Chapter 4
Nia made it all the way to the rideshare pickup area before the first real contraction hit.
At least, she thought it was a contraction.
Her stomach tightened so suddenly that she stopped beside a concrete pillar and grabbed it.
A driver honked behind her.
She ignored him.
"Not today," she whispered to her belly.
The pressure eased.
Nia took a slow breath.
Thirty-four weeks.
Too early.
Her doctor had warned her about stress.
She almost laughed.
Apparently her baby had chosen the worst family reunion in America to start listening.
Her phone buzzed.
Dad.
She declined the call.
It rang again.
Lauren.
Declined.
Then another name appeared.
MALIK.
Nia answered immediately.
"Hey."
Her husband's voice came through.
"Why do you sound like that?"
Nia closed her eyes.
"I don't."
"You do."
"I'm at O'Hare."
"I know where you are. I mean why do you sound like you're trying not to cry?"
Nia looked out at the stream of cars.
For three seconds, she considered lying.
Then another tightening moved across her abdomen.
She grabbed the pillar again.
Malik heard her breathing change.
"Nia?"
"I'm okay."
"Don't say that. Tell me what's happening."
She started laughing.
It came out as a sob.
"Lauren's fiancé shoved me at the gate."
Silence.
Then Malik's voice dropped.
"He what?"
"Baby's moving. I'm okay."
"Nia."
"And Dad saw it."
Another silence.
"Your dad was there?"
"Standing right behind him."
"Oh, this is going to be ugly."
"You have no idea."
She wiped her face.
"Grant works for Dad. Grant didn't know who I was. Dad told him. Lauren showed up. Then Grant started talking. Then Lauren told Dad about the letters."
Malik stopped breathing for a second.
"She told him?"
"Yep."
"All of it?"
"Enough."
"Nia, where are you right now?"
"Outside."
"Sit down."
"I'm getting a hotel."
"No. Sit down."
"Malik—"
"You are eight months pregnant, you've been shoved, you've had your entire childhood dragged into an airport argument, and your voice sounds weird."
She frowned.
"Weird how?"
"Like you're breathing through pain."
Nia looked down.
Another contraction hadn't started yet.
Maybe she had imagined it.
"I had some tightening."
"How many times?"
"Twice."
"Nia."
"It's probably Braxton Hicks."
"Maybe."
He paused.
"And maybe you're going to labor at O'Hare while your father and sister reenact thirty years of family trauma in the terminal."
Despite everything, she laughed.
That was why she had married him.
He could make her laugh when she wanted to break something.
"Go back inside," Malik said.
"No."
"Go to the airport clinic."
"No."
"Nia."
"I cannot go back in there."
"Then call an ambulance."
"Absolutely not."
"Nia Brooks."
"Do not use my whole name."
"I'm about to use your middle name too."
She smiled through tears.
Then she saw Charles coming through the doors.
Lauren was beside him.
Nia's smile disappeared.
"They found me."
"Who?"
"The trauma parade."
"Nia."
"I'm calling you back."
"Don't hang up."
"I'll call you back."
"Nia—"
She ended the call.
Charles stopped several yards away.
Lauren stayed even farther back.
Good.
They were learning.
Charles spoke first.
"You should be checked again."
"I'm fine."
"Nia."
"Everybody needs to stop saying my name like it's a medical diagnosis."
Charles looked at her belly.
"You were holding the pillar."
"Because I'm pregnant and my back hurts."
Lauren whispered, "Was it a contraction?"
Nia's head snapped toward her.
Lauren immediately regretted asking.
"I don't know."
Charles reached for his phone.
Nia pointed at him.
"If you call an ambulance without my permission, I swear I'll give birth just to spite you."
His mouth almost twitched.
Almost.
Then he saw she was serious.
He put the phone away.
Lauren looked down.
"I'm sorry."
Nia sighed.
"I'm not doing this here."
"I know."
"No. You don't."
Nia stepped toward her sister.
"Because this isn't something you fix by crying at an airport."
Lauren nodded.
"I know."
"You knew for five years."
Another nod.
"And you let Dad keep believing I rejected him."
Lauren's voice was tiny.
"Yes."
"You let me keep believing he didn't want me."
Lauren closed her eyes.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I told you."
"No. You gave me the excuse you gave yourself."
Lauren looked up.
Nia's eyes were wet.
"Why?"
Lauren wrapped her arms around herself.
"Because I hated the way he loved you."
Charles flinched.
Nia didn't.
She almost expected that answer.
Lauren kept talking.
"Even when you weren't there, you were there."
Charles started to speak.
"Dad, please."
Lauren held up a hand.
"I need to say this."
He fell silent.
She looked at Nia.
"Every birthday, he got quiet. Every Christmas, he checked his email over and over. Every time the phone rang from an unknown number, his whole face changed."
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I was right in front of him."
Nia's anger faltered.
Lauren laughed bitterly.
"I had him every day, and somehow I was still jealous of you."
Charles whispered, "Lauren, I never meant—"
"I know."
She looked at him.
"That's what made it worse."
Charles had no answer.
Lauren turned back to Nia.
"When Mom died, I found the box. All those letters. Birthday cards. Christmas cards. Copies of emails. Printouts of messages he sent your mother."
Nia swallowed.
"I read them."
Her voice shook.
"I saw how hard he had tried."
Nia's eyes filled.
"And I knew if he found you, he would finally get his chance to make it right."
She pressed her lips together.
"And I thought you would take my place."
Nia stared at her.
"I didn't want your place."
"I know that now."
"I never wanted anything you had."
"I know."
"I wanted a father."
Lauren nodded.
"I know."
"And you had him."
"I know."
Nia's voice rose.
"You had him!"
A few people nearby turned.
Nia didn't care.
"You got school pickups. You got birthdays. You got someone in the audience when you graduated. You got to call him when your car broke down or some boy hurt your feelings."
Lauren cried silently.
"And I got letters in a box five years too late."
Charles covered his mouth.
Nia looked at him.
"You don't get to make that face."
He lowered his hand.
"I know."
"You left my mother."
"I did."
"You let lawyers and adults decide when you could see me."
"I did."
"You gave up too soon."
His eyes filled.
"I did."
Nia blinked.
That answer stopped her.
She had expected defense.
Explanations.
Maybe even the truth.
But not that.
Charles stepped forward once.
"I wrote letters because letters were easier than showing up and being told to leave."
Nia looked at him.
"I convinced myself I was respecting your mother's boundaries."
His voice cracked.
"I was really protecting myself from humiliation."
Lauren stared at him.
Charles continued.
"I should've shown up anyway."
Nia said nothing.
"I should've sat on the curb outside your school if that's what it took."
"Dad—"
"I should've fought until a judge told me no."
His voice trembled.
"And when your mother returned the birthday gifts, I should've kept sending them."
Nia's tears finally spilled.
Charles looked at both daughters.
"I failed you differently."
Lauren covered her mouth.
Nia turned away.
Another contraction hit.
This one was stronger.
She gasped.
Charles moved instinctively.
Nia bent slightly, one hand on her stomach.
Lauren's fear took over.
"Nia."
"Don't."
"That was one."
"I'm aware."
"How far apart?"
"I don't know."
Charles looked at his watch.
Nia glared.
"Don't time my uterus."
Lauren let out a startled laugh through her tears.
Nia almost laughed too.
Then warm liquid touched the inside of her leg.
She froze.
Lauren saw her face.
"What?"
Nia looked down.
A small wet patch was spreading across the faded green fabric.
Charles went pale.
Lauren whispered, "Oh my God."
Nia stared at the pavement.
"No."
"Nia—"
"No."
Charles took out his phone.
This time she didn't stop him.
"My water did not just break at O'Hare."
Lauren stepped toward her.
"I think it did."
Nia closed her eyes.
"This family ruins everything."
Charles was already giving the dispatcher their location.
Lauren stood close now.
"Can I touch you?"
The question shocked Nia.
Not because Lauren asked.
Because nobody in her family had ever asked before.
Nia looked at her.
Then slowly nodded.
Lauren took her hand.
Nia squeezed it hard as another contraction began.
Lauren winced but didn't pull away.
Charles spoke urgently into the phone.
An airport employee came running toward them.
Then another.
Nia breathed through the pain.
Lauren stood beside her.
For those thirty seconds, the lies didn't matter.
The letters didn't matter.
Grant didn't matter.
The wedding didn't matter.
Lauren was simply holding her sister's hand.
And Nia was letting her.
Then Nia's phone started ringing again.
Malik.
Lauren picked it up from the bench.
"Should I—"
"Answer."
Lauren did.
"Hello?"
Malik immediately said, "Who is this?"
Lauren looked at Nia.
"I'm Lauren."
Silence.
Then:
"Why are you answering my wife's phone?"
Lauren swallowed.
"Because her water just broke."
The silence on the other end lasted half a second.
Then Malik shouted something that made Charles turn around.
Lauren held the phone away from her ear.
Nia actually laughed.
"Put him on speaker."
Lauren did.
Malik's voice filled the curbside pickup area.
"NIA."
"I'm right here."
"YOU SAID YOU WERE FINE."
"I'm beginning to suspect I was mistaken."
"Where is the ambulance?"
"Coming."
"I'm changing my flight."
"You're in Savannah."
"I'm coming back."
"No."
"Nia—"
"Malik, if you get on a plane while I'm having contractions, I'll be waiting in Chicago while you're trapped at thirty thousand feet."
He stopped.
She breathed.
"Stay there."
"But—"
"Stay there. I'll call when I know something."
His voice broke.
"I hate this."
"So do I."
"I love you."
Nia closed her eyes.
"I love you too."
Another contraction started.
Hard.
Fast.
Lauren gripped her hand.
Charles watched helplessly.
And as the ambulance siren grew louder, Nia realized something terrifying.
May you like
The wedding she had almost walked away from might not matter anymore.
Because her baby had apparently decided that if this family was finally going to tell the truth, she wanted to be there for it.
