“Okay, be safe and congratulations.”
“Thanks,” I smiled back at her, fighting the urge to pull her into my arms. Guilt slowly settled in my chest. I didn’t want to leave Solana, and the shit was fuckin’ with me.
________________________________
The Next Day
At Beauville Pointe Medical Center
“He’s so handsome, congratulations. You guys did it again. Now we need to start planning the wedding.” Patty, Fallon’s aunt, happily said as she held our son, Braxton, in her arms.
Patty was the one who raised Fallon her entire life. Fallon’s real mom Lisa left her to be raised by her older sister so she could chase after niggas. Fallon nor Patty had seen Lisa since she was a baby. Patty was cool as long as she wasn’t putting certain shit into Fallon’s head like us getting married. If I didn’t marry Fallon when she had Mason I wasn’t gonna do it now.
“Seriously, after pushing out three of his kids. The least he can do is give me a ring.” Fallon replied to her aunt.
“The ring should have come before the babies,” My mama said from her seat next to me with a frown. She hadn’t smiled since I’d been here. She hadn’t had too much to say either. After she’d cussed me out for being MIA my mama got quiet. Which meant she had something on her mind, and we wouldn’t find out until she was ready to tell us.
“Everything doesn’t always go that way now a days,” Patty said, giving my mom a quick glance. “You know how these young kids be.”
“And that’s what’s wrong with them. They wanna hunch and make babies but don’t want to make the family whole.”
“Trust me, our family is whole now that we have our son.” Fallon confidently said her eyes pleading with me to back her up, but she wouldn’t like what I had to say.
“Let me ask you something,” My mom said and I knew she was about to be on her bullshit. She moving her entire body to face Fallon in the hospital bed. “I love my son dearly, but as a woman why would you continue to allow him to make you a baby mama? Why keep having kids by him but he can’t make you his wife? Is it not alarming that he’ll hunch on you but won’t give you his last name?”
“Lo, is going to give me his last name.” Fallon tried to sound confident, her eyes showed she wasn’t as sure as she was trying to portray.
“Bullshit,” Mikael’s said fake coughing and I wanted to pop that nigga upside his head.
“Mikael Thaddeus Wattson,” Mama said with her eyes cut into slits as they focused on him.
“My b mama. I had to cough. I’ll go in the hallway next time.” Mikael snickered and our mama gave him another warning look.
She turned back to Fallon speaking again. “I’m not trying to be hard on you. I just want you to use your head. A man speaks with his actions. Listen to what Marlo is saying.”
“So, what you sayin’ Ma? I’m a horrible nigga?” I asked slightly annoyed because she was making it sound like I was some terrible ass nigga.
I might have not been the best, but I definitely wasn’t the worst. I took care of Fallon financially. She literally sat at home all day because all I needed from her was to take care of our kids and house.
“Did I say that?” My mom cut her eyes at me. Missy was never one to bite her tongue, no matter the situation.
“Basically.”
“No, I didn’t because I know you are anything but horrible. I see everything that you do for Fallon and the girls. You are beyond an amazing man. Hard working and a provider. I raised you to be that and a great husband as well. However, you are still a man and as I said your actions will always speak louder than your words. Fallon isn’t your wife for a reason.”
“Alright ma.” My mom wasn’t wrong but there was a time and place for everything. Now wasn’t the time for one of her marriage talks. The only thing we should be focused on was Braxton being born. “Let’s focus on Braxton right now.”
“Exactly,” Fallon chimed in. “That little boy left almost took me out of this world with his chunky self.” Fallon dramatically said, fanning herself.
Fallon was putting on hella, but I was gonna let her make it. If anything, Braxton was the easiest birth she had. Mason made her get ten stitches and Mallory gave her seven stitches. With Braxton she only had to get three stitches this time. Her labor was way longer. I got here after two in the morning and he didn’t come until eight o’clock this morning. The little nigga acted like he didn’t want to come out. When he did he came out screaming at the top of his lungs. I wanted to say I felt pride finally getting my son but that wasn’t the case. Holding Braxton, I struggled to have the same feeling that I had with the girls. I didn’t even say shit when Fallon didn’t want him to be a junior. I was too busy trying to force myself to feel anything for Braxton for me to care about trivial shit like a name.
“Where are the girls?” Patty asked, making a face like she just noticed Mason and Mallory weren’t here.
“They with a friend. Mama gon’ pick them up later today.” I answered vaguely.
I hadn’t fully explained my whereabouts the night before. I already knew how the shit would look if I said I was with Solana. I wasn’t in the mood to hear what nobody had tosay. It was no amount of explaining why I went over Solana’s that night. Fallon would make a big ass deal about it. Especially since nobody could get a hold of me that night. Mainly Mikael or my mama because when I checked my phone I didn’t have any missed calls from Fallon. I hadn’t called Fallon out on her lie. For now, I was letting her have her moment since she’d just given birth to our son but once we got home she had a few things she needed to answer for.
Another one being why the fuck Meek was the one to bring her to the hospital. Both of them claimed it was by luck Meek was stopping by, but I didn’t know if I believed it. Or if it was my own guilt that had me looking at them crazy. Whatever the case was, I was finna watch both their asses. Meek was my nigga had been for years. When Mikael was locked up Meek became the nigga I could call on no matter what. I never got the vibe he wanted, Fallon or vice versa. Whenever they were around each other they were cordial and spoke. At the end of the day, I wasn’t putting shit past nobody. Which is why I had to step out the room to call that nigga. He was my nigga but at the same time there was only so much shit I would overlook.
