Debt

40: Waterworks

Larielle had been crying in her room all day and CoCo was about ready to put her on antidepressants.

"Lari, it is not the end of the world," CoCo told her. "You'll be having a baby, and life will go on. Evan wants to marry you. His mother likes you, I like him. What's the problem, mija? I'll keep the baby when you start working. Without an issue."

Larielle wiped her face. "I'm scared," she whispered. "I was there when Bri had her baby. It doesn't look easy."

"Nothing worth having is easy. Do you know I labored with you a full fifty hours? Fifty, child. And then when you got here, and you got older, you got difficult. But if I had to go back and do all fifty hours of that labor again, I sure would."

"Would you really?"

"No. But mothers are supposed to tell you things like that. Make you feel better about yourself for being born."

Larielle guffawed. Sometimes, a girl just needed her mother. CoCo leaned down and hugged her daughter.

"Children are a blessing. And you better thank the Good Lord that you have a gift many would kill for. Don't take it for granted that you are able to get pregnant, Larielle," CoCo told her sternly.

"Sí, señora," Larielle said softly, nodding, holding her flat stomach.

Her mother was right. So many women couldn't have children, and here she had been crying because she could. The real tragedy would be if she could never give Evan a child. Early was okay.

"Now that you are done with this crying, I'm going to let the boy come in here. If I hear a loud crash, I know nothing and I was never here."

Larielle rolled her eyes as CoCo left the room to be replaced by Evan two minutes later. He came and put his arm around her, kissing her lips. "Are you done crying?" he asked softly, sitting on the bed, taking her hand.

"I'm done crying. You know, I'm lucky that I can have your baby. A baby at all, but really, your baby," she told him sincerely, sitting up and climbing into his lap. "I'm kinda sorry I threw that test at you."

"You kinda lucky I haven't broke yo neck yet."

She just smiled and tackled him down, kissing him. He held her around the waist and she kissed him deeper, letting him shift their positions and part her lips. "Mmm. We can't have sex in my mom's house," she moaned. She was right. That was disrespectful.

"I know," he whispered. "We won't. I'm just happy you're done crying. I don't want you to be sad or mad at me. I want you to be happy."

"I'm happy now," she told him, smiling and sitting up. "Come on, let's go downstairs and get dinner."

They went downstairs, and as was to be expected, CoCo had dinner on the table. "Hey, Lari, are you go start doing that when we get married?" he asked, motioning to the table.

"Evan, I've fallen pregnant, not on my head," she told him.

Evan put his arm around CoCo's waist. "Say, CoCo. What do you think of us getting hitched this beautiful summer?" he wondered.

"Little boy if you don't go sit down somewhere and get your hands off me, I might chop your fingers off."

Larielle laughed her ass off at that, doubling over in laughter. It was funny. All that time, CoCo had been acting sweet on him, and now when he proposed marriage, she was going to chop his fingers off. She told him he didn't have a chance with her mama.

The laughing was taking a real toll on her bladder, and she just knew she would piss herself if she didn't get to a toilet soon. "I gotta pee so bad, oh my God I gotta pee," she said, tears coming out her eyes. "Haha, stuck wit me!"