Page 1 of Beyond The Stars

PART ONE

EARTH SIDE

1

January 2030 (6 years after the end of To The Moon)

“I’m just asking when you coming home?” Janay whined through the phone.

Flipping over on his back, Qamar laid the phone on his bare chest with a sigh before hitting the speaker button. “I am at home,” he teased, knowing it would get under her skin. “This where I live.”

“I mean, technically, you just a rolling stone—be jumping from house to house but you know what I mean, Q,” Janay sassed. She loved Qamar but his childish antics were a lot to deal with, especially in her current predicament.

Before he could respond to her, three taps laid against his bedroom door were followed by tiny feet and giggles. They didn’t give him time to call out to them before his beautiful daughter, Esmeray barged in with his mama right behind her.

“Daddy, you woke?” her deep, adultlike voice asked as she stood with her tiny hand on her hip.

“Hey, Es, girl!” Janay greeted his baby girl joyously.

Too bad, Esmeray wasn’t a fan. Her wide eyes rolled to the sky. “Daddy?” She pushed out his name, letting Janay know she was only concerned with her daddy. “You want pancakes?”

Qamar laughed, the sound rich and warm. “Yea, baby,” he said, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He glanced at the phone, knowing he had to address Janay’s concerns sooner or later, but for now, he chose to focus on the simple, precious moments with his daughter.

Qamar’s mama, Stephanie, snickered at her grandbaby. “Girl, you are too much for me. Hey, Janay,” she called out to Qamar’s… well, she had no idea what Janay was to her son. All she knew was, the girl was carrying his second daughter.

Janay listened to the exchange; a soft smile formed on her lips despite her earlier frustration. She loved listening to Qamar with Esmeray and witnessing the tenderness and care he showed his daughter. It reminded her of why she fell for him in the first place, even if his wandering ways sometimes drove her crazy.

“Hey, Ms. Stephanie.” Janay tried her hardest to be liked by Qamar’s family. She wanted to be with him more than anything in the world, and the one way she could keep herself in his life was to merge their lives with the baby she carried and by being liked by his family.

Sitting up, Qamar reached out for his daughter who wasted no time jumping in her daddy’s bed. “Aye, Janay, I’m gone hit you back.”

“Okay but don’t forget to call me back.” She sounded desperate, and Stephanie hated that for her.

“Bet,” he barely got out before he ended the call. “Now, what you was saying?” He tickled Esmeray, causing her double over into a fit of laughter. “Speak up? You came in here wanting all the smoke, now you don’t have anything to say?”

“I—I can’t talk, Daddy! Ahh!” she yelled, trying her best to squirm out of his tickle attack. “Daddy!” Her tiny hands pushed against his chest.

“Daddy, what?” Qamar mocked her.

“Daddy, I can’t breathe.”

Stephanie snatched her grandbaby from Qamar’s hands. “That’s enough, Qamar!” she fussed. “My baby said she can’t breathe.” She coddled Esmeray’s head while rocking her in her arms.

Qamar kissed his teeth. “If she can talk, she can breathe… you just be going for anything, Ma.”

“Boy, please.” Stephanie waved him away. “But before I forget, you need to create a boundary with Janay if you ain’t trying to be with her like that.”

“I don’t like Janay.” Esmeray scrunched her nose.

Qamar gave her a look that only her daddy could give her. “Watch your mouth, Es. Ms. Janay is grown.”

Her eyes misted. “Sorry,” she hummed as her head hung low.

He wasn’t going for her fake apology. Esmeray was the girl version of him when he was a child. She was just as nosey and blunt. Qamar fully understood that but he wasn’t going to allow her to be disrespectful to adults. He didn’t have that guidance when he was growing up, so he was gonna make sure his daughter did. Stephanie had been absent, leaving him to be raised by his twin brother and sister. When his big brother, Lunar, died, Qamar really started to push the line of disrespect. Thankfully, he had two other older brothers from another mother but they were all kids raising kids. Now, everyone who had a hand in raising him were in better positions—financially, and mentally. So the torch had been passed to him. Qamar dreaded it daily. No one said it, but he knew they were so disappointed in him. He fathered a daughter when he was only sixteen and now at twenty, he had another one on the way by a different woman. He knew he was the family fuck-up.

“How is Janay and the baby anyway?” Stephanie asked, pulling him from his own self-pity moment.

Qamar reached out for his baby girl. “They doing good. Working a nigga’s nerves but healthy and shit.”

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