Chapter 25
Trill-Land, Jungle Estate
Two weeks later…
Kay’Lo was in court for another hearing this mornin’, and I was at Pluto’s tryin’ not to lose my damn mind while actin’ like I was calm.
Usually, I was right there with my husband, sittin’ behind him in that courtroom, starin’ at the back of his neck and prayin’ nobody say the wrong shit, but Kay’Lo told me a couple weeks ago that I wasn’t comin’ no more.
I wanted to fight him on it ‘cause I felt like that was my place, beside my man, but at the same time I was twenty-two weeks pregnant now and I knew he ain’t play about me, so I let him have that one even though I ain’t like sittin’ on the sidelines.
Pressure and Renza went with him like always, and Pluto stayed behind with me ‘cause she knew I was the type to sit here and spiral if I was alone too long. It was early, the sun barely up, and her house was quiet in that rich, peaceful way that made you feel like you was supposed to be relaxed, but my nerves ain’t care how pretty the house was.
I was sittin’ at her kitchen island with a glass of orange juice in front of me, rubbin’ my stomach without even realizin’ I was doin’ it, and Pluto was across from me watchin’ me like she already knew what was goin’ on in my head.
“You good?” she asked.
“I’m tired,” I said, leanin’ back in the chair and exhalin’. “I’m either ready for them to start this damn trial already or throw the whole case out. This in between shit is worse than anything.”
She nodded slow. “I get that.”
“Like make it make sense,” I went on. “They keep draggin’ it and draggin’ it, and every time we think we close to a date, somethin’ else come up.”
Pluto rested her chin in her hand. “But the footage being missing is a big deal though.”
“I know it is,” I said. “That’s the only thing keepin’ me from crashin’ out. ‘Cause if that footage from his shop really can’t be recovered, and they can show somebody tampered with it, the whole case gon’ start lookin’ funny as hell.”
She smirked a lil’. “Funny like dismissed funny!”
“Funny like somebody lied funny,” I said, shakin’ my head. “Ain’t no way all them cameras in that shop just magically miss what they need. That ain’t coincidence.”
Pluto gave me that look like she agreed.
“I’m just hopin’ his lawyers can tear that shit apart,” I added. “They already prolonged settin’ a trial date ‘cause of it, so at least we got that.”
“Exactly,” she said. “More time for them to find cracks.”
I sighed and pressed my hand over my stomach again, and right when I did, ‘Lo’Lo moved.
I froze and looked down.
“There she go,” I said soft, a smile creepin’ up before I could stop it.
Pluto leaned forward quick. “She kickin’?”
“Yeah,” I whispered, pressin’ my palm there. “She been movin’ lately.”
I swear every time she move, everything else fade for a second. The case, the stress, the court dates, all of it.
Pluto slid her chair closer and reached over careful. “Aww, let me feel baby ‘Lo.”
“Look,” I said, guidin’ her hand to the spot.
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.”
“Yes, bitch. You already know how he is,” I said, grinnin’. “He be lookin’ at my stomach like it’s the most important thing in the world. Like I’m carryin’ the cure to cancer or somethin’, bitch.”
Pluto laughed. “Cause to him, you are.”
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t hide my smile.
“He about to be ridiculous over My’Love,” she added. “Like scary ridiculous.”
“Bitch, you think he ain’t?” I shot back immediately.
Pluto bent over laughin’. “He gon’ be fightin’ you over her.”
“He already do,” I said. “He don’t even say ‘our.’ He just be rubbin’ my stomach talkin’ ’bout, ‘My daughter.’ Like I’m just holdin’ her for him.”
Pluto wiped her eyes. “That man waited his whole life for a daughter.”
“I know,” I replied, and that part make my heart feel heavy in a good way.
For a second I got quiet, and it wasn’t awkward, it was just one of those moments where the jokes settle and the truth sit there between you.
“I’m glad he got her,” I said softly. “I’m glad she came to us.”
Pluto nodded slow. “She already changing him.”
“She is,” I agreed. “You think he protectin’ me now? Wait til she get here. He gon’ lose his damn mind.”
Pluto smiled. “And you love that.”
“I do,” I said, rubbin’ my stomach again while my baby shifted under my hand. “‘Cause underneath all that crazy, he just wanted somethin’ pure, and My’Love is that.”
We kept talkin’ like that for hours, goin’ from serious to jokin’ and back again, and every time my mind tried to drift back to that courtroom I forced it somewhere else.
Then my phone rang.
Soon as I saw Kay’Lo’s name on the screen, my stomach flipped, and not from the baby.
“Hey, baby?”
“Baby,” he said, his voice low and heavy.
That low tone told me everything wasn’t sunshine in there.
“How it go?” I asked, tryna keep my voice even.
He exhaled. “Same shit.”
“What you mean?”
“That footage still ain’t been recovered,” he said. “Judge said without it, they can’t move forward like they planned, so they pushed the next date back another month.”
“Another month?” I repeated.
“Yeah,” he muttered. “They say they need more time.”
I closed my eyes for a second. “Okay.”
“I’m on my way home,” he added.
“I’ll meet you there,” I said quick.
“A’ight.”
“I love you,” I told him.
“I love you too,” he said, softer this time.
When the call ended, I stared at my phone for a second ‘cause I knew my husband. I knew when he was givin’ me the summary version and when he was holdin’ the rest inside. There wasn’t no tellin’ what else they laid on him in that courtroom, what arguments got thrown around and what words got said.
Pluto watched my face. “He good?”
“They pushed it back another month,” I said.
She shook her head. “This shit crazy.”
“Yeah,” I replied, rubbin’ my stomach again. “And I know it’s more he ain’t sayin’.”
She stood up and wrapped her arms around me careful. “Go be with him.”
“I am,” I said.
I grabbed my purse and headed out. A few minutes later I was in my car, drivin’ through the open gates and back home to my husband, my hand restin’ over my stomach while I tried to prepare myself for whatever mood he was in.
When I finally made it home to ‘Lo, I walked straight into his arms. He was already standin’ there waitin’ on me when I came through the door, and the minute he saw me he pulled me in so tight my purse slid down my shoulder.
His arms wrapped around my back and his face buried into the side of my neck like he had been holdin’ himself together all day and now he could finally breathe again.
Neither one of us said a word about court.
We both knew that whole situation was heavy, and the last thing either of us wanted was to bring that shit into our house the second we saw each other.
Instead he lifted my chin with his finger and kissed me slow, and the way he did it made the whole day melt right off my shoulders.