Uti

The door locked behind King. I stepped into the bathroom to freshen up before he got back with the water I requested. The faster we got out of here, the better for us. Another second with his mother and I might lose my mind. What kind of mother acted that way?

I didn't have time to take care of my kids because I was busy. Working my ass off to get the best life for both of them. I walked back to the room with a small towel pressed to my face. We didn't come with anything but my purse so there was nothing for us to pack. Seated on the bed with my elbows propped on my knees, a pained sound left my lips. I tried. I tried to be there for them.

The door creaked open. I didn't look up but a smile touched my lips. King. Baby daddy.

He sat on the bed but didn't touch me. My body tingled in anticipation of his touch. I jammed my legs together to ease the buzzing between them. This was not my first pregnancy but some of the symptoms felt new.

"I'm sorry."

That didn't sound like King. My head rounded in the direction of the voice. Grace Daniels offered me a half-smile. I could easily see some of King in her. Her composure and aura was everything expected of a powerful woman like her. She slid her hands between her legs and squeezed her shoulders. Her eyes were tame, red-rimmed and it didn't befit her.

"I'm sorry," she said again. For lack of a good response, I kept mute but my eyes sought the door. If this was another one of her stunts, I didn't want to be involved in it. I couldn't deal. Her hand reached for me and I flinched. She broke down but not in tears. Her body sagged under the weight of her unspoken words. "You're just so poor, Uti."

For unknown reasons, I smiled. "I know."

"He's worth a lot of money and you're worth almost nothing, Utianle."

I knew she didn't say it to feel like the bigger or richer person so I wasn't offended. The way she said my name, the way my mother would have. It made my insides grow warm.

"I know," I told her, "some of us were not born into wealth. And money isn't everything."

"Money makes the world go round."

She was right. Money and power made the world go round. It was what Umoh had that I didn't. The reason he still roamed free. The space between us diminished. Grace didn't try to take my hand and I didn't offer it.

Her palm moved up and down her upper arm. I realised she wouldn't say more so I did. "I would give it all up if it meant having King."

"Even if he's broke?" she asked.

"Without thinking."

Grace's forehead pinched in shock. I almost laughed. She wouldn't understand what it meant to go to sleep at nights with only gari and groundnut for dinner. The same thing you ate during the day. Or what it meant to go on a food ratio. 0-0-1 or 1-0-0 or 0-1-0. I spread my fingers over my knee and shrugged.

"I've known broke for more than half my life. I've known poverty," I said. "We will be fine."

A heavy silence hung between us. Her arm brushed against mine and she offered me her first genuine smile. I smiled back at her. Now that Grace had retracted her claws, I could see her for her. A woman who worried about her son marrying the wrong person. A woman who worried I was with him for his money. I would be the first to admit that my life had become easier with King in it but it wasn't his money that kept me, it was him.

"Do you promise to take care of him?" she whispered. She didn't need to ask. It was my duty to do that. He did the same for me. He stepped up when I was grieving and took care of my babies. I would take care of him. Why wouldn't I? Grace took my hand to place it over hers. There was a deep longing in her voice when she said, "He is a big baby and he really just needs someone to love him completely. I think I failed in that aspect."

Our eyes held. A corner of her lips twitched. Her reply proved my statement even more. Money wasn't everything. It could make the world go round but it couldn't buy a parent's love or attention for their child. It couldn't buy my love for her son. I closed my hand over hers and listened to the sound of my heart beating loud, hard and fast for him.

"I will," I said at last. "I will love him and take care of him. He takes care of me so much." Grace smiled but it was sad. I wasn't taking her son away from her, I only wanted to build a family with him. Our family and she was always welcomed to visit, to be a part of it as the grandmother. "Esther, my first baby, my daughter," I added and my eyes watered thinking of how those two had grown to love each other. "Esther likes him. She doesn't like so many people but Esther really loves him."

"You sound like a good mother," she said.

Tears fell to my arm. It was one thing when King said it, it was another thing when she said it. My head bobbed. "I do my best, Ma."

"Oh, please?" She waved my formality aside. "I'm not Ma, please call me Grace or..." She trailed off without completing the statement and I didn't ask what she wanted to say. "I'm so sorry about your son." Her hand wrapped around my waist and I wasn't sure when my head relaxed on her shoulder. She stroked my lower back, her voice dropped. "As one mother to another, I'm sorry you had to go through that. I'm happy you had my son by your side when it happened. He loves you."

"Very much," I finished for her. "Very much."

"He's so in love," she said. Her hand returned to her knees and she grinned. "After you left the dinning room, he was going to have my head." I laughed. Her eyes watered. She was smiling and crying. "I never thought I would see him defend another woman. And you're pregnant too. I'm going to be a grandma."

The remaining cloud of discomfort hanging over us dissolved. She laughed. I laughed.

"You will." I placed both hands on my belly and when I noticed her staring, I brought her hand over mine. She sighed and her lips curved. "King thinks it's a girl. But it's a boy."

"A mother's instinct never lies," she told me.

"Right?"

Faith could understand me to a certain level but only a woman who had gone through the nine months pregnancy journey could relate to it. We fell into a comfortable silence. Minutes later, she retracted her hand from my belly and smiled to herself. I sensed her reluctance to speak but I had a feeling what she wanted to talk about. She sighed again.

"What happened? Was that what he wanted to talk about during dinner?" My eyebrows furrowed. I couldn't remember. I was already having pregnancy brain. Grace chuckled. For the first time, I wondered where King was. I missed him but I was loving this time with his mother. "He wanted to ask for a favour."

Everything came flooding back to me. "Yes. It was about my son's killer." Her eyes bulged in shock. Killer was a befitting title for Umoh. I tried and failed to smile. There was no need sugarcoating what happened. He might have been drunk but it was his fault. He made the conscious decision to drink and drive. He made the choice to follow me. "My ex."

Another second passed and I waited for her judgment but nothing came. As if sensing my need for comfort, she held my hand. My free hand flattened on the bed. I took a deep breath. We need to get that bastard in jail.

"We broke up but he followed me..." The lines between her brows deepened as I told her the story. She listened attentively, so keenly and it made hope bloom in my chest. Maybe King was right, she could help. She and her husband. "...but he was released because of his father." Grace nodded again. "I'm not sure what else to do. King wants a battle and..."

"And you should give it to him," she replied for me. I was pleased to hear that but I hid my surprise. "Evil thrives because good people keep quiet. Don't let him get away with this."

"What if they come after us?" I said. Her eyes softened. That was my greatest fear. Losing Esther or King or our friends in the face of justice. I already experienced fear from that stupid note someone gave Esther. I wouldn't be able to continue living if I lost any of them. "I...I don't want anything to happen to us."

"Is that your phone?" Grace pointed to the iPhone on the bedside drawer. I nodded and she picked it up. I unlocked it and watched her type in some digits. "That's my number. I'll talk to my husband." I smiled when Grace said my husband because her lips curled in a half-smile when she mentioned him. Cupid also struck King's mother. "We'll see what we can do. Nothing will happen to anyone of you."

"Okay. Thank you, Ma." Grace frowned but I couldn't bring myself to call her by her name. It felt disrespectful. At no point in Esther's age would she be allowed to call me by her name. I looked to the door again. "Where's King?"

A sly grin formed on her lips. "I asked Gabriel to delay him for a bit so I could talk to you." The door opened as she was speaking and King walked in. He took in the sight of both of us and quickened his strides. "Hello, son."

"Uti, are you okay?" My baby daddy's worried eyes skimmed my body for any signs of injuries. Warmth spread through me. Me and his mother would make good friends. "Uti."

"I'm fine," I told him.

"Come off it, son." Grace stood but King only came closer to me. He took her place on the bed and placed a kiss on my temple. Grace wasn't fazed. "I came here to make peace."

King set the bottle of water on the drawer and I took a big gulp from it. He watched me drink and his eyes narrowed when water trickled down the corners of my lips. He was ignoring his mother. I didn't want him to but I wasn't sure how to talk about it without sounding awkward. I glared at him but it didn't work.

"Son. Don't be so hard on your old woman."

Finally, he looked at her. "You're not even old, Mother."

"I'm past fifty."

"You don't look it." Very correct. Grace was a sisi ologe, pretty and young and vibrant. King stood and they faced each other. They must have communicated silently because King hugged her. His voice was muffled when he said, "Don't be hard on your daughter-in-law."

"Not anymore, son," Grace said with a smile directed at me. When they separated, she was still smiling. "I'll leave you two to catch up, alright? Maybe next time you can come with Esther? I would love to meet her."

The tears came again with a sense of urgency. My throat closed up so King spoke on my behalf.

"No problem. Esther would like to meet her grandmother. Can she call you Granny?"

"I'm not that old," Grace protested. "Granny sounds too old but she can call me Grace."

"Never," King mumbled. I laughed. I agreed with him. Grace might be posh but we still respected hierarchy here in Nigeria. Calling her by her name was out of the question. I stood up to join King and his arm locked around my waist. "Thanks, Mother."

Grace waved at both of us and left. We stood in silence for a while. "She's not bad," I said.

King laughed. My zaddy was happy that I was finally getting along with his mother.

"Except she dislikes you, then she becomes a monster," he answered.

I was a recipient of that side of her so I could believe him. "Yeah. She promised to help." 

"You told her?"

"Is that okay?"

He guided me to the bed and hoisted me on his lap. I could swear he loved touching me. I combed his beards with my fingers and his eyelids drooped.

"Yes. It's more than okay, Uti. She can help. If she can't, she will tell Gabriel. He can help."

Taking King's hand, I spread my legs open. "That's good to hear, baby daddy. But I need your help with something." His eyes widened and I twisted in his lap so I could straddle him. I pushed his hands into my gown, close enough so he could feel the heat from my core. His fingers brushed my panties and I gasped against his lips. "Right there, King."

Chuckles flowed out of his lips but his finger slid into my panties. I sucked in a breath and palmed his face. He didn't say a word but kissed me. His fingers curled inside me and I braced myself for an orgasm.

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Sorry for the late update. I'll update on Wednesday to make up for the chapter I missed. We're so close to the end of the story and I'm frigging happy.