Chapter 10 #3
I hung up after that and stood there for a second, lettin’ that shit settle in me before I turned around and went right back to my wife.
Hours kept passin’ after that, and nothin’ really changed except the pain gettin’ worse. The pool wasn’t doin’ what we thought it would, and Toni was startin’ to get irritated, shiftin’ around, tryna get comfortable but nothin’ was really helpin’.
I had called Sha’Nelle earlier to let her know what was goin’ on, and ever since then my phone ain’t stopped buzzin’. She kept textin’ every few minutes askin’ for updates, and I kept tellin’ her the same shit, that Toni was still in labor and we was just waitin’.
By the time I checked my phone again, it was 11:30, and that shit felt like it took forever to get here.
More calls started comin’ in too, with family checkin’ in and askin’ questions, but I wasn’t really entertainin’ none of it for real. My focus stayed on Toni.
By 12:30, I had checked the time so many times it ain’t even feel real no more. I had ended up gettin’ in the pool with her, sittin’ behind her with her body leaned back against mine with my legs on either side of her while I held her close.
My lips stayed at the side of her neck, kissin’ her slow between contractions, breathin’ her in and tryna keep her grounded through all of it.
“I’m right here, baby… just lean on me,” I murmured against her skin, my hand slidin’ over her stomach while she breathed through another wave.
My mama phone rang after a while, and she stepped out to take it, sayin’ it was my pops, so it was just me and Toni in the room.
For a minute, it was quiet except for her breathin’ and the water movin’ around us, and I stayed right here with her, holdin’ her, kissin’ her neck and rubbin’ her stomach.
Then Toni shifted a lil’, her body tense again.
“Kay’Lo…” she whispered, her voice shaky.
“Yes, baby?” I asked quick.
“She movin’… it feel different,” she said, her breath pickin’ up.
I frowned a lil’, not really understandin’ what she meant. “What you mean?”
Before she could answer, that next contraction hit her harder than anything before, and the sound that came out her mouth made me freeze for a second ’cause I ain’t never heard a sound like this in my life.
“Kay’Lo…” she cried out, her whole body lockin’ up. “She comin’… she comin’!”
That shit hit me all at once, and I moved quick, reachin’ for my phone to call my mama, but before I could even dial, Toni screamed so loud it threw everything off and made me snap my attention right back to her.
When I looked down between her legs, I saw blood rushin’ out into the water in a way that made my whole body lock for a split second before reality caught up with me.
Before my mind could even catch up with what was happenin’, I looked down and saw my baby right there under the water with a head full of dark hair already visible, and that sight hit me so fast it made my heart drop.
It felt like everything around me slowed down but the moment kept movin’ whether I was ready for it or not.
“Hold on… hold on,” I muttered, leanin’ forward, my hands movin’ without me even thinkin’.
All I could see was my baby under the water, and in my head all I could think was that she wasn’t supposed to be under there like that.
I reached in without hesitatin’ and brought her up out the water.
The second her weight settled into my hands, everything around me faded in a way I can’t even explain, ’cause all that mattered in this moment was the fact that she was real and she was right here with me. My baby was finally in my hands.
Her little body fit in my hands in a way that ain’t even make sense. Her skin was slick, her face small and so damn pretty, and that head full of hair had me starin’ at her like I couldn’t believe what I was holdin’.
My mama rushed back in right then, movin’ quick, her voice calm but urgent as she stepped in to take control of what needed to be done.
Toni was breathin’ heavy, lookin’ overwhelmed, like everything just hit her at once, and I stayed right here with her, my eyes goin’ between her and my daughter like I couldn’t pick where to look.
Then my baby cried, and the sound hit me different.
That shit went straight through me, and before I even realized it, my eyes was fillin’ up.
“Yeah… yeah…” I murmured, my voice low as hell, and my hands holdin’ her careful. “I got you mama. Daddy got you…”
My mama moved around us, handlin’ everything else, and I stayed locked in right where I was, still in the water with Toni, and still holdin’ my daughter like I had been waitin’ my whole life for this exact moment.
Tears started slidin’ down my face before I could even think to stop ‘em, and I ain’t make no move to hide it neither, ’cause I already knew this wasn’t one of them moments where I was supposed to hold myself together.
Not when everything in me was finally lettin’ go at once and hittin’ me with the reality that this right here was different from anything I had ever felt before.
My mama came closer after a minute, her eyes glossy as she looked at my baby, then at me, and she leaned in and wrapped her arms around me, pressin’ a kiss to the top of my head.
“I’m so proud of you, son,” she said real soft.
I nodded, still lookin’ down at my daughter, my heart feelin’ full in a way I couldn’t even explain.
“My baby…” I murmured, my thumb brushin’ over her tiny face.
At 1:11pm…
My’Love Toni Mensah was finally here.