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Nico looked so tiny being in Wolf’s arms. I watched as Wolf easily tucked him against his chest with one arm, using his large hand to spread across his tiny back. Since he was holding him that way, I could see the muscle in his forearm flexed, and those sexy biceps filling out the sleeve of his shirt. Wolf could do the smallest of things like sneeze around me, and I would look at that as the sexist thing in the world.

“You look like you know what you’re doing,” I said to him, pulling the stool out, so I could take a seat at the island.

“Have one, and I’ll show you that I know what I’m doing,” was his response.

I pretended that I didn’t even hear him say that. I just rested my back against the barstool, crossed my legs, while watching Wolf carry Nico over to the stove. This man really knew what he was doing because as he continued cradling Nico in his right arm, he used his left hand to take the top off the pot and looked inside. Nico, who never willingly went to people, especially if he didn’t know them, was chilling on Wolf, without a care in the world.

“What you cooking, papa?” I asked, calling my man by his pet name.

Wolf was the kind of man that you just had to call daddy, da-da, papa, all that shit. You had to. He was big dawg for sure. I loved the way he handled me. He got me together a couple of nights ago at the hospital, after I accused him of fuckin another bitch. I haven’t slept here because I’ve been staying at the hospital. Even with that, he’s been coming to bring me food, and just sitting with me for a little while. Seeing the way people showed up for you when you’re battling your toughest of times, will never be something that gets overlooked.

“You told me you liked lamb chops, and since I knew you were coming home tonight, that’s what I decided to make. We going to have that with mashed potatoes and broccolini. It’s ready. You don’t have to get up. I’ll fix your plate. What you want to drink?” he asked me.

This was still something that I was getting used to. Back when I was dating Hitta, I was always the one cooking for him, asking him what he wanted to drink, and bringing his food to him. The roles were so different over here. Wolf cooked, and he cleaned. He’ll wash dishes and sweep the floor. That’s why my jaw is always working overtime over here because the way he treated me, and catered to me, it made me want to make sure that head was on the table all the time.

“I’ll just take water,” I let him know.

You would think that he would have handed me the baby, but he didn’t. I could tell that Nico had him wrapped around his finger already because he couldn’t put him down. So, while Wolf fixed our plates, I headed to the back, so I could wash my hands.

I went for Wolf’s bathroom, removing the hoodie I had on, leaving me in just my tank top, and sweatpants. I washed my hands at the sink, and took myself in. Still pretty, but you could tell that I was wearing life’s problems on my shoulders. So many things I was carrying right now. Obviously, the biggest thing that I was carrying right now was the shit that happened with my sister. Throughout the day, I find myself taking a moment, thinking about the possibility of Nari no longer being here. My heart couldn’t handle that, and that’s why I kept breaking down the way I would.

If my mind wasn’t on that, then I would think about a couple of nights ago at the club, and how I saw who I thought was my dad. I didn’t know what to believe. I didn’t know if I should bring it up to my mom because of the toxic relationship that the two of us had. I felt like we would get into it about it, and that’s not what I was trying to do, so I haven’t brought it up.

I looked at myself in the mirror a little longer, smoothed down my hair, and ran more soap and water on my hands. There were hand towels hanging up on a rack, so I quickly dried my hands off, and took the hoodie out of the bathroom with me. Wolf’s walk- in closet was directly across from the bathroom, so I tossed my hoodie in his dirty clothes bin, and headed back out to the kitchen area, so I could eat dinner.

When I made it to the kitchen, Wolf was still holding Nico in his arms. Nico was chilling, right where he wanted to be. Wolf fixed our plates already and had them sitting over by the dining room table. While he grabbed the drinks, I went over to Nico’s diaper bag, so I could grab water, a bottle, and the formula. I was swift with mixing everything to make his bottle, and I even placed it in the microwave for a few seconds, warming it up for him.

I did the heat test, pouring the milk on my wrist, making sure that it wasn’t too hot, and when I was satisfied, I walked over to the table. Wolf was already sitting with Nico in his arms, so I passed him the bottle. You would think that he had a hidden baby somewhere, judging by the way he took the bottle from me, placed the nipple to Nico’s mouth, allowing him to drink. With his free hand, he grabbed mine, so that we could bow our heads and he could say grace. Wolf didn’t play about praying over our food, and that’s another thing that I loved about him.

“Thank you for dinner, baby,” I called out, picking up my fork, ready to dig into the mashed potatoes.

“No problem. How you feeling? I’m happy to have you back in the house with me. I’ve gotten used to you. I like sitting at the table together having dinner. I like falling asleep with you in my arms,” he replied, eyes on me, as he sat there with the baby in his lap.

So many inappropriate things were running through my mind right now. Wolf and I hadn’t fucked in a few days. I haven’t been home. I’ve been sleeping at the hospital. I just knew that I was going to get fucked tonight. I could tell by the way he was looking at me.

“I’m good. I’ll just be glad when the doctor has a verdict on what they plan on doing with my sister. I pray they let her go home tomorrow,” I voiced, and he nodded.

“How has she been? You noticed any change in her?” he wanted to know.

“I think this situation scared the hell out of her. She tells me a few times out of the day that she’s sorry about what she did, and how she almost checked out on all of us. I think Nari is going to be okay though. She sees that she has so much to live for. We just have to continue taking it day by day,” I said, after I finished chewing the mashed potatoes.

You could tell that these weren’t the mashed potatoes out of a bag. He actually made these from scratch. There were chunks of potatoes inside, and they were very rich, and creamy.

“Her village just got to be there for her. She’ll be fine,” he assured me.

“How’s your mom?” I asked, directing the conversation his way.

We’ve spent so much time talking about me, and the issues that I had going on, that we really didn’t get the chance to talk about his family issues.

“Emotional. She don’t do nothing but cry all day. She’s staying with Kingston right now. She didn’t want to go with Kendrix or Demarco because she said that they have all kinds of hoes running in and out of their house. I told her that it was cool for her to come over here, but she’s talking about I’m in the honeymoon stage of my relationship, and she didn’t want to interrupt that. She’s over there with Kingston, his wife, and their kids. It’s just temporary until I get her a spot. I’m lowkey scared to get her something right now. She’s not in her right mind, and I don’t want her to do some crazy shit,” he told me.

“Damn. See, that’s the part of marriage that scares me. How can a man that I’ve been with for the past 30-plus years go out and hurt me like that? She gave your father four sons. I have no idea how he was able to hide a child from ya’ll for fourteen years. Then, he has another baby on the way. That’s so sad. You really think she’s going to leave him though? It’s like your dad is all she knows,” I voiced.

“I truly believe she’s done with that nigga. She shot him multiple times. She was willing to kill his ass. Demarco jumped in the way, fuckin up the head shot she tried giving him. I can’t imagine what that kind of pain feels like,” he told me.

I finished eating a little bit of my food before staring at him, prepared to reply to the statement he just made.

“Not to bring up Hitta, but I really want to just piggyback on what you just said. It is a painful feeling. I never told you the reason me, and Hitta got into that fight that night, and why he ended up putting his hands on me. Just like your mom did, I went through his phone. I’m not even the type to go through a man’s phone, but it was right here, and it kept going off with notifications. I guessed his password, and right when I unlocked the phone, he walked in. We tussled over the phone, but I was still able to see all that I needed to see. The same bitch that we were already beefing about that works at the club with me, he has a baby on the way with her. That shit broke me. I knew that Hitta did his dirt, and he wasn’t a saint, but I didn’t expect him to have a baby on me. If he was able to hurt me with that and we were only dealing with each other for about 2 and a half years, then I can only imagine the hurt that your mom must feel after 30 plus years,” I shared something that I’ve never told him.