Kareem sat in the doctors waiting office, leg bouncing as he waited to be called in.
"You good babe?"Amani turned slightly, looking at him as he nodded and smiled. Today was the day, and after weeks of waiting the test results of the child were finally in. To say Kareem was nervous was an understatement, the whole dimension of his relationship with Amani could change if he was now responsible for 2, nearly 3, children.
"Whatever happens, I love you", Amani continued and before he could reply his name was called through the speaker.
Later that evening the family, Kaia, Terah and Roman all sat around the table with light conversations going on.
"Are y'all thinking of any names and what gender y'all both hoping fa?", Kaia asked holding her now sixth month old baby.
"I want another lil' girl' ' Kareem chuckled. "But a healthy baby is best".
He loved being a girl dad and anybody could see he loved Ariyah with his whole heart. Amani was so proud of the man he had become, almost a year ago he was very unreliable and didn't see Ariyah as often as she hoped he would. The fear of Ariyah growing up without a father was a fear that always lingered in Amani's mind. Kareem proved himself to her, he gave Amani a daughter to love forever. Kareem was the peace she longed for and Amani was the soulmate he looked for over and over again.
"When's the gender reveal?"Roman asked.
"I think we will keep it a secret until birth, then yall can find out", Amani smiled as Kareem nodded in agreement. With Amani's pregnancy with Ariyah, at only 19, she was alone for the majority of it due to the distance she and Kareem lived and his initial unwillingness to be active during her pregnancy. Amani had her friends and family throw her a gender reveal party and baby shower to mask her disappointment throughout the whole pregnancy.
As the night began to draw closer to an end and their guest had left, Amani's pregnancy cravings were growing stronger by the day.
"Imma put Riri to sleep and I'll come back down mama," Kareem said, kissing her lips repeatedly before carrying Ariyah upstairs into her bedroom.
It had now been fifteen to twenty minutes and Kareem was still upstairs, the house was very silent so Amani decided to go and make sure everything was okay.
There Kareem was kneeling at the edge of Ariyah's bed kissing her forehead gently as he began to speak softly as Ariyah was still asleep.
"I love you, my baby, I'm sorry it took me this long to realise how much I love you. I promise you and mommy are the light of my life and I promise for as long as I live. I had the wrong priorities baby, I promised my work over you and I hope you forgive me. I'm forever grateful mommy kept you and gave me a daughter to love unconditionally. You and your new sibling are the reason I'm still breathing. Thank you Ariyah Sarai. You saved my life.", he concluded kissing her once more before turning around to see Amani sobbing.
He wrapped his arms around her pulling her in tightly for a hug. I love you and I'm so happy that I get to be the father of our children, yours alone, its a privilege Mani. Thank you for being the best mom to our child.
I love you.
During the night Amani woke up covered in sweat searching the bed for Kareem who was still fast asleep before she scurried out to check on Ariyah, who was also asleep. Amani had been struggling with nightmares since the day Ariyah was taken and over and over again blamed herself for what happened. She didn't want to speak to Kareem due to the situation with Rochelle and the child, but since the tests came back as negative she finally felt like it was her time to tell him.
Kareem, on the other hand, noticed her changes, throughout the day sometimes she would become very quiet or start crying when Ariyah went to school, she blamed it on pregnancy hormones but he knew it was deeper. He knew how stressful pregnancy as a whole was and didn't want to add to it, he made a mental note to have a conversation but could never find the right time to do it.
As Amani walked back into the room, both hands resting on her small bump, Kareem began to stir from his sleep, seeing Amani walking back into the bed.
"What's wrong baby?", "come here", he called out arms open as she climbed back into the king size.
"I had a dream, my- our baby was taken from the hospital, I'm sorry Kareem I know I'm stressing you out", She began to ramble before he stopped her.
"Amani, baby, listen to me. I'm sorry you feel like this however you need to talk to me or talk to someone. We want to help you, but you need to want the help, my love. Don't apologise you have done nothing wrong, we can make an appointment with a counsellor if you want it", he replied.
Amani simply nodded her head before he pulled her back into his embrace planting kisses all over her face.
"You need all the sleep you can get till baby gets here, I know you got a lil' football player in here", Kareem chuckled in an effort to make her smile, which worked.
"Stop talking bad about my child, he or she is an angel", she replied back rolling her eyes playfully. "Tell daddy I am an angel and the best child ever", she continued to say to her unborn child as she rubbed her stomach.
Amani was onto her 4th month of pregnancy and due to it being her second pregnancy she was able to feel the baby's movements from as early as 12 weeks, it became stronger every day. Ariyah was so excited to be a big sister, and from the day Amani revealed the pregnancy she hadn't stopped singing to her unborn sibling. Now Amani was starting to show more and more, Ariyah's excitement grow and Amani could only hope her positive attitude stayed once the baby was born.
Pregnancy always looked good on Amani, and she loved it, Kareem always made her feel so beautiful even on the worst days.
The baby brought an unexplainable joy to the whole household, one she would cherish forever.
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HIIII OMG I MISSED YALL💕 firstly IM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING school has been taking up all my time🥲 but i'm back for a bit!!
Any general thoughts about this chapter and Amani's feelings. Also we all know this is my first book, I don't want to make it long and tiring for all of you so it will soon be coming to an end, but hopefully I will get the opportunity to write more with the new skills i've learnt throughout this whole journey. I am so grateful for all of you for reading #1 in black men??!!! omgggg thankyou so much ❤️❤️ much love, -Elysia.
