The apartment is far too small for them now. Far too small- and it has less to do with the space Nanti and Élan take up and more to do with the fact that their family is growing.
Doctor says twins. A boy and a girl.
She has no names picked out, he has a list, all of which she's decidedly a bit weirded out by, (because she would never name her son Goku or Vegeta.) He's excited, like bouncing off the walls excited because this is all he could ever want. Even with the winding road, the ups and downs, their history, his mistakes, her mistakes. He's so excited because truly he's got everything he could ever ask for.
Her love.
Even if he did so messily, imperfectly, and as difficult as possible, the road that he took brought him here.
Even if she hurt him, and he hurt her, and her feelings of failure, they made it through.
And in hindsight she thinks that she wasn't ready before, to start a family, and perhaps that's why it never worked out that way. The blame she placed on herself was unnecessary then, she should've shown herself some mercy. Élan helps her with that. He won't allow her to self-sabotage or become so angry that she's bitter, burning, fuming with it, ever again.
Nanti picks out the location for their new home, it reminds her of her old one- back in Côte d'Ivoire- close to a quiet lake, peaceful, with neighbors who insist on helping them with anything they need. It's funny, she can't even remember the names of her neighbors at the old loft.
Élan paints the nursery in record time, opens the windows to help the walls dry while Nanti just nibbles on pickle after pickle.
Peridot examines their new surroundings with reserved interest before curling up next to Nanti to bask in her pregnancy warmth.
Everything feels right.
.
And the night of her delivery, the night her babies finally come, she's so sure that everything is right- perfect, actually, her two little brown babies are looking back at her with Élan's eyes and she smiles to herself.
In her mind, she can hear her momma saying how black people with different colored eyes are crazy as hell.
She names her daughter Élani, he names her son Nantu.
After a while, Élan still has surprise all over his face, looking at her like she's a mystical creature, in awe, in quiet shock. He snaps a picture of her with the flash camera that he must wind and wind and wind up for the shutter to release. When he finally holds their babies, he brings them close, kisses their foreheads when they finally calm down and rocks them gently to sleep.
He looks over to Nanti who is honestly exhausted from being in labor with twins and says,
"You are the most beautiful thing that I have ever witnessed in my entire life."
He thinks that this feeling he feels for her, the moment they share, the connection they have could never die.
He is right.
YOU ARE READING
MAD BLACK WOMAN
Romancein which she must deal with her husband's infidelity and the love she still has left for him. in which he must find the broken pieces of the love that fell apart.
