Page 67 of Honey's Special Roux

“Honey.”

“What?”

“Come on. Don’t do that. Is Quis my son?”

I gave a ghost of a nod as my gaze met his. “Y-yes.”

“I have a son,” he whispered to himself.

“I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you, but it was like so many things got in the way. The first time I wanted to tell you, you came home beat up. The next time, you proposed and got arrested. It was like God didn’t want?—”

“Don’t put that on God. You did that shit on your own, Honey. Stand on it.”

“I stand on it. I did what was best for me and my child. He didn’t need to see his fuckin’ daddy behind the glass of a prison.”

“Family got same room visits. I could have held my child and been there for milestones. I missed out on first steps, first words, and so much more. You didn’t think I deserved to at leastknowabout it?”

“No. You got arrested and became a ward of the state. You didn’t know inmates don’t have rights?”

He chuckled. “Tell me how you really feel.”

I sighed. “Look, everything happened, and that’s it. We can’t change the past.”

“But we can change the future. Are you going to keep my child out of my life? Are you going to rob me of a chance to give Quis a father figure he can brag about on school projects?”

“I don’t know, Marquise. How can I be sure you won’t go back to prison? How can I be sure your temper is in check? How can I be sure you won’t go back to the cartel? How can I be sure my child will be safe with you?”

Marquise looked at me. His nostrils flared as he held his hands together. He didn’t know how to respond, and these were all signs of his frustration. “Man, this shit doesn’t make no fucking sense. I deserve to be present in my son’s life. Just because you don’t think I’d be a good father doesn’t mean you can deny me of my biological rights to my son.”

“You’d take me to court?” I asked as I crossed my arms over my chest.

Before he could respond, the front door opened, and Quis ran out. “Mommy! This cake is soooooo yummy!”

Quis held the slice of cake out for me to take a bite. I smiled and shook my head. “I don’t want any right now, stinkabutt. Thank you, though.”

Quis nodded and stuffed the rest of the cake into his mouth and rubbed his hands on his shirt. I shook my head with a smile plastered on my face. His timing might have been perfect.

Marquise stared at Quis with wide eyes. It hurt me to see the pain in his brown orbs. “Hey, Quis.” Marquise kneeled and got eye level with his son. They were twins. No one could deny the paternity.

“Hi.” Quis spoke with his mouth full of red velvet cake.

“Hey, don’t talk with your mouth full, baby. Wait until you’ve swallowed, okay?”

Quis nodded and chewed quickly.

Marquise smiled at his tiny replica. “I have something for you in the bag right here.” He slid the bag to Quis. His round eyes widened at the sight of the gift bag. He looked back at me for confirmation he could take the gift, and I nodded.

Quis dug into the bag and pulled out six dinosaur coloring books, three toy dinosaurs, and a dinosaur outfit with a pair of limited-edition kids’ Vans with a dinosaur design on it. “Wow! Mommy, look!” My son’s childish joy was enough to make all my animosity disappear—for the moment.

“I see, baby. What do we say when we get gifts?”

“Thank you,” Quis exclaimed.

“No problem, kid. I heard you liked dinosaurs and wanted to get you some things. I’m glad you like them.”

“I love them,” Quis replied to Marquise and gave him a hug.

Marquise closed his eyes to keep the tears at bay. I could tell this moment meant a lot to him. My heart swelled.

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