Page 20 of Raising Love
I smirked. “We still talking about the baby, right?”
She kissed her teeth. “Really? Yuck!”
I tossed my head back, laughing, and she giggled.
Leveling my gaze, I said, “Yeah, let’s do this guardianship thing. We’ll figure it out.”
She closed her eyes and exhaled a deep breath, pressing her prayer hands to her lips. “Okay.”
We spent the rest of the time exchanging ideas and hopes about what this new journey would entail. During the quiet moments as we ate dinner, my mind raced with all the things I would need to do.
Was I giving up my loft?
How far was Greene Gardens from the city?
Were there other people living there already, or would we be the only ones moving into the village?
“He doesn’t have a name,” Ivy said, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“What?”
“Their baby.” Ivy lifted her napkin to pat her lips clean. “I just remembered that he doesn’t have a name. When I asked Kendra what they came up with, she said we’d have to find out when he’s born and they tell us, but…”
I squeezed my eyes closed and dropped my head back between my shoulders.
“I don’t want to name him just anything?—”
“We’ll ask Kendra and Tyrell’s parents,” I said with a nod. “We’ll ask their parents if either of them knows. Kendra and Tyrell had to at least have told their parents, right?”
“Right.” Ivy nodded, her expression softening. “Yeah, they had to have.”
“For now, though,” I started, “let’s just take it one step at a time.”
Ivy grinned. “Look at you being the voice of reason.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “Just tryna get my head right here.”
She snickered.
I lifted my glass of scotch and held it in the air. Ivy, needing no instruction, lifted her glass of red wine and tapped her glass gently against mine.
“To Kendra and Tyrell,” I said as our glasses clinked.
“And to us,” Ivy added, bringing the rim of her glass to her lips.
“Yeah,” I whispered to myself. “To us.”
FIVE
ivy
I stood at the floor-to-ceiling window, staring out at the vast land in front of me. My eyes scanned the expansive backyard, where the growing landscape of Greene Gardens offered a faded green backdrop. We were days away from the start of winter, and the temperature mirrored that—likely contributing to the muted green color spread out before me. I imagined it would look much better when spring rolled around. At the moment, it looked a bit dull, but I could see its potential.
“That was the last box,” Leo said behind me, pulling my attention away from the window.
I nodded in acknowledgment, turning to face him, my arms still tightly folded across my chest.
Leo entered the house without needing to duck his head. He and Tyrell were close to the same height, so I was sure the high ceilings and tall doorjambs were built with intention, keeping Tyrell and his friends in mind.
