Five years later....

"Dri Dri, can you take me to my play date in the park? I want to have a picnic tomorrow, with my best friend. Pleeaaassseeee." My little sister Arian clasped her hands together begging me. She's almost six years old.

"Alright but let me get the rest of the luggage out of the car. —Go help your auntie Rai with the small bags upstairs." I chuckled at her excitement.

"Let your brother get settled in first before you go asking him for everything." My mom smiled down at her.

"Mom I haven't seen him since the beginning of summer." She whined causing my mama to squint her eyes. Letting her know that she mean business.

Arian calls her mom and she calls Melanie mommy. That was the choice she was comfortable with, Melanie was more than happy about that.

"Go help Auntie Rai upstairs, like your brother told you to."

"Okayyy." My baby sister yelled out, prancing up the staircase.

Rai and I just made it to Atlanta for Christmas break. We're staying at my parents house for a few days. We'll go to Mike and Leah's for a couples days as well.

My dad came walking in the house rolling in my last bag. "Where do you want this one?"

"I'll take it upstairs, that should be everything. Thanks."

"No problem. Y'all brought the whole house with you." He laughed.

"That's Rai and all of her shoes." I smiled a little at him. He stared at me for a second. I looked away. He could feel something was wrong.

"Ima' get started on dinner." My mom glanced at the both of us.

"Aight I'll be in there-"

She waved her hands interrupting me. "I got it Dri, go talk to your father." She leaned in and hugged me, giving my dad a kiss before walking away.

"Let's go to the basement."

"I'll meet you. Ima' take these two bags up to Rai first." I grabbed the handles on the bag. I heard footsteps on the staircase, pops and I looked up.

Munch and Arian came walking down smiling.

"I heard ma Heather say something about dinner. Arian and I are going to give her a hand. If you can just put those two bags upstairs by the door babe. I'll organize them later." She finally got down to the last step smiling at us.

"I'll be in the basement with pops." I leaned in and pecked her lips a few times.

"Ok." She pulled away from me giving my dad her attention. "Hey old man."

He laughed. "Hey daughter." They embraced each other. He roughed the top of Arians head making her scrunch her face.

They made their way to the kitchen and I got the bags upstairs meeting pops in the basement.

"So talk to me son, what's on your mind?" He was seated on the sofa in front of the television.

I breathed out roughly taking a seat next to him. "I think Rai's pregnant again."

"Oh." He raised his brows cautiously, waiting on me to proceed.

"About three weeks ago she was leaving for work at her production company. Before she left I could tell she had been crying...

(****Flashback to three weeks ago****)

"Babe your green shake is on the counter. Don't forget I'm coming by today for lunch." I caught her coming into the kitchen. She had her bag, phone and keys in hands.

"Thank you." She walked over to the counter and picked up her shake before walking over to me. I watched her, she had been acting a little off all week. I knew asking her about it would lead to her saying it's nothing.

I placed my hands on both sides of her face planting soft kisses all over it. "I love you baby."

"I love you too." She gave me a little smile, with her puffy face and red eyes. I held her face looking it over, tears were fighting to come out. I'll just have to look into it first before I ask her about it. So I can figure out a way to approach her with it.

She removed my hands turning away a little. "I gotta' go, I'm meeting with the writers today, for the first read. This script is so amazing babe. We have a few changes to discuss, but its fire."

I could only nod my head to her.

"I'll call you later for lunch. I'll have some time before I have to get with the casting director."

"Ok."

I kissed her again before she headed outside. The weather here in New York has picked up a little. So that key start feature on her brand new Benz came in handy.

I walked up to the door looking out the window making sure she got out the drive way ok. Seeing she did, I turned away heading straight to our master bedroom. I searched around looking for anything that would help me to understand what was going on with her. I came up empty.

I went to the bathroom surveying it. Nothing out of the ordinary appeared to me. So I dug in the trash can taking everything out.

In my hands I held a stick object wrapped up in tissue. I sat down on the bathroom floor and unwrapped it. In it I found a pregnancy test, that read positive.

"Fuck." I mumbled to myself, wrapping the test back into the tissue then cleaned the trash up from the floor. I stood in front of the sink looking into the mirror for a second before washing my hands.

(****Flashback over****)

"So you didn't ask her about it at all yet?" My dad furrowed his brows.

I shook my head. "I plan to."

"She needs you." He quickly replied.

"I know, but it's hard when we've already been through three miscarriages. It's almost like I'm waiting on it to happen again."

"She need to go to the doctor for prenatal care. Is she taking any vitamins?" He went on to say. I knew talking to him about this was best because him and mom went through this very same thing. She wasn't able to have children after me.

"She's been taking prenatal vitamins since our first miscarriage two years ago. Along with monitoring her health, eating healthy and working out regularly. She's been doing everything right. —I'll talk to her while we're here. I can't let another week go by."

"Yeah you should definitely talk to her." He turned on the tv cancelling out the silence in the room.

"Is Melanie coming for Christmas?" I looked at him.

"She said she was, Arians been looking forward to it."

"Oh ok, that'll be good for her."

"Your mom said Melanie's flying in two days before Christmas. She's going to spend Christmas Eve with Arian at her parents house. That's our routine, she get her a day before every holiday."

"Cool."

We sat watching Bad Boys playing on tv. We talked about my career and his retirement coming up. Things with my parents now couldn't be better. Their system they have is working. Him and mom are closer than ever, more open and honest with each other.

"Babe, dinner's ready. I'm about to fix your plate. So y'all come on." Rai opened the door, getting our attention.

Dad and I got up and made our way to bathroom to freshen up.

Tonight was a lasagna night. Mom and Rai made a little bit of a spread, with the help of my baby sister and her garlic sticks. To go along with the lasagna they made some grilled veggies and a ceasar salad.

"You want lemonade?" My mom asked my pops.

"Sure baby." He got Arian situated with her food.

We all sat and I blessed the table. Looking everything over on the table I smiled. "Man you and momma should start pinning these recipes."

"You haven't even eaten yet." Rai giggled.

"I already know it's hittin'." I gripped my knife and fork splitting the lasagna into bites, moaning loudly after taking my first bite.

"Stop acting like I don't feed you." She smiled at me.

"Work have us busy sometimes, you know I be missing this." I forked more lasagna into my mouth, eating like it was my last. We all laughed lightly

Lately Rai has been burying herself into her work. I was counting down for this break. The last few months I had been in Virginia, back and fourth. With the pop artist I worked with out there. He and I were remodeling our first art studio we built together. We had another grand opening because it was our very first venture. It was my first opportunity I got after working with my pops in sales. So Rai and I both have been busy, maybe I buried myself into work as well.

"We went to your grandfathers funeral." My mother spoke.

"Oh ok, that's nice." I nodded simply. That's one conversation I'm completely over with. I'm glad they were able to go to get closure. With all the colorism stuff.

"I'm surprised you went dad." I added.

"Your mother needed me. Regardless of the past I'm going to support her."

"Yeah." She smiled at him.

"That's amazing." Rai cooed at them.

The rest of dinner we laughed and talked about the rest of the Christmas plans. I love seeing my wife around family. Its always good to take breaks. My dad and I tagged teamed the dishes. We took out the trash and finally parted ways to our women. Arian was already washed up and in her bed.

Rai was in the bed with her back facing the door. I walked a little closer to her. "Babe, are you sleeping?"

She didn't make a move or say a word. I knew she wasn't sleeping. I decided on giving in for tonight. I'll talk to her soon. Clearly she's not ready.

I walked closer to her then leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight love." I went on to the bathroom to get myself ready for bed.

****

"Cyrene gone now!" Troy yelled running away from her. She held her shoe in her hand chasing him.

We just got to Mike and Leah's. Everybody's already here. We're all kicking it like the old days. Except this time I'm staying upstairs with my wife, instead of the basement. They left everything in Rai's old room pretty much the same. We just added a bigger bed for when we come to town.

"What's going on with them?" I chuckled at Mike. He grabbed one of our bags

"I don't know they came storming down stairs and Cyrene was chasing him with her shoe."

We laughed.

"Those two are always going at it. Didn't she just push out Tron less than three weeks ago?" Rai looked around. "Where is he I want to hold and smell all over him?"

"He's with Amina and Toni, they've been hogging little man since they got here."

"Where are the twins and KJ at?" I asked, closing the door behind us. Mike and Leah had honeymoon babies, twin four years old girls.

"They're all upstairs in the game room. KJ's on the phone with his little girlfriend."

"I heard about her, Leah told me." Rai added.

This house is a big so it was always easy for everybody to scatter around. I don't know how mama Laurie used to keep it up without a housekeeper. Mike and Leah didn't hesitate to hire one. I don't blame them.

"The girls won't let him have any privacy and I'm not stopping them." He laughed a little.

"Let me go up and speak to my babies." Rai turned toward the stairs.

"KJ is not a baby, all the little girls want my son." Mike pointed out.

"He will always be my baby, I don't care if he's about to be sixteen this year. Just like the twins will always be my babies, with their little smart mouths." She laughed.

"Ease up on my girls now. Lauren and Joi only speak wisdom, they get it from me." Mike chuckled. Rai and scrunched our face at him making snorting sounds. He looked at us smiling. "Man whatever."

"Lauren told me and Rai to come pick her up the other day. She said her and her sister was tired of dealing with these problems." I added.

"What problems at four years old?" He laughed. Chance and Rita came in the foyer joining us.

"She said you wouldn't let them put on sunscreen because the sun wasn't out. She said her and Joi was trying to lay up and relax but you were stressing them out."

We laughed. Those two girls are something else. He thought he was paranoid raising Rai, he got another thing coming with them.

"My little monsters, I blame their uncle Troy. He's always egging them on, he's the same way with KJ." Mike replied shaking his head.

"Blame me for what?" Troy came in holding Cyrene's shoe. He was out of breath.

"Why were you running?" Rai squinted we all waited.

"He wasted my damn milk on the floor." Cyrene yelled out, bucking at Troy with Leah trailing behind. "I told him to fix the bottle in the kitchen. He brought it upstairs before putting the lid on it."

"Cy, you can just pump more, damn! You're acting like you ran out." He sucked his teeth. Rai, Rita, and Leah were now standing around looking at him like he said the ultimate wrong thing. Mike, Chance and I remained quiet.

"See this is the type is stuff I have to deal with." She raised her arms up in defeat. "My breast milk is precious cargo." She walked off to get baby boy from Amina.

He sucked his teeth again then jokingly asked. "I'm going to the store to get some formula, y'all want something?"

"Shhhh. Quit man." Mike had his index finger over his mouthp, trying to contain his laughter.

"I'm going upstairs with KJ to ask him about his friend." Rai gave us a little sneaky smile. I tapped her on her butt before she walked off. Leah and Rita followed her upstairs.

Cyrene came back over holding baby boy, Toni was with her. I pointed to the stairs. "Up there with KJ."

They walked off upstairs. I was finally able to get my bags in the room. I made my way to the basement after.

Trey and Sienna were on their way. We hadn't seen them in almost a year. Between her traveling and Treys residency they hadn't had time for visits. They still FaceTime everyday, her and Rai.

Kicking it in the basement with the fellas like old times and Rai hanging with the girls, is just what we needed. Maybe I'll be able to talk to her about the pregnancy, sooner than I thought.

"Mina, your neighbor's backing out. I don't think he's selling his house." Troy stated to her.

"I heard him and his wife were talking about renting it out." She replied.

"I wish he would've told me that. I already put in my offer. I need to hurry and get out of my condo. Cyrene is on my ass about it. She's ready for a house."

"Then get your queen a house then." Chance chimed in.

"I'm looking."

"She chose to move out here, so you wouldn't have to uproot everything you have. It's been three years since. Buy your lady a house." Chance added.

"Ima' take care of it. I'm just glad she was able to find work out here. Getting all of her Visa stuff straight was a headache."

"Yeah and that's sad it took all of that to get permanent residency." Amina spoke." My mom dealt with the same thing when she came over to this country, before having me."

Mikes phone rung interrupting the conversation. He turned the volume down on the game a little before answering it, placing it on speaker. "What the hell you want?"

"Hi." A woman spoke.

He paused the game, furrowing his brows. We looked at him like he was crazy. "Who is this?"

"This is Khalil Sr's mother, KJs grandmother."

"My bad, I thought you were your son. He used to call from this number. Everything ok?" He asked wondering why she was calling him.

"Yes, I tried calling Leah but got no answer. She probably thought it was my son. I wanted you both to know that my sons actions is not a reflection of his entire family. We want to keep the line of communication open with KJ."

Miked sighed. "That's not really up to me. Leah and I will talk it over with KJ and get back with you. I'm sure that won't be a problem."

"Thank you, I'll be looking forward to that call. I want to continue spending time with my grandson. He's my only grandson."

"I understand. Talk to you later ma'am."

"Ok bye bye." She ended the call.

He sighed again.

"What's going on?" I asked Mike. I knew Khalil Sr had been in and out through the years since he stepped back on the scene. After Leah and Mike came back from their honeymoon he called. Every time since then he's been in and out. Mike and him had it out again. Mike ended up telling him to stay away and not come back. He said that was final.

"I guess she still want to see him. I don't want that nigga around my son or Leah though."

"Daddy where's mama?" Chance and Rita's five year old baby girl Natalie walked in. She just woke up from a long nap.

He got up from the sofa to tend to her. "She's upstairs, hungry?"

She nodded her head moving her little curls from her face. Chance walked out the basement trailing behind her.

We ended our guys night with laughter and catching up like old times. The guys decided on cooking tonight. Since the ladies wanted to do a big dinner for Christmas.

We ended up doing some beef stew, ugali and roasted maize. Some of our favorite recipes from Nairobi. Mike also made some chilly he had on since this morning.

The ladies and the kids came down stairs to eat. KJ and Mr. Xan trailed behind. He was still on the phone with his girlfriend.

"What all do you want on your plate Munch?" I stood in the kitchen, in front of the stove. She made her way over to me. I noticed she had a natural glow.

She snaked her arms around me from behind, leaning one side of her face against my back. "I want everything and we need to talk after dinner."

"Ok."

She pulled away turning me around in the process. I leaned in connecting our lips. Everyone was moving around getting their food and drinks.

"I love you Punkin." She stared in my eyes.

"I love you too Munch" I kissed her once more before she walked away.

The men served the women and children, after we went on to serving ourselves. I found my seat next to my beautiful wife, we waited for others to get seated.

Our wedding was amazing but simple. Rai and I married two weeks after she graduated from Howard, a few months after I proposed. We've created a beautiful life in New York, in our brownstone. After our first year of marriage Rai was eager to start a family. I was excited about the idea as well. I wanted my first born before I turned thirty. —I recently turned thirty in September, Rai's twenty-five.