Chapter 1 #2
I left the shop around 4:00 p.m., which was my usual time. I typically got there between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m., so I put in my time. In my early days, when I first opened the shop and I was the owner, employee, cleaning staff, payroll clerk, receptionist, customer service rep, and everything else, I regularly put in fourteen or fifteen-hour days.
Gianni Outlaw was kind enough to not only invest in my auto body shop but also offer me a sort of mentorship. After eighteen months, he talked me into hiring trustworthy and capable employees. That changed the trajectory of my business and stopped me from suffering from burnout. It allowed me to have time to myself, even though I spent most of my free-time chilling at the crib.
I was about to stop by the wing place to pick up an order of twenty flats before I headed home for another night on the sofa when a call came through from my little brother.
“What’s up, Dono?” I asked.
“Aye,” his voice sounded funny, shaky.
“What’s wrong?” My older brother antennas immediately went up.
“Aye, old girl, the healthcare chick, she just called me. They’re rushing Ma to the hospital.”
“What? What happened?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” He gave me the information through shallow breaths and voice cracks.
“Aye, meet me there.”
“Yeah,” he told me. “Unfortunately, I’m down in Indianapolis working on a project. I’m about to head that way now, but it’s gonna take me a minute. Hit me back when you get there, and let me know what’s up.”
“What hospital, dude?”
“Emmanuel.”
“Got it. Let me head that way, and I’ll hit you back when I know what’s up.”
“Later.”
We ended the call, and I headed toward Emmanuel Hospital to deal with my mother’s possible health crisis by myself. Dudes tried to act like all they needed was the homies like women didn’t matter, and they were just for physical enjoyment and release, but that was fucking cap. I would’ve given anything at the moment to be able to call Emerald and have her meet me at the hospital. I would’ve given anything to know that when she got to me, she would give me someplace soft to lay my head.
I was sixteen years out from having to watch my fiancée, Emerald Espinoza, die after a quick and ruthless battle with ovarian cancer. Hospitals were some bullshit. But my mother was in one, and she needed me there. Well, she needed me and Donovan there, but she would have to settle for me until he could make it.
I started praying as I was driving toward the hospital. I referred to myself as a “baby Christian,” because while I wasn’t new to the faith, I was new to trying to cultivate a relationship with God. Praying was something that I didn’t know a lot about. Still, I tried.
“Yo, God, whatever is happening with my mother right now, I just ask that you step in and make it right. I understand that there are wars, genocide, trafficking, and all kinds of fu—horrible things going on in the world. Still, my mother is our world. We need her. My brother just suffered an indescribable loss. Please don’t make him have to go through that again, while he’s still buried in turmoil about Nevaeh. I’mma lose him forever to his grief. Thanks. Amen.”
Just as I finished the prayer, my phone rang again. I saw the name come up on my phone screen.
Dominic.
Dominic Hill was Coe’s oldest son. The legitimate child of Coe and his wife, Natalya. That made Dominic my half-brother. Though we had only met a few years earlier, I’d been able to establish a relationship with each of Coe’s sons with his wife—Dominic, Dolton and Dorien. Of the three, I was closest to Dominic. After years of operating in a space of being the eldest child, it was almost refreshing for me to actually have an older sibling.
“Yo,” I said once I’d connected the call.
“What’s good, lil bro?” Dominic liked to crack that joke, making sure to remind me of my place in the hierarchy. “Dolton, Dorien, and I were able to shake the balls and chains tonight.”
I heard Dolton and Dorien laugh in the background when he referred to their wives as “balls and chains.”
“We’re headed to Ember Waves if you wanna fall through.”
Ember Waves was a cigar lounge that the sons of Briscoe Hill occasionally frequented.
“I just got a call that my mother was rushed to the hospital. I’m headed over there.”
“Donovan with you?”
“Nah. He’s driving in from Indy.”
“Where she at?”
I gave him the name of the hospital. “Emmanuel.”
“All right, dog. We’ll get up with you.”
“Later.”
The call ended. I repeated the prayer I said earlier about three more times, and I arrived at the hospital about twenty-five minutes later. I didn’t play about my Infiniti QX80, so I parked at the back of the lot off by myself and away from all other vehicles.
By the time I made it to the front entrance of the hospital, I could see three tall ass, fair-skinned men standing there. Something happened in my chest at the sight of my half-brothers and the fact that they had forgone their planned activity to meet me at the hospital. I wasn’t one to shed tears, but damn if I didn’t feel some of those motherfuckers trying to breach my eyelids.
I gave them each dap and a quick embrace.
“Dry your tears, crybaby,” Dominic taunted me, exactly like the older brother that he was. Because that was definitely something I would’ve said to Donovan. “You don’t want your old girl worried about you, when she should be worried about herself.”
I chuckled. “Fuck you.”
* * *
Lana found me in the emergency waiting room less than a minute after I confirmed my arrival.
“I’m so glad you’re here?—”
I could appreciate her relief, but her well-being wasn’t my priority at the moment. My mother’s well-being was.
“Is she okay? What the hell happened? What are the doctors saying?”
She looked up at the three redwood trees standing right beside me. She had to crane her neck to look into their faces.
“Umm…”
On everything, I wanted to snap my fingers in front of her face. I didn’t. “Is my mother okay? Where she at?”
“Oh, yes. Umm… I noticed that her lower extremities were swelling, so I brought her here. They’re running tests. Come on.”
“I’ll be right back,” I told my brothers who nodded.
“We’ll be here,” Dolton assured me.
I followed Lana to one of the curtained-off bays where they kept emergency room patients while they assessed them. My mother was propped up on the examination table, fiddling with her phone.
“Bianca.”
She looked up. “What child I gave birth to is now calling me by my first name?”
“You scared the… you scared me.” I walked over and studied her legs. They were swollen, but not so swollen that I was overly concerned. “Have you been taking your medicine, Ma?”
“Why didn’t you bring my baby son with you?”
Of course, I noticed that she curved my question, but I didn’t want to fight with her.
“Why haven’t you been taking your medicine?”
“I can’t believe that Dono making you come to the hospital all by yourself.”
“I’m not by myself.”
Her eyes grew large, and a smile broke out across her pretty face. “You have a lady friend with you? Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing somebody?”
My face twisted up into a frown. “I don’t have a lady friend with me. I mentioned to Dominic that I was on my way to the hospital. Him, Dolton, and Dorien met me at the entrance.”
The smile remained on her face. “That’s so nice of them. The best thing that coward Briscoe Hill ever did was give you and your brother other siblings. I’m glad you guys found each other. Are they out in the waiting room?”
I nodded my head. “They are.”
“Have them come in. I want to see them.”
“In a minute. Has the doctor been in here, yet?”
“He has. They’re not going to keep me. They’re giving me a prescription for a diuretic, and she suggested that I follow up with my PCP.”
“Let me get the guys, so you can see them. I’ll be right back.” When I turned away from my mother, I immediately spotted Lana. “Oh hell, Lana. I forgot you were here. Please feel free to leave. I got it from here. Thanks for calling Donovan and for getting my mother here.”
“You’re welcome.” She said her goodbyes to my mother.
The two of us walked out together.
Lana went on to exit the facility, while I grabbed my brothers and took them back to the little curtained off space that housed my mother.
Everything was party and bullshit as my brothers visited with my mom. I believed that she had a little crush on all three of them—Dominic because he was the spitting image of Coe, Dolton because he was so sure of himself and cocky like Coe, and Dorien because he was the charmer of the group… just like Coe.
When the doctor finally came by, he brought the nurse with him so that they could discuss my mother’s test results. While she was ready to go home and I was ready to take her, her blood sugar numbers were through the roof. They planned to admit her. They were just waiting to get word about an available room.