Chapter 2 #8
“You a hell of a woman, Harbor,” he said, his hand gripping the door frame.
I saw the big ass diamonds taking up most of his ring fingers as he bowed his head and dipped out of the room.
Sometimes people really did surprise you.
Ledge seemed humble and genuine just now.
Maybe he was trying to turn a new leaf. Even if it wasn’t for Chevy, if he was doing it for himself, that exemplified even more growth.
There might be hope for his crazy ass yet.
I didn’t think we would be best friends or no shit like that, but it would be nice not to catch his side glances all the time.
Two months later…
I was postpartum three weeks, and my life had completely changed.
I heard that having children gave everything meaning, but I was in no way prepared for what would come over me when I saw my child’s face.
Standing in the room just across the hall from where Frequency and I slept, I hovered over not one, but two bassinets.
There was a tiny little being in each one, sleeping with peace as I watched over them.
Yes, I gave birth to twins. According to Dr. Lane, my little boy was tucked behind his sister most of my pregnancy.
During labor, one of them grew an irregular heartbeat, causing me to go into distress, and an emergency cesarean had to be performed.
Luckily, we were all fine now, but that experience was wild and very scary.
Frequency was there the entire time, holding my hand and coaching me through.
He was everything I needed, and when both of our babies were born, we were both in awe of them.
Hell, they were a few weeks old, and I was completely obsessed with them.
Maze Armon was our little boy, and Misa Halo was his sister.
She was actually born first, and she never let us forget it because she weighed more and was the first to do just about anything, but Maze was right behind her.
I was in love so deep. I never even knew I was capable of a love like this.
A strong pair of hands slid around my waist, and Frequency’s cologne assaulted my senses.
Inhaling, I accepted his arms around me and leaned my head back against his chest. He was so strong and sturdy.
I always felt like I was in capable hands when he held me.
Both of his arms connected around me, locking me in against him. I was safe.
“You should be sleeping too while they are,” his voice whispered in my ear.
“I just can’t stop looking at them. They are perfect, and I can’t believe they are real, and they’re ours. Sometimes I can’t believe how far we’ve come together. We made babies.”
His lips found my neck, pecking it gently.
“We had a lot of fun making them too,” he said in my ear sexily, making me snicker.
I spun in his arms to face him, and he brought his lips to mine immediately.
Things the last few months had been interesting; that was for sure.
Ivana was now back with her sister and visiting Ivy every chance that she got.
Gardenia was shocked to find out that her sister was alive after all this time, and she was more than happy to take her into her home.
Frequency was adamant that Ivy stay where she was, not wanting to disrupt her life any more than it already had been.
She was allowed to see Ivana whenever she wanted, which was usually weekends after her activities.
“You going somewhere?” I took him in, wearing his causal business attire.
He was sharp and handsome as fuck as I smoothed my hands down the collar of his blazer. I was so in love and heavily attracted to him that it still overwhelmed me sometimes. Lately, the thought of losing him sat in the middle of a pile of other shit in the back of my mind.
“I have a meeting. But I won’t be gone long. I thought I would pick up some food. What you in the mood for?” he asked.
“Mmm, Italian. Chevy was coming over tomorrow so that we could try and get some work done. We also have a birthday party to plan,” I informed him. Ivy would be turning thirteen really soon.
“Shit, Ledge is coming by to help me with something too.”
“I’m sure it will be fine. It has been months since everything went down.
They are being cordial for the kids and everything.
Don’t sweat the small shit. Ledge has grown up a lot in the last few months, and don’t think Chevy hasn’t taken notice.
She’s just trying to be cautious, which she has every right to. ”
He embraced me with one arm, bringing me closer and sealing the space between us.
“Never thought I would see the day when you were vouching for Ledge,” he observed.
“He is rough around the edges, brazen as hell, but… he’s not all bad. I’ve seen him the last few months with the kids. He’s actually a good father too. I wish that they could work things out.”
“That doesn’t concern us, ma. This is their situation to deal with. We have enough going on.”
“Yes, we do,” I muttered as Misa stirred.
She did this little fussy whimpering before she broke into a full-on tantrum, and I was right at her side praying that she didn’t wake Maze.
Scooping her out of her bassinet, I cradled her in my arms and stared down into her tiny, gorgeous face.
She did the most adorable little yawn, and my fucking heart melted as Free peered at her over my shoulder.
“You hungry, baby girl?” I cooed, and she studied me wide eyes that resembled her father’s.
The dark curls on top of her head made her look like a little doll. When the doorbell suddenly chimed, I looked up at Frequency. Frowning, he checked his wrist for the time.
“Who the fuck could that be?” he demanded.
“Come on, Misa. Let’s go see who’s at the door,” I spoke to her gently as Frequency led the way to the hall and we weren’t far behind him.
We were reaching the bottom of the stairs when he got to the door and flung it open. Imagine the look on my face when I saw his mother and brother, Karmine, on the other side. Frequency seemed as stunned to see them as I was.
“Ma, what are you doing here?” he questioned, stepping aside so that they could enter.
“We need to talk,” she revealed, coming out of her jacket and tossing it onto the nearby coatrack.
She spotted me not too far away and halted in her steps. The image of me with a baby in my arms seemed to floor her for a split second. Sighing, Frequency slammed the door shut after Karmine also stepped inside.
“Well, is that my grandchild?” Karrin questioned, inching closer to me.
Protective, I found myself trying to shield Misa from her like she was some evil ass witch.
“One of them,” Frequency alerted her, clearing his throat. “We had twins. This is our daughter, Misa. Our son, Maze, is still sleeping.”
“She’s beautiful,” Karrin noted. “She looks a lot like you when you were a baby.” Her voice drifted off as if she was reliving a memory.
“I don’t understand what y’all are doing here,” Frequency piped up.
“It’s been months since we’ve heard anything from Kutlass. Where else would I be? He hasn’t called or checked in. It’s like he dropped off the face of the earth.” Exasperated, she threw her hands up.
Free swiped the tip of his nose and took a breath. Karmine seemed to be studying him closely with suspicion, but he kept calm.
“Maybe he did. And maybe it’s best if you don’t try and find him,” Frequency declared.
“This is your father. How can you even say that?” Appalled, Karrin soaked him in from head to toe. “The last time I talked to him, he said that you threatened him.” Accusing eyes landed on him from the both of them.
“We had words,” Free acknowledged.
“Words? Is that all? Or is there more to this?” his mother demanded.
She inched closer, getting in his face, and although he was much bigger than her, Karrin never backed down as she challenged him.
“What you want from me, Ma, huh?”
“The truth.” Karmine cut in, arms crossing over his chest.
A deep wrinkle filled his forehead as he narrowed his eyes at Free.
“Fuck you, Karmine. You the one that stirred all this shit up. Now you want to come here demanding something like I owe you a damn thing. Let me tell you something about our parents that you seemed to place all high on that pedestal. Neither one of them is perfect, and they both walking around with a bag of bones. All that talk about family, honor, and loyalty is just some bullshit they say to make us fall in line and do what the fuck they want. Did you know that Karrin isn’t even my fucking mother?
Celine is. And she didn’t actually birth you or Kara; she had a fucking surrogate.
Celine was supposed to be one too, but she lost the baby and ended up fucking Pops because he wanted to give her a baby.
” Frequency aimed a finger at Karrin, and horror filled her eyes.
She didn’t speak, and slowly, Karmine’s arms unfolded from his chest while his deep, shadow-filled eyes took her in. Her taut posture and lack of response must have told him everything he needed to know.
“Who told you that!” Karrin hissed at him. “I am your mother in every fucking way! That bitch didn’t do anything but sit around here day in and day out wishing that she was me! She made you hate me!” Tears welled in her eyes as her arms and hands began to tremble.
“I never hated you. I just thought you were weak.” Frequency broke it to her. “All of this is proof of that. You let him keep her around, knowing everything that they did behind your back.”
“Because they gave me you!” she shrieked. “You were my firstborn. The first baby I ever cared for. Nobody can ever tell me that I wasn’t your mother. I didn’t make all your meals or get to come to all of your games or anything like that, but I was still your mother.”
“Ma, you really been holding these lies in all my fucking life?” Karmine chimed in, hurt drowning his voice.