by J. J. McAvoy
“Hi, Viv, happy New Year! How’s the weather? Oh you look—””
“Yes. Yes. Hi, Thea. Happy New Year. It’s tits up cold out, and if this person had anything more than Hot Pockets and beer in his refrigerator I wouldn’t know that … so where is the child?”
Grumpy, as always. I made a face, sticking out my bottom lip, turning the camera around so they could see, I heard them gasp and aww, which made me all teary again; damn hormones apparently didn’t exit with him.
“Don’t we make a good kid?” I raised my chin a little higher in pride, once I turned the camera back around.
“I hate adding to your ego … but yeah. He’s so cute, Thea,” Viviane replied.
“How does it feel to be a mom?” Atticus asked.
“I don’t know, it hasn’t hit me yet,” I whispered.
“Thea, we’ll call you back when Mother Nature isn’t trying to bury us under a mountain of snow,” she said, and just like that the connection was lost. A few congratulatory texts poured in from all the people at his law firm.
I looked toward the window, but couldn’t see out. Lifting the sheets, I tried to move my legs, but they were asleep.
“Where are you going?” Levi yawned sitting up from his chair cracking his head side to side. He glanced down at Ulric to make sure he was alright before looking to me again.
“To see what it’s like outside, and use the bathroom … actually the bathroom first,” I said, trying to push myself off the bed. He came around to my side to help me stand. “Levi, it’s—”
“All I’ve done is take pictures, watched you both, so let me help with this,” he said, and I was sure he would have carried me if the doctors hadn’t said walking was good for me. He held his arm around my waist and only because he was there and warm, I leaned into him more.
“Oh, bag.” I pointed to our baby bag, which I was still surprised he’d remembered. He loosened up and I held on to the bathroom door. “I just need my toilet bag.”
“The green one, right?” He dug inside, pulling out the baby jacket we’d bought along with a few clothes Denise had gotten what felt like forever ago.
“Yeah, thank you.” I took it from him and walked to the bathroom, not closing the door fully so I could hear Ulric. Luckily Levi went back to him when I was at the bathroom, which made me feel better. Yes. I was now afraid to take my eyes off of him.
“Oh…man” I laughed at my own reflection. I looked a mess…I had a good excuse but still. Taking a brush, I combed out my hair before pulling it back into a ponytail. Then washed my face, brushed my teeth and used the bathroom.
When I finished in the bathroom, I caught Levi just staring at Ulric, gently rubbing his head.
I walked over to him, and asked, “You aren’t mad about adding Oidhche, are you? I got a little too excited—and pushy.”
He wrapped his arms around me, holding me close, allowing me to rest my cheek on his chest.
“It’s perfect, don’t worry. Besides, he has my last name … unlike some people.”
“Here we go.” I giggled.
“You aren’t getting out of marrying me anymore.”
“I wasn’t trying to—”
He put his finger to my lips, and I glared at him. “No more waiting … it’s happening this spring.”
“Fine.”
He eyed me carefully, so I lifted my hand like a boy scout … or something. “Wedding in the spring, for sure. I swear.”
Wrapping his arm around me tighter, I rested against him again, holding him just as tightly.
“You know, with a name like Ulric Pierre-Oidhche Black, he’s going to be end up a rock star or something?”
“We’re never going to be cool again, are we?” I asked, and he just nodded, making the both of us laugh.
He kissed the top of my head. “I’ll be right back.”
Nodding I let go reluctantly as he headed towards the bathroom. Leaving me to smile over Ulric, I murmured softly, placing my finger under his hand. It took only a second for him to grip on.
“I hope you like baseball,” I whispered down at him. “If not, just bear with it until we can break it to your father.”
“Excuse me.”
I glanced up as the new night nurse came in, her old wrinkled arms cradling Ulric’s chart. Quietly, she walked over. “Good evening, how are you? I’m Kelly-Ann. How are you feeling?
I grinned. “Giddy.”
“As you should be,” she replied taking out a baby thermometer and placing it on his forehead.
Being the person I was, I leaned over basically hovering over her shoulder to see.
“Perfect.” She nodded, and I relaxed. “With the weather like this, make sure to check his temperature every so often.”
“Is everything okay?”
I turned to Levi as he came out of the bathroom, I could tell he’d taken time to wash his face and fix his crazy bed hair. I would have teased him if his green eyes weren’t filled with worried as he looked directly at Ulric.
“He’s perfect,” I repeated the nurse’s words and he relaxed, coming over to me. I added, “she was just saying that we need to pay attention to his temperature, seeing as he’s a Blizzard Baby now.”
“Ahh,” he whispered, placing his hand on Ulric’s head.
When I looked back to the nurse, she briefly gave Levi a strange look, before she spoke again.
Levi glanced at me, but didn’t say anything. We both knew that look. The ‘oh…he’s the father’ look but we were just too happy to care.
PREGNANCY: MONTH 4
LEVI
She barged into my office, arms folded under her now-bigger breasts, and on top of her small, but now noticeable, bump. Her dark brown hair curled into a wave stopping right beside her breasts…which were far too distracting for their own good. She was stunning. Pissed. But stunning.
“We’ll talk about this whenever you aren’t about to die,” Tristan muttered under his breath, rising from the chair on the opposite side of my desk. He quickly gathered up the case files in front of him, and nodded to Thea as he left. “You’re glowing today, Thea.”
“Thank you, but don’t compliment me right now. I want to stay angry,” she said, never looking away from me, her brown eyes ready to fire daggers.
Tristan gave me the sign of the cross behind her back, and if she weren’t there, I would have flipped him off.
“Thea—”
“Did you give me the Gibbs case because I’m now a human incubator?” she snapped, before I could even get a word out.
I rose from my chair, trying to save myself. “I took the case before I realized you were—”
“A human incubator,” she repeated. “That doesn’t explain why I’m now first chair. But it does say my fiancé is an asshole.”
“Hey!”
“What else do you call a man who makes his pregnant fiancée defend a woman who killed her infant?”
“Accidentally!”
“Don’t-fucking-carally!”
“Thea, when I took the case, you felt so bad for her!” I reminded her.
“I didn’t know I was pregnant then; it’s different now! She makes me so angry! Every time I see her mug shot, I want rip it up into little tiny bits, throw into the trash and kick it out of the window,” she said quickly, her hands ripping up imaginary paper, that it took me a second to catch up.
“Come here,” I said, leaning on the edge of my desk.
“No. You’re going to try to calm me down—”
“Which would be good for both you and our baby.” I looked at her stomach. She sighed deeply, walking over to me, and when she was close enough, I put one hand on her side and one hand on the curve of her stomach.
“We find out the sex tomorrow right?” I asked rubbing softly.
“Yes.” She sighed relaxing, though she didn’t want to.
I grinned, and kissed her stomach, before looking back up at her. “We’re never going to make a mistake as bad Rita Gibbs, but we aren�
�t going to be perfect either. Believe me, I Googled how to be a perfect parent but apparently the parenting world is very divisive.”
“I know…and mean.” She made a face, pouting. “Moms are scary. I just strolled into this clothing store because I saw this cute little take-me-home outfit, and the lady in there went on and on about how mothers who use certain fabrics are monsters … fabrics, Levi.”
“What fabrics?” Were we supposed to only use—
“Levi.” She laughed, shaking her head at me. Taking a deep breath. “I can see she feels bad, and I know you put me on this case because it was a sure victory, having the pregnant woman defend the baby killer…”
“Accidentally killed … and I put you on the case with Raymond because you are a good lawyer,” I reminded her but she just went on.
“I feel like I’m going to break down and cry in court. I just got out of law school. The first impression I’m going to make in court is of a sobbing, hormonal—”
“Human incubator,” I finished the last part for her. “And so what? I didn’t just hire you because I’m screwing you—Ouch! Kidding!”
She glared at me. “Kidding about the joke, or about not just hiring me because you were screwing me?”
“First, why past tense? Second, don’t try to cross examine me, Mrs. Black; I’m one hell of a lawyer. Third, what do you want for lunch?”
“First, past because I’m slightly annoyed with you and plan on withholding sex. Second, I’m not your wife yet. Third, you keep saying you’re one heck of a lawyer, and yet, I just see you in here, kicking your feet up. Fourth, I’m going to eat lunch with my client.” She broke out of my arms.
“Future mean-mom-in-training.”
“Miss tonight’s baby class and you’ll see present mean,” she said, pointing her finger at me before pulling open the door.
“Love you,” I told her.
She smiled. “Love you, too.”
“Now, go win my case.”
Her smile dropped as she stomped out. Smirking, I picked up the baseball from my desk, and walked over to see the view outside my corner office. Boston—each day it got more and more beautiful. Tossing the ball up and down, I wasn’t interested in the skyscrapers but the trees of in the distance. I wanted to move, from our townhouse to something…more. The brownstones were nice but the yards were small, I wanted a yard. Which meant we’d have to go further out of the city, and a wealthy gated neighborhood would be rejected Thea moment she saw it.
“Mr. Black, your missed calls.”
Turning, I saw good ol’ Betty, glasses hanging off her neck by old beads, her gray hair now cropped short. “Yes, Betty, come in.”
She put her glasses back on and looked up from her planner as I moved to my seat, putting the baseball back on the desk. “Judge Holland called and asked to meet tonight for dinner.”
“Call him back and tell him I can do a late lunch,” I replied, pulling out the logs to sign.
“Okay, and Mrs. Yu wants—”
“Tell her we’re working on it as fast as we can, but her son did drive into a hospital building, so it isn’t as simple as posting bail.”
“And Mr. Thornton?”
“Bloody Thornton.” I groaned rolling my eyes. “Tell him…anything. I don’t care, we aren’t hiring him.”
“Lastly, the Gimps.”
The Gimps.
The Gimps?
“Who the heck are the Gimps?” I looked up at her.
Her planner was down and she just gave me that old look of hers.
“Betty?”
“If one of those tech boys come to my desk and starts pulling and uploading and software, I’m thinking I’m going to get a hammer and make them gimps. I have system. It might not work as fast or as shinny as their little touch pads, but I like my system. Do you not like my system?”
“Me?” I shook my head, raising my hands in defense. “You’re fine.”
“Then tell them to stop touching my desk!”
“Yes, ma’am.” I nodded to her.
She took a deep breath and took off her glasses. “Good. I’ll go make the calls.”
“Thank you, Betty,” I said in the sweetest tone I could muster as she headed back to her desk.
Grinning, I’d just put my pen to paper when Tristan busted in.
“Does no one knock anymore?” I asked him baffled at the revolving door my office had become.
“Did Judge Holland ask to meet for dinner?” he said abruptly, his brown eyes wide.
I nodded but didn’t speak.
“Judge Sotto just retired,” he said, allowing me to fill in the blanks.
“…which means there is now a spot open on the circuit,” I whispered. “They’re looking for a new judge.”
“They’re looking for you, Levi.”
Betty knocked, thank god someone did, before sticking her head inside. “Judge Holland said he can only do dinner?”
“He’ll do it,” Tristan said for me.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Baby classes.”
“Feed them when they’re hungry. Change them when they need to be changed. Don’t drop them. Make sure they are dry and warm. Done.”
This time I really did flip him off. “Thank you, Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
“Fuck you—”
“Boys.”
“Sorry, Betty,” we both said.
“So what do I tell Judge Holland’s secretary?” She asked.
Good question.
“I’ll call Bethan. I’m sure she’ll cover for you just this once,” he said to me.
“You people are trying to get me killed,” I muttered, pulling out my phone to call Thea.
“Think of it this way, you get more time off as judge too.” He took the baseball and sat in the chair “And my name gets to be on the wall all by itself. Knox and Associates.”
“So that’s what you’re really gunning for—my seat.” I replied disconnecting the phone when she didn’t answer. She was most likely with a client.
“Actually, your whole damn office.” He nodded behind me. “You have the best view.”
“I do, don’t I?”
“The Impeccable Life of Levi Black.”
I never wanted that movie to end.
THEA
When he came in, I was sitting on the couch, eating vanilla ice cream out of the tub. “Welcome back,” I said, taking a bite.
He put his suit jacket on the arm of the chair closest to the television, and pulled off his striped tie before sitting down on the edge. “I’m sorry we missed today.”
“I didn’t miss anything. I went.” I licked the spoon.
“I thought—”
“Bellamy had a fever. So Bethan couldn’t go, and she was going to call your mom, but in all honesty, I didn’t want anyone else to go with me but you. So I told her I wasn’t going, and then went on my own.” I wished I hadn’t, but I did.
“Thea, I’m so sorry—”
“Stop saying sorry!” I didn’t want to yell but … but I was so upset and seeing him feel bad didn’t make it any better.
“Baby?” He moved to sit next to me as I started cry. “Are you okay?”
“I’m crying over ice cream … does this look okay to you?” I snapped, shoving my spoon in like shovel, lifting it, and stuffing it into my mouth. “I was a strong, independent person before you!”
“I know.”
“Then why am I crying!”
“I should have been there—”
“Not just that.” I wiped my tears on my arm. “I’m mad about that, but not just that.”
“What happened?” He put his palm on my cheek.
Staring up at him, seeing him so worried, made me not want to say it anymore. But he pushed.
“Love, what happened today? Was it Gibbs?”
I sighed, shaking my head. “Do you know what sucks the most about being black?”
He didn’t answer, and I knew he wouldn’t until I finis
hed my rant.
“Not knowing if some people are just judgmental assholes, or if they are racist, judgmental assholes. And I can’t say anything until I know, because I don’t want to be the girl who cried racism. But you should have seen the lady in charge. She kept picking at me during the class, throwing out unwanted statistics for unwed mothers and minorities, which is code for black mothers. I wanted to tell her to shove it, but everyone was just staring, and I didn’t want to leave because … because we paid for the damn class!”
“What’s the number of the place?” he asked angrily, reaching for his phone.
“Levi, don’t—”
“Fuck that!” he snapped. “I’m going to—”
“It’s your fault, too!” I hollered at him, and he froze. “You should have been there like you promised, but you weren’t. I don’t need you to be my knight in shining armor. I don’t need you to save me from people like that, because you can’t. They exist everywhere. I need you to be there when you say you are going to be there and stand next to me so I can ignore them … prove them wrong.” Putting my ice cream down, I felt around my stomach.
“Are you all right?” He rushed over to me again.
“Yeah…” I whispered, looking down. “I think he’s moving.”
“Seriously?” He grinned and reached up to touch where my hand had been.
“Can you feel him?”
Frowning, he shook his head.
“I swear, even if the president calls, I won’t miss anything else,” he whispered, kissing the side of my head.
“Are you becoming a judge?”
He shook his head. “I like having Betty as my secretary, and Tristan as my partner at the firm. But most of all, I love working with you. I’m way too selfish to give all that up.”
I smiled, lifting my ice cream again. “Tomorrow, I get to kick ass in court and find out we’re having a girl.”
“Boy.”
“Girl.”
He grinned, speaking down to my stomach, “I already have your baseball gloves.”
“You’re going to have find a girl’s size, right, Willow?” I said, looking down at my stomach too.
“Willow?”
“After my grandmother. I’d promised her when I was nine that I’d name my kids after her and grandpa. And now that she’s … she’s gone … I feel like I should honor that. And before you say anything, remember they get your last name.”