Saved and SAINTified by Tiana Laveen Page A

I didn’t lose my mind! What are you talking about, S aint?”
    “You did .” He approached a red light and waited to turn left. “You were happy for her, but jealous at the same time. You offered to babysit immediately, even though you barely have time to breathe, and you meant it. You want that baby over at the house, you’re pre-registering and she hasn’t even been born yet. You—”
    “Jealous? I wasn’t jealous!”
    “Yes you were, Xenia, and just stop it, okay?” His eyebrows furrowed as he raised his hand and shot her a look. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Now look, we need to have a discussion about this. I know why you didn’t want to tell me. You’re worried that with everything we both have going on, it could derail our plans. You’re scared your pregnancy could be hard on you physically, like it was with Dakarai. You’ve got your own show now that you’re running almost single-handedly and you’ve worked so hard to get here, you aren’t sure if you want to give that up just yet. Last, you’re almost forty, so you’re concerned about that, too.”
    Xenia cleared her throat and sat straighter in her seat. She pushed her purse to the floor, crossed her arms over her lap and looked out the window.
    “Oh, it’s like that, huh?” He shot her a disapproving look. “So, now what? You’re not looking at me? Not talking to me? What is it?” he asked as he began to drive again.
    “Nothing. What you said is all true ,” she said between gritted teeth.
    He knew that she hated that he had read her like an open book. But he wasn’t apologetic. He didn’t want to play this game with her anymore. It was time to come clean.
    “Well, would you like to hear my opinion about this?” he asked as he reached over, grabbed her hand and held it tightly.
    Xenia nodded.
    “Okay, my opinion is that we should go ahead and try to have another baby.”
    He could feel Xenia’s excited energy immediately fill the confines of the car.
    “Really?” she said, as she gripped his hand tighter. “Are you being for real?”
    “Of course I am. I wouldn’t play about that.” He smiled at her then turned his eyes back the road. “I know you want another baby and I know you are hoping and praying for a daughter. But before we do this, I need you to look me in my eye and tell me you’d be okay if it is another boy, Xenia. I just don’t have that sort of control—unless we went to a gender selection specialist, which I don’t personally feel is appropriate for our situation.” 
    “Well, I agree with that and I promise you, S aint, I’d be totally okay if we ended up with a third son. Is it what my dream is? Well, no, but my desire to have one more baby is stronger than what sex he or she may be.”
    “Yeah, but we both know that if we do this, you want a little girl. I just wanted to be sure that you’d be okay, either way. I don’t want you depressed or having regrets. I want you to be happy, you know?” He glanced at her affectionately.
    “I know you do ,” she said quietly, a grin spread across her face a mile wide.
    S aint sighed as he made a right turn. “Okay, so, if my memory serves me correctly without having our bedroom calendar in front of me, you ovulate in about three weeks. We can try then, or wait until the next cycle. It’s up to you.”
    Xenia nodded vigorously, unable to control her enthusiasm. She burst out laughing as they pulled into the babysitter’s driveway. Immediately, Hassani and Dakarai bustled out the front door toward them, leaving the screen slapping loudly against the siding behind them.
    “Mommy! Daddy!” Dakarai called out as his little legs propelled him forward through the front grass of the neatly cut L.A. lawn. He stumbled and fell down onto his stomach. Saint smiled as he raced toward his fallen tiny hero, picked him up, and carried him high into the air, making him giggle with airplane noises. Hassani hugged Xenia’s legs tightly and looked up at her