Black Rose

Forty One

Warning: short chapter

"Merry Christmas gorgeous." I heard Raine whisper in my ear before kissing it lightly. With my eyes still closed, I smiled and reached out to wrap my arms around his neck. "You have to get up mama. Everybody is waiting on you, so they can open presents."

"I'm still tired. What time is it?" I queried in a raspy voice.

"Going on one in the afternoon. Which means everybody has been patient with you because you're pregnant, but you pushing it on the low, so get up." Raine kissed me and I felt his weight lift off of my body.

I wasn't in the mood to get up and my exhausted body agrees with me, but it'd be rude of me to keep everyone waiting when they've been so understanding, so I reluctantly got out of bed and freshened up. It took me all of fifteen minutes since I showered the night before and I made my way downstairs where the family was sitting around talking, laughing and overall having a great time.

"Good afternoon!" I sang as I walked into the family room making my grand entrance.

"It's about time you got up. These kids have been working my last nerves about opening presents." Kelsi stood up from her seat and hugged me. "Merry Christmas, boo."

"Merry Christmas, Kels." We parted and I went to hug Venus next. "Merry Christmas, Venus. You look amazing."

"Oh, girl this old thing." She waved me off, but I could see her cheeks turning red.

"She lying, Mel." Kelsi burst her out, smirking deviously. "That outfit is brand spanking new. I saw her ripping the tags off it this morning. She wore it for my dad."

I heard Chris behind me laughing and it startled me a tad. "You didn't have to put her in the spotlight, Kelsi. Merry Christmas, Melrose. You're looking...out there these days." He hinted at my stomach.

"Yeah, I feel out there too." I gave him a hug as well. "I didn't know you were coming today. Then again, I should have expected since your girlfriend is here."

"Can we open presents now?" Adrian, Kelsi's eldest son asked impatiently.

"Well then, the child has spoken." Mel chuckled, sitting on Raine's lap.

"The child gone spoke up on an ass whooping, if he don't stop that whining." Ahmad sat up, giving his son a look that put fear in his heart.

"To save time, I'll pass out everyone's gift, instead of taking turns, ok?" Venus queried, standing to her feet. She walked over to the tree and began giving the children their endless number of gifts since they had been such good sports. Chris gave her a hand since it was probably fifty gifts or more under the tree. In the blink of an eye, I saw wrapping paper flying everywhere and wondered who would clean it up. It wasn't going to be me, that's for sure.

"Let me up, baby." Raine tapped my thigh and I sat on the chair while he went to get my gifts from behind the tree. He's so extra. I shook my head, laughing a little at his supposedly hiding spot. On his way back to me, Venus stopped him and gave him all of his presents. Majority of them were from me. "Merry Christmas, again."

"Thank you." I grabbed the bags from him and started rambling through them straightaway. Not two minutes into revealing my gifts and I am about to cry. Inside the bag was Arabella's favorite bear wearing a Sponge Bob tutu outfit. The exact outfit that Arabella loved to wear all the time and the last time she wore it was on my birthday.

"Press the hand." He instructed me to give the bear's right paw a squeeze and when I did the tears had a mind of their own and fell rapidly. For the first time in years, I'm hearing my baby's cute voice. I remember where the audio came from. It was my birthday. We were at Chuck E Cheese and she begged me to let her play with a group of children who was there for a party. At first, I wouldn't let her because I thought it was disrespectful to whomever threw the party, but the mother who planned it saw how upset Arabella was and invited her over. She jumped out of her seat and was running across the place, but she suddenly stopped and ran back to where I was. It had me alerted because I thought something was wrong, but no, she was perfectly fine. Instead she climbed in the chair, hugged me as tight as her little arms would allow her to and said to me, "Happy birthday, mommy. I love you this much." She opened her hands to show me exactly how much before she jumped down and joined the other children. I recorded the entire thing on my phone because I wanted to remember the day I spent with my princess and post it on Facebook. However, it never made it because the accident happened shortly after. I honestly forgot about the video until now. I wonder how Raine even got his hands on it. Standing to my feet, I buried my head in Raine's neck and cried while everyone made little comments to themselves.