Chapter 8 #2
I watched her walk to the door and waited to see if her reaction would be audible. It was. A loud shriek resonated before she quickly appeared in the doorway of the family room.
“You have to stop doing this, Brix!” she scolded, but I couldn’t take her seriously with that grin on her face.
“Doing what?”
Before she could respond, several college-aged delivery people walked into the house carrying vases of pink bouquets.
“Just sit them down on any flat surface except the dining table,” I directed.
Mrs. Upton walked into the room and saw the flowers being placed around the open-concept space. She stood on her tiptoes to give me a hug. I bent down and embraced her.
“I’m so glad that Ryann’s taking this journey with you, Brix. Thank you for being so good to her.”
“Of course. She’s my little sister, too.” As we pulled away from each other, Mrs. Upton looked up at me. And the look she had in her eyes, paired with the way she twisted her lips, made me chuckle. “What?”
“Your little sister?” That was all she said before walking back into the kitchen.
After we ate, it was still early. Ryann and I took Mocha for a walk before we ended up on two lounge chairs by my pool. I waited for her to stretch out and get comfortable.
“You good? You need anything?”
“I’m fine. Y’all have to stop treating me like I’m precious when I’m one day pregnant. There will be time for that when I’m all big and swollen.”
I chuckled and watched Mocha circle both of our lounge chairs, before hopping up on Ryann’s and resting her head on Ryann’s thigh.
“Thank you for this… getaway, Brix. I know you planned it just in case the test came back negative, but it’s even better now that the test has come back positive.
Being here with everybody filling up on all of the love and well-wishes, knowing my child is gonna be surrounded by this kind of care and concern makes my heart happy. ”
“I’m glad to do it. Anything you need, just let me know. If I can make it happen without having to do a bid behind it, I’ll make it happen.”
She giggled. “Can I tell you something?”
“Yeah.”
“I have you in my phone as Solid Brix. You know why? Because even before we started doing this process together, I always knew you were solid. I always knew that you were the kind of man who stood on business and that your word was your bond. If I could’ve chosen anybody to father a child with me, you definitely would’ve made the top five. ”
I had to laugh at that. “Damn. Okay. I don’t know whether to be flattered or offended. Top five. Depending on perspective, that’s kinda high.”
We both laughed.
“Who’s all on this list?”
“Jalen Hurts, but he’s married now. So, there’s that. Steph Curry. Also married.”
“Should I read something into the fact that all of us are light-skinned? Are light-skinned brothers making a comeback? You know we’re not always in fashion.”
We laughed again.
“No, don’t read anything into it, because rounding out the list are Kofi Siriboe and Damson Idris.”
“Okay. Two athletes, two actors. Regular dudes just don’t do it for you, huh?”
We laughed again, then fell into an easy silence.
“Yo.” My voice was quiet, volume low. “I feel, I don’t know, lucky…
blessed to be doing this with you. I love the relationship that your parents have.
I love the relationship that you all have with your parents.
When CJ and I were rooming together in college, they used to come down—they were just cool.
I like that you were raised in a healthy home.
You know what that looks like and you’ll give that to the baby. ”
She swept Mocha into her arms, then stood up and handed me her phone. “Take a picture, Brix. I wanna chronicle this journey on my socials.”
She sat on the edge of the pool, her feet dangling in the water, holding Mocha against her and wearing a huge smile. Her sunglasses and the peace sign she was holding up with her free hand had her looking like the epitome of the girl-next-door.
“Swimming pool Barbie,” she sang as I snapped the picture.
She was a black Barbie, but prettier, even. I handed her back her phone. “I want to get a picture of you, too. Not your face, just some non-identifying marker.” She paused. “Not that I expect you to be a secret or anything. I just want to be, I don’t know, cryptic.”
“What do you want a picture of?”
She eyed me critically as she moved around the lounge chair. “The hands. Holding a basketball.”
“I have identifiable hand tats, love.”
“I’ll blur them out. Do you have a basketball here?” She paused. “I know you do because Christian has basketballs everywhere.”
“Yeah, let’s grab it.”
We walked across the backyard and took the three stairs that led to the deck where the rest of our people were enjoying the warm evening breeze.
On the deck, there were a few benches that were hollow inside and used for storage.
I opened one and grabbed a custom made white basketball that was gifted to me by a brand I once did a collaboration with.
Our families watched us, but they didn’t comment or interrupt.
I knew our situation wasn’t typical. I knew it wasn’t normal.
But it was what it was. We would all be learning as we went. There wasn’t any other way to do it.
“Hold it like you just caught a pass, Brix.”
I followed her instruction, gripping the ball with both hands. She snapped several pictures. “Got it.”
“And you’re using these pictures for what?”
“Not you being more suspicious of me posting your picture than you were of giving me your sperm.”
I chuckled and mushed her head.
“What’re y’all doing?” Zyah joined us, leaning casually against the deck railing.
“I wanna post this experience on my socials, so I’m getting some pictures.
Like I told Brix, I’m not trying to hide him.
I just want the first few pictures to be more cryptic.
Kinda like, I’ve got a secret. They’re mainly for me.
For me to look back on this time once the baby gets here.
I have to blur out the tattoos on Brix’s hands.
You know how social media private eyes are.
I don’t want anybody doing a deep dive on his tats until I’m ready. ”
Zyah nodded. “Send the pictures to me. I’ll blur out the tats, put them in a collage, and disable the ability for anybody to find our current location.”
Ryann gave her a hug while Mocha circled their feet. “Thanks, Sis.”
Zyah touched Ryann’s non-existent stomach. “That’s auntie sis to you.”
Later that night, once the food had been put away, the kitchen was cleaned and everybody had settled into their respective rooms. Ryann and I got ready for bed.
She came out of the bathroom wearing cute shortie pajamas.
They weren’t meant to be sexy, but the way the two pieces rode her curves was definitely sexy.
“Aren’t you glad I decided to wear these college-girl pajamas and not some slinky lingerie?” she joked as she walked over to her bed. “I had no idea that we would end up sharing a room.”
“Sorry about that. I didn’t know that Zyah was bringing her husband. I thought the two of you would be in here and I would be in there.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “It makes sense, though. We’re the two singles, who are also kinda together.”
“Kind of,” I agreed.
She peeked into the carrying case to check on Mocha.
“You sure you wanna keep her in there? We could make a pallet or something…”
“Nah, she’s good. I don’t want her wandering your house while we’re all asleep. What if she takes a dump somewhere and we don’t find it before we pack up to leave?”
She climbed in her bed and got under the blankets.
I lay on my back, looking up at the ceiling.
“Hey, Brix.”
“What’s up?”
“I’m so excited,” she squealed quietly.
That caused a laugh from deep within to rumble from my chest.
“But I’m scared, too. I know I won’t be out of the danger zone until after the first trimester, and even then something could go wrong.
But for right now, I just want to celebrate the fact that the test was positive.
And today, there’s a teeny tiny little person with half of your DNA and half of my DNA growing inside me,” she whispered squealed again.
“Ay, come get in bed with me.”
I loved that she didn’t ask me any questions, she didn’t even ask me to repeat myself.
She just moved from her bed to mine. She crawled under the blankets next to me.
I rolled onto my side and wrapped my arm around her, letting my hand rest on her flat stomach.
I got up on my elbow momentarily and dropped a kiss on her smooth cheek.
“Thank you for letting me share this with you, Ry. You’re gonna be a dope ass mom.”