Page 55 of That Fire

He washed my face and then lathered my loofah to begin washing my body. “I’m gonna go to the hospital today. Your mom is going to come and sit with you. You better not go into labor while I’m gone. I need to be able to see the excitement on your face when you tell me it’s time.”

I giggled, and he smiled. “You know that’s how shit always happens. So keep your phone extremely close.”

“Right,” he said and chuckled.

He washed my body thoroughly. This had been the hardest part for us. Him seeing me naked and rubbing on my skin was anaphrodisiac like no other. I almost wanted him to stick his dick in me to send me into labor. I would make thirty-seven weeks tomorrow, and Bali had already given me steroids. The babies should be fine to come on out of there.

Once he was done washing me, he helped me out and dried me off. I went to the sink to brush my teeth, then he took me to the bed. I lay down while he went back to the bathroom to clean himself. I couldn’t believe Crew was on that shit. He had everything going for him without using drugs. Maybe there was some mental illness in play that caused this. He was smart, like extremely intelligent, had rich parents, and was good looking. What more could he want?

After a few minutes, Royal came back to me and rubbed me down with lotion. His dick was hard as fuck. I wanted him so damn bad. “Your mom is on her way to sit with you while I go to the hospital. I need to lay eyes on him.”

“Okay.”

After getting my nightshirt on, he helped me get comfortable, then he went downstairs to get me something to eat. His mood was affecting me. I felt down, because I knew how down he was feeling about this whole thing. I could only pray that Crew somehow got better and realized this wasn’t the route he wanted to take in life. It would be an uphill battle, but it wasn’t impossible.

“The baby shower turned out nice yesterday. I’m glad you’re with Royal. That was a lot of work, but I had a lot of help from the Hendersons. Everybody pitched in when it was time to clean up as well.”

“Yeah, that was a blessing.”

“Is Crew gonna be okay? The gossip is already circulating about him being on drugs. I hate that for Jasper and Chasity.”

“I don’t know, Mama. Royal doesn’t really want to talk about it. I think they are all feeling guilty for not noticing that something was going on with him. When I tried to tell him that it wasn’t on them, he cut me off, saying he didn’t want to talk about it.”

“It was still fresh for him, baby.”

“He wasn’t rude about it. I just said okay, and we went to the next subject. I could feel the depression all over him. I hate that.”

“Yeah. You’re just gonna have to let him work through it in his own way. If his way starts being toxic, then by all means, say something. If not, he will handle it in his way and time.”

“Yeah. This may be TMI, but I had asked Nikki to come and take care of him. She must have contacted him about it, and he told her not to come. He told me he only slept with Nikki when he slept with me. If I couldn’t have sex, then he wouldn’t either. I know people like us, though. Sex is our stress relief. It’s how we get negative energy off us. I don’t want him suffering.”

“He’s a good man, Savannah.”

We both fell out laughing at her imitation of Whitney Houston’s mother inWaiting to Exhale.“That he is. I’m so overwhelmed by it. I mean, I knew he was a good person, simply from our interactions. I would have never imagined he was so expressive and passionate. He’d only shown me a little of that before the pregnancy. Now, he’s like butter in a hot skillet when it comes to me.”

“That’s so beautiful. I’m happy that you found happiness in all this. Your dad was happy too, especially when he made his intentions known. He’s just like Jasper. Chas said Jasper was the same way. They started out as friends, although she wanted more. He just wanted sex, and she refused to give it to himwithout a commitment. When he finally opened up to her, she said it moved her to tears.”

“Wow. That was definitely me with Royal.”

She smiled at me, then grabbed the remote. “So, what do you wanna watch?”

My eyes widened as I felt the contraction. This one was stronger than they had ever been. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, breathing through them. When she noticed what I was doing, she grabbed my hand and caressed it until I opened my eyes.

“You okay?”

“Yes. I thought we were about to be heading to the clinic. The good thing is that it isn’t far away. If we had to drive all the way to Beaumont, we would be headed that way now. I couldn’t imagine being in active labor and it taking almost thirty minutes to get to the hospital.”

“I did it. It was ghetto as fuck too.”

The doorbell rang, and my mama hopped up from the bed. She was apparently expecting someone. When she came back to my room, Aunt Harper and Treasure were with her. “Hey, y’all!”

“Hey!” they said in unison.

I giggled. “Harper and I are gonna go cook lunch . . . well, mainly Harper,” my mama said as I laughed.

Treasure sat in the chair near the bed as she laughed at my mama’s foolery. By blood, Treasure was my cousin, but it was like our moms were sisters instead of cousins. They were so close. They met our dads at the same time during the Houston Livestock Rodeo.

“Treasure, how have you been?”