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“ F uck this nigga man. I gotta go be with Merci. I can’t lose her again, bruh. When I get back, we handle this shit. Blessyn there with all of the damn kids.”

“Nigga you can’t go no damn where with no passport. I’ll go and you sit your ass still. I told your ass ‘bout getting trouble when we were younger.”

He was right I didn’t have a passport. I felt like shit that I couldn’t be there. Especially now that it was a chance that baby was mine yet again.

“I’m not sitting here. Did you not hear what the Blessyn said? Merci over there dying. What the fuck do I need to do?”

Lucky dumb ass ain’t say shit. He tapped away at his phone.

We had been sitting watching our pops every move.

The nigga was damn near unrecognizable. He grew his facial hair out and wore dark glasses with his hat real low.

He switched out cars and put his house up for sale.

The streets were saying the police were looking for him for insurance fraud.

Not only was he hiding from us but he was running from jail too.

He not only got our mama insurance money, but he got Merci mama’s as well.

The nigga was living high on the hog. The sad part was he wasn’t used to having it which is why he still hanging around and doing the same shit.

With the amount of money he had, he could’ve started a new damn life but I guess when the hood in you, you can’t let it go.

“Here, when we get there don’t open your fuckin’ mouth. This is the best I can do. Take me to go pick it up and we can go.”

I don’t know how Lucky did, but he had someone make me a fake Id and passport.

We were on the next flight out. It took us a minute to get through customs, but it worked out.

The longer they tried to keep me, the more I was getting frustrated, but I had to be reminded that I was here illegally and I damn sure didn’t want to get locked up in this dirty ass shit.

I’m trying to figure out why Lucky would send them here.

“Why the fuck would they send them here? This shit is ridiculous,” I said.

“Nigga shut the fuck up. Where I sent them at is gorgeous. Find out what hospital they at so we can catch a cab or some shit.”

I sent Blessyn a text to let her know that I was here and needed their location. It took her a minute to get me the information because she didn’t know the address. The service wasn’t that good which made our message take forever to send.

“Call her and let her give the phone to one of them Spanish talking nurses nigga. Do you have a goddamn brain?”

“Why you ain’t do it? My fuckin’ nerves bad as fuck right now.”

“’ Cause she’ll answer you before she answers me.”

It took us damn near an hour to get to another part of the island.

We passed through one of the poorest sides of town I had ever seen.

Thankfully, she was in a decent looking building.

From the outside, it didn’t look like a hospital, but I didn’t care.

I let Lucky pay while I got out and called Syn to come and get us from the front.

Blessyn looked exhausted instead of refreshed like we thought they were going to be.

She ran up to me and hugged me. The way she was crying, I thought Merci didn’t make it.

I was scared to ask her what the doctor was saying.

“How is she?”

“I didn’t think she was going to make it, but they gave her three pints of blood and she’s finally coming around. She’s stable now and we’re just waiting on her to get a little more energy. The baby is good.”

“Where they at?”

“The last room on the right. Since you’re here, I’m going to find some food. We been here since last night and we been surviving off chips and juice.”

The baby was sleeping in a little bed while Merci rested.

I was so used to seeing her with a belly that it was weird to see the covers so flat.

She looked good besides the cracks in her lips that were covered by what I believed to be Vaseline or some shit.

Once I made sure she was breathing and was good, I walked up to the baby.

My heart skipped. He was mine. He looked just like Kani but had my big nose and bushy eyebrows.

My dad stamped Lucky and I good with the looks.

Here I was looking at another version of myself.

I wanted her to wake up so she would know that we were not going through with that adoption.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know she had company. Did her sister step out?”

“Yes, she went to feed the kids. I’m her husband. I just flew in.”

“Okay, my wife and I were the ones to deliver the baby. We were just checking on her before we headed out.”

“Is there any way I compensate you for your troubles.”

“No, please. We deal with these types of emergencies all the time. As much as we travel, there’s nothing we haven’t seen.

Her sister wouldn’t take no for an answer, so she paid for our next vacation.

We appreciate you guys for being so generous.

Make sure when she wakes up, that she stays hydrated.

I took the liberty of going to get her some fresh water.

The water here on the island isn’t good for her. Bottled water only.”

“Thank you so much,” I shook his hand.

“For him to be a few weeks early, he’s a pretty healthy boy. Take care of them.”

“Thank you again,” I told him and his wife.

I picked the baby up and sat down on the edge of Merci’s bed. Unwrapping him, I looked at his fingers and toes to make sure they were all there. The cold air from the air hit him and made him start crying. Merci woke right up in a frantic.

“Give me my baby.”

“You don’t need to be holding him. I got him, he just cold.”

“I haven’t seen him. Can I please see him?”

I handed him over to her and she knew as soon as she saw him. What I wanted to know is what she was going to do now that she signed all of them damn papers back home.

“What you plan on doing because you will not put my son up for adoption.”

“I didn’t know. If I would’ve known I would have never even considered adoption.”

“I’m not here to argue. I just want to know how we fix it.”

“I don’t even know where to start. Let’s get a blood test first and then I can have a little leverage when I get back home. We got to see what we got to do to go back home. We’re American citizens but I gave birth over here. This shit is probably going to be harder than I thought.”

“Should’ve kept y’all ass in the states. I’m over here illegal as we speak. I’m sure Lucky will figure the shit out like he always does. Where we need to get this blood test done at?”

“Merci, I hope you know this is considered a disrupted adoption and we’ll have to go in front of the judge. Are you prepared for that? Did you consider how the adoptive family will feel now that you’ve changed your mind?”

“I know but I can’t give my son up knowing that he belongs to my boyfriend. I thought he was a product of rape. I’m sure the courts would understand and the family too.”

“I hate to do this to them. They spent a lot of money to adjust to this baby.”

“Who’s side are you on?”

“Both. I’ll file the paperwork and put a rush on it. In the meantime, y’all have to give the baby up to the adoptive family.”

“Wait, what? I can’t do that. I’ve had him for three weeks.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that which was not a good look. You were supposed to consult with them before you left to go to DR. It’s kind of like they owned your body until the baby got here. I hate to do it, but the baby belongs to them until the judge says otherwise.”

She told me to just sit and listen and not say anything.

As I sat there holding my son, I refused to put him in the arms of someone else.

Merci sat in the chair defeated as she looked back at me.

I wanted to shoot this whole place up and walk out with my family.

The door popped open, and the adoptive family walked in. I held on to my son tighter.

“Ayee, you better make sure you rush that paperwork. She told me not to say anything but as the father of this baby, I gotta voice too. If I feel like it’s taking too long, I’ll have a lawyer to handle it. I’m letting her do it her way first.”

Merci got up and kiss the baby before handing him over to the other family. Merci broke down in my arms and it wasn’t shit I could do as they walked my damn son out of the room. I was going to get him back even if I had to kill a bitch to do it.