Everything in me stiffened up but I stayed calm. “What?”
“She started bleeding,” O’Shynn informed me, and I could hear how close she was to panicking even though she was trying to keep her voice steady. “They saying they might have to take the baby. I’m in the air right now leaving Philly. Me and Malik heading back to Miami.”
For a second I didn’t move. I just stood there in the aisle of the jet with my phone pressed to my ear and felt the whole world was coming down on me, but I was built for it. Tone looked up atme and Rell sat up straight in his seat. Neither one of them had to ask what was wrong. They saw it in my face.
“How long she been there?” I asked, the kind of control.
“A little while,” O’Shynn said. “Keondra is with her and I think mama is there too. She kept trying to call you.”
“I’m on my way.” I hung up and didn’t say nothing for a second.
Tone was already on his feet by then, pulling his jacket on, and his expression was hard and serious. “What happened?” he asked.
“Carmen in the hospital,” I told him, and even hearing it come out my own mouth made my stomach turn. “They saying she bleeding. They might have to take the baby.”
Tone’s face changed. “The fuck?”
Rell was already grabbing his bag. “Let’s move.”
When we stepped off that jet; the driver was already waiting with the truck running. I didn’t wait for him to open the door all the way before I climbed in. Tone got in on one side of me, Rell in the front, and the second the door shut, I leaned forward and looked at the driver through the gap between the seats.
“Get to Aventura hospital expeditiously.” My voice stayed low, but there was enough bass in it that he didn’t waste a second. The truck peeled off so hard the tires screeched against the gravel and threw it behind us. Miami was back in front of us, with all the lights and traffic and late-night movement, and it felt good to be back home. I kept trying Carmen’s phone even though I already knew it wasn’t gon’ go through. It kept going straight to voicemail. I called Keondra next, and she answered on the second ring.
“What room?”
She gave it to me right away, and I could hear the strain in her voice. “They moving fast,” she said. “She scared, Dom.”
“How bad?”
“They still checking everything, but they saying they might have to rush her in.”
I looked out the window while the city past by us moving fast as fuck since my driver was doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing, get us there. “I’m almost there.”
The ride felt like forever even though it couldn’t have been long. Every red light felt personal. Every car in front of us looked like it was in my fucking way on purpose. Tone sat beside me in silence, but every now and then I would catch him glancing over like he wanted to say something and already knew there wasn’t shit to say. Rell stayed turned halfway around in the front seat with one arm draped over the console, wearing a serious look. Nobody was talking because it wasn’t shit to say. The only noise in that truck was the engine, the traffic, and my phone still vibrating every few minutes with messages I didn’t care enough to open.
By the time we pulled up to the hospital, I was already reaching for the door before the truck stopped moving. The cool air hit me hard when I stepped out, but I barely felt it cause my adrenaline was pumping. The entrance was too bright and too fucking busy. One of my shadows who had already been there met us just inside the doors and pointed toward the elevators.
“Labor and delivery,” he said. “They upstairs.”
I didn’t break stride. Tone and Rell stayed right behind me while people moved out the way without needing to be told twice. The elevator ride up was the longest minute of my life. I could feel my heart beating in my throat, I could feel my hands wanting something to do, and I kept clenching and unclenching my jaw so hard it was starting to hurt. The second the doors opened, I saw Keondra first. She was standing near the nurses’ station in leggings, slides, and a hoodie thrown over whatever she had left the house in. Her hair was tied up sloppy, and her face looked as stressed as I felt. The second she saw me, reliefflashed across her face so hard it almost made her look weak for a second.
“She been asking for you,” she said, hurrying over. “They got her in there now. They been prepping her.” She stepped closer and lowered her voice. “She scared.”
Then I saw my mama, Candy D stood farther down the hall near the room door, with one hand pressed to her chest, and her face wet with tears. She looked like she had been praying hard enough to hurt herself. The second she saw me, she came straight toward me and grabbed my arm.
“Baby boy,” she called for me, and her voice cracked when she spoke. “Go in there. She need you.”
I looked through the little square window in the door before I even touched the handle, and the sight of Carmen on that hospital bed almost dropped me right there in the middle of the hallway.
They had put one of those things on her head to cover her hair, looked like a hospital bonnet. Her face looked pale in a way I never wanted to see on her again. The hospital gown looked too big on her. One of her hands protectively over her stomach while nurses moved around the bed, checking monitors, adjusting things, handing each other instruments and paperwork and whatever else they needed to move her fast. She looked small and vulnerable to me. Then her eyes found mine through the glass, and the minute she saw me, her whole face changed and relief hit her, I saw it as the tears spilled over before I could even get the door open all the way.
I crossed the room fast and went straight to her. “I’m here,” I said, leaning over the bed and taking her face in both hands before I kissed her forehead. “I’m here.”
Her fingers grabbed my wrist like she needed to feel something solid. Her eyes were wide, too bright, and full of fear and pain all at once. “I tried to call you,” she whispered, with hervoice shaking so bad it barely sounded like her. “I couldn’t reach you.”
I kissed her forehead again, then the side of her head, not even caring who was in the room to see it. “I know, baby. I know.”
One of the nurses stepped back to give me space, and I looked down at Carmen’s stomach where the monitor belts were strapped around her. The baby’s heartbeat was still there, fast and strong, but the room around it felt too urgent for me to trust any of it.
