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“Elijah, that’s now how I do it!”
“You said fold the sleeves like this.”
“No, I said fold it like- just bring it here,” Annie huffs from her spot against the headboard. Elijah sat at the foot of their bed, a basket full of baby clothes in front of him.
“No, woman. You been up doin’ too much all week. I told you I don’t want you up doing so much so close to your due date. You should be relaxing,” he tells her, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.
She folds her arms under her chest. “Relaxing is knowing my baby’s clothes are folded the right way, ‘cause I’m the one who folded ‘em!”
Elijah doesn’t even flinch at the sharpness of her tone. He’d spent the past month irritating her without trying, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t take. She’d spent the past 7 months growing their child, and the changes her body endured as their child grew left her in pain more often than not at this point.
He knew that her snippy attitude was because she was uncomfortable; the constant aching in her back and her swollen ankles said more than she’d ever actually needed to, so a bit of fussing wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.
“I’m not givin’ you these clothes to fold. I’ll come up there and you can show me, but you ain’t doin’ it,” he tells her, putting the soft yellow onesie back into the basket as he stands up.
She watches as he moves the basket up towards the head of the bed and takes a seat next to her. He pulls the basket up beside him as he scoots closer to her, keeping the basket away so she can’t pull any clothes out of it.
Annie rolls her eyes but stays silent as he grabs the same onesie from the basket. He holds it up, the front facing away from him.
“Okay, you said fold the sides in first,” he says, doing it as he talks.
“Lay it flat, Elijah. Don’t hold it up,” she says frustration lacing in her voice.
“Okay, mama.”
He straightens it out and puts it down on the bed in front of his crisscrossed legs. He folds one side in at a time, then looks over at her. “Like that?”
Annie’s shoulders relax as she nods. “Then take the bottom and fold it up, but not all the way up.”
Elijah follows her instructions, and she lets out a satisfied hum.
“Okay, now fold it up again, and that’s it.”
He brings the fold up to meet the top of the shirt before flipping it over, an accomplished smile forming on his face. He looks over at her, and Annie can’t help the identical smile that finds hers.
“Don’t get too excited, papa. You got a lot more to go,” she says, raising an eyebrow as she looks between him and the full basket of clothes.
Elijah just shrugs. He had that basket full and then some, as more clothes were drying as they spoke. He reaches into the basket, grabbing the next onesie and folding it the way she showed him.
Annie watches, content with the way he was folding, until she looks down at the stacks of onesies once he’s finished.
“Lijah, you can’t put those in her dresser like that.”
Elijah looks at her, then down at the neatly stacked clothes, a confused frown taking over his face.
“What’s wrong with it?” he questions.
“Look at ‘em!” she replies, as though it should be obvious what the issue is. “You got the colors all mixed up.
Elijah looks at her, eyebrows furrowed slightly.
“You ain’t say you wanted ‘em organized like that.”
Annie’s expression goes blank as she stares at him. Elijah’s expression softens immediately, and he reaches for her hand.
“Baby-”
“No,” Annie cuts him off, her voice shaking as she turns away from him.
“Annie,” he calls her softly, grabbing her hand anyway.
“No, Smoke. You the one who actin’ like something will go wrong if I do it myself, and now you sittin’ here looking at me like I’m bothering you for not doing it how I’m asking you to.”
Elijah’s thumb rubs the back of her hand as he turns toward her. “You not botherin’ me, sugar. I’m getting ready to fix it.”
Annie glances at him with misty eyes as he lifts her hand to his mouth, leaving soft kisses on the back of it.
“Don’t cry, mama. You said you was hurtin’ earlier, I don’t see why you should be doing anything other than just sittin’ there lookin’ pretty.”
Annie rolls her eyes softly. “I’m gon’ be hurting no matter what I do, Lijah.”
“That’s why you don’t need to do nothin’ but sit there, and I’ll fold the clothes.”
Annie doesn’t protest, so he plants a soft kiss on her forehead before turning back to the clothes in front of him. He stacks the onesies by color, much to Annie’s satisfaction before moving on to the shirts in the basket.
He moves through the shirts quickly, then moves on to the pants. When he’s finished, he goes to grab the next load from the dryer. The smell of fresh laundry hits him as he fills the basket, and in that moment he’s filled with contentment.
Not even 5 years before this moment, he had no idea how things might turn out for him and his brother. Meeting Annie changed his life for the better. She was his reason for slowing down and finding real purpose in life.
He wouldn’t have ever imagined that he’d be married before her. Never would’ve pictured his wife round with their child, sitting in the other room while he filled up a basket with tiny clothes that were different shades of pink.
So much love he’d never imagined feeling, overflowing in his chest as he imagined what his life would become in just 8 short weeks. He couldn’t stop the wide smile from taking over his face even if he tried.