I could tell Huey was trying really hard not to get annoyed as Riley stood up and paced back and forth in the waiting room. Cindy had gone into labor 16 hours ago, and Riley had been a nervous wreck ever since. He was so bad Cindy had kicked him out of the room to wait in the hall with Huey, Aunt Cookie, and me. What seemed like every 5 minutes, Riley would pace back and forth, then sit down and bounce his knee, sigh, then stand up and begin pacing again. It was almost comical to see him, a soldier who had served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, freak out in anticipation for the next member of the Freeman family. I shifted slightly in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs, trying to alleviate some of the pressure off of my butt and back. Huey slipped his arm behind me and began to deliver a heavenly massage on my lower back.

"Riley, sit down." Huey finally spoke and Riley looked up at him.

"I can't. I have to do something." He sighed frustrated, clenching and unclenching his hands. Huey stood up and walked down the hall, disappearing around the corner. Aunt Cookie and I shared glances, wondering where in the world Huey could be going when Riley could really use his support.

"Sugar, she is going to be fine." Aunt Cookie tried to soothe Riley as he turned to begin walking towards our seats.

"I know she's going to be fine, Aunt Cookie. The rational side of my brain knows she's going to be fine, but the other part is too busy running through every horror story about women and childbirth that I read."

"I'm pretty sure Huey told you not to read those stories." I couldn't help the light smirk that took over my lips. Huey had assured Riley that reading horror stories about labor would only come back to bite him.

"When the hell do I ever listen to Huey?" Riley huffed. I tried to smuggle my laughter to keep from disturbing any of the other patients in the waiting room.

"Maybe you should start." Huey walked over to us and handed Riley an ABC coloring book and some crayons from the gift shop. Riley looked incredibly thankful and sat down at one of the tables set up for little kids and began to open the pack of crayons. Aunt Cookie snorted as she watched a grown man dive happily into drawing. Riley shot her a feigned glare.

"It's either this or pacing." He looked down and furiously began coloring an apple green. Aunt Cookie just shook her head and shifted in her seat. I stood up and Huey was right by my side.

"Maybe I should take you home." He gave me a concerned look then looked down at my swelling stomach. I shook my head and stretched my back.

"With X at school, I would just be nervously waiting by the phone, or I would go to the gallery and still be waiting nervously by my office phone."

"Cindy may still have a few hours to go." We both turned when Riley cursed and snapped his yellow crayon. I bit my lips then looked up to see Huey's eyes sparkling and snorted, barely able to keep spit from flying out of my mouth as I snickered. Riley glared at me, but I couldn't look him in the eye without feeling an onset of giggles. Before I could finally answer, I took a few breaths in order to calm myself down and to prevent me from having to dash towards the bathroom.

"I know, but I want to be here when the baby arrives." Huey nodded and sat down while I took a few turns where Riley had been pacing. I stretched my hands over my head and shifted my hips in different positions trying to stretch out the ever present knot in my lower back. As I began my second turn-a-bout, a nurse walked through the doors into the waiting room. The nurse's scrub top had a large splatter of blood in the middle.

"Mr. Freeman?" The nurse called out. All of our eyes pinned on Riley and he looked like he was going to throw up.

"That's me." Riley let the crayon fall out of his grasp and onto the floor. Huey stood close enough to his brother so that if Riley needed help, Huey was there for him.

"Mr. Freeman, your wife requests that you come into the room with her."

"She didn't exactly say it like that, did she?" Aunt Cookie snorted. The nurse's cheeks heated up a little and she looked to the side. We all knew Cindy was probably cursing Riley 6 ways from Sunday to get his butt in the room.

"How is she doing?" Riley's eyes shifted almost frantically from the nurse's eyes to the blood on her scrubs.

"She's in a lot of pain, but she's still refusing the epidural."

"That woman is going to be the death of me." Riley grumbled and followed the nurse back to the room where Cindy was stationed.

"Were you that nervous?" I nudged Huey's arm while we both settled into seats beside Aunt Cookie.

"No."

"Don't let that boy fool you, Jazmine. Huey was a nervous wreck when you went into labor. Riley and I were sure Huey would have forgotten his own name if we hadn't been here with him." Huey threw his aunt a half-hearted glare and shifted to watch some news special on the waiting room T.V.

"Really?"

"Yup. Huey was determined to make sure that every nurses' and doctor's credentials were up to date before they even walked in the room."

"Really." I turned and looked at Huey, who refused to meet my gaze.

"I refuse to apologize for making sure that you were safe." He grumbled.

"I'm pretty sure they check that before they let doctors and nurses come to work, Huey."

"I wasn't taking any chances." He looked at me and squeezed my hand for a moment, then went back to watching the T.V.

Finally, after what seemed like hours later, we were called back into Cindy's room. Cindy lay against a few pillows looking exhausted and sweaty but overall happy. Riley stood beaming down at his wife and the little pink bundle in his arms. I waddled over to Cindy's bedside and plopped down on the bed, relieved to finally sit in something more comfortable than the waiting room chairs. Aunt Cookie came around to Riley to peek at the beautiful baby girl sleeping soundly in her father's arms. Riley gingerly leaned down so we could all get a good looked at her. The little girl shifted lightly and opened her eyes to the world. She had the most beautiful deep wine brown eyes that reminded me of her father and uncle. Her light brown hair curled in thick tuffs atop her head and she brought her tiny fists up to suck on her fingers until her cheeks turned a soft pink. She scrunched up her face, but Riley handed her to Cindy before she could release a loud cry.

"Yeah, I know what you mean little one. I like Mommy's breasts too." Riley chuckled lovingly.

"Boy, watch your mouth." Cindy glared and nestled the baby close to her chest. Aunt Cookie and I could both tell that she was more joking than meaning any real annoyance. I ran my finger over the silky smoothness of the baby's cheek and felt tears welling in my eyes.

"Do we have a name for her yet?" I whispered as the baby began to suckle eagerly.

"We settled on Leigh-Anna Grace Freeman." Cindy brushed a few curls from little Leigh-Anna's forehead.

"Leigh-Anna Grace Freeman," I said, testing the name on my tongue. "I like it. It's pretty yet simple."

"That's what I said. Riley pretty much just went with it."

"As if he had a choice." I laughed, knowing Riley would give Cindy anything she wanted.

"Right! If he didn't like it, it didn't matter." Cindy laughed and started to rock back, but remembered she had the baby.

"You talk real bold in front of Jazmine and my aunt, but you know who's in charge in my house." Riley joked.

"I'm still in charge." Cindy raised her eye brow. Riley stared at her with a hungry gleam, whose heat I could easily feel from across the room. Cutting through some of the tension, Huey and X walked through the door. Huey had left a little while ago to pick X up from school and bring him to the hospital. X raced up to the side of the bed and I helped him sit on the edge so he could see the baby. He stared down at the little girl and watched her silently, as if analyzing and categorizing her every movement. Leigh-Anna shifted her eyes to look around the room for a few moments then turned her attention back to nursing, seemingly dismissing X and everyone else in the room.

"Hey little man. How was school?" Cindy asked as she brought her nursing blanket up higher to cover herself.

"It was okay I guess. We had a fire drill during recess which cut recess short, so that wasn't very fun."

"I bet not; recess is the best part of school."

"Yeah." X answered but he was distractedly looking down at the baby, whose eyes began drooping. "Can I hold her?"

"Sure, scoot on closer." X scrambled closer to the bed and leaned against the mountain of pillows. Cindy handed the baby to me so I could help teach X how to hold her while Cindy fixed her hospital gown. Huey arranged X's arms and told him how to hold the baby in order to support her head. Once X nodded in understanding, I settled the baby into X's arms and readjusted his hold slightly. He didn't say anything, instead just continued to stare down at his little cousin as if she were a complex puzzle or Rubik's cube that he had to figure out. Leigh-Anna didn't seem to mind very much that someone else was holding her; she yawned softly and nestled into the warm fabric of her blanket and drifted off to sleep.

"If your baby is a girl, Mommy, is this what she'll be like?" X whispered and looked up curiously.

"Possibly, Leigh-Anna is a very good guess to go by."

"Oh." X said quietly, and then went back to watching his cousin silently. I looked up at Huey who shrugged and looked down at our son. Neither one of us could tell his mood. We had talked about the possible sex of the baby with X before, but had yet to tell him that he was going to have a little sister because he hadn't said much about if the baby was a girl. We knew that he wanted a little brother to play with, but we weren't exactly sure how he would take the news, and since we were really just getting to a place where X was feeling emotionally stable in his family life, Huey and I were reluctant to rock the boat again.

"Would you be ok with a little sister?" Riley seemed to understand the silent dilemma and spared us the pressure of having to ask the question.

"It wouldn't be bad, but I would still want a little brother too. Is Leigh-Anna going to have a little sibling too?"

"She'll have more than one if I have any say in the matter." Riley sent a devilish look to his wife.

"Good thing you don't." Cindy rolled her eyes. "If we have another kid, it will be well after I have had enough time to fully enjoy a good highly caffeinated coffee I.V., a huge fridge of leftovers, and about 20 rolls of delicious raw cookie dough."

"I hear you!" I fully agreed. Most of the no-no foods of pregnancy Cindy and I have been able to give up with minimal effort, but for Cindy, giving up leftovers from her favorite restaurants because of the possibility of bacteria growing, and for me, giving up raw cookie dough was like amputating a limb.

Huey's POV

We stayed only a little longer to congratulate the new parents, but left when we saw Cindy's eyes start to droop. Aunt Cookie rode home with us to give Riley and Cindy a little privacy with the Leigh-Anna. We dropped Aunt Cookie off at Riley and Cindy's so she could double check and make sure Riley and Cindy had everything they needed; while Riley was only given a week paternity leave at work, Aunt Cookie was staying with them until Cindy got the hang of taking care of a newborn. Cindy wasn't exactly sure if she was going to stay at home until Leigh-Anna was old enough to go to daycare, or if she was going to be a stay-at-home mom until Leigh-Anna started school, which reminded me that Jazmine and I still needed to talk about what we were going to do. Luckily Jazmine owned her own gallery, so she didn't have to worry so much if she needed to bring Eleanor with her, but by the time Ellie Rose, as Jazmine affectionately termed our little girl, was born, I would be hard on the campaign trail and elections would only be a few months away. Thankfully, X has been a really big help to Jazmine by running his own bath water, making sure to clean up after himself, and making sure Avenger is fed, so we didn't worry that him being at home for summer break would put even more stress on Jazmine with a newborn and a dog.

As soon as we got home, Jazmine started X on his homework and tossed a frozen Red Baron cheese pizza into the oven, while I went to my office and answered a few emails from Tasha about future events and my schedule for campaign speeches and debates. Usually Tasha accepts or declines events for me and then just sends me the schedule, but in the last email forwarded I could feel her indecisiveness about an event. A local community college asked me to speak at one of their events organized by the school's African American studies program and their political science program; I found it weird that Tasha even hesitated to confirm since this was usually an automatic 'yes' so long as the event didn't clash with another event. Then I paused a little at the college which was requesting my attendance: the same college and department that Yani taught in.

I wasn't exactly sure what to do. On one hand, speaking at the same college and for the department where Yani worked would put strain on my already fragile marriage, and Jazmine needed neither the stress nor the reminder of my affair; I could reassure Jazmine all I wanted, but in the end I know she would worry herself sick. Jazmine would insist on going and there would be no way of expressing my concern for her being in the same room with Yani that wouldn't sound suspicious. On the other hand, it would be a great opportunity to talk to my constituents and a good sample of part of my demographic; it would also be a good contribution to the cause of awareness.

I leaned back in my chair and really weighed my options. I looked around my office and my eyes landed on a biography on Martin Luther King Jr. that X was reading nightly. I wondered what Martin Luther King Jr. would have done if he was put in such a position that caused Coretta and the woman he had an affair with to be in the same room after he was focusing on building a stronger marriage. I looked back at the email, then stood and walked into the kitchen feeling like a prisoner towards their execution chamber.

"Hey, I was just about to come get you," Jazmine said as she closed the oven door and set the hot pizza on a heat resistant towel. She pulled out a few plates and cups, and I walked to the pantry to grab chips. I waited for her to grab the juice out of the fridge then took it from her and started pouring some for each of us.

"Are you ok?" She looked at me a little skeptically. I took a deep breath. Might as well get this over with.

"There's something I need to talk to you about after dinner." Her forehead furrowed and she bit her lip nervously.

"That doesn't sound good." She looked even more concerned when I shook my head and carried the cups to the table. She sliced up the pizza, watching me carefully through the corners of her eyes. When she finished putting pizza and chips on all of the plates, I carried the plates to the table. There was a little bit of a worried atmosphere between Jazmine and I as we ate that X didn't seem to notice; he happily recounted his day through a mouthful of pizza.

"X swallow please before you speak." Jazmine admonished softly. X gave her a 'sorry' look and swallowed his food, chasing it down with a mouthful of juice.

"Hey Mommy, have you found out if I'm getting a little brother yet?" X tilted his head curiously. Jazmine's body stiffened with alarm and she glanced at me from across the table. I nodded to her for reassurance and she took a deep breath. Seemed like today was the day for tough conversations.

"Yup. We found out that Mommy's having a little girl." Jazmine said with a tone that was just a little too bright. X set his pizza down and grew almost abnormally quite. He looked down at his feet and chewed on his bottom lip in a way that reminded me of Jazmine. We waited a few seconds for him to say something, but he continued to stare down at his lap.

"X," I prompted, and he looked up. "Is that ok?" He looked down for a few moments then nodded.

"Do I have to play Barbie or dress up with her?" X looked a little terrified of the idea of playing with dolls.

"No, you won't have to. Leigh-Anna and Mommy can play Barbie or dress up with her if you don't want to." I replied.

"Daddy will have to play "Tea party" with her though." Jazmine giggled. I glared at her. After all the times I refused to play "Tea party" with her, I could tell Jazmine couldn't wait for Karma to come back full circle. Jazmine was going to have a field day making me dress up, but I would draw the line at makeup.

"Can girls still play kickball?" He asked, as if our answer would make or break his decision.

"Of course girls can still play kickball, silly." Jazmine smiled at him, which seemed to relax him a little.

"Then I guess girls aren't so bad; I mean Mommy's a girl so I guess a little sister won't be so bad." He paused for a second. "But will I get a little brother after?"

"Mommy and I will keep trying for one; how does that sound?"

"That sounds ok." He went back to eating his pizza as if nothing had ever happened. Jazmine and I both relaxed a little more, happy that we had avoided any catastrophe over how X would take the news that he would have to wait a little longer for a little brother.

"Ok, so what did you want to talk about?" Jazmine walked into our bathroom a few hours later after putting X to bed. I glanced at her through the mirror and stopped moisturizing my hair to turn and look at her. Jazmine sat on the edge of our bathtub, waiting for my answer.

"I got an email from a local college's African American studies department and political science department asking me to speak at an event they're arranging."

"Huey, that's great!" She stood up excitedly, as quick as her heavily pregnant body would allow her to. I held out my hand to stop her from coming closer. "Ok, Huey, you're scaring me a little. What's the problem?" I waited a moment.

"The problem is that I don't know whether to accept or decline the invitation, because the college and department requesting my attendance is where Yani works." I could tell the exact moment when my words sunk in. A look of confusion clouded her face, then Jazmine just shut down. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and looked down at the floor. I didn't know whether to go towards her or give her space. I could see her inner struggle on her face, the demons haunting her thoughts, and inwardly cursed myself again for putting this pressure, and really this decision, on her shoulders.

"I just want this woman out of our life." She gave a shaky breath and I covered the distance between us immediately. I wrapped my arm around her and tilted her chin up to look at me, wiping away a lone tear that slid down her cheek.

"I know, baby. I know." I held her for a few moments before speaking again. "I don't know what to do."

"So you want me to make the decision?" Jazmine furrowed her brow.

"I don't know," I shook my head.

"When do you have to let them know by?"

"In a few days would be courtesy, but in a week wouldn't be out of the question." Jazmine nodded and said she needed some time to think. I kissed her forehead and brought her as close to me as I could. "You are too important to me. I will not jeopardize our marriage again."

Jazmine nodded again and began her nightly routine.