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I ignored it, because I wanted to ask her something, and didn’t want to give her a reason to say no. “Can we talk, baby?”

“We’re talking now, Quasim.”

“Simmy.” I corrected.

“Quasim.”

I kissed on her stomach a few more times before I leaned up and stretched. “Blair.”

She wouldn’t look me in the eyes. “Yes.”

“Please.”

She sighed. “I have to pick up my suitcase anyway, so I can follow you back to the house.”

I held my hand out to help her, and she took it.

She picked up some papers that she needed our doula to sign.

This appointment wasn’t even a complete scan, it was more so to check on the baby.

Since she was bleeding, and how small she was measuring at the start of her pregnancy, our doctor always wanted to give checks to see how big our daughter was measuring.

As we turned into the driveway, I killed the engine and got out to help her out the car. She didn’t accept my help, and didn’t remove her purse from the passenger seat.

Recommendation: Listen to Don’t Ever Change by Total

Which told me she wasn’t staying long. Soon as she entered the house, she gave Pyro head scratches and then went straight to the bedroom. As she hummed softly in the closet, I sat on the edge of the bed and waited for her to reenter the room.

My elbows rested on my knees, head hanging low like I was about to break if she left this house. “The problems I had before we got married… thought I had a handle on them, Anjo. Thought I was good.”

She didn’t say anything from the closet, but the humming stopped. I heard more shuffling before she finally appeared in the doorway. “Marriage didn’t heal me, my love. I thought it would have… it just turned the volume up on everything that I never dealt with.”

When I looked up, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My eyes were red, as I choked on my words slightly.

Blair still gave me her silence as she stared at me from across the room, not giving me anything. Truthfully, I deserved that shit. I deserved for her to act the way she was with me.

“I don’t want to lose you, my love… I cannot lose you, baby.

You make my life complete. Shit hasn’t been fair, and I apologize to you.

I took my darkness out on you, and all you were trying to do was be the light…

I’m not a perfect man, Anjo, but I’m a trying man.

A man that can recognize his own bullshit and fix it. ”

I could hear the slow breath that she let out, the kind that she had been carrying with her for some time. “Never needed you to be perfect, Quasim. I knew you weren’t perfect when I met you. Recognized the same darkness that I carried with me.”

“I know, baby.”

“I asked you to let me in… needed you to let me in. To stop acting like loving you was something that I had to earn.” She came closer to me, but not to be in my arms. “I knew you were healing, as was I. I knew there were wounds that needed to be healed, because I had my own. What I didn’t sign up for was to be shut out.

You don’t have to always be strong for me…

I want to be your strength when you need it.

Doesn’t make me look at you any other way. ”

“Shit fucked up with me, Anjo.”

“No, your pride is too fucking big. You couldn’t get hard, so you shut me out. Deprived me of a physical connection with my husband.”

“Tell me you didn’t look at me fucking different.”

She stared down at me. “Never… because the man I married, I know how he gets down. I also understood the immense stress your body was under. You didn’t give me a chance to show you that I understood.”

“Come home, Anjo… I need you.” I reached and pulled her closer to me, kissing her stomach softly while looking up into her eyes.

“I’ve always been fighting for us while you’ve been fighting with yourself.

I need you to take this time to figure out what you want, Quasim.

If you’re in it, then I need you to be in it when shit is dark, and when things aren’t.

I love you and that has never been the question…

I’m not staying where I’m not heard. I’ve done that before, and I’m not doing it again. ”

She walked back into the closet, and I followed without hesitation. I stepped behind her and kissed the curve of her neck, feeling the way she shivered by my touch.

“I’m sorry, my love… I never meant to hurt you. You know that right?”

She remained quiet, but she didn’t pull away from me like she had before. I turned her gently, backing her up until her spine met the mirror. Her reflection stared back at me. She was tired, but still beautiful.

Still my Anjo.

My dick was already hard while admiring her. Her lips were fuller because of pregnancy, and her hair was brushed back, stopping under her ears. She looked soft and strong at the same time, and it hurt.

Her breath was caught in her chest, as she felt me press against her. “Quasim…”

“I’m sorry for making you feel like you had to fight for us. For acting ashamed when you’ve always been my crown, Anjo.”

My lips brushed against her ear.

“You’re my queen. The fact that I made you feel like anything less is on me. That’s a reflection of me failing as your husband. And I swear to God, I’m gonna fix that.”

I expected her to cry, crumble in my arms, and she didn’t. She stared up into my eyes. “I need to grab my suitcase,” she said quietly, gently pushing past me.

I allowed her because she heard plenty of words before. Now, it was time to remind her of who I really was with action.

“Let me carry that out for you, Anjo.”

“Thanks.”