Chapter 20

20

E yela

Two Weeks Later

“I’m not sure why you’re so nervous, princess.” My eyes rolled at the sound of Mommy’s words. While I was a nervous wreck, she was excited. “This was one of the main goals of the marriage.”

“Well yes but still. What if I’m not pregnant? What if I am? Am I ready to be someone’s mother?”

She chuckled. “You were just excited about the possibility. What’s changed?”

As I scratched my ear, I sighed. She’d come over to keep me company while I baked a cake for Karrington. My period was late, and that hadn’t happened since I gave him my virginity. When I first realized it, I was excited and immediately called her. Now, my nerves were getting the best of me. The puppies would be here in December, and I felt like I could fail with them. I couldn’t fail with a human baby. Even though I could vocalize why I was feeling how I was feeling, I didn’t want her trying to give me a pep talk to change my mind. I wanted to feel it because that would be the only way I’d do whatever it took not to let it happen.

When she realized I wasn’t going to respond, she walked over, squeezed my shoulders, and kissed my cheek.

“You are ready. Even if you aren’t, that baby is gonna come. You won’t be alone. I’ll be with you every step of the way. I know I wasn’t a perfect mother, but no one is. What matters most is that you love that baby, nurture and guide them, and make better choices for them than were made for you. That’s how our bloodline gets stronger and better.”

Nodding, I smiled as my eyes watered. “Thanks, Mommy. You weren’t perfect because you’re right, no one is, but I wouldn’t trade you and Daddy for any other parents in the world.”

I set the icing on the island so I could hug her back fully. Once I got the cake iced, we headed into the spa to be pampered, then she left. I decided to take a quick nap before Karrington came home. He’d been super busy checking in with the teams and getting ready for the ceremony in October. I wanted this news to make him happy, and I hoped he hadn’t changed his mind about giving our marriage a real chance. He hadn’t been as flighty, but that month of avoiding me had traumatized me. All I could do was hope he never did it again.

The Test

“Little one.”

Karrington’s voice and his gentle touch coaxed me out of my sleep. “Hmm?”

“Uh… Is there something you need to tell me? Why is there a pink and blue cake on the island in the kitchen?”

My eyes popped open, and I sat up so quickly I almost head butted him. “I overslept. What time is it?”

Chuckling, Karrington followed me as I dashed out of our bedroom. I didn’t feel like I had any symptoms really, but I had been more tired than usual. At first, I thought it was PMS until my period never came.

“Eyela…”

“I wanted to surprise you,” I whined. “I had this cute little speech. I was going to pour you a shot of whisky and tell you we were either going to celebrate or—”

Karrington scooped me up into his arms. “Baby, stop, and take a deep breath for me.” I did. “Now… Are you pregnant?”

Shrugging, I played with the hairs on his chin. “I don’t know. I think so. I was waiting for you to get home to take the tests.”

“Plural?” he asked, turning and heading back to our bedroom.

“Yes.”

“How many did you buy, Eyela?”

“Just three. I wanted different brands to be sure.”

“Okay, so let’s go take them then.”

For some reason, him being here didn’t make me feel as nervous as I was when it was me and Mommy. He didn’t put me down until we were in the bathroom. I waited for him to leave so I could pee, but he didn’t. Chuckling, I opened the tests.

“You’re going to stand there while I pee?”

“I guess so. I’m too excited to leave. You want me to leave?”

Blushing, I shook my head. “Don’t get too excited though. I might not be pregnant.”

“If you aren’t, it’s okay. It’ll happen when it’s time.”

“I thought you’d be more anxious about the baby since it’s part of why we had to get married in the first place.”

“I was in the beginning, but I love you, so I don’t care as much. Just having you is enough for me, whether we have a baby any time soon or not.”

He said it so casually I wasn’t sure he’d processed what he said. Setting the tests on the counter, I turned to face him.

“You love me?”

His eyes shifted as he released a boyish chuckle. Karrington licked his lips before he slowly sauntered over to me. “I didn’t plan on telling you like this… but yes.” He cupped my cheek and tilted my head. As he looked into my eyes he declared, “I love you, little one.”

I wanted to blame it on my out of whack hormones, but the truth was, my eyes were watering because of the joy that filled me from hearing those words.

“I love you too, baby. Thank you.”

Chuckling, Karrington set me on the counter. “You don’t have to thank me for loving you, baby.”

“Yes I do. You don’t have to, and I appreciate that you do.”

“In that case…” He gave me a sweet, tender kiss. “Thank you for loving me too. Now take these tests and tell me you’re having my baby.”

As he helped me off the counter, I giggled. “Okay.”

I had to pee since I’d been sleep longer than expected, so that wasn’t a problem. We waited in silence. He sounded calm, but as he stared at the floor and chewed his cheek, I couldn’t imagine what racing thoughts had filled his mind. When his alarm chimed, we both took small steps toward the counter.

“You look,” I told him. “I’m going to cry.”

“Already?” he teased with a light laugh.

“Yes. I don’t know if they’ll be happy or sad tears though. Tell me.”

His comfortable smile remained as he picked up each test. When he turned to face me, his eyes were watery. I didn’t want to get too excited, so I held my breath and waited for him to confirm.

“They should be happy tears.” He released a shaky breath and quickly wiped a tear of his own. “You’re pregnant. We’re going to have a baby.”

“Ah!” I squealed as he picked me up. “Really? Oh my God. I can’t believe it!”

“As much as I cum in you?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Still! When it didn’t happen immediately… I don’t know. But yay! We’re going to have a baby!”

Our lips connected, and in no time, cake and whisky was the last thing on my mind. We celebrated the conception of our baby making love, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

One Month Later

I wanted to go home. I didn’t want to leave in the first place. With me being pregnant, I really didn’t want to go to Mia’s birthday party since it was at a club. I didn’t want to hear her mouth about me acting funny, so I came. Karrington purchased her a VIP table so we wouldn’t have to be in the crowd on the lower level, which I appreciated, but she hadn’t even bothered to say thank you. I said I would stay out for at least two hours before going back home, and she’d have to be okay with that.

“How are you feeling, mama?” Tina asked, rubbing my stomach.

“Fine. I’m ready to go, though.”

“I feel you. Her man acts like he just has to smoke over here. I told him you were pregnant. Of course he doesn’t care.”

I chuckled as she rolled her eyes. “It’s fine, Tina. I won’t be here for too much longer.”

“Baddie baddie shot o’clock!” Zara yelled, heading in our direction with a new bottle of DUSSé. When she left, I didn’t think it was to get a new bottle, but I wasn’t surprised. The girl could drink dark liquor like it was water.

After she gave Mia and Tina shots, she extended the bottle to me and Carma.

“Now you know she’s pregnant,” my cousin said, pushing the bottle away from me.

Zara sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Aw yeah. I forgot.”

“I don’t know why she came anyway just to be boring,” Mia said with a pout as she flipped her forty inch bundles over her shoulder.

“She came because you asked her to,” Carma said. “The fuck is wrong with you?”

I grabbed her hand. While I was the soft spoken one between the two of us, Carma had no filter whatsoever. “It’s fine, cuz. Let’s just go.”

As I stood, Frasier immediately made his way over to me. “Nah. If we’re about to go, then she needs to take her ass downstairs. She’s only in this VIP section because of you and your husband. And her ungrateful ass didn’t even say thank you, but she’s been making videos and going live bragging about it.”

“Bitch, who do you think you’re—”

Before Mia could finish, Carma was popping her in her mouth. The moment Zara tried to jump in, all hell broke loose. One minute, I was gripping Zara’s hair to pull her back, fully prepared to pummel her face for even thinking about putting her hands on my cousin. The next, I was being lifted in the air by Frasier while Steel peeled Carma off Mia. Tina and Faith walked behind us as Mia yelled about how she never should have invited me because I ruined everything.

“Are you trying to get us killed?” Frasier scolded as he carried me out. “Your husband will literally have my head if he knew I let you swing at somebody while you were pregnant. Hell, at all.”

“He doesn’t have to know.” Truth was, I didn’t want him to know, because I was pretty sure I’d get in trouble too.

Frasier didn’t smile with his mouth, but I saw the amusement in his eyes as he looked down at me. “He does, and I’m going to tell him. You have the ride home to prepare.”

With a groan, I looked over at Carma. “This is all your fault.”

“Girl, bye. Did you really think I was going to let her talk to you like that?”

“I could have handled it without things getting physical.”

“Good for you, Mother Theresa, but I don’t play that shit. She disrespected you and I responded accordingly. They treat you like they don’t know who you are, and they needed a reminder.”

All I could do was shake my head. There was no talking sense into that girl, especially with Tina and Faith cosigning her.

A Few Hours Later

Frasier gave me grace by taking Carma home first. We weren’t even able to park good before Karrington was storming over to the car and yanking the door open. His large hand wrapped around my neck, and he hurriedly pulled me out of the car. After tossing me over his shoulder, he carried me inside. Once he had my feet planted on the tile in the living room, he inspected me. It already felt weird being under his scrutiny, but what made it worse was we weren’t alone.

Dauterive, Dallas, Neo, Innvy, Whiskee, Malaysia, and her sister Enjell were here too, and I wasn’t sure why.

“I better not see a fucking hair out of place or I’m burying both of their asses tonight,” Karrington grumbled, and though it was clear he was serious, I covered my mouth and fought to keep my chuckle in. “The hell were you thinking trying to fight while you’re pregnant with my baby? You shouldn’t be fighting at all. I employ people to handle your problems.”

“How did you feel when Loki said something similar to you?”

His eyes tightened as he scowled. “Now is not the time to play, Eyela.”

“I’m not playing. I wasn’t about to let them jump my cousin, especially because she was defending me.”

“I understand that, but you still didn’t have to get involved. Tina and Faith were there and so were your guards.” My eyes rolled as I crossed my arms over my chest. If he was waiting for me to say I was wrong, it wasn’t going to happen. “You don’t have anything to say?” I shook my head and he chuckled. “If something would have happened to you or my baby—”

“I know how to defend myself, Karrington. I don’t fight but I can. She wouldn’t have been able to land a punch.”

“That’s not the point!” he roared, causing me to jump. “That’s not a risk you get to take. You see these women behind you—” He pointed toward them. “They are the only ones I want you hanging with now. They are the only ones I trust you with. I don’t know how I feel about Tina and Faith because they are cool with them other two.”

“Believe it or not, I don’t want to be their friend anymore. Mia and Zara at least. They’ve been weird ever since we got married and I can’t deny it after tonight.”

“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page about that.” He tore his eyes away from me. “Malaysia and Dallas about to go beat their asses. Say thank you, then come upstairs. I don’t think you realize how upset I am with you, but I know how to show you.”

“Wait. No. Y’all don’t have to do that.”

Malaysia stood and kissed my cheek. “I love to fight, and I hate bullies. I got you, sis.”

Enjell rolled her eyes and chuckled. “She’s telling the truth. You would think having a baby would have calmed her wild ass down but it in fact has not.”

“It’s actually made her worse,” Dallas said. “You know how being a mom makes some women warm nurturers? It’s done the opposite for her. She takes protecting her baby and man to a whole new level now, and then overflow of that ripples down to us. We can’t take her nowhere.”

I laughed and we continued to chat. It felt good talking to them. I never really talked to them a lot when we were in the same space because it was difficult for me to make new friends, but they always made me feel welcomed.

The sound of Karrington calling my name interrupted our conversation. I thanked them all for pulling up as they headed out, then I went upstairs for what I was sure would be a very pleasurable punishment.