June
I bounced Savior up and down in my arms as he cried.
This was the second time he was crying as if his little life depended on it.
I texted Z to ask some questions, but my texts went unanswered, which I understood since she needed time for herself.
With her going through this postpartum, her emotions had been all over the place, so I knew Samara leaving only made it worse.
She decided to go to her office for a bit before our double date with Bishop and Indigo while I got the boys ready to go to Diamond and Yana’s.
However, the way my son was crying put a different type of fear in me.
He had awakened a parental sense that put me in fight-or-flight mode.
While I wanted to blow up Z’s phone, I also wanted to respect what she was trying to do and figure this shit out on my own.
I set Savior down and placed the dual baby carrier on me.
Sliding Peace in the front of me and picking up Savior, I knew what I needed to do.
Although it was going to pain me to ask the one person who made my ass itch for help, it involved my seed, and I had to swallow my pride.
I headed out the door and down the driveway.
That was when I noticed a car I had never seen sitting a few houses up.
It did strike me as odd, but this moment was about my child.
I continued to walk up the block until I got to Diamond’s. I knocked on the door and waited for him or Yana to answer. It didn’t take long before the door opened.
“Sup, Black Man?” Diamond said as he gave me a nod.
“Where Yana big head ass at?”
“Nigga, don’t bring that grouchy shit over here. Why is he crying like that? Man, is Savior going to be crying like that while y’all are gone because if so—”
Yana’s head poked around the corner as Diamond let me inside. “What’s wrong with Auntie Baby?” she cooed, taking him out of my arms.
I ran my hand over my head. “I-I don’t know. He’s been crying for a fucking hour. What’s wrong with him?”
Yana cut her eyes at me. “I’m not a doctor, Chevy.”
“But yo ass is a nurse. Matter of fact—”
Diamond held his hand out. “Nigga, ease up on my wife. Give her a minute.”
The thought of not being able to detect what was wrong with my son bothered me.
He was depending on me to fix whatever issue was going on, and I couldn’t even do that shit.
It made me think of Samara and her being in a situation I wouldn’t be able to help her get out of.
This was the part of fatherhood I was afraid of.
This was my past experience as a kid—not having anyone to protect me or give me what I needed when things were wrong.
I had vowed I would never be the parent who couldn’t see the obvious, the parent who didn’t have the resources to fix the broken situations, and here I stood, unable to do a muhfuckin thing but panic.
My eyes watched as Yana moved while she confidently did her thing. She looked just as Z did when she was in mommy mode.
“He has a fever, Chevy. You know they are teething, and things like this happen. He’s just a little irritated. I’ll give him a little baby Tylenol and keep an eye on his fever. I think he should be fine.”
I handed Peace to Diamond, almost not wanting to let my boys go. Yana stared into my face.
“We’re all learning to be parents. Don’t beat yourself up.
I see it in your face. You’re such a protector that you miss the easiest signs because your mind is on the outside and not what’s in front of you.
You got this.” She smiled. “It takes a village, or in your case, a kingdom. Zoo over everything.”
I started to feel bad because I tried to shut down her plans to throw a party for Love at my house. My eyes slowly rolled over to Diamond, who smiled at her proudly.
“That’s why I married her ass. Goddamn!”
Feeling somewhat better, I left and headed back to the house to get ready for my date night.
I gazed back down the street to see that the car that had been sitting there was gone.
Something in me shifted, and so did the clouds.
Clark had to be back in motion, and if what I was feeling was correct, my primal instincts were now awakened.
I let out a sharp breath because I knew the universe was giving me the warning to do what needed to be done to protect the Calloway name at all costs.