Today, I had one stop on my list before the rest of the chaos: my pops’ grave.
The good and bad in my life felt like they were playing ping pong inside my chest. One moment the memories cut sharp, the next I felt like I was drowning in the weight of it all.
When we finally rolled up to the cemetery, the heavy gate swung open like it was waiting for me like it knew I was coming.
“I’ll be back,” I said to Rich, climbing out the truck and heading toward my pops’ headstone.
My boots hit the grass, each step heavy. When I finally stood in front of his stone, my breath caught.
Beloved husband, father, and friend
Seth Curtis Greene
A family picture was carved right into the stone of me, him, and moms. The smiles frozen in time cut deep. It was a reminder that once, I could just walk into a room and talk to my dad when he was still here. Now I was standing over a grave, hoping the phone line to heaven wasn’t dead. Hoping he could hear me.
“You and God must be tight up there. Two powerful men watching over my family.” I swallowed hard. “Thank you for her. Stormi... she’s everything you told me a wife should be. I’m taking care of her, just like you taught me. Just like you showed me.”
I ran my fingers over the stone, tracing the carved faces. “Two sons now. One carrying our name, both carrying our legacy and blood. Damn, they need their Papa.”
I paused, eyes closing, imagining my boys running up to him, throwing themselves into his arms, screaming “Papa” and seeing him like I once did, my hero.
“But I get it now, Pop... the weight that comes with that title.”
I dropped to my knees, chest heaving as the tears I’d held back for years clawed at the corners of my eyes.
“I disappointed Mom,” I admitted, voice cracking. “I love her to death, but I had to separate the son from the husband and father. She had it all planned. Seth the doctor, the lawyer, the firefighter the ‘perfect’ son. I took a different path. Who’s to say it’s the wrong one It just shaped me into the man I am today.”
I lifted my face to the sun beating down on me, the heat like fire on my skin.
“Loyalty ain’t the same. Hell, maybe it never was. I’m thinking about walking away from this game; these streets always need a body. But this redemption, this one’s personal. It touched my wife. It tore my family apart. Divided my home.”
My fists clenched at my sides. “How the hell does that nigga think he can just take what I earned? Protect me and mine while I end this war one last time.”
The silence settled around me just as I heard Rich’s footsteps. He was quiet, eyes low. The only time he wasn’t high or tipsy was when he was around Shiloh and S3. This life was weighing on us all, and it was time for peace...
“Seth Sr,” Rich called out, dabbing me up again before pulling me into a tight hug.
“He supposed to be here. Lia supposed to be here. Shiloh supposed to come into this world with his mama crying and ready to hold him,” I said, my eyes locked on my pops’ headstone like maybe he’d answer back.
“These streets they play dirty. But we? We played dirtier. Got eyes on Dre. Looks like he’s headed back in town.”
“Right into the devil’s den like the dumb nigga he is,” I spat, already turning to walk off.
Rich caught my attention before I got too far. “After this, I’m leaving for a bit.”
“Leaving?”
“Yeah. For a while. Not long.”
“That’s what you think you need?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Dutchess been telling me about this resort I gotta try out.”
“Dutchess?” I repeated, confused at him calling Dee by her full name...
“Chill, man. It’s not even like that with her,” he cleared up quickly, he already knew what I was thinking.
Dutchess or Dee King’s baby sister. She ran the family empire tight with her grandfather and brother. We all saw her like one of our own, so it wasn’t wild, she’d be giving Rich advice about taking a break.
