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“He’s still sleeping?”

“That’s what babies do,” MJ told her.

“He sleeps a lot,” she said with a sigh.

“And you talk a lot. Everybody got something they good at,” MJ said to his sister with a smirk.

Everybody laughed while I shook my head.

“Leave my baby alone,” Eternity said as she leaned over and kissed the top of Maylee’s head.

Her facial expression winced in pain, and I was about to ask her if she was okay, but when we made eye contact, she gave me a nod that answered the question. MJ laughed and dropped into the chair across from me. I looked around the living room, taking everything in. My wife was home. My son was healthy. My daughters were happy, and I was finally starting to feel like I was making some progress with getting back on my feet. My hip was still sore from that fall, but the doctors hadn’t found any new damage. I was eager to get back to physical therapy. I needed two feet on the ground by the time this baby started crawling.

I damn sure needed to be walking before his ass. I know everyone around me said don’t put a timer on my recovery, but I’ll be damned if this little baby started racing around the house before me. Eternity looked over at me.

“You okay, baby?” she asked.

“I’m good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m just happy to have y’all home,” I said, smiling.

I didn’t need my lady to worry. I didn’t need her knowing that I was over here being hard on myself. I needed her in her soft era, always. When I offered her a smile, her expression softened.

“Me too.”

I reached for her hand when she leaned toward me, and she gave it a gentle squeeze. It had been a long road getting to this point, and I knew we still had some recovering to do. But sitting there watching everybody fuss over my son, I couldn’t help feeling grateful. I just wished there wasn’t still one loose end hanging over our heads. I glanced toward Tahari, who had taken a seat near Maliah.

“Any word on Ghost?”

He shook his head while keeping his attention on his phone.

“Nothing yet.”

I watched him for a second.

“Nothing at all?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Nah, Mr. Browne.”

He still hadn’t looked at me. I nodded and left it alone, but something about his response didn’t sit right with me. One thing I valued about him was that he always held eye contact when you spoke to him. This… this shit was different. He had been determined to find his brother for weeks. He had gone out of his way trying to track that nigga down, and every time I had asked him about it before, he’d had something to say. Now he barely wanted to discuss it. I glanced toward MJ. He was sitting in the chair with his phone in his hand, looking completely unbothered by the conversation.

That caught my attention too. My son had been worried about Ghost ever since all this shit went down. Anytime somebody brought the name up, I would see a little of me in his response. He always held this hatred in his eyes as he gave the conversation his undivided attention. Now he hadn’t even looked up when I’d mentioned his name. I knew my son, and something wasn’t right. I wasn’t saying anything in front of Eternity, though. She’d just gotten home, and the last thing I wanted was to bring more stress into her day.

Whatever was going on, I would deal with it later.

“Daddy, look.”

I turned toward Maylee. She was holding one of the baby’s tiny hands between her fingers.

“He grabbed me.”

I smiled.

“He likes you already.”

“Of course he does. I’m his favorite sister.”