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She threw her head back laughing while MJ stared at me.

“That’s crazy.”

I picked up a card and added it to my hand, still smiling as the argument started all over again.

ETERNITY

“Malachi, leave that alone.”

My son looked up at me with the biggest smile on his face before reaching for the grass again. I shook my head.

“See? That’s exactly why I don’t trust you,” I said out loud to him, although I knew he didn’t understand me. Tori laughed beside me while lifting her wine glass to her lips.

“Girl, he’s a boy. What did you expect?”

“I expect him to listen when I tell him something.”

“Good luck with that.”

I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my wine. Malachi had been on the move ever since he figured out how to crawl, and I was convinced he woke up every morning looking for something new to get into.

He wasn’t satisfied sitting in one place anymore. If he saw something he wanted, he was going after it, whether somebody was in his way or not. He was just like his father. Speaking of Malik, I glanced toward the grill. He was standing beside Sha, laughing about something while he turned the chicken. Every time I looked at him, I found myself smiling. There had been a time when I would’ve given anything just to see him standing on his own two feet again. Now he was outside grilling as if nothing had happened. Of course, I knew better.

His recovery hadn’t been easy, and it still wasn’t over. He continued working with Andre, and there were days when his legs bothered him more than others. Sometimes he’d push himself too hard and spend the rest of the evening complaining about being sore, only to turn around and do the same thing again the next day. That stubbornness wasn’t going anywhere. But neither was his determination. I watched him work for every bit of progress he made, and I couldn’t have been prouder.

“You staring at your husband again?” Tori asked.

I looked at her.

“Girl, mind your business.”

We both laughed.

Across the yard, Maylee was running around with Tori’s children while Malachi continued exploring the grass. I watched him crawl toward his ball, stop to examine a leaf, and then completely forget about the toy he had been chasing. I couldn’t believe how quickly the months had passed. It seemed like yesterday I was lying in a hospital bed, terrified because something had gone wrong during his delivery.

“Hold on,” Tori suddenly said.

I looked over at her.

“What?”

She was staring across the yard.

“Now why is this child pulling up those fucking flowers?”

I followed her gaze and immediately started laughing. One of my nephews was crouched beside the flower bed near the patio, tugging at a plant like they were trying to take the whole thing home. She quickly set her wine glass down and stood.

“Didn’t I tell you to leave them damn flowers alone?”

Little man looked up at her, still holding a handful of leaves, and that made me laugh harder.

“Oh, you’re gonna have to replace that,” I said jokingly.

“Girl, please. Your husband got enough money to buy some more flowers.”

“That ain’t the point!”

She waved me off and headed toward the flower bed, calling her child’s name again. I shook my head while still laughing, before settling back against the couch.