Her Bundles Of Joy

“I know, I believe in you.” They stared at each other’s eyes for a while. Usually, Nicole would feel painfully shy and look away if a guy stared at her the way he was doing, but with Evan it felt different. She didn’t avert her gaze, and smiled into his eyes instead. Their moment was interrupted by a quiet knock on the door. Nicole glanced at her newest visitors and smiled cheerfully when she saw it was Brandi and Leon. The singer rushed towards her bed and pulled Nicole into an awkward hug. Nicole’s belly tended to make hugs kind of uncomfortable these days.

“God,” Brandi sighed happily. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Yep, you won’t be getting rid of me that easily.”

Brandi slapped Nicole’s shoulder playfully. “Don’t say sh*t like that. You’re my best friend and I don’t want anything bad happening to you.”

“Hey, Nikki,” Leon smiled as he approached her bed. “How are you feeling? I was so worried about you.”

“I’m feeling good. Really good, actually,” she smiled while subtly glancing at Evan. Maybe it wasn’t that much of a subtle glance as Leon’s face darkened as soon as she finished her sentence.

“Oh, I see.” He clenched his jaw. “The doctor said we’re good to go home but she thinks it’s better if you stay for a few more days. Just to make sure everything is okay.”

“I strongly recommend that you stay for just another couple of days, Nicole,” Dr. Ali said from the doorway. “Not only because of the fall, but rather because the ultrasound we did this evening showed that the babies are slightly smaller than they should be at this point. Are you not eating well?”

“Uh,” Nicole blushed as she got caught. “I haven’t had much time to eat proper meals. Lately, work has been kind of…intense. Terrence isn’t cutting me any slack.”

“What?” Evan frowned. “You’re still working?”

“Yes, of course. I’m pregnant, not invalid.”

The blond man sighed. “I know that. It’s just, I don’t think you should be working too much. Maybe you should consider staying home for a while?”

“What?” Nicole asked incredulously.

“In fact, Ms. Carter, I think that…

“Evan.”

“…Evan is actually quite right. You did bleed more than you should have, your pregnancy might not follow the same smooth pathway from before. We’ll need to set more monthly appointments than usual from now on, and you can’t have any sort of stress or do any kind of strenuous activity. Thus, you really should consider quitting your job.”

“And how do you people expect me to have money if I quit my job?”

“You can move in with me.”

Everyone turned to stare at Evan.

“Excuse me?” Leon growled. “She’s already living with me and I can provide for her, thank you very much.”

“I’m the father, though. I have the right to spend more time with my children.”

“Well, you should’ve thought of that before abandoning Nicole and the children!”

“Okay, stop!” Brandi shouted. She’d had enough of seeing Evan and Leon bickering time and time again like a broken record. “She won’t move in with you,” she said directly to Evan. “And you won’t ‘provide’ for her.” The singer air-quoted while speaking to Leon. “Nicole, I bought an apartment in the city last week. Will you move in with me instead? You can work for me full-time, also. My team and I have been thinking of hiring someone to go over our choreography and make any necessary changes. I think you’re perfect for the job.”

“Ms. Harris, she shouldn’t dance until after she’s given birth,” the doctor reminded the singer.

“Yeah, I know. This job wouldn’t require any dancing per se. She’ll just watch us dancing, and then she’ll tell us how to make our dance routines better. Like in, uh, how can I say this…choreography manager! Yeah, that’s it. She’ll be in charge of choreography quality control.”

Dr. Ali nodded silently.

“If you move into my apartment, you won’t have to see those two fighting over you all the time, and you’ll have the place all for yourself, basically. You know how I’m always out of town. So, what do you say?”

“I think that’s a great idea.” Nicole smiled. “I’m very thankful for how much you’ve been helping me, Leon, but I do need my own space sometimes, you know? And you, Evan, I won’t move in with you. Did you forget the conversation we had just a while ago? It won’t be that easy…”

“What are you talking about? What won’t be easy?” Leon inquired.

“That’s none of your business, man.” Evan glared at him. His gaze softened as he turned back to look at Nicole. “I know that, I just thought I should try. But it’s fine, I’ll come visit you at Brandi’s apartment whenever you’ll have me.”

“Me too. I can come over every day if you want,” Leon piped in.

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary, but thanks for offering.” Nicole grimaced. “But, really, thank you guys for understanding my decision. Brandi did make the best offer out of you three. She’s giving me a house and a job!”

The two best friends laughed. Nicole felt extremely lucky to have such wonderful people in her life. Brandi was the best friend she could ever ask for, Danielle couldn’t even compare. In fact, on most days, Nicole didn’t even remember of the latter’s existence, especially now that she was working in Terrence’s Manhattan studio while Danielle had stayed behind in Brooklyn. Nicole barely saw the Argentinian woman after their last conversation, but she was glad that she didn’t miss the other woman at all.

Leon, despite putting Nicole under a lot of pressure with his unrequited feelings, was still a great friend. Not many people opened the doors of their home to shelter a broke pregnant woman, let alone did people would take said woman to all of her doctor appointments like he’d been doing. Nicole wasn’t sure if he was so nice to her because he loved her, or because he genuinely enjoyed her friendship. She could only hope it was the second option.

And Evan, well, Evan was the love of her life and nothing would be able to change that. He’d finally apologized to her and now Nicole could actually sense that the calm after the storm was slowly approaching. Now there might actually be a chance for the dancer to be happy and build a family with the person she loved, as long as Evan and her didn’t give up on their love. She was sure that they only had to hang on and put in the right effort to walk together towards a beautiful destiny.

Nicole couldn’t wait for that day to come.