Page 11 of Her Baby His Gift

“No.” He scratched his chin as he thought back on their conversation. “I didn’t tell her all of the details. She only knows that you’re pregnant and I’m the father.”

Harlem placed the palm of her hand up to her forehead and closed her eyes in frustration. “Will you please stop saying that?Please.”

Carter lost it. “Do you think I enjoy saying it?! Don’t you think I wish you were carrying Damian’s kid! You act like this is fun for me. As if you’re the only one hurting. My best friend is dead. Damian is the only other person in this world who had my back, and someone I loved like a brother is gone. I’m doing my level best to keep it together. Will I make all the right decisions? Hell no! But, I made Dame a promise, and I intend to keep it!”

Harlem’s eyes popped open in surprise. Carter had been rock steady during Damian’s sickness and after his death. This was the first time she had seen him lose his cool.

Harlem pressed her lips together. “Look, I was just . . . I was taken off guard. I didn’t know how to handle it.”

Carter exhaled long and deep. “I should have talked to you first, and I’ll speak with Elaina.”

Harlem gave him a questioning look. “Do you really trust her with this?”

“Elaina is solid. She’s a good woman.”

Harlem wasn’t so sure about that. “If you say so. You’re the one that has to live with her.”

“Need I remind you that you don’t give off the best vibes either? Yet, Damian thought the sun rose and set in your smile.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

Harlem was misty-eyed. “He was right.” She laughed a little as the temperature came down from their heated argument.

“You are a little shit.” He chuckled too.

“Maybe, but you are arrogant, and until recently, out of control playboy.”

Carter turned serious. “Is that the real reason you never really liked me?”

Carter wants to get all deep and shit. I can’t deal with this.It took Harlem a moment to get her thoughts together and provide an honest answer. “I’m not sure if it was youper seor if you were symbolic of what I couldn’t have.”

“You are making zero sense.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I wanted the fairytale. I wanted the grand love-affair that included marriage and children. There was a part of me that felt like you were the reason Damian didn’t believe in the fairytale.”

“Ah. You thought I was the reason Damian didn’t want to live the traditional life and get married.”

“That and you always had a horde of women surrounding you. If I’m completely honest, I think I feared maybe there was someone else out there that was Damian’s perfect match. I was always waiting for the shoe to drop.”

“You don’t think you were?” If Carter was being real, he never thought they were either.

Harlem’s shoulder lifted in a small shrug. “I don’t know. I know that we loved each other.” She just wasn’t in-love with him and wasn’t sure if he was either. “We just didn’t share the same beliefs.”

“I see. Dame thought you were over the whole hoopla of marriage and that your commitment to one another was enough.”

I wanted more.Harlem would never admit that. “We were committed.” On paper, they were the perfect couple. Damian checked all the boxes from her childhood vision board. He was handsome, smart, successful, and they shared the same skin tone. He was her black prince. In reality, they were anything but perfect.

Carter got the feeling that Harlem was holding something back, but he wouldn’t push. They weren’t friends and really only started to become friendly after discovering Damian’s illness. “I can’t get his final words out of my mind.”

“What were they?”

“He told me to stop going through life numb. To live and thrive.” Carter sighed. “I’m working on it. He wanted me to find my version of Harlem.”His exact words were if Harlem wouldn’t have me, to find my own version of her.Carter would never repeat that. Instead, he paraphrased Damian’s message. “He wanted her to make me as happy as you made him.”

A pang of guilt hit Harlem.

“I know that I’m not Damian, and I could never be. Nobody can live up to him, but Damian put his trust in me. He made me promise that I would always be here for you and that we would raise this baby together.” Carter held her gaze. “I won’t break that promise.”

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