Chapter 4
Lyric sat on the exam table while the doctor explained everything again in more detail.
“Right now, the biggest concern is preventing additional stress on the placentas. Your body went through trauma, and although the babies are stable, we still have to be extremely careful moving forward.”
Lyric nodded slowly while resting her hands across her stomach. Sitting there hearing it all again still made her chest tighten a little because everything that happened kept replaying in her mind, no matter how hard she tried not to think about it.
“That means limited movement as much as possible. No lifting, no unnecessary walking around, and absolutely no stressful situations if they can be avoided.”
“So basically, what can she do?” Vonte leaned forward and asked.
“Honestly, not much besides resting. Bathroom trips, short movement around the house occasionally, but she should mostly be in bed or laying down.”
“What about appointments? How often y’all gotta monitor the babies now?”
“I want to see her every two weeks moving forward. With twin pregnancies, we already monitor more closely, but after the placental separation, I’d rather be extra cautious.”
“Can I still have my baby shower?” Lyric quizzed.
“If you’re resting properly and there are no further complications, possibly. But it needs to stay low stress, and she cannot overdo it.”
“What about the babies, though? They still good?” Vonte asked again.
“Both babies look healthy right now. Their heartbeats are strong, and that’s what we want.” The doctor smiled.
After going over a few more instructions and warning signs to watch for, the doctor scheduled Lyric’s next appointment before finally stepping out of the room.
A few minutes later, Lyric and Vonte made their way back to the car. The entire walk there, all Lyric could think about was food.
“I want Chili’s,” she announced once they got in.
“Again?” Vonte glanced over at her.
“They got new cheese sticks and I wanna try them.”
“Aight, cool.”
By the time they arrived, Lyric was starving. The hostess seated them almost immediately, seeing how it was still early in the afternoon. Lyric carefully slid into the booth while Vonte sat across from her.
The waitress came over a few minutes later and took their order. Once the waitress disappeared toward the kitchen, they started talking about the baby shower. With everything that happened, Lyric hadn’t gotten the chance to focus on it the way she originally planned.
“I still wanna wear pink…. Not light pink, though. More like a soft rose color.”
“That’s cool, as long as it’s some fly shit,” Vonte agreed.
They continued planning and throwing ideas back and forth until the food finally arrived. The second the waitress placed the cheese sticks in front of Lyric, she grabbed one. Eating for three had fully taken over her life at that point, and honestly, she didn’t care anymore.
By the time Lyric finished her plate, she started reaching over, stealing fries and pieces of food off Vonte’s.
Eventually, the two of them finished eating and got up to leave. As they made their way toward the front doors, Lyric stayed close to Vonte, moving carefully the way the doctor had instructed. They were almost outside when someone called her name from behind.
“Lyric?”
Both of them turned around at the same time. Standing a few feet away was Yona, one of their old classmates from school.
“Yona!” Lyric said with a smile.
Yona immediately walked over and pulled her into a hug.
“Girl, I’m so happy you okay,” she said as she pulled back.
“Huh? Why you say that?”
“Girl, it’s a rumor going around that Domo cousins jumped you and made you lose yo baby.”
“And where you hear this at?”
“Jenny. The cousin with the cut across her face posted something in her close friends about stomping babies out of bitches.”
Lyric had always suspected that Domo and her cousins were behind the attack, but hearing that one of them was bragging about it made it hit different. It was one thing to jump her, but it was another thing to brag about it. Which only made matters ten times worse.