Page 172 of When a Soul Cries

He had caught me.

His eyebrows rose just slightly.

I cleared my throat and looked away. “Anyway.”

“Mm-hmm,” he murmured.

“Shut up.”

“I ain’t say nothing.”

“You didn’t have to.”

Sol stepped toward Rome then, reaching both arms toward her daughter.

“Come here, baby.”

The little girl lifted her head from Rome’s chest and looked directly at her mother.

I expected her to reach back.

She didn’t.

Instead, she tightened her arms around Rome.

Everybody noticed.

Sol paused with her arms still extended.

Her expression changed from casual expectation to confusion.

“Come on,” she said again, softer this time.

She moved closer and reached beneath the baby’s arms.

The little girl turned her face away and tucked herself against Rome’s chest.

The entire kitchen went quiet.

Zari’s mouth fell open.

Sol slowly lowered her hands.

“She… never does that.”

For once, even I didn’t have a joke ready.

Rome looked down at the little girl like he was just as confused as everybody else. “What you mean?”

“She doesn’t go to people like that,” Zari said. The humor had disappeared from her voice. “Not people she doesn’t know.”

Sol nodded, still staring at her daughter. “Usually it’s just me and Zari. Even with people she’s been around before, sometimes she won’t let them hold her.”

Something flickered across Rome’s face.

I knew my brother better than anybody.

He was uncomfortable with the attention, but not with the baby.