Page 187 of Are You Going to Love Me

“I got the dishes,” Maximus said as Eden stood. He rubbed her belly, kissed it, before she kissed the top of his head. “Love you.”

“Love you, back.”

Maximus waited until Eden was upstairs behind the door before he commented. “I got plans, ma.”

“Do you? You got her carrying your baby. Don’t have that girl be a baby momma,” she shared.

Maximus schooled his trauma and nodded. “I hear you. I’ll handle that. There’s other things you and I might need to tackle before therapy.”

“What? Augustus? We don’t need to address that. How he turned out and ended is solely on me. The beginning, at least, the end was on him. I don’t hold that against you.”

“How you know everything?”

Her eyes lifted toward the stairs. “She’s come to see me every week. She’s held me while I cried, she prayed with me, and she donated time in my trade classes. That woman you got…I’d do that for her, too. I understand the position you were in. I’m one thing. The woman you have made life with, you protect that tirelessly – you protect her with your life. Which is why you need to marry her. Regardless of what she says. Anything can happen to you, and you need to make sure that she and your child are in a position to win. That’s all I’m saying. I won’t push the issue, okay?”

“Alright.”

“Come on and do these dishes, while I finish talking your ear off.”

“You and Eden finna have me sandwiched between y’all.”

“Oh yeah, we got a watch list. How long you gon’ have her working?”

“We agreed that after the baby, she’ll take a couple of months off from filming. But she got so much to do, it’s unreal. I love it, though. She’s always been like that, though. She’s the real reason my shit blew up. I think she got a direct line to God or something.”

“I can tell you she’s definitely connected and covered.”

“For sure.”

sixty-two

. . .

“You’ve gotto be careful with the zipper. She literally stitched the dress on me to make sure it was belly-friendly.”

“Whoever did it did a great job. Same shorty that did moms’?”

“Yes, she’s still down there taking selfies?”

Maximus chuckled. “All by the pool, throwing her hair in the wind and posing like she’s going to prom.”

“I don’t think she went to prom, for real,” Eden hummed, hearing Maximus’ phone chime. “Handle that, I’ll be on the ottoman waiting for you to put these shoes on.”

“You spoiled.”

“Mmhmm, you did it, DJ Two Tymes,” Eden hummed, switching away. “I can’t wait to see you on that screen.”

“Oh yeah?” Maximus asked, picking up his phone and checking the text. “Give me a second, baby.”

“Okay,” Eden hummed, checking her face in the compact mirror. No uneasiness rested with Eden as Maximus stepped out on the veranda. His mother was snapping away and taking in the fruits of her son’s labor.

About two minutes later, he walked back in and closed the door behind him. “Let me ask you something.”

“What’s up?” Eden quizzed, rubbing her lips together.

“When we got arrested, who was your one call to?”

“Big Rod. He’s who I should’ve called years ago to avoid all this shit,” Eden spoke, without batting an eye.

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