one hand on her stomach the whole time ‘cause My’Love was still movin’ like she was knockin’ on the door, and that was the only thing keepin’ me from losin’ my mind.
“Toni,” I murmured, “you gotta breathe. You stressin’ my baby out.”
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed again.
“I know… I know you sorry, but we ain’t gon’ stay stuck in that. We gon’ move forward.”
My phone rang again, and the sound of it made Toni flinch like it was a gunshot.
I looked at the screen and saw Kade again. I answered. “Yeah.”
His voice was urgent. “They’re outside your gate right now. Kay’Lo, please... Turn yourself in before they force their way in. I will deal with the rest.
I stared at the wall across the room while Toni clung to me.
For a moment, it felt like my whole future flashed in front of me; My trial, my daughter, Toni’s face if I got taken in cuffs and my baby girl growin’ up hearin’ stories about her daddy instead of holdin’ him. Then I brought myself back to the only thing that mattered.
Protect mine…
“A’ight,” I said finally.
Kade let out a breath like he been holdin’ it. “Thank you. I’m on my way.”
I hung up and sat there for a second, holdin’ Toni while her tears soaked my shirt. She looked up at me like she couldn’t believe I was really about to leave.
“Baby,” she whispered, her voice broken, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I ain’t mean to ruin nothin’. I was just so mad.”
I brushed my thumb across her cheek. “I know what you was feelin’, but you can’t fall apart right now, Toni. You gotta be strong for My’Love.”
She grabbed my arm tighter. “Don’t go.”
“I gotta, baby. I gotta handle this shit.”
She started cryin’ harder, and I could feel her body shakin’ again.
I waited until her breath slowed just a lil’, then I slid out the bed, and she reached for me again. I leaned down and grabbed her chin soft.
“You know me,” I said. “I always come back to you. I don’t give a fuck what the situation look like, and I don’t give a fuck what them folks try to throw at me. I’mma always come back.”
Toni’s eyes was swollen and shiny. “You Promise, baby?”
“I promise, baby,” I said, and I meant that shit too.
I got dressed quick, pullin’ on a dark sweatshirt, black sweatpants, and a pair of black kicks, and while I moved, Toni sat there cryin’ in the bed.
Before I stepped away from her, I told her, “Call my mama.”
She nodded, wipin’ her face, but I could tell she wasn’t hearin’ me fully.
I walked back to the bed and dropped to my knees in front of her, then I placed both hands on the sides of her belly like I needed to ground myself in My’Love before I walked out the room.
Toni’s fingers slid into my hair, and she rubbed the back of my head like she was tryna soothe me, but the truth was, she needed soothin’ more than I did.
I leaned in and kissed her stomach slow, then again, then again, and I spoke low like My’Love could hear every word.
“Move for daddy real quick, baby girl,” I murmured.
