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Hawk

“Bianca?” I call out as I walk into the house.

“In here, mijo.” I hear her banging around in the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” The stove has three pots cooking on the stove top.

“Tessa is supposed to be released today. I’m making her favorites now, so we just have to reheat them. I don’t want to spend time cooking when she or Sam might need me.”

Sam.

I pull at a chair at the table and sit. “Do you ever worry about how the next generation is going to turn out?”

She puts the spoon that’s in her hand down and turns around. Popping her hip to the side and rest on hand on it. “What do you mean? The kids? Grace, Roxy, and Ryder?”

“Yeah. Technically, those kids will be club kids.”

“I don’t agree, Mijo. You kids are not like your fathers. Tylan isn’t like his mother or sister. He will not allow those kids to travel down the same path. He would lay down his life before he allowed that. Do you know why? Because he has learned from his past. Are you concerned about Sam?”

“Yeah, I am. I need to make sure that I’m the best option for him.”

The back door opens then closes. Sin appears. When his gaze falls on me, his steps faltered. I haven’t talked to him since he found out about Tessa. “Mijo, you all right?” She walks up to him and places her hand on the side of his face.

He keeps his eyes pinned to me. “Yeah, Mama.”

“Good.” She pats his face and goes back to cooking.

Sin opens up the fridge and grabs two bottles of water. He sits down and hands me a bottle. “How is she?” He unscrews the cap and takes a sip. His eyes are guarded. I know he’s fighting with the news that Tessa is his blood. I know he’s battling the loyalty he has for Sienna.

“She’s better this morning.”

“She’s a fighter. From the moment she was born, she’s been a fighter,” Bianca says as she stirs the sauce.

“How did you deal with it, Mama? Knowing what Dad did.”

“Matthew we’re all human. It’s not like he kissed me goodbye one night and went out and slept with Gloria. I left. I took his boys, his family and left him. I didn’t want you to see us argue and hear our name calling. But just because you didn’t witness anything doesn’t mean that it wasn’t there. All couples have their issues. It wasn’t easy when I found out, no. I was hurt. I was weeks away from having your sister. I was so mad that he didn’t tell me when I came back home. He should have told me, but I think he had the same thoughts as Gloria. They never wanted to mention it. I’m sure if Tessa weren’t born sick, we never would have known. They would have kept it from us.”

“So they just asked you for the cord blood. What were they doing, hovering in the waiting room while you were giving birth?”

“No, of course not. We had you boys tested.”

Sin sits up. “You had us tested?”

“Yes. Tessa was your sister. There was a chance you’d be a match. Devin didn’t match. You were close, but at the time the doctors felt more confident with the cord blood, so we waited.”

“So Sin’s a match to Tessa?”

“Yes.”

I look at Sin. “Then you can donate your marrow to Tessa and save her.”

“What?” He scoffs. “No.”

“What the fuck do you mean no. She has Sienna’s marrow in her now. Doesn’t that mean that he’d be a better match now?”

“I’m not sure how that works, Hawking. But even so, Tessa isn’t at that stage. She needs to undergo chemotherapy and radiation to kill the cancer before they think about a bone marrow transplant. We don’t even know what she wants to do.”

“She wants to live. We know that much. She’s going to do whatever it takes to make sure she’s here for her son.” I look at Sin. “Wouldn’t you do the same?”