TROSR—Chapter XVII
Loving You,
With Everything In Me
Mic
“Micah?”
Her voice drifted through the house like sunlight.
“In here.”
I called from the kitchen.
The smell of melted butter and sugar hung in the air as I slid a tray of chocolate chip cookies into the oven. Attempting to bake might be the more accurate description, but the intention counted.
Kiy appeared in the archway, still glowing from brunch with the girls. Her smile hit me first. Then she walked over and kissed me softly.
“What’s the occasion?” she asked, hopping onto the counter.
My hands instinctively reached to steady her before stopping halfway. She gave me that look—relax, Mic. It was still early.
“Nothing,” I said with a shrug. “Wanted to do something nice.”
She picked up the spoon and started licking the cookie batter like she’d been starving for it.
“So,” I added casually, leaning against the counter. “What’d the doctor say?”
The spoon paused.
She exhaled slowly.
“A bit early to say for sure, however,” she said. “Dr. Jackson wants to schedule an ultrasound soon.”
My stomach tightened.
“But,” she continued, “she said it’s possible…”
Her eyes met mine.
“…we could have twins.”
Shit.
I leaned across the counter and let that settle over me like a wave.
When Kiy first took the pregnancy test, she was shaking so bad I thought she might drop the stick. We waited together in the bathroom, staring at the timer like it might explode.
Longest thirty minutes of my life.
When it showed positive, I had our driver, Phil, run out for more tests. I wasn’t leaving her side for a second.
Five tests later, the truth stood there staring at us. She was carrying our future.
And now there might be two of them.
“The girls know?” I asked.
She dropped her gaze, licking a bit of batter from her finger. That told me everything.
When she first told them about the pregnancy, the reaction had been… intense. Autumn immediately went into wedding-general mode and started rearranging the entire timeline so nothing would stress Kiy out.
Which is how we ended up here.
Detroit. August 12th.
Soon? Definitely.
Rushed? Not really.
Everyone around us had basically turned into a planning army. Chris and Julia handling catering details. Autumn and Zune handled location and decor. And Gabriel and Stembie worked out our guest list and seating arrangements.
All Kiy and I had to do was show up.
Still, I knew she’d handed Autumn a stack of charts and color palettes thick enough to run a small country.
Our combined bachelor and bridal party would be out there soon too. We’d fly in next week.
Then the wedding the week after.
Strangely, my heart wasn’t racing.
It held a steady beat.
After that came the museum gala. Kiy’s first red carpet. I was excited for her, but the idea of piling travel and events on top of a pregnancy made my protective instincts itch.
“You sure you’re up for all this traveling?” I asked, pulling her gently into my arms. My lips brushed against her forehead as she caressed my arms.
“Mic, yes,” she laughed. “Are you sure you’re okay with everything that’s happening? The planner offered to push the date back a year.”
I shook my head quickly and pressed my cheek against her stomach.
“I’ve waited… exceptionally long for you to have my last name,” I murmured. “I’m not waiting another year. If it was up to me, those papers would’ve been signed in Egypt already.”
She laughed softly. “I’m glad it’s Motown though,” she added. “Going home after all these years is going to feel weird.”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “For me too.”
The cookie timer dinged.
We spent the rest of the afternoon tossing around baby names, stealing slightly charred chocolate chip cookies straight from the tray, and talking about the trip that would end with us saying I do.
Somewhere between the laughter and the burnt sugar, it settled over me.
Home wasn’t a place we were going back to.
It was something we were building.
Kiy
“Party people. Y’all packed or what?”
Zune came through the door after they had a quick hoop session. All the guys came straggling in one by one. They didn’t look exhausted, so maybe this time the locals didn’t whoop their asses.
Well, they never did. Close games, but never a blowout. My man can hoop. He didn’t play to lose.
“I got some accessories and shoes coming in tomorrow,” I answered while Julia and I practiced our spades game on the moss living room floor. “But mostly.”
“Ah, miss bride-to-be.” Zune gripped his heart. “You glowing as usual.”
Micah smacked the back of his head. Zune shot him a wild look. “Don’t be flirting with my wife in front of me.”
Zune cheesed, ignoring the warning. “Bet you couldn’t wait to use that one, huh? Fatherhood?”
Mic pushed past him, joining me on the floor, his arms resting around my stomach. He pecked me twice on the cheek. “Hey baby, you good?”
“Yes.” I blinked up at him. His face held this particular look like he was about to do something reckless. He cupped my face and kissed me in front of everybody.
“See? That’s why she expecting,” Zune added, finding Autumn on the couch and pulling her close. Autumn shook her head, playing with her man’s gold chain. “You need to get off her and let her breathe.”
“Nigga.”
Everyone burst out laughing.
“I know you of all people not giving me PDA advice,” Micah shot back. “I’m in my home. With my woman.”
“Baby,” I chuckled, and he kissed me again—longer this time.
“Handle that.” He got up abruptly, proving a point, not before whispering in my ear. “Imma go shower.”
I nodded, my attention back on the game with Julia. I laid down an ace, she cursed under her breath.
“What do y’all think of the cathedral we found?” Autumn changed the subject. “It’s basically emptied. We’re replacing the benches with either velvet or silk.”
“I love it.” I laid down a spade. Julia cursed again trying to keep up. “Why choose? Mix them.”
Autumn clasped her hands. “That’s why you’re always the creative genius.”
“What we miss?” Gabriel came back with Stembie after she had “forgot something in the car.”
Guess all the baby fever got to them too. Well, the act of creating one.
But nobody called them out.
“Nothing,” I drew another card and laid it down. “You gotta teach Julia properly, Stem. She’s losing to a pregnant woman.”
Chris leaned out from the den, split between the Pistons game and the living room. “Don’t patronize my girl. She trying to learn now.”
Stembie chuckled as she took a seat beside us, getting her cards ready. Gabriel joined Chris, dapping him up just as the Spurs lost the ball and the two of them erupted.
“You shouldn’t make motherhood sound like a disability,” Julia muttered, studying the table before sliding a card down.
“The way my hormones are,” I said, landing the final spade, “it’s leaning nuclear.”
I gathered the win and pushed myself up, deciding to check on Mic.
Not that he needed help getting dressed. But lately—especially tonight, the night before we fly to Detroit—I felt pulled toward him in a way I couldn’t explain.
I slipped past the arch corridor that led to the back of the house. Warm steam drifted into the hallway, my bare feet catching the mist that settled on the tile like morning dew.
His back was turned when I stepped into the bathroom. A fresh towel wrapped low around his waist, a simple tank and shorts folded neatly on the counter.
I leaned against the doorway, one hand resting over my stomach.
And suddenly it hit me.
Like a wave reaching shore.
Like a sailor finding the lighthouse through fog.
The man I loved across lifetimes wasn’t a dream anymore.
Not a memory.
He was here.
His existence had become my superpower. And with him—as my husband, as my best friend—I knew there wasn’t anything in this world we couldn’t face.
“Meu lar.”
He turned quickly, the moment he saw my face. His hands came up, warm against my cheeks. Tears slipped down and dotted his palms like small proofs of truth.
“You’re crying,” he murmured. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re my best part, Mic.”
The words left me softly, like something I’d been carrying for years.
He pushed the door closed behind me, sealing us inside the warmth and steam. My back rested against the wood as his hand came down beside my head, bridging the small space between us.
“It just hit me,” I said quietly. “How real this is. How real you are.”
His eyes held mine—deep, warm, steady—like I was something precious.
“You’d tell me if I was dreaming, right?”
Micah tilted my chin slightly, studying my face the way he always did when he knew my heart was running faster than my thoughts.
I laughed softly, brushing the tears away.
“Sometimes I feel like we’re still on that porch with the checkered patio rug,” I whispered. “Talking up at the stars.”
His arms slipped around my waist, pulling me closer until there was barely any space left between us.
“In that moment,” Mic said gently, “I had no idea you were about to bring me my whole world.”
His thumb brushed my cheek. “And you did it so effortlessly.”
He kissed my temple. My cheek. The corner of my mouth. Small sparks everywhere he touched.
“I can’t wait to become the man you always saw in me.”
“You already are, Micah,” I whispered.
He held me tighter, like he believed that now.
We stood there in the steam, the bathroom suddenly feeling like its own quiet little universe. Down the hallway our friends laughed, their voices echoing through the house like life continuing exactly as it should.
Micah’s hands slid down slowly until they rested over my stomach.
“And you,” he murmured, his voice softer than before, “are the star in a room I’ll always keep safe.”
His hand stayed there. Warm. Certain.
Outside the window, the night was still. The kind of quiet that listens.
And for the first time, something simple settled deep in my chest.
The stars weren’t above us anymore.
We had built one.
Maybe even two.