Sophia was still on the couch when I got home, rubbing her belly ever so tenderly. Knowing Dr. McKnight prescribed rest, I wondered if a little exercise would be okay. All that sitting couldn’t be good for her health, but our focus was on the baby for the time being. Besides, Sophia was perfectly happy to sit there and host our girl until check-out time; she was so beautiful doing it, too.
“Looks like our sweet potato is not a sweet potato anymore,” I said.
“Nope,” she replied, still rubbing her belly. “She is fully grown and ready to rule the world!”
“World domination already? I thought we’d have time for a few rounds of hopscotch before then.”
She laughed heartily.
“I’m sure she will pencil you in.”
“I hope so.”
“So how is Maira? Is she coping alright?”
I paused for a moment, thinking about how to answer without going into too much detail. It wasn’t that I didn’t want her to know what we spoke about. I just didn’t want to worry her…because of the baby.
“She, uhhh… She’s got a lot on her mind. I think she’ll be okay, though. She was talking about corrupting our child, so I’d say she’s back, heh.”
Sophia chuckled and shook her head.
“Hopefully she’ll wait until she’s at least a teenager! But I’m glad she’s alright. It’s so tragic what happened! That’s way too young to die.”
“Yeah, it is. What about Rashidah? She seemed okay at the parties.”
“Well…you know how it is when you wear a mask.”
I certainly did. We had become experts at it.
Sophia’s text notification chimed.
“Oh! Speaking of her,” she said, looking at her phone. “She’s inviting us over tonight.”
That was a first. We’d been together all that time, but now when it was critical for Sophia to rest, she invited us to her house? Sims.
“Do you feel up to it?” I asked. “I mean, you’re in the home stretch now…”
“I’ll be fine, Luca! We’re just gonna go over there and sit around, so what’s the difference?”
It wasn’t the sitting around part I was concerned about. Socializing wore her out sometimes, and she was supposed to be conserving energy. But whatever my pregnant queen wanted, she got.
Mark and Rashidah lived in Willow Creek down the street from our old house. It felt really strange to be back in Courtyard Lane after all this time. Bittersweet memories came to mind as I glanced at our house. From the outside, it looked so cheery, with its manicured landscaping, colorful flowers, and white picket fence. The new owners had no idea what secrets lurked behind the walls and how many gallons of tears stained the pillows. Hopefully, they were having a much better time than we did. Flashes of lightning and booms of thunder cut my memory lane jaunt short. Mark and Rashidah came out to usher us in from the storm.
Naturally, Sophia and Rashidah flew to each other like magnets, sharing their excitement about the baby together. I didn’t know Mark that well, but we tried a little small talk. As the night went on, the two lively friends carried on as always, laughing and swapping stories. Maybe she bore her grief better than Maira. After all, she was a lot older than Imran and may have already left home by the time he was born. Or perhaps she desperately needed cheering up, and Sophia had done her job well. Either way, I was glad we left her in higher spirits.
