and also a flash drive. So you can watch them whenever you want. Gigi was in the delivery room with my mom and me, so she videotaped. I just made sure she stayed at my head.” She laughed lightly.
I gave her a small smile. “I can watch you give birth to our baby.” My body stirred, the tiny hairs on my body tingling at the thought.
Piper coughed, clearing her throat. “Yeah. You can. Oh, Luna gave birth to a boy. His name is Benjamin and named after your uncle who died. We were pregnant around the same time. Just a few weeks off from each other.”
Luna Stone was one of Piper’s best friends and was also engaged to my cousin, Zach. I was happy that they finally worked through whatever it was they were having issues with. I hadn’t seen them since they came to the hotel my crew and I were staying at. Fuck, that was so damn long ago.
“They’re also getting married in a few months,” Piper continued. “Zach proposed a while ago but they were waiting for you to come home. Vince and Gigi are getting married too.”
“Meadow and Shade already did,” I added.
Piper nodded. “They couldn’t wait. With everything they went through, I don’t blame them.”
My chest tightened, remembering back to when my dad told me that Sunny Harrison had been shot and killed. He was a good guy and had been a longtime member of Hell’s Harlem, along with Roy Allen, known as Shade.
“They have a son together. Andrew.” Piper reached across the table and cupped my hand. “I’m sorry about Sunny.”
“Thank you. He was a good man.” I sighed. “I look forward to seeing everyone and meeting the kids.” My dad tried keeping me in the loop as best he could, but I completely forgot everything. With what had gone on, it fell to the back of my mind.
“We’re invited to all the weddings of course.”
“I’m sure you’re in them.”
“I believe both of us are in Zach and Luna’s.” Piper smiled. “Gigi and Vince had a baby as well. Her name is Hannah.”
“I didn’t know that.” I rubbed the back of my neck, not liking the sudden sense of urgency I felt. Anxiety twisted at my stomach over the fact that I had missed so much.
“Jaron.” Piper cupped my knee. “Everything will feel back to normal in time.”
I covered her hand and gave it a squeeze, hoping she was right. I pulled out a stack of Polaroids and ripped off the elastic holding them together. “Babe, these are…” I looked through each picture. It was a progression of Piper’s pregnancy.
“Which ones?” Piper pulled her chair closer to me. “Oh. Yeah, I had fun doing those. Luna helped me and then I did the same for her.”
“Fuck, Piper, you’re beautiful in these.” And she looked good enough to eat. Especially knowing she was carrying my child in her swollen belly.
“I was huge, Jaron.” She laughed. “And I didn’t feel beautiful at all but thank you. I was definitely all belly with her.”
“Tell me more.” I needed to know every detail. “I know you wrote journals, but I need something. I need you to tell me. Anything.”
“Oh, um…well I had a hard time breastfeeding at first, but we figured it out.” She looked at Brynlee then. “It was stressful but the nurses at the hospital were wonderful. They came up with the idea for me to video tape it and act like you were there. So my mom recorded it and I talked to you through the whole thing. It’s lame but it worked.”
“You have a video of you breastfeeding our daughter for the first time?”
She nodded. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
I didn’t know how I was looking at her, but I knew the way I was feeling. I had heard of this. My uncle Tray had reacted the same way when my cousin Bee was born. My aunt got drunk one day and spilled the dirty details not knowing that I was nearby and could hear it all.
I shot up from the chair. “Show me.”
“Jaron.” Piper stood, grabbed her mug, and headed into the kitchen.
“Show me.”
“Really? Now?” She came back with her mug in hand. “I have to feed her.”
“Fine. We can feed her together. Show me where everything is, and I can watch the video at the same time.” I wasn’t sure why I was being so demanding. Maybe it was because I missed it all and I wanted to make