Page 59 of Pretty

“You think I should order more? You’re probably right. I know that I’ll get hungry later.”

I chuckled. “Pretty, baby, I was just teasing you.”

“Oh.” She looked sad.

“But you can have whatever your heart desires.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, baby.”

She tapped her chin for a few seconds. “No, that should be enough.”

“A’ight,” I replied, chuckling as I placed her order and added a nacho supreme for myself. I set the phone down on the nightstand and reclined on her again. “It should be here in twenty-five minutes.”

No sooner than I rested on her belly that I felt something move. I remained extremely still and held my breath, waiting for it to happen again. Within seconds, it happened back-to-back. “Babe?”

“Yes, baby. That was your son kicking.”

“For real?”

She giggled. “Wait. He just moved to the other side.”

I popped up, and Pretty grabbed my hand and placed it on the other side of her belly. My heart swelled with love and joy as I felt my little guy moving in my wife’s body. He was a little lump, but he was moving quickly.

“Hey, little man. I can feel you moving around in there. You’re not giving your mom a hard time, are you?” I asked.

“No, he’s not.” She laughed.

She had finally moved past the morning sickness. At six months pregnant, she was not only getting bigger, but she was starting to feel some discomfort at times as the baby grew. I was thankful that she didn’t get sick much anymore.

“I can’t wait to meet you, little guy. We’re gonna have so much fun. I’m going to teach you how to ride a bike, tie your shoes, run a ball, swim, play basketball . . . I’m gonna teach you all the shit.”

“Drew,” she warned.

“My bad, li’l man. Your mommy says that we’re not supposed to curse in front of you, because we don’t want you picking up that bad language either.”

“No, we don’t,” Pretty confirmed.

“I’m gonna take you to your first game. I’ll get you some season tickets with your Papas Coach and Yanis, and your uncles Maxime, Enzo, and Maël. You’ll be in the stands with them whenever Daddy has to work at the games. You think you’ll like that?”

“Whoa!” Pretty declared and wiggled a little.

He had kicked her hard and strong. “I think we’ve got ourselves a little kicker in there. Is that the position you wanna play, big boy?”

I lifted Pretty’s nightshirt and placed a kiss on her swollen belly. I rested my head there again, and she cupped the back of my head.

“I love you so much, Drew. I’m thankful that you’re here in my life and that you gave me this little bigheaded boy.”

“How you know he’s gonna have a big head?”

“Did you miss the ultrasounds that we’ve had, sir? You were right there with me. I know that you had to see that big old head.”

“All right, ease up on my boy.”

She giggled. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to take the two of you together.”

“Yeah, we’re gonna be hell on wheels.”