Page 234 of When Love Takes Root

“Your wife is round, emotional, and hungry.”

“My wife is beautiful, carrying my children, and looking at me like she knows exactly how much I love her.”

Her eyes softened. “I do know.”

I bent to kiss her again, slower this time. Her hand slid across my chest before curling into my shirt, and for a few seconds, graduation schedules, moving boxes, and every responsibility waiting outside that room faded into the background.

Then one of the twins kicked between us.

She laughed against my lips.

“Sir.”

“What?”

“If you start something in this nursery, we’re missing the ceremony.”

“I can be efficient.”

She laughed harder. “Absolutely not.”

“Later then.”

She walked toward the door, shaking her head. “Behave, Pop Siah.”

I smiled. “You started that.”

“Zuri and Skye started it.”

“And you encouraged it.”

“It fits.”

I had no rebuttal.

At the old house, Maya’s bedroom looked like somebody had packed memories into cardboard boxes.

Langston University sweatshirts covered the bed beside neatly folded jeans. Sketchbooks, paintbrushes, pencils, and half-packed art supplies sat in organized little piles only Maya could understand.

Near the closet, Zuri, Skye, Lyric, and Jaya sat cross-legged around a three-ring binder labeled:

DORM SURVIVAL PLAN

“Emergency snacks,” Skye announced.

“Prayer cards,” Zuri added.

Lyric carefully pressed a glitter sticker onto one divider.

“Emotional support sparkle.”

Jaya tapped another tab proudly.

“And this section is called ‘Men Are Distractions Until Proven Otherwise.’”

Maya looked at all four of them.

“I’m going to college, not witness protection.”