17. DaVinci
17
DaVinci
A s I went through my DMs on Instagram, something I rarely ever did, my eyes zoomed in on a familiar name. Scrolling back up to the unopened messages, I saw that it was sent over a month ago. Even though I really didn’t give a fuck what shorty had to say, I opened the message anyway. My eyes bucked at the thread of nude photos that had been sent. I couldn’t believe her.
My wife has everything you have, except hers is perfect. You wild as fuck for this shorty, but I’ll be seeing you.
I sent the message just as Clover returned to the table. We were out for lunch after being with a realtor all morning looking at office spaces. I was in full support of whatever Clo Baby wanted to do, so if she wanted to become a venture capitalist, then I was all for it. As long as she was her own boss, that was all that mattered to me. She didn’t need to wait until Lucky was born either.
“Why do you look like that?” She asked after eating some of the fries from her plate.
I reclined in the seat. “Look like what?”
“Like you just saw a ghost or something,” she laughed a little, taking a bite of her crabcake next.
I silently debated if I wanted to tell her what was up. My vow to keep her pregnancy stress free would surely be out of the window if I told her what I’d just seen. Then again, it would be ten times worse if she went through my phone and saw it. Clo had my passwords to everything. I didn’t know how often she actually went looking through anything, but I never deleted anything because I had no need to. Women sent me crazy DMs all the time. That was just par for the course with being in the limelight and having money. But none of those women had a direct connection to Clo until now.
“Imani messaged me on Instagram,” I decided to be open and honest.
Her eyes turned into slits at the mention of the girl’s name. “And said what?”
“She didn’t say anything, mama. She just sent a bunch of naked ass pictures.”
“Of herself?!”
“I assume it’s her, yeah.”
Rolling her bottom lip between her teeth, her head slowly bobbed back and forth. “Did you respond?”
“I told her you got the same shit but yours is perfect, and she’s wild for even sending them. And that I’ll be seeing her soon. I planned to check her about that shit,” I calmly explained.
“Kill her,” she softly ordered with her gaze fixed on me.
I nodded and picked up my phone without hesitation. “I’ll have Lake take care of it.”
“Thank you,” she exhaled, sitting back in her chair and shaking her head. “I don’t even have an appetite anymore. Can we go?”
“Mama, you mad at me?” I pressed after sending Lake a text.
“No.”
“Aye, com’ere,” I motioned for her to sit on my lap.
She stared at me for a second before pushing herself out of the chair and sitting on my leg. I instantly wrapped one arm around her waist to keep her secure.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she mumbled with tears pooling at her eyelids. “Is she the only one?”
I was confused. “The only one what?”
“That’s sent you nudes?”
“Oh,” I laughed and shrugged. “I don’t know. I hardly ever check my DMs, baby. I just happened to check it today and saw her name. I don’t really open messages from women because the only woman whose messages I care about is right here,” I kissed the side of her arm. “With yo perfect, pretty ass. Go sit down and finish your food, Clo Baby,” I tapped her on the thigh, and she got back up. “You know that if at any time you want to go through my DMs, you can do that. I’m not hiding shit from you, mama,” I assured her, gazing at her once she sat back down.
“I hear you. Can we go though? My back really is hurting, and I just want to lay down,” she complained, feverishly rubbing her stomach.
“Yeah,” I got up and tossed two hundred dollars on the table. “C’mon.”
Helping her back up to her feet, I guided her out of Canvas and to my G-Wagon that was parked directly in front of the restaurant. It was the dead of summer, so I made sure to set the AC on full blast to keep her cool. Clo Baby was officially at the point where Lucky could come any day. She had become a lot more irritable and tired, so I did whatever I needed to do to keep her in as good of a mood as possible.
“Bae, you aight?” I questioned her after a few too many stolen glances of her looking like she was in pain.
She adjusted her body in the seat with her eyes closed and her hand tugging at the seatbelt. “My back hurts really bad, Vin.”
“Let me turn the seat warmer on, maybe that’ll help. Recline the seat back, baby,” I tapped the button to start warming up her seat.
“Vinnnn,” she groaned, twisting her body towards the window. “Fuck my back really hurts. And my ass. Did we do anal this morning?”
Laughing, I shook my head even though she wasn’t looking at me. “No, my baby. What else hurts?”
“I don’t know. Everything!” Her face contorted in pain as she turned back in my direction.
“Clo! Are you in labor?!” I panicked a little once I realized what could be happening.
“Stop asking me questions!” She growled, flashing me an evil glare.
“Siri, call Dr. Payne!”
Calling Dr. Payne home.
“Hey DaVinci!” Dr. Payne cheerily answered. “What’s going on?”
“Dr. P, I think Clover is in labor!” I shouted louder than I meant to. My nerves were getting the best of me as I tried to drive.
“Is she having contractions?”
“I don’t know. She’s in a lot of pain and being mean as fuck, so I ain’t asking her another question. If you want to know if she’s having contractions, ask her yourself. She’s in the car and you’re on speaker.”
I refused to make Clo more irritated with me than she already was.
Dr. Payne snickered and then cleared her throat. “Clover, are you having contractions?”
“Yes,” she whimpered, shocking the hell out of me.
“How far apart are they?”
“I…I don’t know, Dr. Payne! I haven’t been timing them. Frequently. Very frequently.”
“Okay, well how long has it been since they started?”
“Since I woke up.”
My eyes ballooned, but I wanted to keep her environment as positive as possible. She had been walking around all damn morning, going from building to building. A few times I thought I saw some pain on her face but brushed it off when she continued acting normal. The whole time, her crazy ass had been in labor.
“DaVinci, go ahead and bring Momma in for me. It sounds like we may be having that little one today. Drive safe and I’ll see you all soon,” she gushed with excitement and hung up.
I wanted to question Clover, but the look on her face told me to drive and shut the fuck up. So that’s exactly what I did. My nerves and anticipation were damn near oozing out of my pores. It was go time. I prayed for Clover’s safety the entire way to the hospital. I wanted my daughter, but I needed my wife, and I really wanted them both to survive the delivery. I had read all about maternal mortality, so I was gon’ keep an extremely close eye on Clo to make sure all three of us walked out of the hospital as a family.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, bro?” I studied Lake as his eyes bounced from me to Clo and then down to Lucky.
“I’m just tryna figure out how you two funny looking muthafuckas made a baby as cute as this. She must take after her Uncle Lake,” he boasted with a cheeky smirk.
“Shut yo ass up,” Clo giggled, lightly stroking Lucky’s nose. “My husband the finest nigga walking this Earth.”
“I know that’s right,” River chimed in from the opposite side of Clo’s bed.
“Tell him, baby,” Charmaine winked at me and Clo.
Shaking my head at my baby brother, I returned my attention to my daughter. My daughter . That sounded crazy as hell, but it felt so fuckin’ right. Lucky Rose was wrapped like a perfect lil’ burrito in her blanket and sleeping peacefully. She was so tiny, so perfect and had already stolen what was left of my heart.
Glancing at my wife, I caught her watching me with tired eyes and a soft smile that melted me. She had just gone through six intense hours of labor to bring our baby girl into this world, and yet she looked absolutely angelic.
“I swear to give y’all everything I got, mama,” I told her, my voice heavy with emotions.
She gripped my hand and smiled a little more. “You already do that, love.”
“Aight, enough with the mushy shit. When do I get to teach my niece how to shoot a gun?”
“Lake!” Everyone shouted his name at the same time, causing us to laugh at his goofy ass.
As Clo passed Lucky to Bash, a wave of sadness hit me, thinking how Randall would never get to experience this. Lucky only had one set of grandparents, but in my eyes, she had the best set that life had to offer. My parents would’ve been horrible, and if they were alive, I’m a thousand percent sure she wouldn’t have known them anyway.
“You okay?” Clo looked up at me and quietly asked while everyone crowded around Bash to stare at Lucky.
“I’m perfect,” I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “You okay?”
“I’m grateful. For you, for her,” she nodded in Lucky’s direction. “For this life we’re building together.”
“Me too, mama. Me too.”
I thought it was ironic how Clo ordered someone’s life come to an end on the very day that she brought new life into the world. The contrast was wild, a beginning and an end that had both been orchestrated by the woman who held my heart in her hand. Well, at least part of it. Lucky damn sure had the other part of it.
“Lucky, if you want a pink Glock, open your eyes. If you want a regular one, keep your eyes closed.”
“Lake, get the hell away from my daughter,” I pointed at him. “Go sit in the corner somewhere!”
“This baby gon’ be raised around a bunch of gangstas and killas,” Charmaine chuckled and shook her head. “It’s already in her. But we gon’ make sure she does this life thing right. We already ran the streets and made the money so that she doesn’t have to turn to this lifestyle. We’re going to show her that we are business owners, artists, entrepreneurs, and that black people can be wealthy, too. We all might’ve started in the streets, but that doesn’t mean we have to stay there. We rise up and above so that the little ones have something to look up to, y’all hear me?”
“Yes ma’am,” we responded in unison, feeling her speech deep in our souls.