The Baby

twenty two

kalani depradine

I reached my hand behind me, keeping my eyes on the road as I let Amelia hold my finger. It was the early morning on a Sunday and she was playful. She gave me no fuss when I was feeding her and when I removed her from the crib. I sighed, receiving a call from the cars bluetooth. I expected Grayson to call me. I told him we'd talk in the morning and instead I disappeared. But I wasn't going to miss church for him.

"Hello?" I answered, knowing exactly who this is.

"Where are you? Are you going to make me hunt you down? You can't just take my child without telling me," Grayson barked over the phone before I rolled my eyes. I took an exit off the main road.

"I'm going to church," I simply informed him. His shock was shown by his silence.

"Since when do you go to church?" It was an insult that until now he hadn't noticed that every Sunday morning we're gone. We've been living with him for over four months now. But he makes it a habit to be gone first thing in the morning for work.

"Since I was birthed. I need to go. I'm pulling into the parking lot," I removed my hand from Amelia to put my hands back on the wheel while I parked. The lot was full and I was excited to see this sermon.

"Send me the address," he hung up the phone without bothering to say bye. Either way, I sent him the address to avoid argument in the future.

When I finished parking, I got out of the car and pulled Amelia's car seat out. She's usually asleep at this time of morning and I was hoping despite how she's awake, she'd still be quiet. She tends to babble sometimes.

"Good, you found a parking spot. It's packed today. I heard we have a guest pastor," my mother approached my car, a glow in her eyes when she looked at Amelia. "Look at my gorgeous little granddaughter. Don't you look so pretty in your little dress," her voice went high, the pad of her thumb running against Amelia's cheek.

I looked behind her, seeing my siblings waiting at the entrance like they usually do. We've all moved from my parents home. But church is something that's stuck with all of us. It's used as a time to catch up every week because we usually go out for lunch right after.

We walked to the entrance and I hugged each of my siblings. Like he normally does, Jamal removed the car seat from my hands to carry for me. We spoke for a minute and before we were about to go inside, our attention went to the loud vehicle entering the parking lot. It's colour and model was the exact same as Grayson's McLaren and as soon as he exited the vehicle, it was clearly Grayson. He was wearing his usual suit and his hair was done nicely.

"Celia, you look lovely," Grayson greeted my mother and I didn't need to feel her cheeks to know they were heating up. She was flattered by his compliment and even more flattered he hugged her. He's not a hugger so he was clearly doing it to make me happy. "Taya," he gave her nothing but a head nod, obviously throwing her off.

"Kalani didn't tell us you were coming," Jamal pointed out after they shook hands.

"I'm usually busy Sunday mornings, but thought I would free some time to find out where my two girls sneak off to every Sunday," Grayson sounded like he was accusing me of something. I'm the only one who caught the tone of his voice.

"You'll love the service," Taya put her input in which went uncared for from Grayson. Jamal cleared his throat, gesturing for us to all go inside. We walked through the foyer and then into the large auditorium where the service was being held. Singing had already begun and it took us a while to find seats for all of us.

"Why are you here?" I gritted through my teeth, the worship songs being sung by those around.

"Why else other than to praise Jesus Christ himself?" His voice was flat and face gave no emotions. Surely his mother dropped him on his head as a child. But I wasn't going to let him ruin my Sunday morning.