I awaken when I feel Jordan wrap his arms around me. He left around two hours ago, and I’m glad he’s home. I drag my hand down his arm and twine our fingers together.
“Hey,” I whisper.
He kisses my shoulder and then the side of my neck. “Hi, angel.” He settles onto the bed, holding me to him. My back to his front, his hand resting on my stomach, holding our babies.
One day, we will be able to hold them in our arms.
“Love you.”
“Love you too, angel.”
After opening the front door, I let in Alisha’s mom, and I have to do a double take. She looks really good and even more like Alisha than last time. Anyone would know they are mother and daughter.
Alisha’s mom finished rehab with flying colors, and she has a smile on her face. Once I was told how much progress Alisha’s mom had made, I knew I needed to bring her straight to my woman.
“Where is my baby?” her mom asks and looks frantically around the room like Alisha is hiding behind something.
“She’s upstairs, getting dressed. She doesn’t know you’re here.”
Her eyes widen, and her hand is shaking.
“Angel, come here!” I yell.
I hear our bedroom door open. I see Alisha’s mom flinch with every single noise. Alisha comes down the steps and into the kitchen. She turns the corner and her eyes are lit with joy as she looks at me. Then she looks at her mother and stops dead in her tracks. She turns around, holding her face. I see her shoulders moving as she cries.
Fuck, my heart hurts.
Alisha’s mom walks over to her daughter and takes her into her arms.
“Mom!” Alisha wails, crying into her mom’s shoulder.
Fuck me, man. I turn around, not able to fucking take her so upset.
She looks like she used to, when things were good. My heart fell to my feet at the sight of her, and I know that Jordan had a part in making her the way she is.
Seeing her hurts so bad. I never knew until this moment how much I wanted her to be in my life. I want my mother more than anything. I want her to be there when I have my babies.
“I am so sorry, baby.” She soothes me.
“I missed you so much, Mom.” I cry harder and hold her tighter to me. “Oh God, Mom, I love you. I’m so glad you’re back to me.”
“Angel, I know you want your mom, but I need to fucking hold you. I can’t stand you hurting.”
I’m plucked from my mother and into my man’s arms. I face-plant into his chest and breathe in his warm scent, my body easing instantly.
Taking deep breaths, I compose myself. Then I look over at my mother to make sure she is really here and I didn’t just imagine it.
There she is. She’s watching Jordan and me with a loving expression on her face. My mom is here.
“I need to tell you what happened, Alisha.”
I wipe my eyes and watch as she sits on the couch. Jordan leads me over to the couch in front of her. He sits with me on his lap, and I curl into him.
Then she tells me everything.
Techy
Alisha’s mom tells her everything she told me at the club when she first showed up, and it breaks my woman’s heart. It absolutely fucking killed me to see her in so much pain and holding onto her mother that much. I had to hold her and take away that fucking pain, do something.
“I know you didn’t have any say in things, Mom. I forgive you,” my softhearted woman tells her mom.
Her mom sinks into the couch, relieved. Alisha climbs out of my lap and over to her mom to hug her.
Needing something to lighten the mood, I ask her mom, “Do twins run in your family?”
Alisha grins at me, knowing what I’m doing. I wink at her and look at her mother.
She looks at me, to Alisha, and then down to her still flat stomach. She points down and then back at Alisha. “You mean you’re pregnant? With twins?”
Alisha nods, and her mom screams, pulling Alisha back into her arms, hugging her, and shaking her from side to side.
Alisha looks at me over her shoulder and mouths, “I love you.”
God, I love that fucking woman. “I love you too,” I mouth back.
She smiles before closing her eyes and hugging her mother back.
My mother has been here for a few hours now, and I’m enjoying every second of it. She’s telling Jordan all about my childhood. Who knew I was a little hellion?
“One time, this boy was being mean to her and threw a basketball, hitting her in the face.” My mom laughs for a second. “She set her soccer ball down and had it aimed at him. He was on a bicycle, and when he was driving by the creek, she chose that moment to kick the ball. It hit him on the shoulder, knocking him off the bike and into the creek.”
Jordan laughs and teases, “I always knew she had a mean streak.” He gives me a knowing look, and I know he’s thinking about the almost-bald woman.