Page 27 of Quasim III: King Inferno

“Ma!” He abandoned our conversation, and ran right to Blair, who hugged him tightly.

I stood there and watched them and watched as Blair held him and closed her eyes. She was always meant to be a mother. Her nurturing spirit had always been so refreshing and comforting, even in college.

If you were sick in college, Blair was the one who went to the cafeteria and tried to put together a meal for you to feel better. She always put in the effort to let the people she loved know that they were loved. It was hard finding friends who treated you that way. When I listened to Jeffie tell me how her best friend disregarded her miscarriage, and never reached back out to her, I cherished Blair ten times more.

The mental and physical pain that a miscarriage caused wasn’t something small. You sat there and blamed yourself, went over all that you did that was possibly wrong and questioned why God chose you to lose a child. To go through something like that and not have your best friend, your person, reach out and check on your mental health was very telling of the person they were. Blair could call and tell me she lost her goldfish, and I was right there for her.

“Suga pie, come here,” I heard Gams and turned around.

She had her arms extended and I walked over and fell into them, all my emotions stirring up. Feeling that ache in the middle of my chest, the lump in my throat, and the burning sensation from the tears that fell from my eyes.

“Gams, he could have been gone… taken away from us,” I was leaned over, sobbing into her shoulder as she rubbed my back.

Kissing the side of my face. “He’s not though, Suga pie… he lived another day to call you Suga… Dumplin wouldn’t leave any of us, and the same with Moochie.”

She squeezed me and kissed my face. “It’s hard to believe that in this moment, Gams.”

“I know, Suga pie… God told me that it’s not his time yet and I’m choosing to believe him. Moochie will be awake, and I know it.”

I hugged my mother, and she squeezed me. “My strong princess. I know it’s hard right now, but I am so proud of you, Princess… the power that you hold, and the way you stand for us…my God.”

“Thank you, Mommy.” I continued to hold onto her, and she never let me go.

“Dead?” Elijah’s voice wailed, and we all turned to look at him trying to run inside, and Blair was holding him back with tears coming down her face.

“No, not dead… he’s not dead, baby,” she pleaded with him, but Elijah already had something else in his head.

“He told me he would never leave me! He wouldn’t go away from me!” He hollered, as he continued to pull away from Blair, who nearly tripped trying to hold onto him.

Capone was the closest and quickly stepped in so she wouldn’t fall. He grabbed Elijah’s arm, pulling him back, and picked him up while he kicked and screamed. “Dad wouldn’t leave me… he… he’s my dad. He promised, he doesn’t break promises… never!” Elijah was screaming so loud and hard that his voice went in and out mid scream.

As if he was his own son, he held Elijah, even while kicking and screaming. Squeezing and kissing his head to calm him down, Capone walked with him in his arms, talking in his ears. I could tell when he first started speaking that Elijah wasn’t trying to hear anything. The more he walked away, giving them space,he started to calm down and roped his arms around Capone’s neck and rested his head while crying.

“You’re a kid, Eli… you don’t need to be strong. Nobody is expecting you to be strong.” He spoke to him as he held him and paced the small area from the side yard to the garage.

We stood by and allowed Capone to calm him down. Sim meant the world to Elijah, so hearing that he wasn’t awake and had been hurt was a lot for him. It was a lot for me, and I was a full adult.

Once he calmed down enough, we headed inside. The first place I went to was to my husband’s room, and when I realized it was empty, I started to panic. “Hey, he’s moved down the hall.” One of the nurses said as she passed by.

I rushed down the hall until I bypassed Sim’s room, then back peddled, when I saw Meer’s bed was beside his brother’s bed. “Quameer, what are you doing?”

He smirked. “Only way to wake his ass up is to annoy the fuck out of him… your little boyfriend on the news,” He nodded at the sports channel, and Mason was on the news talking about a new deal he signed with a different football team.

“They been talking about Jaiden and that Antwan nigga all morning and then switched to this cornball,” he tossed popcorn into his mouth, and then tossed some over toward Sim’s bed.

His chest was full of popcorn. “Meer.”

He tapped the bed, and I kicked my shoes off and climbed into the bed with him. Wrapping his arms around me, he kissed my head and put a piece of popcorn into my mouth. “You don’t need to try and be strong for everybody, Suga. I don’t want that for you… I know how you take everyone else’s shit on.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Good, because I’m the only one talking. I don’t want you out there without me, baby.”

Looking up at him. “What do you expect me to do? Sit back, and pretend like nothing happened to you or Sim?”

“You’re my wife and that’s exactly what I expect you to do.”

“Not why you fell in love with me.”

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