She laughs, her lips, bare and pretty and full, spread into a smile. Hand in hand, we climb the two stories to reach the roof. The view from here is what sold me on this house. The Atlanta skyline, light-speckled buildings glittering at night like diamonds on a bed of black satin. A line of skyscrapers reaching for the stars, as aspirational as the people who live here. Kimba turns on the fairy lights. I light the firepit, pull out two champagne glasses and a bottle from the ice bucket behind the bar.

“You planned this, huh? Having your way with me on the roof?” She grins, nods to the bottle. “And you know I can’t have that.”

I turn the bottle so she can see the label. “It’s sparkling cider, and yes, I’ve been fantasizing about having my way with you on the roof all day.”

I fill the glasses and take one of the couches, sinking into the soft cushions. She grabs blankets from the nearby hutch and settles in front of me, her back pressed to my chest, and pulls the blankets over us.

“You cold?” I kiss the curls she’s left loose and free tonight, handing her a glass of the honey-colored liquid.

She wiggles against me and drops her head into the curve of my neck and shoulder. “I’m fine for now.”

“How do you think dinner went?” I ask, linking our fingers and resting them on her stomach.

“As well as can be expected with all we had going on.” Her shoulders shake against me. “Your ex and her boyfriend were there with the children you had together. Our mothers were in the same room for the first time in twenty-five years since they broke off their affair. And your stepfather is here. It’s just…all so weird. I thought Aiko getting pregnant was some Jerry Springer shit.”

The richness of our laughter floats over the fire, out to the stars.

“Mona would have loved this,” I tell her. “She would have been shaking her head and making fun of us all night.”

“I hope she’s having a good time. Meeting your boyfriend’s family, it’s a lot.”

“She and Jamal have been dating for so long. It’s about time she met his family.”

“They’ve been dating off and on,” Kimba corrects, “not exclusively for that long. I don’t blame Mona for being cautious. She’s been hurt before. She needed to know Jamal was serious.”

“I’m happy for her.” I hold up her left hand, study the square diamond I put there nearly a year ago. “I’m happy for us.”

There was no long engagement. Why would there be? We were both sure. We married on Valentine’s Day, barely a month past Governor Ruiz’s inaugural ball, and started trying for a baby immediately. Actually before immediately.