Chapter 17
Jade
My shop was set to open this week and I was over the moon.
Maybe that wasn’t the only reason I was over the moon, but it added to my mood.
The second thing adding to my mood was the fact that we were currently at the doctor to confirm what the grocery store tests told us.
Who knew I’d bag the nonchalant chef with the dark eyes?
Damn sure not me. I wasn’t the girl who got the guy, definitely not the man like Oden, but I did.
Monday sped its way through, and before I knew it, both Oden and I were sitting in this waiting room.
While he looked through his phone at paperwork for a deal Lois had sent him, I was feeling nostalgic.
It wasn’t long ago that I was tipsy and half joking with Ava about a one-night stand, now here I was waiting to confirm a pregnancy with a man who had literally appeared out of nowhere.
It was strange how letting go and focusing on other things brought desires and fate to the forefront.
When Oden and I started this journey, the last thing I was thinking about was a baby, if anything I was thinking about us.
My love for Oden happened fast, so fast that of course I second guessed it at first, but who wouldn’t?
What helped was the fact that I was never able to sit with my second guessing, but instead I was forced to let it happen.
By Oden being a man, like a real man and not some pissy ass little boy, he didn’t allow me to stress.
It feels like since we started this he’d been picking up my shit and putting it on his back.
Like I said, Oden was a real man, not some play man either.
“Jade Hines?” A feminine voice pulled me from my thoughts. I looked up and my eyes landed on the nurse standing in the doorway. A million thoughts traveled through my mind before I finally responded. I didn’t know what the hell I feared because I wanted this.
We were seated in the small examining room alone for a minute before the nurse returned with a small cup and a smile. I knew the drill, pee in it, but this time was different. This time it wasn’t a checkup, but instead them making sure the home tests had given the right results.
I peed in the cup and left it where she told me before meeting Oden in the room. I felt his eyes the moment I entered. When I looked at him, he was smiling.
“Why you looking nervous, baby?” he asked, reaching for my waist and pulling me into his lap.
“Because I am.”
“For what?” Those massive arms wrapped around me were enough to erase the doubt. They were enough to keep me present and not overthinking.
I didn’t speak at first, instead relishing in the feel of being in his arms. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just overprocessing.”
“Which you shouldn’t be.”
“True. It’s just funny how for a while I really wanted to be a mom. Like really, but then things didn’t happen like they were supposed to, so I put it off. Then boom, we get together and the furthest thing from my mind is having a baby, but here we are.”
He tightened his arms around me. “Because this shit is meant. Regardless of time and circumstance, this right here is happening how it’s supposed to. Me, you, an?—"
“And Aja. Whenever she wants to deal with us,” I finished for him.
“Just like that.”
Exactly fifteen minutes later, that same nurse confirmed the news. Things happened fast after that, because before I knew it, we were in a dark room staring at a black and white screen while she rubbed a cold gel and wand-like mechanism against my abdomen.
“I estimate you’re at the end of your ninth week, which puts you just over two months.”
My eyes immediately went to Oden, both amazement and shock lived in them. Time went extremely fast when you were with the person you were meant to be with.
“Two months?” he repeated with a smile.
The doctor nodded. “Yes, and we need to keep mom in tip top shape, which means no stress, no strenuous activity, and most of all, let’s ramp up the nutrients.”
I felt tears in my eyes while my heart beat out of my chest uncontrollably.
It was like my body was just now realizing what my mind had been trying to process.
For the remainder of the appointment, I just listened while Oden took the lead.
I just watched. I felt like a passenger in my body, unable to really speak but seeing and hearing everything.
Happiness surrounded me, because for once I wasn’t nervous or waiting for the other shoe to drop.
When we left the doctor’s office, we headed to the pharmacy to put in my prescription then to his restaurant. He wasn’t cooking tonight but wanted to drop off the stuff for tomorrow night. I was fine passenger princessing since I had technically cleared my entire schedule for the appointment.
My phone vibrated in my lap while I stared at the sonogram.
When I picked it up, I peeped a message from Indiri in the family group chat.
He was the most random nigga, because no one ever knew when he was in town or even free.
Any and every time he was included, it was always a random ass day of the week.
Indiri: I’m in town. Anybody got plans and who’s cooking?
Rennix: Not me. We in the city tonight though. G, wbu?
G: Being parents. Niggas got responsibilities. Ol’ random ass nigga.
I shook my head, reading the text before clicking the plus icon in my messages, then the camera. I guess I could share my good news with my family and have them blowing up my line in a minute. I snapped a photo of the sonogram and pressed send.
“You telling your folks?” Oden’s voice snatched my attention from the phone to him. He had just pulled into a gas station.
“Might as well. At least I’m not breaking it to them over family dinner or some random stuff like that.”
Oden laughed, opening the car door once he parked. “Aight. You want something out of here?”
“Yeah, a big gulp with Coca-Col—” My phone was ringing already. I glanced at my phone and of course it was Reminisce calling. He hadn’t responded to one message but had called.
“Yes, Rem,” I answered sweetly, watching Oden walk toward the station.
“I fucking told you. Straight up. I told them niggas and you that you were popped off. Now they’re about be salty as fuck because I was right.”
I cackled as my phone vibrated more in my hand. When I pulled it away from my ear, I saw it was a FaceTime from the family chat.
“Answer them. But I’m looking for a namesake or something, especially since I called it.” He hung up before I could respond and I answered the FaceTime.
“Yo, whose sonogram was that?” G was quick.
“Hers, fool. You didn’t see her name at the top o? Yeah, you probably need some glasses,” Rennix responded, cheesing into the camera. “So, you really be out here fucking, huh?”
I nearly choked on the spit in my mouth. “What is wrong with you?” I asked through a fit of coughs.
“Nothing, ’cause I’m wondering the same damn thing,” Indiri said. I hated that we had yet to tell him, but then again, him losing his father last year made it less of a necessity. Plus, him knowing or not knowing didn’t add or take away from our closeness.
“Whatever. Now that that’s out of the way, who is cooking? I might come through,” I joked, knowing damn well I wasn’t going to miss it.
“Hell nah. You of all people better be here, because you got me majorly fucked up. We got to talk,” G’s fake hostile ass said.
“Oh damn,” I answered just before Oden knocked on the window, holding my soda. I didn’t realize he was back because I was all into the conversation with these fools.
“Thank you, baby.” I beamed as he handed me the massive foam cup.
I pulled the straw from the paper and stabbed it into the top of my cup while these fools bickered back and forth about who was bringing what. I let them go on and on while my mind went back to what my life was becoming.
Oden didn’t think he was perfect, but to me, he was.
I didn’t think anything could remove him from the pedestal I had unintentionally placed him on, because regardless of what he believed, it was where he belonged.
Oden deserved unconditional love and heightened assurance, no matter what he had done in his past. Though I had absolutely no idea what the future held, I had every intention of being what he needed.
Because for the people you loved, you did what was necessary.