Rita.
Prime’s grandmother. The woman who’d welcomed me into the family like I’d always belonged there. She was wearing oneof her signature floral dresses, a hat perched on her silver hair, tears already streaming down her face.
“Oh, baby,” she said, rushing forward as Elise wheeled me through the doors. “Oh, my sweet baby girl. Let me see them. Let me see my great-grandbabies.”
I couldn’t help it. I started crying too.
Rita leaned down and looked at the twins, her weathered hands trembling as she reached out to touch their tiny faces. “Lord have mercy,” she breathed. “They’re beautiful. Just beautiful. Look at that boy. He looks just like Prentice when he was born.”
“They ain’t that cute.Look a lil half baked…” Quest laughed.
“Oh hush up, boy! They look better than you did when you first came out. Had that cone-shaped head. We spent weeks shaping that missile,” she teased as she playfully jabbed Quest.
“You better get to shapin’ those babies heads tonight, then!”
“Quest, leave my kids alone before we fight in this parking lot,” I laughed.
All babies are a lil weird looking when they’re newborns. They just spent months in a cramped space. My babies were beautiful and they just needed a lil time out the oven to plump up.
Quest stepped forward, his face softening in a way I rarely saw from him. “How you feeling, sis?”
“Tired. Sore. Happy to be out.”
“I bet.” He looked at the twins, and something flickered in his eyes. Something almost like longing. “Prime’s gonna lose his mind when he sees y’all. He’s been going crazy not being able to be here.”
Serenity finally couldn’t contain herself anymore. She rushed forward and threw her arms around me—carefully, mindful of the babies—and squeezed.
“I’ve missed you, Zai. And look at my new niece and nephew. Quest, it’s your turn next.”
“Nah, but I’ll be the best uncle to these two.”
“Help me get her in the car,” Quest said, taking charge. “We need to move. Too exposed out here.”
They loaded me into the SUV—me and the twins and Rita, with Serenity up front and Quest behind the wheel. As we pulled away from the hospital, I watched the building shrink in the rearview mirror and let out a breath I felt like I’d been holding for weeks.
I was out.
I was really out.
Finally we arrived at the grandiose home that Prime had rented for us. It felt so good to be back and I wasn’t going to do anything else stupid to fuck this up.
Serenity helped me out of the car while Rita carried my daughter and Quest carried my son. We walked up the front steps slowly, my body still weak and sore, and pushed through the double doors.
And there he was; Yusef rushing to be close to me!
“Yusef.” I opened my arms, and he ran into them, wrapping himself around me so tight I thought he might never let go. “Oh my God, baby. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too. I still feel so bad about it all. It was my fault.”
“We are not doing that, okay? I made the decision to let you leave. This isn’t the time for regrets.This is for celebration. Your cousins are home. I’m home. And I’m gonna need your help.”
“I’m gonna be the best big cousin. I can’t believe it was twins all this time. I’m gonna teach them both to play chess and the piano.”
“I know you will. You ready to meet your cousins?”
He nodded, and I led him over to where Rita and Quest were standing with the twins. Yusef looked down at them with an expression I couldn’t quite read. Wonder, maybe. And something else. Something deeper.
“They look like a mixture of you two.” Yusef was quiet for a moment. Then: “My mom would have loved them.”
