Tiana stared at the phone screen like it might explode if she pressed Call.
Her thumb hovered, retreated, hovered again.
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon. Outside her window, a few golden leaves clung stubbornly to the trees. Inside, her apartment smelled like cinnamon and nerves. She had cleaned twice. Rearranged the bookshelf. Lit a candle. Nothing helped.
Finally, she tapped the screen.
The line rang. Once. Twice.
Then: "Tiana Simone, I know that's you."
Her mother's voice sharp, familiar, and instantly disarming.
"Hi, Mama."
"You sound nervous. What did you do?"
Tiana almost laughed. Almost. "Nothing… illegal."
"That's not reassuring."
A pause.
"Mama," Tiana said quietly, "I need to tell you something."
There was a beat of silence.
"I'm pregnant."
Longer silence.
Then: "I knew it."
Of course she did. Tiana could practically see her mother standing in her tiny kitchen, arms crossed, head tilted, eyes closed like she'd won a silent bet with the ancestors.
"I had that dream about fish last week," her mother continued. "I told Aunt Claudine it meant somebody in this family was hiding a belly."
Tiana sat down on the couch, exhaling. "Well. You were right."
"Hmm." Just that.Hmm.
Tiana braced herself. Waited for disappointment, for scripture, for a lecture on how she was raised better. But none of it came. Not yet.
"Who's the father?" her mother finally asked.
Tiana hesitated. "It's… complicated."
"That's never good."
"I met him once. Just once. It wasn't planned. He's not a stranger anymore, though. He knows."
"Does he want to be involved?"
"Yes," she said. Then added, "I think."
Her mother sighed, and for a second she didn't sound disappointed just tired. "Tiana, I didn't raise you to be reckless."
"I wasn't trying to be reckless," she replied, heat rising. "I was trying to forget how it felt to be left behind. To lose things that were supposed to last."
Her mother didn't answer right away.
Finally: "You think I don't know what that feels like?"
Tiana froze.
"I had you when I was barely twenty-three," her mother said. "No husband. Just a baby and a job I hated and my own mother saying, 'Well, you made your bed.' I raised you better because I wanted better. That doesn't mean I expected perfect."
Tiana blinked. "So… you're not mad?"
"Oh, I'm furious. But not because you're pregnant."
"Then what?"
"Because you didn't tell me sooner."
The words hit her like a soft punch.
"I'm still your mother," she added, quieter now. "Even when you mess up. Especially when you're scared."
Tiana felt tears rising, unexpected and hot.
"I'm scared, Mama."
"I know, my baby. But you're not alone."
Tiana wiped her eyes. "You're going to be a grandmother."
"Don't remind me. My knees already know."
They both laughed genuine, if a little wobbly.
And just like that, the silence between them started to thaw.