Page 106 of Set me Free

That night, he made love to me slowly, whispering sweet nothings in my ear, his hands roaming over my belly, cherishing every inch of me. And in that moment, everything felt perfect.

March arrived quickly, and my due date was looming. Creed had invited both of our mothers to be with us, which I appreciated—at least for my mom.

“Are you sure you can stay the entire time? I mean, it’s still a few days before she’ll be here.” I asked my mama, helping her unpack her things in one of the guest rooms.

“Girl hush, she could be here any day now and Glam Ma’s baby will not come into this world without me being present.” She smiled. “This is happening baby girl and I’m just glad you and Creed wanted me here to witness it.”

“Thank you for being here Mommy.” I wrapped my arms around her and she kissed my forehead. “Now, I just gotta figure out how to tolerate Tasha being here and I’ll be fine.” I sat down on the edge of the bed rubbing my stomach, a slight tightness causing it to ache.

“You let me handle her if need be.” Sienna said. “But, I do think you and her need to have a conversation. It’s obvious that Creed is crazy about you and you’re clearly not going anywhere. For the sake of the baby, maybe it’s time to hash it out.”

I thought about that and I knew deep down my mama was right. A conversation was needed between Tasha Langston and I, one that was long overdue. Little did I know that conversation was going to happen sooner, rather than later.

I was in the kitchen, sipping water, when I felt her presence before I saw her. "Serenity," she said softly.

I turned, my face carefully blank. "Tasha."

She exhaled, folding her arms. "I know I’m probably the last person you wanna talk to."

"You’re not wrong," I said flatly.

She nodded, shifting on her feet. "I deserve that. But I need to say something to you." I said nothing. She took a deep breath, then met my eyes. "I was wrong." I blinked, caught off guard. "I was wrong about you. About a lot of things. And I see that now."

I swallowed. "What changed?"

"Time. Reflection. Seeing how much my son loves you. Seeing how much my grandson loves you. And now, you’re about to give us another blessing."

I folded my arms. "And now you want a clean slate?"

"I want peace," she corrected. "For the sake of my grandbaby. For all of us."

I studied her, looking for insincerity—but I didn’t find any. She looked genuinely regretful.

"You said a lot of hurtful things," I said quietly. “Without even trying to get to know me, you hated me. I know I’m not your precious Gianna but I am a good person.”

"I know," she admitted. "And I’ll never be able to take all of that back. But I want to make it right. And you don’t gotta be Gianna, because I know whoever you are, my baby boy loves you more than I’ve ever seen him love anyone else. I want to apologize also for my part in what happened last summer. While, I didn’t encourage what happened between Creed and Gianna; I didn’t discourage it either. I invited her here for the wrong reasons and I should have never invited her into the home you share with my son."

I let out a slow breath, feeling the tension ease from my body. "Listen, I can’t promise we’ll ever be best friends," I told her. "But for the sake of my baby and yours too, I promise to try. Believe it or not; even though we’re just figuring things out right now and aren’t technically together, I love Creed just as much, if not more than he loves me. I’m not going anywhere; we’ll be in each other’s lives for the rest of our lives. "

Her eyes softened. "I know that and I’m glad that he’ll always have you."

30

CREED

The arena lights were bright, the energy in the stadium electric as we fought to maintain our number one seed in the conference. I was locked in, focused, moving like a machine on the court.

This was an important game, one we needed to win. My body felt good, my shots were falling, and we were up by ten as the third quarter wound down. But in the back of my mind, there was a constant ticking clock.

Serenity was due any day now. She was currently back at the house with her mama, resting, and while I knew she was in good hands, I hated being so far away. Every time I hit the bench for a breather, my eyes flickered toward the court-side seats where my mama was sitting. She had flown in specifically for Cree, we both knew that. But she came out with me anyway for the game to support me.

After getting subbed out by my coach so I could catch a quick breather. I sat down on the bench, a towel draped over my shoulders as I squeezed a Gatorade bottle, drinking in slowsips. The energy in the building was wild, fans screaming, my teammates hyping each other up.

Then I heard it.

"Creed!"

At first, I thought it was just some fan yelling my name. I wiped my mouth and focused back on the court, listening to coach go over the next play.

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