Page 114 of A Kingpin's Weakness
“Daddy, can we go to Disney next week? Please? Mommy said I gotta ask you.”
I rubbed my face. “I don’t know, son some stuff came up.”
“Yes, S3,” Stormi cut in, voice full of energy. “We can go to Disney next week.”
“Yayyyyyyy!” he screamed so loud I had to pull the phone back a little.
I looked at her sideways, whispering, “You sure? You been throwing up everything but air.”
She nodded confidently. “Yes.”
I didn’t say anything else. She looked like she meant it. I wasn’t about to argue with her about it not if she was trying.
“I gotta go, Daddy. Me and Mommy are making breakfast.”
“Okay. I love you, S3.”
“Love you too, Dad!”
I ended the call and set the phone on the nightstand, glancing over at Stormi who was back laying against the pillows, eyes calm but thoughtful.
“We can tell him at Disney,” she said after a beat.
“That’s what you wanna do?”
“Yeah. I already have the perfect gift for him too.”
I watched her, the way her face lit up just talking about it. It was wild how she could be sick and exhausted and still trying to make it special for him. For us.
“You sure you gon’ be good enough to walk all over that park with him?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’ll bring snacks, rest when I need to. I just want him to feel included. And I want it to be a happy memory.”
I nodded, leaning over to kiss her forehead. “Then we’ll make it one.”
Stormi and I laid around the rest of the morning, wrapped up in silence and each other. We didn’t talk much, but the quiet didn’t feel empty. Just peaceful. Like we were finally breathing the same air.
Moms had made it back earlier than I expected. Soon as she walked through the door, she was in full grandma mode, not even giving Stormi a chance to protest. She made that soup she always whipped up when me or S3 had stomach bugs. Stormi barely ate a few spoonfuls, but it was something. And she didn’t throw it up… not yet, at least. Progress.
Now we were in the car on the way to her appointment. She sat in the passenger seat, scrolling her phone, one legtucked under the other, oversized hoodie hiding most of her thick frame. Her face was unreadable. Not sad. Not excited. Just somewhere in the middle. She hadn’t said much, but I could tell she was nervous. I was too.
In the waiting room, she stayed glued to her phone. Probably just trying to keep her mind off things. I didn’t push her to talk. I just sat next to her and picked up a couple of magazines from the table in front of us.
What to Expect When You’re Expecting.I flipped through the pages like I wasn’t fully invested, but every word hit different now. I wasn’t just reading for curiosity, I was reading for us. For them.
Next to it was some magazine on baby names. I scanned the cover and smirked.
“What you over there smiling about?” Stormi asked, glancing over from her phone.
“Just reading through baby names. Thought I’d get a head start.”
She rolled her eyes, but I saw the corner of her mouth twitch.
“I’m not naming our baby after a rapper, Seth.”
“I wasn’t gonna suggest that.” I paused, flipping a page. “But Sethus got a nice ring to it.”
“Absolutely not.”
