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————————————————————— October 13th Tuesday||12:04pm 📍Atlanta,Ga —————————————————————
Shad stood by the door while I did one last slow look around the condo, my hands resting on my stomach as if the baby could feel my nerves the same way I could. Everything had to be perfect. Counters wiped down, guest room straight, fresh linens folded like somebody important was really coming... even though she was more than important.
"She gone say it look like a hotel," Shad muttered, checking the thermostat.
"She better not find a single speck of dust either," I joked, grabbing my purse. "She dramatic."
He smirked. "That's where you get it from."
We locked up and headed to the airport, the excitement settling heavy in my chest. It didn't feel real yet. Two years. Two whole years since we'd seen her in person. FaceTime wasn't the same. It couldn't replace hugs, her smell, the way she used to touch our faces just to make sure we were okay.
Her plane landed at 1:17 on the dot.
The moment she came through those double doors, everything around us faded out. Her carry-on rolling behind her, sunglasses pushed up on her head, eyes already glossy as she spotted us.
"My babies..." her voice cracked before she even reached us.
Shad pulled her into a tight hug first, and when she wrapped her arms around me, I couldn't hold it together anymore. Her hands cupped my face the way they always did when I was younger.
"Look at y'all..." she whispered, stepping back like she had to take us in piece by piece. "I missed you so bad."
Then her eyes dropped to my stomach and she gasped softly, her palms pressing there like she already knew and loved this baby.
"My grandbaby..." she smiled. "You pregnant for real now."
"I am," I laughed through the emotion. "You finally here."
She shook her head, overwhelmed. "And I wouldn't miss this for the world."
After a few more minutes of tears and kisses and "look how grown you is," we asked if she was hungry. Of course she was. So we grabbed something to eat and fell straight into conversation memories, updates, laughs, her telling stories about back home while we filled in everything she'd missed.
She kept saying the same thing over and over.
"I'm just so proud of y'all... I really am."
When we finally got to Shad's condo, she stood in the doorway for a moment, looking around like she couldn't believe this was her son's life now.
