Then I heard somethin’ else…
It was a sound at the front door.
It was small at first, just enough to make me lift my head. Then it came again, and this time it sounded like the knob was jigglin’.
Sha’Nelle sat up straight. “You hear that?”
I was already pushin’ myself off the couch. My heart started poundin’ so hard it made my stomach feel hollow. For one wild second, I thought maybe it was police comin’ back with more questions or maybe somebody had found a way on the property or maybe this was just one more thing waitin’ to break me tonight.
I walked toward the door fast as my body would let me with one hand under my stomach and the other braced against the wall for balance. Sha’Nelle was right behind me, but I barely felt her there. All I could hear was my pulse in my ears.
I looked through the lil’ glass panel beside the door and my whole body went weak.
It was Kay’Lo.
I yanked that door open so fast my hand slipped on the handle. The second it swung wide enough for me to get through, I threw myself at him.
He caught me easy with one arm comin’ around my back and the other hand goin’ straight to my belly like his body had been missin’ us both all damn day. I wrapped my arms around his neck and started cryin’ before I could stop myself, and he kissed me deep right in the doorway.
I melted all into him. I ain’t care who saw. I ain’t care that my face was wet and swollen and ugly from cryin’. I ain’t care that Sha’Nelle was behind me or that this day had chewed me up and spit me out. All I cared about was that my husband was in front of me, warm and real, and holdin’ me like he promised he would.
His mouth moved slowly against mine, and his hand rubbed over my stomach in circles. I could feel the tension in him even through the way he was kissin’ me. He pulled back just enough to look at my face, and even though he looked tired and rough around the edges, he was still the finest thing I’d ever seen in my life.
“Told you I wasn’t gon’ be gone long, baby,” he murmured.
I let out a broken sound that might’ve been a laugh and might’ve been another cry, then I kissed him again and again and again ’cause I couldn’t help myself. My hands was all over his face, his chest, his neck and everywhere like I was checkin’ to make sure every part of him was still really here. He dropped his head and kissed My’Love through my shirt, and that right there damn near took me out ’cause it was so him. All this chaos, and all he cared about first was touchin’ me and his baby.
I clutched his face and kissed all over him, his mouth, his cheek, his jaw, and I ain’t even care how desperate I probablylooked ’cause I had been sittin’ in this house all day, thinkin’ every ugly thought in the world, and now he was here.
Then, I heard footsteps behind him…
I lifted my head and looked past Kay’Lo’s shoulder. A tall, white dude was walkin’ up behind him.
I frowned and looked back at Kay’Lo, confused as hell. Before I could even ask, Kay’Lo slid his hand over my stomach again and said, low and calm,
“Baby, this my potna… Kelli.”
Trill-Land, ’LoLux Estate
“Kelli?” Toni asked, lookin’ between me and him like she was tryna piece some shit together that wasn’t quite clickin’ yet.
I kept my hand low on her stomach, my thumb movin’ slow over her through my shirt she was wearin’ while I glanced back at him.
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s him.”
Kelli stepped up and reached his hand out to her, keepin’ it respectful. “Nice to finally meet you,” he said. “Heard a lot about you.”
Toni hesitated for a second like she was unsure, and I could see it all over her face that she was tryna figure out why the hell he was even here, but she still reached out and shook his hand.“All good things, I hope,” she said, her tone even, but it carried that quiet question under it.
He gave a small nod. “Only the kind that matter.”
She let his hand go and shifted a lil’ closer to me without even thinkin’ about it, like her body needed to feel me right here while her mind was still tryna catch up. I slid my arm around her waist, pullin’ her into my side while I looked over at Sha’Nelle.
“Sha’Nelle… this Kelli,” I said. “He good.”
Sha’Nelle looked him over real quick, then stepped forward and held her hand out. “Oh, okay. Nice to meet you.”
Kelli took it, and I caught how he held it just a second too long. It wasn’t long enough to make a scene, but the shit was long enough for a nigga to clock it. My eyes flicked to Sha’Nelle for a second before I let that shit go.
