Coming Home for Love

Chapter 11

“Are you nervous?”

My head swiveled in Osiris’s direction as he drove with one hand on the wheel and the other on the armrest in between us. The diamond stud in his ear glistened in the sunlight. His waves were on point, and I was sure Little O’s hair would look the same if I cut it.

“Yes.” I rubbed my ear and giggled nervously. “My stomach is in my ass, and you better hope I don’t get the nervous shits.”

Osiris took us to the aquarium, and we had a good time. We had lunch there and saw some cool exhibits. Little O even got to touch the stingray, and his father got him a plush shark from the gift shop before we left. He was worn out and was in the back seat, sleeping, hugging his shark. When we were at lunch, Osiris asked how I felt about introducing Little O to his parents, and that would include me too. I wanted to say hell no, but that wouldn’t have been right. Little O deserved to meet his other grandparents so he could get all the love his little self could take. I wasn’t worried about him; I was worried about how they would look at me for keeping it a secret. No matter what I felt, or how scared I was, I agreed to go, and we were on the way to their house for dinner.

“Ayo, what?” Osiris cut his eyes at me and laughed.

“Do you not remember me telling you that before?”

Osiris and I weren’t together long the first go around, but I felt comfortable with him, so I told him one of my quirks that most people didn’t know. My parents and maybe two of my friends knew about the nervous shits I got. I hated it and had been that way for the longest time. That was another reason why I ran away from the table when I saw Osiris in the restaurant; I didn’t need any accidents.

“Oh shit.” He held his fist up to his mouth. “I do remember that. I can’t believe you told me that shit. And I still fucked with you heavy after that. That should show you I was really fucking with you.”

My heart stilled in my chest for a second, then it felt like it would burst. Osiris made me feel like I was on cloud nine.

“It doesn’t bother you?”

“Nah, why would it? Everybody shits, Wyn.” He chuckled. His laugh made my pussy tingle.

I shrugged at his question. Since I hadn’t dealt with anyone else, I didn’t know how someone other than Osiris would have reacted to that secret.

“I guess.”

We pulled up to his parents’ brick, two-story house. The grass looked as if it had just been cut, and there were flower beds on both sides of the stairs. I could tell there was a big yard in the back, with a wrought iron fence around it.

Osiris put the car in park and turned toward me. “Aye, look at me.” I looked into his light brown eyes, and my heart flipped. “There is nothing to be worried about. My parents are cool, and they are going to love both of you. My mom might be a little upset that she didn’t know, but she won’t treat you any type of way but loving. I’m a lot like her. I don’t let myself be angry for too long. She’s going to be more focused on spending time with Little O.”

I took a deep breath. “I guess I’m ready.” I rubbed my stomach to ease the knots that formed.

He leaned over the console and kissed me, catching me off guard.

“Was that supposed to calm me down?”

He smirked. “Did it work?”

“Nope,” I teased.

He gripped my chin and pulled me closer. My eyes were on the tip of his tongue when he stuck it out, then licked his lips.

“Maybe this will work.”

We shared a heated kiss as our baby slept behind us, not knowing what his parents were doing, and I didn’t know either. I wasn’t sure what Osiris’s endgame was, but I hoped it wasn’t some bull crap.

When we finally separated, Osiris kept his hand on my chin, and we stared into each other’s eyes, waiting for our breaths to even out.

“I think that worked.” I smiled.

He winked. “Oh, I know it did.” He pecked my lips again and released my chin.

I pulled the sun visor down and looked in the mirror. My lips were no longer shiny from the lip gloss, so I put a new coat on.

Osiris got out of the car and came around to my side.

“Good luck with him,” I told him when he opened the door.

“My boy is going to be fine.” His tone was confident, but he didn’t know Little O got an attitude sometimes when he was woken up early.

“Okay.” I closed the car door and waited to see what would happen.

As soon as he tried to wake Little O up, he swatted at his hand. Osiris looked over his shoulder at me when I giggled. I pretended to zip my lips and put it in my pocket.

Osiris shook his head, then attempted to wake Little O up again.

This time he groaned but kept his hands down, so Osiris was able to pick him up.

I closed the door when he stepped back. He locked the door, put the keys in his pocket, and grabbed my hand with his free one.

“You sure you are good?”

“Yes, sir.” I offered a reassuring smile, and he squeezed my hand.

Inside, it felt like someone was squeezing my insides.

We walked up the steps, and immediately, the door opened.

“Who do we have here?” Mrs. Gray walked toward Osiris and tried to get a look at Little O, but he had his head buried in his father’s neck.

“Hey, Mom. Let me put him on the couch, then we’ll have formal introductions.”

“Hello.”

Osiris’s mom stepped back and let us in the house. Immediately, the smell of fried chicken hit my nose. I also picked up hints of onion and garlic, and my stomach growled.

“You look familiar,” she said to me.

“I’m a chef at Taurus,” I told her, figuring that was where she saw me.

Osiris walked ahead of us and put Little O on the couch in the living room. The television was on that station that plays Christmas movies all the time.

“Is your mom named Nicole?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said as I sat on the couch.

She sat on the opposite couch. Osiris had laid Little O down on the couch I sat on.

“You look just like her.” Her eyes shot over to Little O. “I don’t need to ask who this little one belongs to, but I’m not sure why I’m just now finding out about him.” She raised an eyebrow. Her tone wasn’t angry, but it was clear she was bothered by the news, and I didn’t blame her. She looked back and forth between Osiris and me.

I was getting ready to tell her, but Osiris spoke up first.

“Mom, this is Osiris Jr., but we call him Little O. My son. You didn’t know about him, but I didn’t either.” She looked at me with her eyebrows bunched. “It’s not her fault, though. She didn’t know how to find me. I left school in a hurry, remember? None of that matters because he’s mine, and I didn’t want to spend my time here being mad. By the way, this is Wynter. My son’s mother.”

She went back to looking between Osiris and me.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting this, but I…” Her sentence trailed off.

“Mrs. Gray, I apologize for not making you all aware of Osiris’s existence. I wasn’t sure how to go about it since I had never met you before. I truly do apologize, and I hope we can move past this.”

She sat back and crossed her arms. My heart thundered against my chest because I couldn’t read her face. I knew I was wrong, but I prayed she didn’t hold it against me, and definitely not against Little O.

Neither of us said anything. My guess was she was processing the news.

“Mommy.” Little O murmured as he stirred.

I rubbed his back to calm him down so he could fall back to sleep, but he wasn’t having it once he realized we were somewhere other than home.

He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and crawled to his father’s lap.

Mrs. Gray watched the interaction and smiled. “I guess it’s a good thing he knows who you are.”

I didn’t know if she was being smart or what, but I kept my mouth closed.

“Wynter has told him about me, and I’ve been spending almost every waking moment with him since I found out.”

She cut her eyes at me, then back at the O’s.

“That’s good.” She got up and sat on the arm of the couch near Osiris.

Little O looked at her but kept his body tucked against his father’s.

“Can you say hi to your grandma?” Big O said.

Little O’s eyes glanced my way, then onto his grandma. He resisted for a minute but finally spoke to her.

“Hi,” he said shyly then buried his face into his father’s chest.

“Hi.” She turned toward me. “He looks just like Osiris when he was little.” She smiled widely. She looked my way again, and I thought she was going to say some bullshit, but she surprised me when she said, “Listen, Wynter. This wasn’t the way I imagined meeting my grandson, but I won’t hold it against you. I’ve already missed enough, and I don’t want to miss any more. We’ll figure everything else out. For now, let’s have dinner while I get to know you and this precious baby.”

“I’d like that.”

Big O stayed quiet the whole time, watching the interaction between his mother and me.

I was grateful for him sticking up for me because this could have gone a different way.

Mrs. Gray got up and walked into the kitchen. Osiris and I got up at the same time.

Before I could walk away, he grabbed my arm. Little O was still in his arms, so he switched him to one side so he was on his hip. He closed the space between us and kissed me.

“I told you that you didn’t have to worry about anything. I hope you still don’t have the nervous shits, because you can’t be stinking up my mother’s house.” He laughed.

I playfully shoved him, and giggled. “Whatever.” I paused and stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, though.”

After the three of us washed our hands, we went to the kitchen. A few minutes later, his father came in and was friendly toward us. Little O took to him like he did with my father, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

We stayed there for a while, and I couldn’t help but to feel good inside because they accepted Little O and me like we’d been there all along. I knew my baby would be well loved no matter what happened between Osiris and me.