Page 71 of When It’s All Said And Done

“Yes, that’s me,” Nyla smiled. “Who are you?”

“I’m great-grandpa, Rafi.”

“You can call him, G-Pop,” Nina offered.

“G-Pop? I like that, Nana. Nice to meet you G-Pop. Nana, can we eat now? I’m stravin’ all I had was fruit.”

“All y’all gave my baby was fruit?!” Nina gasped as she turned towards me and Nas. “You know I’ma handle that later. Rafi this is Nas’s lady, Nessa featurin’ your great-grandson, Nash Javier Wilson.”

“You’re namin’ him after your dad?” Rafi sighed as he placed his hand over his heart. “Thank you. Nessa it’s so nice to finally meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Rafi,” I smiled.

“And it was only right,” Nas answered his question. “Now, y’all heard my lil’ big back say she was hungry. Let’s eat.”

“Girl, how was PR?” Yas inquired as she grabbed a can of paint I’d purchased to paint the nursery.

“It was so beautiful, Yas,” I gushed as I thought back on our trip. “I know we just got home but I’m ready to go back already.”

“Well next time definitely take me with you.”

“That’s if yo’ ass is off.”

“Oop. Not too much on me. Was his family nice?”

“Yeah, his granddad was cool. The only thing he hopped on the spoilin’ Nyla train too with Nas and Nina.”

“I just know Nash gonna be spoiled as fuck too, so you might as well just gone get on the train too.”

“Aht, aht, somebody gotta be the voice of reason when they try to go too far too soon.”

“Touché.”

As I grabbed ahold of my paint brush, I climbed up the ladder to pick up where I’d left off. Just as I reached my arm over a sharp pain ripped through me. It was so painful that it caused me to drop the paint brush to grab under my stomach. My back had been killing me since we got back yesterday. I figured it was from sitting up right in the plane, so I thought nothing of it. This wasn’t something I could ignore, and when I felt as if I’d just pissed on myself I began to panic.

“Nessa, are you ok?” Yas darted to my aid as she helped me down.

“Something’s wrong Yas,” I panicked. “Go get Nas. He’s over at his house.”

As she went to get Nas, I did my best to keep myself calm by breathing. Everything felt as if it were going into hyper speed because it went from Nas appearing at my side to me being rushed into the hospital. I didn’t know what was going on but all I could do was pray. Once I made it to the room, nurses and doctors swarmed all around me.

“What’s goin’ on?!” Nas barked and commanded the room.

“Sir, this baby is comin’ now,” a doctor explained.

“Wait, now I’m only twenty-seven weeks,” I urged. “He’s not supposed to come this early.”

“I understand but he is so we’re goin’ to take good care of you both,” the doctor assured.

“Nas,” I whined as he came to my side and grabbed my hand. “I’m scared, Nas.”

“It’s goin’ to be okay,” he tried to convince me. “I gotcha you, always.”

He kissed my forehead as the doctors got into position. Nash was literally at the door and only took two pushes to come out. I got a glimpse of his tiny little body before the NICU team grabbed ahold of him.

“Why isn’t he cryin’?!” I panicked as I looked between the team, the doctor then Nas. I grabbed his shirt to make him look at me. “Nas why isn’t my baby cryin’?”

He couldn’t answer me as he waited to see what the outcome would be too. There was an eerie quiet in the room then suddenly there it was. A faint tiny cry filled the room. It allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief as tears slid down my face.