Page 67 of Unveiled Wounds

“My husband thinks it’s funny to watch me lose my shit. Look at this, Grace. Doesn’t this make you want to pop out a dozen?” I turned my phone towards her as she sat next to me at the kitchen counter.

There was more laughter coming from my phone.

“That’s a baby. Whose baby? JR’s upstairs.” She checked the baby monitor in her hand. JR was sound asleep in his crib. Realizing he was alright, she leaned in to look at the screen on my phone. “Sabre, why is Grizz holding a baby?”

“Yeah, you’re not withholding. I’m on my own.” My sister was abandoning me in my time of need. In all honesty, I would only withhold the two days Grizz was gone, but it sounded pretty good right now.

“Why are they laughing like hyenas? Have they officially lost it?” she asked me. Her nose crinkled at the situation she’d walked into.

“No, they’re fucking assholes.” It only made them laugh harder, and Sabre must not have been paying attention because the camera pointed at the ceiling. The baby wailed, cutting everything off.

“Sabre, what’s going on?” Grace wasn’t playing anymore.

“Show them.” Grizz’s voice came through the speaker.

The camera flipped, and the baby’s face filled the entire screen. She was the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen, including JR. I’d never share that with Grace, though. Her face was round, with plush, chubby cheeks that made me finally understand why old people always wanted to pinch them. I wanted to reach through the phone and do it myself. They were adorable, but it was her eyelashes that drew me in. They were long, framing her blue eyes.

“It’s okay, pumpkin. Your mommy acts crazy when she’s worried. You’ll get used to it. She’s not mad.” He rocked her until her cries turned into small baby giggles, the sound searing on my heart. “Baby, tone it down. She hears you, but she doesn’t understand you mean well.”

I had heard Grizz call me her mommy, but my mind had glossed right over the word. My protective instincts kicked in,and they were so loud I heard nothing else. All I wanted to do was shield her from the world. To give her as much love and support as humanly possible to make up for Clara’s lack of judgement. What if I fucked up being her mom?

“I couldn’t let the baby go through life without a family, so I claimed her. She’s been with me ever since.”

I felt like Grizz was looking into my soul, knowing I wanted to say yes but was afraid of the future. “It’s happening, isn’t it?” I asked. Grizz was giving me a false sense of security. He’d already claimed her, and she’d be born into the Iron Shield. It didn’t matter she was already here. There wouldn’t be a chance to slow down, analyzing everything to make the right decision. We were going to have put her interests first and hope we got it right.Isn’t that what excellent parents do? Isn’t that what everyone tried to do for you?

“Only if you agree.” His lips twitched. If I took the leap of faith with him, she’d be ours. We’d give her everything her little heart desired—within reason. If I said no, he wouldn’t hold it against me, but the baby would probably go to my sister and Sabre. She’d still have a good life.

“Bring her home.” The words were out in the open, and I didn’t flinch, nor did I take them back, making some excuse. This was right. “She’s ours.”

“She’s ours,” he reiterated. “As long as you’re sure.”

He was giving me one last out, but I had already decided. “We’ll figure out the rest when you get back, but you’ll be on the couch if you show up without her,” I teased. I wanted to give him some secret code word, to let him know we were fine.

He chuckled. “It’s like that,” he said, knowing I was alright with our next step in life. I didn’t want him on the road with her, worried about our family of three.

“Does she have a name?” I asked.

“We don’t know. She didn’t have any papers with her, so I thought I’d bring her home, and we can figure it out later.” Grizz shifted her in his arms.

“We don’t know how old she is?” My forehead puckered as Grizz shook his head. Clara hadn’t even bothered to register a birth certificate, and I was angry at her all over again.

“No, but she can’t be more than a few weeks. Her pajamas are size zero to three months, and they’re big on her.”

“Wait. What’s going on?” Grace was almost hysterical, watching the same screen I was.

“Grace,” Grizz said. “This is Clara’s baby.” He quickly filled Grace in on the circumstances.

“So, we don’t know the father?” Grace was pale.

“That’s all you care about? Clara was going to leave her baby with the cartel,” I piped up indignantly.

“Baby, you can’t keep saying shit like that,” Grizz reprimanded.

“It’s obvious, but we’re not supposed to know anything,” I said to Grace. She made a sound, but said nothing.

“What are you going to do about supplies?” Grace popped back into the conversation.

“I only have her car seat, and we stopped for a small can of formula and some diapers. I was thinking about bringing Aunt E’s car, and D can ride my bike back.”

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