“Mama?” Dae-Dae called, already running back off toward the ring. His eyes were lit up like it was the greatest thing he’d ever seen. “Can I get in there?”
I looked at KO for confirmation, and he nodded his head.
“No shoes,” he said, making Dae-Dae grin like it was the best day ever. He dropped his backpack to the floor and immediately started climbing in.
“Dae-Dae,” I said automatically, moving toward him. “Don’t just throw your—” Too late. His backpack was already tipped over, snacks and toys halfway falling out while he bounced around the ring like the storm outside didn’t even exist anymore.
“Sorry,” I muttered under my breath.
“You can put y’all shit over here,” KO said, pointing at the folding table. “So you can find it if the lights go out.”
I nodded as I walked over to the table to set my bag down. I wasted no time unzipping it and pulling out wipes, snacks, a battery pack, and my son’s small blanket. Dae-Dae was already bouncing around the ring like he’d forgotten the storm outside.
“Is this your ring?” he asked, gripping the ropes as he hopped from one foot to the other. “You fight in here?”
“Sometimes.”
“My daddy boxes.” Dae-Dae grinned as he kept bouncing, throwing little punches in the air, spinning in circles like five-year-olds did, and my chest felt like it was about to explode. Then he paused. His eyes dropped to KO’s waistband, where the handle of the gun was still visible.
“Is that a real gun?” he asked. My stomach tightened. KO glanced down at it like he’d forgotten it was there.
“Yeah,” he said calmly. “But it ain’t for you.”
Dae-Dae nodded like that satisfied him. Then he went back to pacing along the ropes, touching everything like he was tryingto memorize the room. That was when he stopped again. There was a fight poster taped to the wall beside the ring. He’d seen it before. It was the same one I’d printed off the internet. He leaned over the ropes to look at it closer. Then he looked at KO. Then back at the poster. Then back at KO again. His little face scrunched up the way it always did when he was trying to solve something.
“You KO?” he asked, and I swear my heart stopped. KO’s eyes slanted.
“Yeah, what you know about that?”
“Mama got pictures.” Dae-Dae shrugged as he kept studying him.
“You look bigger than the pictures,” he said seriously. “And your voice sounds different.”
“Yeah.”
The room went quiet. At least it did for me. Dae-Dae kept looking between the poster and KO’s face. Then his eyes suddenly widened.
“Mama.” My chest tightened. “I knew it!”
Before I could move to stop him, he scrambled through the ropes and jumped down from the ring. His little bare feet slapped across the floor.
“Daddy!” He ran straight at KO and wrapped his arms around his legs like he’d been waiting his whole life to do it. Tears slipped from his eyes, and the room froze. My world froze. KO didn’t move and looked as if he wasn’t breathing either. He just stood there, looking down at Dae-Dae clinging to him. Looking down at our son. Then his eyes lifted slowly to mine. I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t prepared for this. I didn’t know how to explain. All I could do was nod through the tears running down my face.
The kid’s arms were locked tight around my legs like he knew me. Like he’d been waiting for this moment his whole life. I didn’t move. I didn’t know how. Shit, I barely knew how to breathe.
“Daddy!” His voice rang out, and that one word hit me harder than any boxer or bullets ever had. I didn’t know what to do with that. Nobody had ever muttered that word to me. My eyes lifted to Lyrius. She was standing there with tears running down her face, nodding like that was all she knew how to do. Was that supposed to explain something?
“Daddy!” the kid said again, louder this time, more excited. “I knew Mama was bringing me to see you.” My jaw tightened. What the hell was her kid talking about? What was going on? Ilooked back down at the little boy wrapped around me. I mean, I really looked at him. He was standing there calmly with my dark eyes. He had the same dimple in his cheek that I did. The same features in his face. I swallowed hard. The room felt too small, and the only thing I could think to do was look back at the woman who had the answers.
“What the fuck is he talking about, Lyrius?” I spat, and the kid shifted against my legs, like he didn’t fully understand but knew something wasn’t right. My jaw flexed, and I glanced down at him, then back at his mom.
“Hey,” I said, and he tipped his face up, like he was studying me. “Let me breathe for a minute,” I said quietly as he stared up at me. He wasn’t looking at me like a stranger. He was looking at me like he knew me, like the same blood that ran through his veins ran through mine. He loosened his grip and stepped back just a little. I crouched down in front of him, and there was no pretending I didn’t see it. The shape of his face. The texture of his hair. The way he held eye contact without fidgeting. It was me. My childhood pictures in the old foster home albums looked just like this. My stomach turned.Damn.
“How old are you, dude?” I asked.
“Five,” he said. “My birthday was July seventeenth.”
Five.I didn’t have to do the math to know what was up, to know that the timeline made sense. My eyes shot back to Lyrius.
