Chapter 14 #2
“He better check it out,” Jamal joked beside him, slapping a hand to his shoulder and squeezing it. “Fifty percent off? Let me get a pen and sign up my damn self.”
Both Xander and Levi laughed.
After Levi walked with Xander and Jamal to the department SUV, thanking everyone for coming out to assist, the guys were back on the road and headed to Brooklyn.
As the crew struck up conversations during the ride back home, Xander stayed quiet, busy on his phone, pulling up Greene Gardens’ housing site. His eyes were locked on the village, the homes, the possibilities… on the life he wanted to build.
For the first time in a long time, Xander let himself imagine staying still.
In that instance, everything just seemed… clear.
3 months after that…
October arrived quietly, bringing with it the eighth month of Rylee’s pregnancy, and more nights with Xander sleeping under the brownstone’s roof.
Xander took the steps down to the main floor of the brownstone, his eyes moving around the area, peering through the opening in the living room to see it empty.
He was half-hoping Rylee would be relaxing on the couch instead of where he already knew she was.
He scoffed, shaking his head.
She was officially in her eighth month of pregnancy and still burning the midnight oil in the basement.
Things had changed a lot since she discovered she was pregnant. Most of those changes between her and Xander. She went from telling Xander not to pop up at the brownstone to giving him a key.
“Snoop,” he said into the phone. “I’m here. Where you at?”
Xander was outside of the brownstone and had been knocking and ringing the bell for a good three minutes.
“I’m in the house.”
“You didn’t hear me ringing?” he asked next.
“I did,” she sighed, sounding less like herself.
It was her second month of pregnancy, and it seemed her morning sickness wasn’t just in the mornings anymore.
“I had my face in the toilet so, you know…”
He cringed. “Aw, babe.”
“Get the key from the rock in the bush,” she told him, heaving on the other end of the phone. “And keep it.”
So yeah, Xander had gotten a key to the brownstone, which to him was a major moment in time… and it was.
He went from having a key to spending more and more time at the brownstone. Stepping in to take the kids to school on his days off. Making dinner when Rylee was too sick to leave the bed.
Eventually, Rylee didn’t want him to leave at all.
His hands caressed her belly, eyes moving up to Rylee before he leaned down to press a kiss to her stomach.
She was six months pregnant, very much showing, and Xander was obsessed.
They’d learned two months prior they were having a boy, and Xander was beside himself excited. The room showed that, with baby items piling high in one corner of Rylee’s bedroom.
“Daddy gotta bounce,” he spoke to her stomach. Xander pressed a kiss there, then leaned his cheek against it, smiling when his baby boy kicked.
Xander peeked up at Rylee and saw a frown on her lips.
“Oh, don’t be jealous.” He smiled, climbing up to kiss her lips. “I got some of that for you, too.”
She laughed lowly, pressing her hands to either side of his face. “It’s not that.”
Xander leaned into her touch, warmth blooming everywhere she touched.
“What’s that face all about then?”
She was quiet for a moment, her thumb caressing his cheek.
“Can’t you just… stay?”
He arched a brow. “Stay?”
“Yeah… I mean…” she said, sitting up, Xander moving out of the way and helping her press her back to the headboard. “You’re here all the time when you’re off anyway, so…”
Xander dipped his chin to meet her eyes as she focused on the bed, playing with a fold in the sheets.
“Snoop?”
She lifted her gaze to him.
“Are you asking me to move in?”
“We’re about to have a baby.” She shrugged. “Life’s better when you’re around. I miss you when you go… so, maybe I am?”
He blinked in response, a smile slowly pulling at his lips.
She smiled back, her smile tugging at his heartstrings. Beyond what she was saying, seeing her pull him more and more close after life threw them this curveball had been the best part of the experience.
“Yes.” She nodded, inhaled a deep breath and let it go slowly. “I’m asking you to move in.”
And here Xander had been.
Tonight, he’d made dinner, the kids’ choice of burgers and fries.
They were asleep in their rooms, and Xander was headed down to the basement to get their mother so she could do the same.
Plus, he had some news he was both excited and anxious to share with her.
“Snoop, let’s go,” Xander said the moment he reached the bottom of the basement stairs.
His woman sat in front of four computer monitors. One screen was full of scrolling numbers. Just glancing at it made his head hurt. And if she started explaining what they meant, like she always did? His brain would spin in circles, again.
The other screens were crowded with spreadsheets and news articles, all centered on stock data and stock market news.
Rylee turned in her seat, crumbs from the blueberry muffin he’d baked for her earlier stuck to the corner of her mouth.
“It’s time for bed, baby,” he said, reaching for the back of her chair.
She pointed at one of the monitors, her mouth too full to talk.
“Nope.” Xander shook his head. “It’s after ten. You told me to give you an hour. I gave you three. You need rest. Come on.”
Earlier that week, they’d gone to Rylee’s OB appointment together. After checking her out, Dr. Felicia Grayson had smiled and said something Xander hadn’t been able to forget.
“Your cervix is already softening, Rylee. More than we typically see this early.”
Xander’s brows had furrowed. “Is that a problem?”
“No, no,” Dr. Grayson had said with a light laugh and a wave of her hand.
“It just means her body may be getting ready to move quickly when labor starts, which is common in third pregnancies. I’d just recommend she take it a little easier from here on out.
Any chance to put her feet up and enjoy this final stretch…
” She’d looked at Rylee, gave her a wink. “Take it.”
At the time, Rylee had joked she had too much energy in her third trimester to do such a thing as rest. But Xander had promised himself he’d stay on top of it.
Tonight, at his insistence, she playfully rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but smile, giving him her hand so he could help her up and out of her seat.
His eyes landed on her round belly in her tee. He couldn’t help but smile at it before leaning around her to shut off the monitors.
He loved that Rylee was a career woman who knew how to balance.
But he didn’t love that she was still working as hard as she was when she wasn’t pregnant.
Her doctor had also suggested more rest since Rylee wasn’t getting enough sleep, and as soon as Xander heard that, he’d been on her about it, holding her accountable.
“You could’ve given me five more minutes,” she fussed as they arrived at the top of the basement stairs and Xander closed the door.
“Mmm-hmm.” He snickered. “I gave you three hours.”
She shook her head.
They made their way up the stairs to their bedroom, Rylee stopping at the children’s rooms to make sure they were sound asleep.
Her detour allowed Xander to step into their room and retrieve the photo on his phone that he wanted to show her.
She sighed as she walked into the room, shutting the door behind herself. “You think LJ was serious at dinner?”
Xander’s eyes were on his phone, scrolling. “About wanting to play soccer?”
“Yeah,” Rylee said, heading to the bathroom. “Because I love that boy with everything in me and think he’s talented, but he got two left feet. He should stick to being a science genius. I like that one better. It’s safer.”
Xander snickered, stopping on the photo.
The water was running in the bathroom, Rylee quickly brushing her teeth.
Xander took a seat on their bed, his heart starting to kick up in rhythm the moment he heard the water shut off.
He turned in the bed, kept one foot on the ground and a leg on the mattress as Rylee entered the room, pulling back the covers and getting in bed.
He swallowed hard and cleared his throat as she adjusted herself, giving him her attention.
She asked, “What’s up?”
“I got something I wanna show you.”
She blinked twice. “Okay.”
“But before I show you it,” he added, “I need you to hear me when I say that nothing changes unless you want it to, aight?”
Rylee giggled nervously. “Okay…”
He bit at his bottom lip as he laid his phone on the bed.
On his phone’s screen was a photo of a two-story house. Modern design, palatial, and grand.
“Wow,” she exhaled, lifting his phone to get a better look at the photo. “It’s beautiful. Huge, too.”
Xander leaned in to swipe to the next few photos. “This is the neighborhood it’s in.”
He showed her a school, a sunrise over the park, and the half-finished firehouse that had seen more construction since he last visited three months ago.
“This is Greene Gardens,” he revealed. “Remember when I said I was going out there to help with their local firehouse setup?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I remember. Bryant Greene’s village.
You know Lennox was close to Bryant.” Rylee smiled this time, Xander’s eyes falling to her dimples which he loved seeing.
“That man never said anything about doing anything like this back then. I know Lennox would have been so beside himself had he known. Would’ve definitely supported the project. ”
Xander nodded, feeling a bit more assured. If Lennox would’ve supported it, that meant Rylee would approve of the village…and Xander’s plans.
She jerked her head back, eyes moving off the phone and onto Xander.
“Wait, why are you showing me this?”
“Because I bought it… for us.”
Rylee blinked hard. “Bought what?”