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“I’m cool. I ain’t gon’ do nothing unless they make me.”
She sighed and I smiled, kissing the top of her head.
I didn’t move from her side even when I probably should’ve. I knew I was in the way a couple times but fuck it. They were just going to have to work around me. When she started pushing, she squeezed my hand as I talked her through it, my mouth on some part of her face at all times. The mirror she’d requested was in place, giving her a view of the baby’s head crowning. Still holding her hand, I moved to see the action for myself. Below her panting and grunting, the music she’d asked me to play—Anita Baker’s Greatest Hits—could be heard softly streaming from my cell phone. Evidently, Ms. Baker was her mom’s favorite singer, second to Fat Frankie King, of course.
She pushed and pushed and pushed and then…magic. My little girl, all pale and wrinkly with a head full of black hair, came into the world squalling like we’d pissed her off by pulling her from her warm home.
Once they placed her on Lilith’s chest, I think I tried to kiss my wife’s soul away. Then I wiped sweat from my eyes as I said, “She’s beautiful, baby. She’s beautiful.”
31
“She’s gorgeous, Lil! A little doll!” Umber gushed. “OMG, I just wanna hold her all day. How much did you say she weighs?”
“She’s eight pounds, eight ounces. She’s a big girl,” I replied.
“Damn! And you pushed her out? No medicine? You are a real G!” Memphis declared.
“Tell that to my coochie. It’s demolished,” I quipped.
“Nah, I saw it. It’s good,” Ray interjected from his post next to my bed.
Memphis rolled her eyes.
“I’m glad you never had a baby with Marlon. It probably would’ve been born with hips like his,” Umber said.
“Umber!” I giggled. “Stop! He’s just…chunky, like us!”
“Lil, we’re supposed to have curves. He’s not.”
Ray snorted.
“But that’s his new woman’s worry now. You know he’s engaged, right?” Umber shared.
“Child, you think I’ve had time to keep up with what Marlon Archer’s been doing?” I asked, glancing at Ray for emphasis.
Umber snickered. “My bad. You have been busy.”
I honestly hadn’t thought much about Marlon since we found out he likely had not put the hit out on me, especially after I confirmed that the twins didn’t overdose him.
“How you know about his love life, Umby?” Memphis inquired. “I didn’t know you and Marlon were BFFs.”
Umber rolled her eyes. “We’re still Facebook friends. I saw a post on his page, a picture of him and a really pretty woman. The caption was something like ‘he said yes.’”
“He? He would be the type of nigga a woman would have to propose to,” Ray mumbled.
“Maybe that’s where I went wrong. Should’ve given him the bad bitch treatment,” I mused.
“Befitting of the bitch that he is,” Ray agreed.
“Looks like they already got married. The chick in the picture has his last name,” Memphis observed, staring down at her phone. “Felice Archer.”
I frowned. “Felice is his ex-wife.”
“Oh, that’s right! Well, she ain’t an ex no more,” Memphis said.
Ray, Memphis, and I exchanged a look while Umber cooed at the baby.
“Now, what you say you named her?” my father asked. He’d arrived to see our one-day-old angel shortly after my sisters left. Pauline was with him. Denita had checked on me earlier, so she didn’t tag along for this visit.
