Page 109 of Buy Back My Love

Mama stayed near the door, quiet for once, while I turned back toward the counter. I don’t know how long I stood there staring before something finally started showing in the little window.

One line came up first.

Then another.

My stomach dropped.

I snatched the test off the counter and stared at it, turning it a little like maybe I was looking at the damn thing wrong.

“No.”

Anika’s face changed. “Lee…”

“No.” I shook my head, still staring at those two lines. “That pill was supposed to work.”

Mama reached over and put her hand on my shoulder. “Baby.”

That was all it took. The tears came before I could stop them, and I covered my mouth like that was gonna somehow hold everything else in.

“I’m never gonna be free of him.”

Anika was already wrapping her arms around me. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s true.” I buried my face against her shoulder. “I was just starting to get some distance from him, and now I’m having his baby.”

Mama didn’t tell me everything happened for a reason. She didn’t start talking about blessings or God’s plan or none of that. She just stood there rubbing my back while I cried into Anika’s shoulder.

After a while, Anika eased back enough to look at me. “You still feel how you felt before?”

I wiped under my eyes. “About keeping it?”

“Yeah.”

That part didn’t take no thinking. “I’m keeping my baby. That ain’t even the question.” My voice cracked, and I looked back down at the test in my hand. “I just don’t know how the hell I’m supposed to do this with him.”

Mama stepped closer. “Then don’t try to figure all of it out tonight. You cry tonight. Tomorrow, you figure out the next thing.” She squeezed my shoulder. “And that baby ain’t responsible for what its daddy did.”

“I know.”

I did know.

But knowing it didn’t stop me from crying.

I had spent the last few weeks trying to figure out how to have a life that didn’t revolve around JB, and now I was standing in my sister’s bathroom holding a positive pregnancy test.

I was having his baby.

Van

My mama was standing in her kitchen wrapping a whole pumpkin pie in foil when I walked in. I looked at the pie, then at her. “You didn't have to give me the whole thing.”

“You the one told me to save enough for your friend.”

“I said save her some.”

Mama pressed the foil down around the edges. “And I saved her some.”

I knew that tone well enough to leave it alone. Even after all the chaos at the pumpkin patch, I still wanted Lee to try one. We never got around to picking out a pumpkin and making it together like we planned, so when I saw Mama baking for Thanksgiving, I asked her to save a slice for Lee.