19. Noree Marcell
By the time Ozy and I made it back to his house after the interview, it was a little after eleven.
“Miss Noree!”
King shouted my name as soon as he came running toward me. Ozy was holding Oaklynn, so I bent down and opened my arms just in time for King to crash into them.
“Kingyyy!”
I hugged him tight before lifting him off the floor and spinning him around in a circle. His loud laughter filled the kitchen, making me laugh right along with him.
“Oh my God, I missed you!” I said as I finally placed him back on his feet.
“I missed you too. Where have you been? I was looking for you. I wanted to tell you thank you.”
I rested my hands on my knees so we could be at eye level. “Really? You wanted to thank me? What for?”
“For the painting. Thank you so much, Miss Noree. It’s really nice.”
My heart melted at how sincere he sounded. Out of everything he had received for his birthday, I hadn’t expected the painting to mean that much to him.
“Well, I’m glad you loved it. Your mommy looked beautiful in that picture with her pretty wings, and I really wanted your gift to be special and come from the heart.”
I pulled him into another hug. This time, when I released him, he surprised me by leaning forward and kissing me on the cheek.
“Awww.” I laughed as I touched the spot he had kissed. “Thank you. You’re so sweet. Did you enjoy your birthday party?”
“Yes, I had a good time. And my cousin Summer stayed the night.”
As if she had been waiting for him to mention her, a little girl came running into the kitchen. She stopped beside King and waved at me with the biggest smile.
“Hi! I’m Summer.”
I placed one hand on my hip and looked down at her. “Aren’t you the cutest little thing? You must be Princeton’s daughter.”
She smiled even harder and nodded. “Yes.”
Before I could say anything else, she and King looked over at Ozy. Their eyes immediately landed on Oaklynn, who was comfortably resting in his arms.
“Whose baby is that?” they asked at the same time.
“Oh, this is my baby,” I answered.
King slowly turned his head toward me, looking confused. “You have a baby, Miss Noree?”
“Yes, I do.”
Ozy stepped closer to them. “This is y’all’s little cousin,” he said.
He placed Oaklynn on her feet and kept his hands beneath her arms until he knew she was steady.
“Her name is Oaklynn.”
“Our cousin?” King repeated.
“Yeah,” Ozy assured them.
Summer crouched in front of Oaklynn and waved at her. “Hi, Oaklynn…I’m Summer.”
Oaklynn stared at her for a second before smiling. That was apparently all the invitation the kids needed. King grabbed one of her toys, Summer took her hand, and within seconds, all three of them were running around the living room.
Oaklynn’s little legs could barely keep up with them, but she was trying her hardest. Every few seconds, she would let out one of those loud screams toddlers made when they were having the time of their lives. King and Summer screamed right along with her.
I smiled as I watched them. It felt strange seeing Oaklynn inside Ozy’s home and being introduced to his family.
Strange, but not in a bad way. More like it was something I had imagined so many times that seeing it happen for real didn’t feel real yet.
“Give me a second,” Ozy said, glancing down at his phone. “My homie at the door.”
I nodded, and he walked away.
A few seconds later, Uncle Marcus entered.
“Hey, Unc. Good morning,” I greeted him.
“Good morning, Miss Noree.”
The smile on my face slowly faded as I got a good look at him. He didn’t appear to be his usual self. His eyes looked tired, and his movements were slower than they normally were.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. You know I’m just getting older. Didn’t sleep all that well last night.”
“Aww, I’m sorry to hear that. Do you need any help this morning?”
“Actually, yeah. If you can cut up some of the onions and peppers for the omelets, that would be great.”
I smiled. “Of course.”
When he started toward the kitchen, I pulled out one of the stools at the island.
“Do you need to sit down?”
“Nah, I’m good, baby,” he assured me. “Just a little tired.”
I didn’t want to keep pressing him.
I remembered where the aprons were from the other times I had helped him, so I grabbed one and slipped it over my clothes. Once it was tied around my waist, I went over to the sink and thoroughly washed my hands.
Ozy returned to the kitchen with his friend while I was drying them. The guy waved in my direction before coming over to shake my hand.
“This is Noree,” Ozy said. “Noree, this my homie Faizon. He been doing DNA testing for as long as I can remember. He a beast with it and got his own private DNA company. As long as we get everything done now and he gets the samples over to the lab by noon, we can have the results back today.”
My stomach instantly tightened.
I knew what the results were going to say. There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind about Oaklynn being Ozy’s daughter, but hearing that we could have confirmation by the end of the day made everything feel even more serious.
“Okay.” I gave Faizon a polite smile. “It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for coming on such short notice.”
“No problem. Me and Ozy go way back. We went to high school together. This man used to be a menace.”
“Aye, nigga, shut up,” Ozy said.
Faizon laughed, and Uncle Marcus joined in from the other side of the kitchen.
“Oh, I’m sure he was.” I looked at Ozy. “Probably had everybody stressed out.”
“Don’t listen to him.” Ozy pointed at Faizon. “He lying like a muthafucka.”
Faizon held up both hands. “I ain’t gotta lie on you, bro. You know what you used to be doing.”
Ozy turned his attention to the apron I was wearing. “You ’bout to throw down?”
“Yeah. It’ll be better than those noodles I made.”
He narrowed his eyes as a smirk pulled at his lips. “Better be.”
I smirked to myself as Ozy walked away for a moment. Faizon set a black case on the kitchen island and began opening his materials. He put on a pair of gloves, sanitized the area where he was standing, and laid out everything he needed.
While he prepared for the test, I grabbed a cutting board, onions, and bell peppers. Ozy returned with Oaklynn and sat on one of the stools with her resting on his lap.
“All right, we’re gonna start with you,” Faizon told him.
Ozy tilted his head back and opened his mouth. Faizon took out a swab and rubbed it along the inside of his cheek. The entire thing only took a few seconds. Once he was finished, he carefully placed the swab into its proper container and sealed it.
I started dicing the onions and peppers, pretending I wasn’t watching everything happening beside me, but my eyes kept drifting toward them.
Faizon pulled out a second swab.
“Now we need the little lady.”
Ozy adjusted Oaklynn on his lap before gently opening her mouth.
“Come on, mama. Open up.”
She immediately turned her head and started fussing.
“It’s okay, baby,” I said, putting down the knife. “It’s not going to hurt.”
Ozy held her still while Faizon swabbed the inside of her cheek. Oaklynn whined and tried to push his hand away, but she eventually calmed down once he finished.
“There we go,” Faizon said. “All done.”
He placed her swab inside another container and sealed it as well.
“That’s all you have to do?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s a quick process. The lab handles everything else.” He removed his gloves and gathered his materials. “I’ma let y’all get back to breakfast. I’ll email the results to Ozy.”
“Okay… well, thank you again,” I told him.
“No problem.”
He disposed of his gloves, dapped Ozy up, and headed out.
Uncle Marcus glanced at Oaklynn before looking between Ozy and me.
“This your little girl?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered.
His eyes moved from my face to Ozy’s, and then he gave both of us a knowing look.
“Oh, so that contest weekend, y’all were being reckless, huh?”
Heat rushed into my cheeks as I quickly looked away.
“Mind your business, old man,” Ozy said.
Uncle Marcus laughed, and I shook my head as I dumped the diced onions and bell peppers into a bowl.
I grabbed the eggs from the refrigerator and pulled out another bowl.
After cracking several eggs into it, I whisked them together and added seasoning salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and a little Cajun seasoning.
Ozy placed Oaklynn on the floor, and she immediately ran back into the living room to play with King and Summer.
“You need any help?” he asked.
“Yeah, your uncle isn’t feeling well.”
Ozy’s attention immediately shifted toward him. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s okay,” Uncle Marcus said. “Like I told Miss Noree over here, I’m just getting older.”
Ozy studied him for a few seconds. “You know what? How about you take the day off?”
Uncle Marcus looked at him as if he had suggested something completely ridiculous.
“You sure about that?”
“Yeah. You never take time off. We can handle it from here. Go get some rest.”
For once, Uncle Marcus didn’t protest. Ozy walked over to him, and they slapped hands before Ozy pulled Unc into a quick hug.
“Appreciate you, nephew.”
“You already know.”
Uncle Marcus removed his apron, placed it back where it belonged, and told us he would see us later.
As he walked away, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.
He had claimed he was only tired, but he looked like more than a lack of sleep was bothering him.
He held his chest for a moment as he walked away, but once he was fully out of the kitchen, I tried to push the thought aside and turned my attention back to breakfast.
Ozy came into the kitchen and stood directly behind me, hovering over my shoulder while I continued mixing the eggs.
“Boy, you better go over there and wash your hands. Don’t be touching nothing up in here.”
He laughed. “I ain’t even touch nothing.”
“And you’re not about to until you wash your hands.” I rolled my eyes playfully.
“Yes, ma’am.”
He went over to the sink and washed his hands before drying them with a paper towel. Then he grabbed an apron and slipped it over his head.
“Okay, where do you want me?”
Our eyes locked for a second, and the question suddenly sounded like it had nothing to do with breakfast.
I cleared my throat and pointed toward the box sitting on the counter.
“You can mix the pancake batter.”
He picked up the box and turned it around to read the instructions.
I stared at him. “Don’t tell me you don’t know how to make pancakes.”
“Worry ’bout what you got going on.”
“Ozy, the directions are right there on the box.”
“And I’m reading them, ain’t I?”
I laughed and went back to the eggs. “I’m just making sure. I don’t want no dry, lumpy pancakes with batter still in the damn middle.”
“You talk a lot of shit for somebody who ain’t even tasted ’em yet.”
Before I could respond, King came running into the kitchen. The playful expression he’d had earlier was gone, and panic covered his little face.
“Uncle Ozy, something’s wrong with Uncle Marcus!”
Ozy dropped the box onto the counter and immediately took off.
I ran behind him, my heart pounding harder with every step. By the time we reached the living room, Uncle Marcus was sprawled across the floor, completely still.
“Unc!” Ozy dropped to his knees beside him. “Unc! Fuck!”
Security rushed into the room and surrounded Uncle Marcus as Ozy pulled out his phone to call for an ambulance.
One of the security guards checked for a pulse before starting CPR.
“Come on, Unc,” Ozy pleaded. “Come on, man. Wake up.”
“Lord, please let him be okay,” I cried.
My entire body started trembling as I watched the guard press down against Uncle Marcus’s chest. I knew how much that man meant to Ozy.
He had already been devastated after losing his sister, and neither his mother nor his father was around.
Uncle Marcus was one of the few pieces of family he had left.
Losing him would crush Ozy in a way I wasn’t sure he could come back from.
“Come on!” the guard shouted as he continued performing CPR.
Seconds later, Uncle Marcus took a loud gasp. His eyes opened slightly, and his fingers moved against the floor.
“He’s breathing,” the guard announced.
Ozy’s eyes filled with tears. His voice shook as he spoke to the emergency dispatcher and gave them the address.
I looked over and saw King and Summer standing near the hallway. Both of them looked terrified. King’s eyes were wide, and Summer had both hands covering her mouth. Oaklynn stood beside them, of course, not understanding what was going on.
I hurried over and scooped her into my arms.
“Hey, how about we go play some games in the game room?” I suggested.
“But what happened to Uncle Marcus?” King asked. “Is he dead?”
“No, baby. He’s breathing, and help is on the way, okay?”
“Why was he on the floor?” Summer questioned.
“I don’t know yet, but Uncle Ozy and the security guards are helping him.”
“Is he going to the hospital?”
“Yes, but right now, I need you and Summer to come with me.”
I ushered them out of the living room before the ambulance arrived. King continued asking a million questions as we headed toward the game room, but I redirected every one of them.
“So, what happened on the new episode of Wayward Rangers?” I asked.
King looked back toward the hallway. “I don’t wanna talk about that right now.”
“I know you’re worried. I am too. But Uncle Ozy is with him, and he’ll come tell us something as soon as he knows. Until then, you can tell me whether the Red Ranger finally found the missing power crystal.”
He hesitated before slowly nodding.
“He found it, but it wasn’t the real one.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No. The bad guy made a fake one.”
By the time we entered the room, he had started explaining the episode to me. I placed Oaklynn on the floor beside the toys, and Summer sat down next to her. My hands were still shaking so badly that I had to clasp them together.
I sat down on the floor with them and did everything I could to keep them entertained.
At least until we knew whether Uncle Marcus was going to be okay.
About twenty minutes later, Ozy came up to the game room. I could see the relief on his face, so I stood up from the floor and told the kids to continue playing.
I stepped into the hallway with him, placed my hand on his shoulder, and asked, “Is everything okay?”
He nodded. “He’s stable. The paramedics said he went into cardiac arrest. The ambulance is taking him to the hospital now. I’ma follow behind them. You mind looking after Sum—”
I cut him off. “No, please, go. I’ve got the kids.”
He gave me a small smile. “Thank you.”
I nodded as he gave me one last look before walking away.
Once he was gone, I looked up at the ceiling and silently mouthed, “Thank you.”