Page 51 of You Deserve Good Things

The cold-ass jelly hit Shaniya’s belly like a slap of refrigerated regret. She hissed, wrinkling her nose.

“Why is it so cool, my God,” she muttered, shivering.

“Gotta wake ’em up somehow,” I joked, earning a side-eye.

The wand slid across her belly like a magic wand about to conjure chaos. The screen blinked on, and the little whirs andwhoosh-whoosh-whooshof heartbeats filled the room like a drumline at halftime. Then the tech paused. Tilted her head. Moved the wand again. Zoomed in.

I frowned. “What? What’s wrong?”

The tech tried to hold back a smile. That alone had me clutching invisible pearls.

She chuckled. “Oh, nothing’s wrong.” Then she hit us with it—the line. “You’re having triplets.”

Boom. Silence. Deafening, air-snatched, jaw-on-the-floor silence. You could’ve heard a damn fruit fly sneeze. My soul briefly left my body to file a formal complaint with the universe.

Then I shouted, “How many fuckin’ babies did you just say!”

Shaniya’s head snapped to me so fast I thought she pulled a muscle. Her eyes were wide as pie plates, her lips trembling.

“Triplets, Jacory. Triplets.”

I blinked once. Twice. Then I broke into the biggest, cheesiest, cockiest Kool-Aid grin this side of Texas.

“Shit, guess I shot the club up real good, huh?”

The tech straight up choked on a laugh. “I’ve seen a lot of reactions, but that one is new.”

Shaniya covered her face with both hands like she was hiding from her own womb.

“I am so embarrassed.”

I leaned over, kissed her cheek, still grinning like I won a championship.

“Baby, don’t be embarrassed. I did what had to be done.”

“Jacory—”

“I had to make up for lost time! That’s retroactive fertilization, baby!”

Her palm smacked my chest. “You aresoridiculous.”

“You knew what it was when you let me back in the game,” I whispered dramatically. “I don’t miss. I multiply.”

The whole house was lit like a block party during a blackout. Candles were burning throughout the house, and our family was packed tighter than a Popeye’s on Free Chicken Sandwich Day.

Shaniya stood in front of the TV like she was about to deliver a presidential address. She took a deep breath, resting both hands on her belly, which was already looking like it was housing a secret society.

“Alright, y’all,” she said. “So, we’re pregnant.”

The room blew up like Fourth of July fireworks.

“My baby is having a baby!”

Mama Shari hit her knees so fast I thought she was catching the Holy Ghost. Her wig shifted back an inch. “I need a tambourine and a towel!”

Papa Samuel stood there nodding slowly, eyes misty. “My baby girl is gon’ be a mama.”

My mama fanned herself so hard her earrings nearly flew off. “Lord, my son really stepped up. Iknewthe Lord wasn’t done with him yet!”

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