Page 215 of 4 Corinthians

“Good to see you awake, Four,” Gabriel said, smiling. “You want to marry my granddaughter?”

“Since I was a li’l ass nigga in that ring fighting for her,” I told him with a nod.

“Alright.”

Gabriel hung up, and Judah held his iPad to his side. His face was blank, but I could see the questions in his eyes.

“What’s wrong, Judah?” Cori asked. I figured she could see the same hesitation in his eyes that I did.

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. He lifted his iPad, swiped it, then looked up at it. “Hey Siri, what's that old saying for stuff you need for a wedding?”

“The old saying is you need something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.”

Judah looked up at us, then down at the iPad. “Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue,” he said, and I nodded.

The doctor walked into the room, and we turned our attention to her. “Hey, look at you awake and alert,” she said, then used the hand sanitizer on the wall to clean her hands. “My name is Dr. Ladee Collins. I’m your doctor. Do you remember what happened?”

“No,” I said, watching her closely. “I’m fine, though. When can I be discharged?”

“You aren’t fine,” she said, shaking her head. “You were shot, had major surgery, and need to rest. We need to run some tests, check out your motor function, and then we can go from there.”

“Or…” I said slowly.

“Uri,” Cori said, shaking her head. “She’s good. Nadine vetted her.”

“Right,” Dr. Collins said. “And we both know Nadine doesn’t play about you or any of the Numbers.” She smiled even though I wasn’t ready to jump up and trust her. “Listen, how about this? Let me run the test, make sure you’re good, and if we like what we see, we can discuss a departure timeframe. You having CIPA changes a lot of things, and I would rather be overly cautious than say you can have your way.”

“I’m going to have my way no matter what,” I told her. “But for now I will let you run your test.”

“Thank you,” she said, nodding. “I’ll be back shortly.

I waited until she left before turning to Cori, who was watching me closely. “I’m only doing this for you,” I told her, then laid back in the bed. “Now come get in bed and lay with me until your people get here and we get married.” I looked at Judah. “You too. Come on.”

I adjusted the bed and put my arms out. Neither hesitated to climb into bed. Judah was on my right and Cori on the left. Their heads on my chest, arms wrapped around me.

“Four?” Judah mumbled. I knew sleep was going to take him soon.

“Yeah?”

“For the something new, can it be a dog?” he asked.

“Judah…” Cori lifted her head and shook it.

“Nah,” I said. I felt him sag against me and I smiled. “I already bought you a mini goat. It has a few weeks before it's weaned from its mama, though.”

“A mini goat?” he lifted his head and smiled. “For real?”

“Yeah,” I replied.

“I’ma headbutt with it!” he smiled and nodded.

“Judah, you will not! That’s not safe!” Cori said, shaking her head. I could see the panic she had and couldn’t help but laugh. She glared at me. “Why would you buy him a mini goat?”

“You gave him a list of what he couldn’t have, and it wasn’t on there,” I said, then shrugged. “Now come on and lie down before they come back in here and get on my nerves.”

Corinthians

"If you want a big wedding, we can wait." The room was quiet; it'd been long enough for Judah's excitement to run its course finally, and he'd fallen asleep. My family was around in the hallways, talking, checking in, trying to give us space but still lingering.