Page 18

Nut and Dal have been on their honeymoon for four days now. Denver and Ana?s are with Ana?s’s grandparents. The house is so empty, but I need that. That way, I can play Shaddy’s cover over and over again and cry my eyes out.

Oh, City Girls, I’ve failed you.

That nigga really stood there and broke up with me. Is that what it is? That’s what it feels like.

Shit, I don’t know. I’m usually the one that does the dumping.

When I get tired of crying, I put on Trina’s Single Again and belt out the lyrics. Yeah, this fasho feels like a break up.

Besides the Triplets’ daily check in, I haven’t been taking any calls and ignoring the group chat. I need to recalibrate. My baby should be coming any day now, and once she’s here, I can’t worry about no nappy headed fuck nigga who fed me th.

“I’m not good enough for you” line.

Figures tha.

“I’m fighting demons”

shtick was real.

Another cramp makes me wince as I lay with my head at the foot of the bed. To be honest, I’ve been cramping like this all day, but I read that Braxton Hicks are common, so I don’t think nothing of it.

Until one cramp makes me pee a little.

God, I can’t wait until this big headed girl is off my bladder.

I roll off the bed and waddle to the bathroom , shimmying out my boy shorts to sit on the toilet.

I freeze when I notice the dark red spot blooming in the seat of my panties.

When I grab some tissue, I breathe through a cramp, and start panicking when the tissue is dark red, too.

I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t be having a period at thirty-nine weeks.

Another cramp has me crying out and easing myself onto the floor. When I peek into the toilet bowl, hot tears spring from my eyes.

The entire bowl is filled with blood.

And the next cramp knocks the wind–and clearish, reddish liquid–out of me.

“Ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck.”

Something’s wrong.

“No shit, sherlock,”

I answer myself aloud. Something is very fucking wrong. And a contraction–very different than the cramp I just had–has me biting my lip so hard I draw blood.

I get onto my hands and knees and begin crawling through the pain. Contractions are coming in hot and fast, coupled with the cramps worsening with each second. Blood is gushing out of me by the boatload, coating my thighs, the floor, and dragging with my feet.

“Oh, God,”

I cry out, when a debilitating contraction knocks me onto my side.

It feels like I’m being ripped into two. Beanie is going haywire, making my tummy hard as a fucking rock.

Oh my God. Is this how Bella felt?!

I knew there was a reason He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named looked so good to be seventy.

I start trying to slide toward the bed on my side, inching along like a damn caterpillar. Three contractions later, I make it to the bed, and begin to pull the comforter off.

Fuck… who can I even call? Who’s closest?

Am I really going to call someone else when he is just across the backyard?

My phone falls onto my nose, just as another cramp hits me, and I don’t bother keeping quiet. This shit hurts, and I don’t think I’ll ever, EVER do this shit again.

Them hoes ain’t say shit about labor being like this!

I grab my phone and tearfully go to my favorites and press Shaddy. As it rings, I place it on speaker and lay the phone next to my head on the floor.

After three rings the line clicks over. I don’t give him a chance to talk.

“Shaddy, please… something’s wro-ONG!”

I shout as another contraction hits me, and I hear the blood pooling on the ground beneath me.

Not even fifteen seconds later I hear thundering footfalls coming near me.

“Oh, fuck, Mace,”

he whispers behind me, before the sounds of vomiting take over.

Oh yeah. I call the one nigga I know that’s squeamish around blood.

“TIGHTEN UP RAHSHAD I’M DYING!”

I hear him hang up on me before dialing nine-one-one. As he tells the operator I’m in labor and bleeding, he gently pulls me onto my back and spreads my legs.

“Okay, I’m looking–”

Poor Shaddy’s eyes bug out his head and he jerks away just in time to throw up more all over the floor.

I curse through my contraction as he violently projectile vomits all over the wall behind him. What a fucking pair, man.

“I’m sorry,” he sobs.

“It’s just I see the head!”

He puts his phone on speaker and lays it on the top of my belly like it’s a fucking table.

“ARE YOU SERIOUS–”

“PLEASE MACY JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND PUSH–”

“OH, I KNOW YOU’RE NOT TALKING TO ME LIKE THAT AFTER–”

“brO, BEANIE’S HEAD IS LITERALLY HALFWAY OUT YO FUCKING PUSSY–”

“Ma’am! Sir! You both need to calm down. The baby could be in distress. Sir, go to the bathroom and fill the tub with warm water. Bring towels. Ma’am, when he gets back, you’re going to push. The baby’s coming whether you like it or not. Paramedics are ten minutes out.”

Shaddy leans back and slips because of course he slams his palm into vomit. After getting up, he stumbles into the bathroom, turning on the sink and the tub. Seconds later, he’s back drying his hands with some towel while holding three more with his chin.

He drops down between my legs and holds a towel in his hands like he’s about to catch the damn baby.

“God, I hate you,”

I mutter, as another contraction barrels through me. I grip the sheets behind me as I scream at the top of my lungs, and I feel my baby’s head sliding out of my pussy like a human turd.

I guess all those perineal massages were worth it.

This nigga dry heaves as his eyes balloon again.

“O-okay, her whole head is out. One more, baby. Gimme one more push.”

I nod hella times, and when we lock eyes, the corner of his mouth lifts slightly. I pull myself up just a little, and this time, for the first time, I’m ready.

I scream at the top of my lungs, pushing as hard as I can, and a crazy ass fart rumbles throughout the entire room.

Oh, and my Bean.

Pressure immediately lifts out of my vagíne as I lift up and see her in his arms. He wipes her face with a towel, and her soft cries fill the room almost immediately.

Shad can’t stop looking at her, lifting up to his knees to rock her.

“Sir? Paramedics are outside,”

the voice on his phone says.

“Right! Shit. Here, baby.”

He gingerly hands Beanie to me, grabs his phone, and rushes out the room.

Another contraction hits me and more shit gushes out of me, but I can’t even pay attention to all that. My vision is honed in on the beautiful, perfect, brown baby that is lying in my arms.

Is this what Heaven feels like? Looking at the miracle you made?

No, wait…

I think I’m actually dying.

Shad and three EMTs rush into the room. he kneels next to me and kisses the top of my head.

“She’s beautiful, Mace.”

I hand her to him, and he furrows his brows. Damn… I’m not even hurting no more. My feet are cold though.

“Sh-shaddy… name her Sadé Reese… put an, a-apostrophe though… and your last name.”

“Sir, let me see the baby,”

I hear someone say, but they sound far away.

The last thing I hear is something about hemorrhaging before my world goes black.