T-Bone - L. Wilder Page 0,83
three percent failure rate.”
“Fuck you, Murph.”
“Come on, brother. You know I’m just fucking with ya.” He reached over and gave me a big hug. “I’m proud for ya. We all are. We got no doubt that you’re gonna be a great dad.”
“Thanks, brother. Appreciate it.”
“We’re gonna get going,” Blaze announced. “You be sure to let us know if something changes or you guys need anything.”
“Will do.”
I said my goodbyes, and once the brothers started to clear out, Hyde came over to get a better look of the picture I’d taken of the baby. As he looked down at the screen, he chuckled as he said, “Damn, he’s a handsome feller, just like his uncle.”
“He looks like his mother.”
“Doesn’t matter who he looks like. I’ll love him the same either way.”
“That goes for the both of us.”
“You know, I’m having a real hard time wrapping my head around all this. I mean … damn … she was pregnant, and she didn’t tell us. What the fuck, man? Who does that?” Hyde shook his head. “I gotta tell ya, the whole thing kind of pisses me off. I mean ... I get seeing that drive-by had to fuck her up. Hell, it’d fuck anybody up, but damn, it’s embarrassing as fuck that my own sister was pregnant, and I didn’t know a goddamn thing about it.”
“Trust me when I say, I know exactly how you feel.” I took my phone and slipped it into my back pocket. “But we got nobody to blame but ourselves. The fact that she saw anything is on us. We’re the ones who fucked up, and because of our mistake, she’s spent the last eight months thinking we killed those guys just for shits and giggles. It’s no wonder that she was too scared to tell us that she was fucking pregnant.”
“You got a point, but still ... She could’ve given me a chance to explain. I’m her brother.”
“You’re exactly right. You are her brother—the one person she trusts the most in this world, and you and I both failed her.”
I watched as my words sunk in, and sorrow crept across his face. “Damn, you’re right. I really fucked up, didn’t I?”
“We both did, and now it’s up to us to make it up to her ... That is, if she’ll let us.”
“Well, we’ll just have to see that she does.”
“That we will.” I looked my brother in the eye as I said, “And you need to know, I have every intention of claiming Alyssa as mine. I love her, brother, and no matter what it takes, I’m going to make her and JT happy.”
He gave me a pat on the shoulder. “They’d both be lucky to have you.”
“We need to get upstairs and check on her. It won’t be long before they let her go down to see the baby.”
Hyde followed me up to Alyssa’s room. When we walked in, she was sitting up on the bed, and I couldn’t imagine a more beautiful sight. Her long hair was down, framing her angelic face, and it was clear from her soulful expression that she was deep in thought. I walked over to the edge of the bed and placed my hand on hers. “You okay?”
“Is it strange to miss someone you haven’t even met yet?”
“No, freckles. You’ve spent the last eight months together, so it’s perfectly natural for you to be missing him right now.” I smiled as I told her, “But don’t worry, you’ll be seeing him soon.”
“I really hope so.” Tears filled her eyes as she asked, “They say it’s important for the baby to connect with his mother right after birth. What if he doesn’t know me? What if he doesn’t recognize me as his mother?”
“He will. With a momma like you, there’s no way that he couldn’t.”
She nodded, then brushed a tear from her cheek. “I’ve been thinking about what you said ... about the shooting and what those men did. I’m really sorry that I assumed the worst. I should’ve known better. I should’ve trusted you both and given you a chance to explain. Something, anything—except turning my back on you like I did. I’m really sorry. If I could—”
“Alyssa, this isn’t all on you.” I looked over at Hyde and said, “We’ve all had a hand in making a mess of this, but that’s over now. Hyde and I are going to do what we can to set things straight, starting with explaining some things about the club.”
“I understand why