We sat there like that for a second, and the baby gave another small nudge.
Pluto gasped. “Oh, she in there active.”
“I be tellin’ Kay’Lo that,” I said, laughin’. “Every single time she do this I be yellin’ for him, and by the time he get to me, she stop.”
Pluto started laughin’. “She already playin’ with him.”
“He be mad as hell too,” I said. “He come runnin’, and soon as he touch my stomach she freeze up. He be like, ‘Toni she was just movin’, so what happen?’ and I be like, ‘Nigga I know, I felt it.’”
Pluto laughed, leanin’ back in her chair.
She had her hand on my stomach when the baby moved again, and she gasped like it surprised her even though she’d already felt it before.
“She only kick when she feel like it.”
I laughed and rubbed over the spot she’d just nudged. “She do, and she be trollin’ her daddy on purpose.”
Pluto grinned. “Cause she know he crazy.”
“She do,” I said, smilin’ down at my stomach. “Every time she start movin’, I be yellin’ for him like the house on fire, and by the time he get to me she stop. He be lookin’ at my stomach like she betrayed him.”
Pluto started laughin’. “He be takin’ it personal too.”
“Personal as hell,” I said. “He swear I’m lyin’ like I ain’t the one carryin’ her.”
The baby shifted again, softer this time, and my whole heart warmed up in a way that had nothin’ to do with laughter. I kept rubbin’ slow circles over my stomach while my mind drifted somewhere quieter.
It still felt crazy that I was this far along. I was twenty-two weeks, and over halfway there.
“I can’t believe I was scared to get pregnant by him,” I said, shakin’ my head at myself.
Pluto smirked. “You had reasons.”
“I did,” I admitted. “Cause that nigga is unhinged.”
She laughed. “That’s your husband.”
“I know,” I said, laughin’ too. “And that’s the crazy part. I was really sittin’ there thinkin’ like what if I bring a baby into this and he still wildin’.”
Pluto leaned her hip against the counter, watchin’ me close. “And now?”
I looked down at my stomach again, and my voice softened. “Now I get it.”
“What you mean?”
“Why he wanted this so bad,” I said. “It ain’t even just about havin’ a baby. It’s about buildin’ somethin’ that’s ours. Somethin’ bigger than the drama and the bullshit and the case.”
I slid my hand lower over my stomach and smiled to myself.
“She makes me feel complete,” I admitted. “Like I ain’t even know I was missin’ a piece of myself until she got here.”
Pluto’s expression changed then, less jokin’, and more real.
“I see it on you,” she said. “You different.”
“I am,” I said honestly. “And me and Kay’Lo different too. We stressed, yeah, but we ain’t been fightin’. We been ridin’ this shit out together. Lovin’ through it, kissin’ through it, fuckin’ through it. It’s like the closer they try to push us apart, the tighter we hold on.”
Pluto let out a laugh. “Y’all definitely holdin’ on, and I love that for y’all. It’s really beautiful, Toni. You’re beautiful. And now that you’re pregnant with a girl, Kay’Lo not gon’ play that shit.”
