Page 45 of Papa's Beloved

“How did Alena come to be with the Kings?”

“We found her when we raided another human trafficker. She was pregnant and from a foreign country. With no family to send her home to, we made one for her,” Nitro answers.

“Anyone else?”

When there were no other questions, Gambit called Church to an end. I hurried upstairs to my woman after getting Hollywood’s contact info. He’ll be back in three days with his kids.

Chapter 33

Nay

It’s been three days since the incident at the hospital. I’m bored out of my mind, so I begged Stormy to let me take over making the kids’ rooms. Ella, Hollywood’s girl, is seven. She likes fairies and space. I split her walls, two light and two dark. The dark walls will light up at night in soft fluorescent colors. One wall is a fantasy scene of space clouds done in purples, blues and pinks. The second dark wall is an ocean scene with a full moon and trees. The ocean and moon peek through the foliage in a nearly perfect circle. Brightly colored butterflies, mushrooms and tiny winged fairies are scattered throughout the foliage.

The third wall has a large double window with a half circle topper. A strip of wall separates the half circle from the rectangles. I paint the strip and surrounding wall dark green and the window trim light green. I use air plants and silk plants all over the wall to create a garden scene and added a small window box to the strip in between the windows with plants.

After that’s done. I add fairy figurines to the wall. The last wall I paint pale green and hang posters of fairies all over the wall. Lucia helped me pick the furniture. A full-size canopy bed with gauzy pink and green panels sits in the middle of the last wall. A pale green desk with a pink chair sits under the window. With a play area in one corner of the room complete with doll house.

Brayden, six, loves everything pirate. The guys made him a wood frame for a twin bed that looks like the prow of a ship. Wehand painted cannons on the side of. The walls are painted to look like the ocean and sky at different times a day. He too had a desk under the window with a navy chair and a play area with action figures, dinosaurs, legos, and more.

Voices from the front of the apartment lead me out of Brayden’s room and into the kitchen.

The ladies are finishing stocking the fridge and making breakfast. Stormy looks up and smiles.

“Nay, you’ve outdone yourself. Those kids will love their rooms,” she says.

“I hope they like it. If not, I can change it. Lord knows I’m bored out of my mind without work.”

“I still cannot believe they fired you and not that jerk wad,” Stormy says.

“Nitro says they’re working on finding a building for the clinic as quickly as possible. He’s got calls into all his contacts,” Lucia says.

I smile. “I have no doubts we’ll find a place soon. Still, it’ll be a couple of months before I’m working full time.”

“There are always projects around here that need doing. I wouldn’t mind showing someone my system, so things can go smoother than last maternity,” Stormy adds.

“I’ll do it. I’d love to help stock our bodega anyway.”

“I’d love your input. Why don’t you come by the office tomorrow morning.”

“It’s a date.”

“I’ll be there too,” Lucia adds. “I’m helping with office work part time. I’m room mom this year and Nitro thinks I should run for the PTA.”

“At the rate the King’s are having kids, we'll need our own school in a few years,” I say.

“Are you and Papa adding to the pool soon?” Stormy asks.

“I’m not planning on it for a few years yet. To be honest, before I became his ol’ lady, I wasn’t planning on having kids at all.”

“Why not?” Lucia asks.

“Papa, the only man I’ve ever loved. If I couldn’t have kids with him, I didn’t want them. I wasn’t going to have kids with him if we couldn’t be a couple.”

“Now you can have kids and they’ll have playmates.”

“We do have quite the rainbow coalition when it comes to our kids,” I admit.

“I can picture a baby with both your features. He or she will be stunning. Papa’s dark skin and your green eyes.”

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