Ace was still seated but was leaned over in his seat, clearly overwhelmed. Everyone was on their feet, welcoming him backand greeting Noah and Nate, since we hadn’t seen either of them in a while. I noticed Uncle Marcus had a slight limp and was looking for a chair.Muthafuckas.They had probably beat him. There was no probably about that shit. When Mrs. Taylor and Shy walked in, they looked beyond pissed.
Mrs. Taylor walked to the mic while everyone welcomed Uncle Marcus home. Once we all sat, she said, “I never thought we’d reach a day in this country where the law wasn’t enough. Had your family not had the star power that you have politically, in the entertainment industry, and locally, there’s no telling what would have happened to Marcus. They fucked up his leg, threatening harm if he didn’t reveal information about an organization he had no clue he was connected to.”
Shy went to the mic, and said, “Tonieka didn’t even see that shit coming.”
I glanced at Milana to see a slight smile on her face. Carter needed to be here to see this shit. He would understand that our entire family was just like Bali. Hell, when he found out about what Bali had done, Uncle WJ had called for the hit on Tonieka when he said,“Go get that bitch.”So, Bali doing that shit wasn’t far-fetched at all.
Mrs. Taylor continued. “Noah is here, and we’ve known one another for years through my sister, Sonya. Sonya’s daughter and son-in-law, Sharee and Exodus also rallied for Marcus’s release, along with Sonya’s son, NFL phenom, Shane Taylor. I had to use resources I knew I had, too, to help us get Marcus home.”
Aunt Syn’s eyebrows lifted and so did Jess’s and Tyeis’s as they turned to see Sonya standing near Noah and RJ. I didn’t know who she was, but clearly, they did. They immediately went to her. She smiled at them as they excitedly approached her. She was a beautiful woman. I had to assume that she had been a model.
They hugged Sharee, too. I knew who she and Exodus were. It was a small ass world. She had blue eyes, just like the Taylor man that came here before. I was willing to bet that he was her father.
Ryder J went straight to Shane Taylor. I recognized him from TV. He was a wide receiver for the Saints and fine as hell. Those blue eyes really set shit off for him. Ryder J was the only one in the family pursuing a career in football. He was good, so I believed he would get it.
“They rallied and got so many celebrities to speak about what was going on with Marcus and so many other people in those detention facilities. It’s going to take efforts of that magnitude to get all this shit stopped. Y’all did well with Watchful Eyes trying to protect Marcus. He probably would have faired out better staying here where y’all could look out for him. Nevertheless, he’s back with his family where he belongs.”
I grabbed Bali’s hand and just as Uncle WJ was about to speak, Ashanni said, “Oh shit.”
Bali hopped up from her seat as Asad picked her up. “Her water broke!” he said loudly, causing everyone to cheer them on.
I stood and headed to the clinic to welcome our little cousin to Big City Nome.
Azariah was such a beautiful baby girl. She was nearly eight pounds. Seeing a successful delivery here in Nome had been a dream of ours since we’d opened the clinic. Now we had two. Ashanni didn’t have any issues to where we needed Uncle Kenny to transport her to Beaumont. He was prepared for just in case. He stood outside the delivery room the entire time, just as he’d done with Angel.
The clinic was packed with family. Even Red and Carter had joined us. Red had his first niece, and his parents had their first granddaughter. Uncle Jasper and Aunt Chas had taken the cake, though. They were an emotional mess about their first grandbaby. I knew my parents were going to be the same way when Maui delivered her baby. We would find out the sex of her baby Friday morning.
I went to the waiting area and sat next to Ace. Every time I’d seen him, he’d looked like he was ready to wreak havoc. He finally looked at peace. “You good, Ace?”
“Yeah. Finally. The past couple of months been stressful as fuck. I couldn’t even be in y’all shit like I wanted to be. Now it’s too late because y’all done got y’all shit together.”
I rolled my eyes. “Nigga, you would have never gained access. Seven, Maui, and Ashanni barely had fucking access.”
“See, Ashanni and Maui are pregnant and don’t need to be involved in y’all bullshit. That’s the only reason they didn’t know. Seven got his own shit going on. Iesha told that nigga to go fuck himself.”
He chuckled as I frowned. I knew she was sick of Seven’s shit, but I thought they’d gotten that straight since the last meeting. They were sitting next to each other and he had his arm around her. “What happened?”
“Ain’t shit happened. He thought he was back in there at the last meeting, but she was only helping him save face in front of the family. She didn’t wanna shoot his ass down in front of everybody. The minute the meeting was over, she told him that shit in private. Still, they’d been hanging around each other until that nigga started pressuring her to give up the goods. Told her that her pussy was gon’ close up.”
I slowly shook my head. I’d missed that update. If Bali knew, I was gon’ cuss her out for not telling me. Maybe this was what he needed to calm his ass down. The right woman could changethings. My daddy and Uncle Marcus were both proof of that. Red sat next to me and grabbed my hand. He and Carter had been over there with his dad, Uncle Jasper, Royal, and my daddy.
I couldn’t believe Royal was going to be a father and didn’t know it. I wanted to tell him so bad. Red grabbed my hand and kissed it. He didn’t seem to be as nervous as he was before. So I didn’t know what was going on with him.
“Baby, Uncle Jasper ’bout to be high as shit in a minute. He done got to hold his grandbaby, and he said he so fucking excited he gon’ have to smoke three blunts to be able to sleep tonight.”
He laughed, and I couldn’t help but laugh, too. Uncle Jasper was an entire mess.
“Your dad said he would probably be the same way when Maui had her baby. Carter told me that Bali was pregnant. I’m happy for them.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Do you want to have kids any time soon?”
My shoulders stiffened slightly, and he nodded repeatedly. I wasn’t sure what he thought he understood by my body language, so I clarified. “I want to, but I’m not in a hurry, baby. We’re in a really good place.”
“We really are. I like how we’ve both grown, gotten to know each other better, and fallen even more in love.”
He kissed the side of my head as I smiled. “Yeah. I like it, too.”
