Page 415 of Safe With You
She grinned.
My mother reached me first. The second she wrapped her arms around me, whatever chance I had of keeping myself together disappeared.
“Oh, Mama.”
“I know, baby.”
I laughed against her shoulder even as the first tear slipped free. After her came Daddy, Tasha, my nephew, Naomi—who immediately told me not to get makeup on her—and Maya from behind the café counter.
And somewhere in the middle of all of them, I looked back at Ellis.
He was standing beneath the photographs.
Watching me.
The way he always did.
Like he still couldn’t believe he got to keep any of this either.
My eyes moved from him to the wall.
THE LIFE WE FOUND ALONG THE WAY.
My hand settled over my stomach again, and something shifted beneath my palm.
The movement was small and familiar, but it still caught me sometimes—the reminder of this little life growing inside me.
I laughed through the tears.
“She’s moving.”
Ellis was beside me almost immediately.
His hand covered mine.
“Yeah?”
“Right there.”
He waited.
Then his whole face changed.
There.
Another kick.
Mila rushed over.
“I wanna feel!”
Ellis moved his hand just enough for hers to fit beside it.
My hand.
His.
Hers.
