Chapter 23
Thank God for Nurse McGhee. I’d never seen a woman move as fast as she did when Noelani passed out. She caught Noelani before she hit the floor, got her to the couch, then all but cursed me out for trying to get out of bed.
“That was a hell of a way to find out we’re having a baby,” I said once Nurse McGhee left the room after securing my arm in a sling.
When Noelani came to, Nurse McGhee gave her some water and asked her several questions, one of them being if there was a possibility she was pregnant. Noelani hesitated to answer, looking at me as she nodded.
Nurse McGhee performed a pregnancy test to establish pregnancy, and once it was confirmed that Noelani was carrying my child, she did a blood test to find out her approximate number of weeks.
“I almost passed out again when she told me how far along I was.”
“Fourteen weeks, Noelani? Y’all must have had sex the day you met because I could’ve sworn—” Mrs. Natavia began.
“Ma, please.”
Mrs. Natavia shook her head while Noelani buried her face in my chest. She’d squeezed herself into bed with me and was lying on her left side. My good arm was wrapped securely around her shoulders, and her leg was draped across mine.
“I was young once, so I won’t judge,” she told her daughter.
Noelani responded with light snores, causing her mother and me to laugh. I lightly shook her, but my baby had fallen asleep that quickly.
“Noelani,” I whispered close to her ear.
“Huh?”
“Wake up.”
“Huh?”
“Wake up. It’s time to go.”
She slowly opened her eyes, lifting her hand to her mouth as she yawned.
“How long have I been asleep?” she asked.
“Only a minute, but we need to go. Your father has called me twenty times, and he’s past ready for his wife to come home,” Mrs. Natavia said as she stood. “I’ll give you two some privacy, but if you take longer than five minutes, I’m gone. Rowdy, I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thank you.”
Mrs. Natavia left, and I helped Noelani out of bed as best I could. She stretched and yawned again once she was on her feet. She wore a pair of leggings and a cropped hoodie, looking thicker than usual now that I knew she was carrying my seed.
I’d been teasing her about what having good dick in her life had done to her body because her ass was plumper, and her breasts were fuller. Every time I’d slap her ass or palm her breasts, she’d smack her lips and blame the few extra pounds she’d gained on the new school year.
I was only slightly surprised by how far along she was because it was just about fourteen weeks ago when the condom broke. I never mentioned it to Noelani and was contemplating if I ever would.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said before kissing my lips.
I wrapped my arm around her waist before she could move away.
“You’re having my baby.”
“That’s what I was told. There was too much commotion, and I didn’t get a chance to ask how you feel.”
“I’m excited. How do you feel?”
“Aside from being petrified to tell my father and brother, I’m excited. I’ve always wanted to be somebody’s mama if the right man came along.”
“Am I the right man?”
She didn’t respond right away, and her hesitation had me worried about her response.
“Before Ramina called to tell me you’d been shot, I was in a bad way. I’ve been sick for the past few days and began to suspect I might be pregnant. We hadn’t talked in over a week, and—”
“Because you stopped taking my calls.”
She rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter. I thought we might be done, so the thought of being pregnant with your child scared me. My heart said you were the right man, but my brain didn’t know what to think.”
“Let me be clear. We were never done.”
“From my perspective, it—”
“We were never done, Noelani. Don’t piss me off after the night I’ve had.”
She giggled. “Okay. We were never done.”
“You still haven’t answered my question. Now that you know everything, I hope your brain is on board with your heart. Am I the right man?” She nodded. “Nah, baby. Use your words.”
“Rowdy Noble, there isn’t another man in the universe that I’d rather be the father of my child.”
I slid my hand up her back, gripping her neck and bringing her face closer to mine. Almost as soon as our lips connected, our tongues intertwined. All I could think about was how much I loved her and how much I already loved the child growing inside her.
“Rowdy, I have to go,” she said after tearing her mouth from mine.
“I love you.”
“I love you.”
It had been four days since I’d been shot, and I was being released from the hospital. The surgery to remove the bullet fragments was performed three days ago, and it went well. Next week, I’d start rehab and would hopefully be as good as new in a few months.
My mother was ecstatic when Noelani and I told her we were having a baby, and I was convinced it was the only reason she was speaking to me. Her energy toward me was off until she found out she would soon be a grandmother.
Noelani had just arrived to pick me up from the hospital, and we were waiting for my discharge papers. I sat on the edge of the bed, and she stood in front of me between my legs. While we kissed, my free hand caressed the baby bump that was barely there.
“Any more morning sickness?” I asked when we disconnected.
“It’s actually any-time-of-day sickness, and I’ve noticed it’s never bad when I’m with you.”
I smiled and lifted her shirt to expose her belly. “You like being around Daddy?”
“It definitely seems that way. I don’t feel sick at all around you.”
“That’s because—”
“My bad, Nephew. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I wanted to catch you before you were discharged.”
“It’s cool, Unc. Wassup?”
“I want you to know, I spoke to your mother about this, and we made the decision together.”
“What decision?”
He turned and pulled the door open, and two very familiar faces entered. One of them, I’d recently seen from afar, and the other was like looking in a mirror.
“Rocky? Russ—Oh my God.” Noelani looked back and forth between me and Russell. “Y’all could actually be twins.”
Noelani’s words seemed to run together as I stared into the faces of my father’s sons.
“Why the fuck did you bring them here?” I spat.
“Because it was time,” Uncle David said.
“They can go right back to pretending I don’t exist like they’ve been doing for the past twenty-eight years.”
“Hold up. We ain’t know shit about you until your uncle showed up at the center this morning,” Rocky said.
“Bullshit. Owen told me—”
“We don’t care what that nigga told you. We didn’t know you existed until an hour ago,” Russell refuted.
“I can attest to their surprise when I told them,” my uncle affirmed. “They insisted on seeing you for themselves.”
“You’re twenty-eight?” Rocky asked.
“I’ll be twenty-nine next Friday.”
He exchanged a quick glance with Russell. “You’re a year younger than Roman. He’s our—”
“I know who he is, and I’m sorry for your loss,” I told him.
“How long have you known about us?” Russell asked.
“My entire life, but he told me y’all wanted nothing to do with me because I was the product of an affair.”
Rocky nodded. “That sounds like something his bitch-ass would do, but it was a flat-out lie. Family means a lot to us, and had we known you were out there, we would’ve searched high and low until we found you.”
“Rocky and Russell are good people, baby. We send a lot of kids from the high school to their center for mentoring,” Noelani said.
The grudge I held against my brothers was strictly based on some shit I was told by a man who couldn’t give two shits about us. They seemed genuine, so I chose to let go of the grudge and move forward.
“My lady vouches for you, so I guess we can see where this goes.”
Noelani stepped to the side, allowing my brothers to enter my space. What was meant to be a handshake became an embrace, and surprisingly, I welcomed it.
“Welcome to the family,” Rocky said when we separated.
The nurse entered my room with my discharge papers before I could thank him, but I’d be sure to do it later.
“No rush, Mr. Noble, but you’re free to go,” the nurse said before leaving.
“Nephew, your brothers run Onyx City Mayhem. I told them what I knew about your situation hoping they’d be able to help.”
“We don’t want to overstep, but that’s what big brothers are for,” Russell offered.
“Whether you want our help or not, you got it. Do you feel up to stopping by the center before going home?” Rocky asked.
“You good with that, baby?”
“I’ll be waiting for you at home. Uncle David, don’t let him do too much, or you’ll have to deal with me,” Noelani warned.