“Yeah,” I said. “I’m not going another minute without knowing if he’s mine.”
“Unless you got something to hide,” Jaylen accused.
“Not at all.” Lyrius rolled her eyes at Jaylen before looking at me for a second, then looking away. After that, it went quiet. The only person talking was Dakoda.
“Mama . . .” he said, pointing. “What are those little boats?” Lyrius followed his hand, and so did I. Damn. It was a parking garage full of cars, half underwater. “Are those car boats?”
Lyrius went still.
“My car . . .” she said, low. “I parked it in that parking garage.”
“That shit underwater now,” Jaylen said, pointing in my direction. “Just like his.”
I shook my head, just thinking about the fact that my favorite car was underwater. Sure, I could get another one tomorrow, but the custom details I had on that bitch were enough to make my stomach hurt. Lyrius looked back out, quiet again, like she was trying to piece it together without letting it hit her all at once.
I watched her for a second longer than I should have and then looked away.
“Mommy . . . don’t worry. We can get a new one,” Dakoda said, like he was trying to fix it for her.
“Yeah.” She blinked like that brought her back. “We’ll get another one.” He smiled, satisfied, and then leaned into her side. Watching Dakoda try to cheer her up hit me hard. Somewhere along the way, he’d decided helping his mama carry weight was his job too, and I was proud as hell of him, but that weight should have been mine. I leaned back slightly, eyes moving over them for a second and then back at the water. Dry land wasn’t too far out. As soon as we reached Jaylen’s truck, we were heading straight to the clinic. After that, I’d figure out where I fit into all of this.
We walked into the clinic with water still dripping off us, and everyone turned to stare. I didn’t give any fucks about who was looking; I was here for one thing only—to find out if I had a damn son. A girl behind the front desk looked up the second we came in, like she’d been waiting. Her eyes went straight to Jaylen, and a smile coated her face. He smirked like he already knew what time it was.
“Oh,” I muttered, glancing at him. “This is your connection?”
“Mind your business.” He shot me a look. “You getting a Rapid DNA test in the middle of hurricane recovery, ain’t you?”
“Touché.” I nodded my head as the girl stepped from around the desk.
“Hi, I’m Nurse Nikki. Y’all ready?” she asked, waving us toward the back. “Come on. We can go ahead and get it done now before my supervisor comes back.”
Lyrius shifted Dakoda to the other side of her body and followed behind me. Once we got to the room, Nikki started pulling things out and setting them up.
“Oh, wait. I should have asked. Do y’all want to do this in separate rooms or together?” she asked.
“Together is fine,” I said, and Lyrius nodded.
“Together is okay.”
Dakoda looked between all of us, already clocking that something was going on. Lyrius crouched down in front of him and smoothed a hand over his shirt.
“They just wanna check on you since we were in that storm, baby. That’s all,” she said.
“Check me how?”
Nurse Nikki smiled. “Real easy. I’m just gonna swab your mouth, okay? It won’t hurt.”
He looked at me, then back at Lyrius.
“You gonna do it too?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m doing it too.”
“We all are,” Lyrius added.
“Okay!” That seemed to settle him. Nikki had me sit first. She swabbed the inside of my cheek, then the other side, quick and professional. Then she did Lyrius, and after that, she crouched down in front of Dakoda.
“Open up for me, big man.”
