Rainbows Ever After (Rainbows 1.50)

“Not just that.” I wiped my tears on my arm. “I’m mad about that, but not just that.”

“What happened?” He put his palm on my cheek.

Staring up at him, seeing him so worried, made me not want to say it anymore. But he pushed.

“Love, what happened today? Was it Gibbs?”

I sighed, shaking my head. “Do you know what sucks the most about being black?”

He didn’t answer, and I knew he wouldn’t until I finis

hed my rant.

“Not knowing if some people are just judgmental assholes, or if they are racist, judgmental assholes. And I can’t say anything until I know, because I don’t want to be the girl who cried racism. But you should have seen the lady in charge. She kept picking at me during the class, throwing out unwanted statistics for unwed mothers and minorities, which is code for black mothers. I wanted to tell her to shove it, but everyone was just staring, and I didn’t want to leave because … because we paid for the damn class!”

“What’s the number of the place?” he asked angrily, reaching for his phone.

“Levi, don’t—”

“Fuck that!” he snapped. “I’m going to—”

“It’s your fault, too!” I hollered at him, and he froze. “You should have been there like you promised, but you weren’t. I don’t need you to be my knight in shining armor. I don’t need you to save me from people like that, because you can’t. They exist everywhere. I need you to be there when you say you are going to be there and stand next to me so I can ignore them … prove them wrong.” Putting my ice cream down, I felt around my stomach.

“Are you all right?” He rushed over to me again.

“Yeah…” I whispered, looking down. “I think he’s moving.”

“Seriously?” He grinned and reached up to touch where my hand had been.

“Can you feel him?”

Frowning, he shook his head.

“I swear, even if the president calls, I won’t miss anything else,” he whispered, kissing the side of my head.

“Are you becoming a judge?”

He shook his head. “I like having Betty as my secretary, and Tristan as my partner at the firm. But most of all, I love working with you. I’m way too selfish to give all that up.”

I smiled, lifting my ice cream again. “Tomorrow, I get to kick ass in court and find out we’re having a girl.”

“Boy.”

“Girl.”

He grinned, speaking down to my stomach, “I already have your baseball gloves.”

“You’re going to have find a girl’s size, right, Willow?” I said, looking down at my stomach too.

“Willow?”

“After my grandmother. I’d promised her when I was nine that I’d name my kids after her and grandpa. And now that she’s … she’s gone … I feel like I should honor that. And before you say anything, remember they get your last name.”

“You left me no room to argue.” He snickered softly, rubbing my stomach again. “But it’s going to be a boy, so what was your grandfather’s name?”

“Ulric.”

“Ulric,” he repeated slowly. “Levi, Thea, and Ulric.”