“Okay,” I said, manning up. I pressed my head to Cleo’s. “Baby, we’re going to be fine. I’m going to get you and our boy through this.”
I made her the same promise Royal made me, and, together, my best friend and I helped my wife through her labor.
We brought my son into this world.
I was shaking with him in my arms. Wells was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. He was the most beautiful thing. He let out the most wonderful cry in my arms, which was music to my ears.
He’s okay.
I got to see him before his mom, which didn’t seem fair. Cradling him, I brought him to Cleo’s chest, and Wells kicked his little feet.
“Our boy,” I said, and Cleo was already crying. She was okay too, beautiful. I’d never seen her so lovely. She was flushed, and her dark hair was all over the place.
“Wells,” she said, kissing his forehead. She wiped away her tears. “Jax, he’s so beautiful.”
He was, legit, the most wonderful thing I’d ever seen, and Royal was yelling in my ear.
“Is she okay? Is the baby okay?”
“Perfect,” I told him, and he huffed into the line. I closed my eyes. “Thank you so much.”
I’d never be able to repay him for helping me. My eyes flashed as sirens sounded outside. I glanced up and spotted an ambulance through the window.
“December called the paramedics,” Royal said, obviously hearing the sirens too. “They’ll take you guys to the hospital.”
Again, I could never thank my friend enough.
Yes, I made my sonand his friendslisten to the story of his birth again. It was a fucking awesome story, and, though Wells rolled his eyes through most of it, he didn’t fight the hug I gave him after the story concluded and our group paid our bill—we didn’t make Ramses pay it. Wells was a little miracle, and I was going to probably tell his children’s children about that shit if I was still around.
“I mean, it is a pretty cool story,” Royal said once our group was outside. The valet was pulling up our cars. Most of our friends and all of the kids had already left. They weren’t trying to stick around for more baby stories. After mine, some of my friends chimed in with their own. What could I say? My friends and I all loved to reminisce.
“Yeah, because of you.” I nudged Royal. I’d thanked him a million times since that day, but what was one more?
“You’d have done it for me,” he said.
Royal’s Audi pulled up, and he started to get in, but our attention drifted to LJ. He was waiting in line for his own car, but was currently on his knee picking up something.
“Sorry. Didn’t see you there,” he said, helping a young woman pick up the scattered items from her purse. She was on her knees with him. She looked to be around our kids’ ages. She was pretty, with large, curly hair. Though those were clearly heritems on the ground, she seemed to be distracted while picking them up.
She shook her head. “Yeah, sorry. I’m a klutz.”
“Well, it would have helped if I didn’t run into you in the first place,” LJ said. He grabbed a tube of lipstick and handed it to the woman. His eyes warmed. “Sorry about that.”
“No, it was all me,” she said, then got up quickly. LJ did too, his head cocked.
“Do I know you from somewhere?” he asked, and she shook her head. She had tanned skin, but her face flushed. It was probably LJ. Even girls half his age blushed looking at the guy. He could have easily been a model instead of a businessman with his height and movie star looks.
“I don’t think so,” she said, lowering her head. After gripping her purse, she darted off, and Royal and I came over.
I touched LJ’s arm. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just accidentally ran into that girl. I felt like I knew her, though, after looking at her, or at least that I’ve seen her before.” He shrugged, but he was still gazing in her direction; she was heading toward the parking lot. He rubbed his neck. “Maybe I’m working too hard. Making shit up.”
He did work really hard, and he wouldn’t say it, but I knew he’d kept busy over the years for something to do. He obviously loved his jobs—real estate and all the other businesses he owned—but I knew he and Cleo wanted more. They’d wanted a family, but things hadn’t turned out that way for them. My friends and I all made sure he and Billie were a part of ours, though. Even still, I could imagine that was hard.
“Well, thanks for coming out today despite that,” I said to him, shaking his hand.
“You know I’ll take any opportunity I can to see you fuckers and my godkids,” he stated, then shook Royal’s hand, too.
