HARLEY
The next morning, I woke up in my bed with Royalty sleeping right next to me. It felt so good to be back at home with my baby. I swear I love Royalty more than life itself.  

As soon as I went to move just a little bit, she woke up instantly.

"Where you going?"

"We gotta wake up to go see mommy. I got a text message from Aunty Sean saying she feels a little better today."

"Yay! Can I take pictures on your phone after I get ready so I can show mommy when she feels all the way better?"

"Do whatever you want, kiddo. As long as we're up and out of here within an hour."

I chuckled and got out of the bed. I walked into Royalty's room to pick out her clothes for the day. After getting her dressed and made sure she ate breakfast, I got into the shower.

"Harley, look! I took some pictures!"

Royalty held up my phone to show me the three little selfies that she ended up taking.

"You're just the cutest little thing! Those pictures are definitely going to make mommy feel better. I know they make me feel better."

I smiled and kissed her on her forehead, grabbing my phone and putting it into my back pocket. A few seconds later, my phone started to ring. I thought it would be Tesehki or something, but it was actually Cyn.

"Hey, you good? You calling me pretty early in the morning."

"I know you just got back and you're dealing with Tesehki and Kameron's stuff. But when do you have a second to come down to my house?"

"I'm heading to the hospital with Royalty now to see Tesehki. What's up? Everything aight?"

"Do you remember a girl named Jaidyn at all? Any time at all during your past?"

Definitely do... that was a girl I was fucking around with behind Ahna's back at some point. We even started the entire IVF process of having a child until we stopped messing around and lost contact.

"Uh, yeah, actually. Why? What happened?"

"She found all of my contact information. She informed me that she's going off to rehab, and she has a son that no one can take care of while she's there. She informed me that this kid is yours... you guys started —"

"I'm aware. IVF. We never even completed it together due to us cutting contact. I never even knew when the kid was born or anything."

FUCK. This is going to be a LOT for Tesehki to hear. I haven't even gotten to tell her the story about Scotty or Ahna yet. NOW I have a whole kid that I need to take care of and I didn't even know he was born.

I won't be surprised if she wanted to leave me at this given point.... I swear it's always one thing after another...

"His name is Javier. He's six years old, he goes to school about twenty minutes away from your house, actually. If you want, I can give you the information to the rehab that Jaidyn is staying at."

"That would be nice. I need to speak to her to get some answers."

"I'll send it over to you right now. What do you want me to do with Javier?"

"I'll swing by to come and get him after I leave the hospital. Just send me over everything you have on him and Jaidyn."

"Will do."

The phone call then ended, and I was left feeling completely shocked. Royalty tugged on my hand and looked up at me.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"It's big people stuff. Don't worry, I'll be okay. Come on, let's go see mommy."
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"When are you gonna come home, mommy? You still have a lot of boo boo's on you."

Royalty questioned Tesehki as she was sitting at the edge of the hospital bed. Tesehki carefully sat up in the bed to look at Royalty directly.

"The doctors say in about another day or two. But you're gonna have to try to be a big girl and help mommy out around the house. I'm still gonna be in some pain for a while."

"Okayyyyy."

Royalty giggled and started to carefully intertwine her fingers with Tesehki's. Tesehki then looked at me with a concerned look.

"What's going on with you today, babe? You're extremely quiet. That's not usually like you."

"A lot going on. Before I talk to you about Scotty, there's something very important that you should know about."

"What did you do now?"

"Promise you won't judge and you'll just listen?"

"Harley, what is it? Does it look like I'm in the position to judge you right now?"

"Waaaay before I met you, while I was still with Ahna, I was messing around with this girl named Jaidyn. We were in the process of having our own kid with IVF. But before I could even know when the kid was born or not, Jaidyn and I cut off contact with each other. Today, Cyn called me and said that Jaidyn entered a rehab program. The kid doesn't have any other family to take care of him, so the only one that would be left is me..."

I stopped talking to see the reaction on Tesehki's face. She froze for a second, not knowing how to react to that.

"Sehki, please say something. Anything."

"So you're telling me that you have a kid that you never even knew was born? Why wouldn't you try to keep contact with her, knowing what steps you were taking to have a child?"

"Ahna told me I had to cut all connections off of she was gonna end our relationship."

"Well does it really matter now? You two been ended. You've been with me for three years, and have never thought of bringing that up?"

"I never thought that it would ever come up again. I know I fucked up, AGAIN."

"So why are you telling me this news now? Why couldn't this wait until I got home like whatever you have to say with Scotty?"

"Because, he's with Cyn now... I told her that I would go and pick him up after I left seeing you."

"Oh...."

"You have a kid? Does this mean I'll have sibling?! A little brother?!"

Royalty exclaimed, seemingly being the only one in the room that was excited about the news. I chuckled slightly and looked at her.

"Big brother. Javier was born before you."

"Go ahead and see your son. Keep Royalty here, I'll have her go home with Chrisean today."

"No fair! I wanna meet my brother!"

"Royalty, don't argue with me. You're going to stay with Aunty Sean until mommy gets home. Then we'll meet him together."

"You don't gotta be like that, Sehki —"

"What I say, it goes when it comes to Royalty. Go and meet your son. Royalty and I will see you in a day or two."

"Fine. Gimme a hug, RoRo. I'll see you in a few days."

I stretched my arms out so Royalty can jump in them. She then pouted and jumped in my arms, not wanting to let me go.

"I don't want you to go without me, Harley..."

"I don't wanna leave without you either, kiddo. But we have to listen to mommy. I promise I'll see you both in a few days. I promise you."

"Promise, promise?"

Royalty held out her pinkie finger. I smiled and linked fingers with her, kissing our fingers to seal the promise.

"I promise, promise. Now make sure you listen to mommy and Aunty Sean."