We didn’t know the gender of our baby yet, so we just referred to him or her as bean. Tafari planned a party at& Ish Restaurantfor our close family and friends. Early this morning, our party planner and caterer went into the restaurant to set up. The theme was obviously beans. Our planner did an amazing job tying it all together.
The plan was for everyone to arrive before us. They would see the decor, and they would immediately know that I was pregnant. When we arrived, it would be a joyous occasion.
A part of me was still scared to tell people. I felt like if I told people that I would jinx myself in some way. I loved my bean so much. I felt them kick for the first time last week. You would have thought that I won the lottery. The best thing about it was when I called Tafari and told him about it, he left work and came over just to feel it. When he arrived, he had a small cake that was inscribed with the wordsBean’s First Kick.
The love, concern, and care that he showed toward me and our child made me love him more and more every day. I pressed down a little on my baby, and my bean rewarded me with a kick. I smiled, then responded to Tafari. “Yes, I’m ready.”
Mommy& Daddy Are Here . . .
There were shouts of joy and a few tears when we walked through the door of the restaurant. Mama Shayla was the first person to hug me with tears of joy. Papa Terell was right next to her. My mama wasn’t too far behind.
She cupped my face in her hands. “Thank you, baby. You don’t know how happy you done made me. God gonna bring my grand right ta us safe and sound.”
That caused the first tear to fall from my eye. Mama Shayla was a complex woman. She would pray for you and curse you out in the next sentence. If she loved you, then it was nothing that she wouldn’t do for you. She reminded me of my mother, except my mother would curse you out and not offer prayer.
“Bitch, I should kick your ass for not telling us!” Nicole fussed but tears streamed down her face. The smile that was plastered on her lips overshadowed the fussing.
She and Lacie engulfed me with hugs. I giggled. “God-mama number one and two, I’m sorry.”
They both pulled back from the hug, then gave each other a high-five. “Girl, we already knew that shit. Who else but us? Shit, we already knew you were pregnant anyway, no matter how hard you tried to hide that stomach.”
I erupted with laughter. “I’m not surprised at all that you two knew with y’all nosy asses. What gave it away for sure?”
They both snickered. I wasn’t sure what was so funny. They glanced at each other, then gave me a side eye. In unison, they said, “Waffle House.”
I sucked my teeth. They both knew that Waffle House was not my favorite place, but during every pregnancy I became obsessed with it. It was the same order every time, two eggs that were smothered, covered, and chunked with a regular side of bacon and a pecan waffle. I didn’t use their syrup though. My baby introduced me to strawberry syrup. I was hooked.
“Baby, come look what I got fa you!” Tafari yelled from the other side of the room. Whatever it was, I knew that it had to be good because his cheeks were high and his eyes sparkled from where I stood.
As I walked through the crowd, I was stopped and congratulated. Tafari’s family was huge compared to mine. It had always been mainly my mama and me. Like me, my mamawas an only child, and my father was a deadbeat. He popped up when it was cool for him until he didn’t.
When I finally got to where Tafari stood, he pulled me into the kitchen. I kissed his lips. “What do you have for me?”
He kissed my lips. “Oh, e ain’t nothin’ but ya favorite.”
When he moved over and I saw what he hid, I immediately felt tears. “Baby, oh my God. I love you so much.”
Chapter 7
Tafari
The Night Before
The Season To Be Mine . . .
“Yeah, ’cause ain’t nobody about to play wit’ that girl,” I said to Roy. “She knew what e been when she got da trespass notice. Dats betta den my mama knockin’ dat girl into a betta wig.”
I hated the fact that I had to even mention Charlotte’s stupid ass. Her ass kept coming to my restaurant to see me. I gave her a little bit of grace the first couple of times because she came in with a crew and they spent good money. She knew that I would try to preserve her dignity in front of other folks.
When she started to come in by herself, I had to shut her ass all the way down. It wasn’t a secret that I had a lil one, so she knew that she was out of pocket. The problem was that she didn’t seem to care. A few nights ago, she came to the restaurant and acted like a complete ass. My mama was about to legitimately fight her, so I had to call those boys on her. The whole thing about her acting an ass that didn’t make sense was that she had a fucking man. Her ass was big up and pregnant.
“Cuz, when ya mama told dat girl dat someone musta pushed in da soft spot on her head when she been a baby, I almost died.Ain’t no way ya mama said dat girl had stupid pushed in her head.” Jordan laughed so hard that he started to hiccup.
We were at Troy’s spot which was my old spot. Troy stayed with some chick, but she started to do the whole where they lived was in her name thing. It was time to get gone when a chick started to talk like that. I told him that I wanted to rent my place out since I planned to move in with Pril and he jumped at the opportunity. I wasn’t sure why he didn’t have his own spot anyway. It wasn’t like he couldn’t afford it.
I laughed because of a mixture of what my mama said and my cousin’s hiccups. “Y’all know my mama is no manners. She can’t stand dat girl, man.”
Troy sucked his teeth. “Man, nobody could stand dat girl. When you was wit’ da damn girl we couldn’t stand her. The sun rose when y’all broke up. Now dat you wit’ Pril e shines bright.”
