I held up my hands and batted it away. “What!”
“She refused to marry you for your money.” She was quiet for a moment. “She might have wanted to marry you for everything it would give her and her unborn child, but shecouldn’t do it. Don’t you see? She risked everything, the golden goose, to be honest with you.” Her lips fell into a wry smile. “Sounds like she loves you too much to betray you.”
My lips parted. “You think so?”
“I know, hard to believe someone would love you,” she tossed back. “Cockblocker.”
I rolled my eyes at her, then sobered. “You really think that?”
“What did she tell you when she came clean?”
Jada’s words echoed through my mind.I fell for you.“Holy shit...” I whispered.
“There you go,” Maya said with a satisfied smirk. “Now you have another decision to make.”
I looked at her for clarification.
“Do you love her too?”
“It’s not that simple,” I said. “This isn’t about Jada and me. Not anymore.”
“So are you saying there’s an ‘us’?” The hope was clear in her voice.
I didn’t have an answer. Not yet.
39.Jada
I couldn’t bringmyself to go inside right away. Instead, I wrapped my shawl around myself and walked the sidewalks. The neighborhood was quiet, sans the hum of sporadically placed streetlights and the crack of my wedge heels against the cement.
I used to avoid heels and slouch on dates, but being with Bryce made me stand taller. And his height helped me not feel like I towered over everyone. Or at least that we towered over them together.
A heavy sigh passed through my lips as I turned the corner and continued walking the empty sidewalk. Would my little girl be tall like me? From what I remembered of her dad, he was around my height. The odds were good.
Maybe she would play volleyball. That made me smile—thinking of teaching her to play, watching her games one day. I hoped she liked the sport, because sitting and watching other sports just wasn’t the same, and I always struggled to stay awake in a dark theater.
But who would come with me to the volleyball games? My heart ached to think Glamma wouldn’t be around to join me and that all of my family would be gone.
The ache quickly formed tears along my lashes, and I wiped them away. I was done hiding this pregnancy from Glamma. I wanted to share as much of it with her as possible.
So I turned myself around and started walking back toward the house. No matter what Bryce decided, I wasn’t alone. Glamma was here for me, and my parents were with me in spirit.
The front porch light glowed over the door, a dumb moth bouncing against it.
A million worries flashed through my mind.
What if she judged me for being a single mother?
What if she wasn’t happy to get a new granddaughter?
What if we couldn’t find a way to make it work financially without sacrificing the things that brought Glamma the most joy?
My eyes fluttered closed as I took a deep breath.Equal airtime, I thought. I needed to give myself the chance to think of good things too.
What if Glammawashappy for me?
What if this gave her the reason she needed to stop online shopping so much?
What if Bryce decided he wanted me and this baby and we lived happily ever after?
