Hiding Place || Tori Kelly

Proverbs 17:22

continued

12:30 PM

Tori laid in the bed next to her 4-month-old American Staffy asleep when she felt the bed sink and a hand gently run along her spine. The hand was much too small to be her husbands and automatically knew who the next possible answer was. "You feeling okay, baby?" her mothers sweet voice asked. Tori slowly rolled over, careful not to wake Busker and sat up.

"Can you pass me the t-shirt on that chair?" Tori asked. Laura took two steps from the bed and grabbed the black skin tight "Blessing's" shirt from chair stacked with what she assumed was clean clothes. In a slight rush, Tori slipped the shirt over her grey Nike sports bra and flicked her hair out of the top. "I'll be better when my door is fixed and this baby is out," Tori tiredly answered. "She is stealing all of my energy," Tori whined, dropping her head on to her mother's shoulder. Laura nodded and patted her daughter's leg.

"You sound like me when I was pregnant with you," Laura giggled. Tori sighed heavily and glanced up to her mother.

"I am so sorry for that," Tori half smiled. Laura smacked her lips and shook her head.

"Don't be. When I looked down at you and held you for the first time, all the pain and suffering from pregnancy went away and all I cared about was you," Laura said. "And you will feel the same about my grandson or granddaughter,"

"Granddaughter. For sure," Tori quickly stated. Laura narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side.

"I thought you were 12 weeks. How do you already know?" The nurse asked. Tori laid back in the bed and placed her hands on her stomach.

"Momma just knows," Tori replied not wanting to get into her dream about the oddest name she'd ever heard. Clearly, though, it was meant for her to name her daughter Abiah, if God sent it to her in a dream.

"Well, alright then. Let's get going. I want to be back before 4, so we can make everything before 8," Laura said, pulling her daughter up from the bed. Tori reluctantly got out of the bed and slipped her Nike hightops on. She looked at her outfit in the mirror and immediately shook her head.

"Nope. I look big in this shirt," Tori said, about to grab a sweatshirt. Laura smacked Tori's hand back and stood between her daughter and the shirt. "Mom!" Tori whined.

"Victoria," Laura mocked. "You are not about to have a heat stroke on my watch. Mr. Murillo will not be coming after me if you or his child get hurt because you passed out," Laura stated. Tori rolled her eyes and look add back in the mirror.

"Mom, this is not cute," Tori said, staring at her tiny baby bump. Slowly, Laura came behind Tori and wrapped an arm around her waist, placing a hand on her bump.

"Give me your hand," she said. Reluctantly, Tori did as she was told and allowed her mom to placed her hand at the bottom of her bump which was significantly harder than the top. "You have the privilege of showing a lot sooner than I did with you. This is your baby. Your child. Your daughter. You are doing the most important thing you can do for her right now. You are housing her and sheltering her before she makes her appearance in the world. Be just as proud to show her off before she gets here, like you will after she gets here," Laura smiled. Tori cracked a short smile and dropped her head onto her mother's shoulder.

"Dang, now I feel like a terrible mom," Tori sort of sulked. Laura's shook her head and kissed Tori's temple.

"Don't. All this wisdom will come with time," Mama Kellz advised. Tori took a deep breath and grabbed her purse, before heading out of the bedroom.

"So, slight confession time..." Tori said as she and her mother cascaded down the stairs to reach the living room. Laura glanced at her daughter oddly as she grabbed her own purse and keys off the counter. "I think I want to move. Not, like, super far. But, I don't really feel comfortable raising my child here anymore after what happened," Tori revealed. Even though her door was fixed, Tori wasn't convinced that this wasn't gonna happen again.