Page 62 of Platinum Pressure

“Shit.”

He buried his face in the crook of my neck again as he released inside of me. We were a sticky mess by the time we were done.

“C’mon. Let me clean us up so we can go another round in the bed. I’m gon’ wear yo’ ass out tonight.”

“I promise you’re going to tap out before I do.”

“Challenge accepted.”

Living in answered prayers was a wild experience. God sent me a healer, a wife, and a best friend, all in the form of one woman.

Every day, I fell more in love with Meadow.

Every day I watched her body change as she grew our child in her womb. The more I watched her belly expand and our child develop inside of her, my soul sang with a joy I never knew it could feel. Meadow was beautiful before, but watching her body change only made her more beautiful in my eyes. Even through mood swings and nausea, she made my whole body react in the best way.

Meadow was my favorite addiction. Meadow was better than any drug. She was the epitome of everything I prayed for in a woman, and God added some things I didn’t even know I needed in a partner. Patience, consideration, and sass were some of my favorite qualities in Meadow. She had been matching my energy since the moment we met.

The phone in my hand rang three times before my mother answered.

“Hey, PJ.”

“I’m going to propose to Meadow.”

“Oh, my goodness!”

“Yep. It’s time to stop playing around. I want to make her my wife before the Super Bowl.”

“I can’t wait to make a speech at the wedding about how you gave us so much pushback, just to fall in love with the woman we hired to help you through your recovery. I’ll accept my apology in the form of grandbabies—chunky, juicy, happy, healthy grandbabies.”

“We already working on it, Mama.”

“She’s pregnant?”

“Yes. We’re going to keep it on the low. Immediate family and friends only until after he’s born.”

Mama cooed. “Aww! My grandson is baking! Will he be another P name? If I had to throw in my suggestions, Prince or Pierce for P names. Gold or Sterling for metal names. Malachi if y’all do an M name. Matter fact, we need to sit down and come up with three boy names and three girl names. I doubt the two of y’all are going to stop at just one baby anyway.”

“Dang, lady. You were thinking about this for a while, huh?”

“Since the day I saw the headlines. You don’t even understand how happy I’ve been, thinking about having a new baby in the family. You were my only child, with Seddrick as my bonus son. Now y’all have to prepare to be sick of me.”

“Mama, you bet not scare my girl away.”

“Who? Me? Never!”

I laughed and shook my head. It was cool to see her accepting the baby. I mean, I was pushing thirty, and she’d done the solo kid thing for almost three decades. A fresh baby was just what she needed to occupy her days. I pictured Mama as the type of grandma who would take the kid for like weeks on end and even pick ’em up and drop ’em off at school during the week too. I couldn’t wait to see her and Pops as grandparents.

“I’ll keep you updated on the progress of the baby. He’s been giving Meadow hell in the second trimester, but we gon’ get through it.”

“If she needs me to help in any way, please let her know I’m here for her throughout the whole journey. I know she has her village, but I want her to know I’m very much ready to love her just as much as I love you.”

“You should hit her up and spend some time together. I’ll send some money for a spa day or something.”

“That would be great, PJ.”

“Perfect. I’m finna send some money. Hit up Dow and see when y’all can link and lock that in, Ma.”

“Will do. Your daddy just walked in the house. Let me go cater to my man.”