Chapter One

✨Monday, April 10th 2017✨

"Hello, may I please speak to Ms. Marley Wright?"

"Um speaking, may I ask who's calling?"

"This is Dr. Brown at Presbyterian Hospital. I'm here with your brother, Mr. Micah Wright Sr; he was brought in today due to an overdose. I've tried contacting everyone on his emergency contact list but you were the first to answer. I'd love to go over his condition with you in person if you're not too busy."

"No, no, not at all." I started grabbing my things off my workspace. "I can be there in 15 minutes."

"Okay, thank you, Ms. Wright. I'll see you when you get here."

I hung up and set my head down in the palm of my hand for a second before standing up from my seat. There wasn't much traffic in my nail salon due to it being a Monday morning, so I knew if I left the two nail techs that were here alone, they'd be fine.

"Everything okay, Marley?" my "brow girl," Georgia asked.

"Actually, no, it isn't," I said, still confused about the call. "I need to go check on Micah; y'all think y'all will be fine without me for a few hours? I should be back by three. "

"Yeah, we got this. It's still early and Erica will be in at one," my nail tech Carla assured me.

"Okay, thanks y'all. I'll be back," I told them on my way out of the salon.

Once I made it to my navy blue 2015 Nissan Juke, I gave my mother a call. The phone rang out while I prepared to drive off. Once her voicemail picked up, I hung up and tossed my phone into the passenger seat and made my way to the hospital. I'm sure everyone saw this overdose coming with Micah; I'd be lying if I said I didn't see it coming myself. It'd been three months since I found out about Micah's cocaine and pill problem but I had a feeling my parents knew about it since it started.

After his wife Diana lost her battle with ovarian cancer, Micah was left to raise their children, 17-year-old Micah Jr. and 15-year-old Miracle, on his own. Of course, the family helped out; there were too many of us to not help out but whereas my older sister, Marlow, helped financially; it took me and my younger brother Moriah to actually help raise them. I'd take Miracle out every other weekend; most of the time, we'd just hang out at my house and have girl time and other times, we'd go out on spa dates or to get our hair done. I knew she appreciated the girl time and it was something we did before her mother passed, so she knew it was genuine. My brother Moriah would spend a lot of time with Micah and Micah Jr. as well but with Jr. getting older, he was more into hanging out with his friends on his off time.

I offered to take the kids in while sending Micah Sr. to rehab after I found out about his addiction but he tried to convince me that he wasn't that far gone. After this call today, I was sure he was beyond 'too far gone' and no matter how much he protested, I was going to get him help today.

It took a little while to actually make it to Micah's room after I arrived at the hospital. Approaching his room, I noticed a middle-aged brown-skin male in scrubs standing in front of his door, looking down at the clipboard in his hand. My heels hitting the floor caught his attention and the doctor looked up at me with a weak smile on his face.

"Ms. Wright?"

"Yes, sorry it took me a little longer to get here than expected." I shook his hand and took a seat in one of the chairs in the hallway. "Is my brother okay? How did he get here?" I rushed out, still trying to calm down a little.

"He's fine; his assistant brought him in about an hour before we called you. We've pumped his stomach and he's resting right now. I'm glad you're here, though. Your brother had a large amount of pain killers and cocaine in his system."

I sighed and shook my head.

"Do you know how long he's had this addiction?" The doctor asked, taking me out of my thoughts.

"A little under a year. I've only known for a few months, though. I even tried getting him to go to rehab but he's refused every time."

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. We have a program located a few buildings over that will take him in but it has to be as soon as we release him. I've already made some calls and we can get him in there at no cost to your brother or the family."

"I'll escort him there myself, Dr. Brown." I was thankful that we would be able to get him the help he needed.

"Well, that's not all I wanted to talk to you about. Your brother has two children, correct?"

"Yes."

"We need confirmation that someone will care for them until your brother is released, to prevent child protective services from getting involved."

I thought about my family and instantly realized that if I didn't take them in, they'd be going into foster care. Marlow was in Virginia with her husband and two children of her own. My brother, Moriah, was simply too young and too irresponsible to be in charge of two teenage kids and my parents had washed their hands of Micah a long time ago. I was their only hope and I'd be damned if I let them down as well.

"I can care for them, that's not a problem," I assured Dr. Brown.

"Okay, you and your brother will have to sign some paperwork when you get to the rehabilitation center but that's better than having someone pick them up from school and them being confused."

"You're absolutely right." I nodded and looked down at my watch. "Not to rush you doctor but do you think I could see him?" I didn't know when they'd release him but I needed to get home and set everything up for Jr. and Miracle.

"Sure, that's all I needed to run by you and now that I know where you stand, I'll call the rehab center and let them know your brother will be transferred over to them by 5 pm." He smiled, giving my shoulder a squeeze before making his way down the hall, leaving me seated in front of Micah's room.

I sighed loudly before standing up from the chair and going inside his room. He was lying back in the bed with the lights low and the blinds closed. I actually thought he was sleeping until he spoke up.

"Hey baby sis, I knew you'd be the only one to come check on me." He chuckled lowly.

"I know Micah, but I'm not the only one who cares." I sat down in the seat closest to his bed and watched his face turn up at my comment.

"I doubt it, still glad to see you though."

"Umm, Micah, what do you think about going to rehab?"

"I can't leave my kids out here like that." He shook his head and sat up a little in his seat.

"What if you had died today? Then what?"

"What about Jr. and Miracle, Marley?"

"Exactly, Micah! What about your children? What if you were at home when you overdosed? You're lucky your assistant came in when she did because if she hadn't, you wouldn't be here right now and the question would still be '

I could tell he didn't want to think about the worst that could have happened today but it was real and what he did was selfish.

"They'll be with me. I live alone in a four-bedroom house that I purchased for a family I have yet to start. Let me help, Micah," I stressed.

My brother chuckled and shook his head at me. "Little wonder woman."

"Just trying to be there for my big brother; you've always had my back bro, I wouldn't even be where I am if it wasn't for you and Diana helping me the way you did. I own my own business because of you two. I own a house at 26 because of you two. You were my parents when daddy and mama didn't want to be. Let me be here for you, bro. Let me be here for my niece and nephew."

I didn't even realize the tears were streaming down my face until Micah looked over at me and sighed.

"Stop crying, Mar. The doctors told me about the program they have and I'll go. I need to go for you and those kids. I just don't want to feel like you have to put your life on hold because of me." He wiped my face clean and looked at me; the sadness in his eyes was paired with guilt and embarrassment but he had no reason to feel that way with me. He was my brother and I loved him. There were times I needed him and he was there. Now that he needed me, I was going to do my job.

"Stop it. I want to help. I want Micah and Miracle to come stay with me while you get healthy. They need you to be better and so do I, bro, so I'm here, every step of the way." I grabbed his hand and smiled at him through my tears. "We got this, I got you, Micah."

"Thanks, Mar."

We sat in the room and talked for about an hour before a nurse came in to check his vitals. I wanted to go check on the shop before heading home to get ready for Jr. and Miracle, so after finding out his discharge time, I rushed to the shop, shocked by the number of customers that had piled up in the two hours that I had left. All six of my nail techs were there working along with Cortney, my shop manager, who was also a beast with false lashes and brow threading. Monday's were normally our slow days, so this was not what we were expecting at all.

Thankfully, the girls didn't require much of an explanation as to why I wouldn't be coming back to the shop today. Once I was done there, I headed to my house and almost as if my mother knew where I was, she called as soon as I stepped foot in my house.

"Yes, mother?" I answered with much attitude.

"Don't start that shit today, Marley. What's going on with Micah's hardheaded ass," my mother huffed on the other end.

I made my way towards the closet guest room to start getting it ready for Micah Jr.

"Nothing, he's fine, I just saw him." I didn't want to hear her mouth about how he was fucking up or her dry ass threats to take the kids from him if he didn't get it together.

"Well, how is everything with you? How's Carter?" She asked about my boyfriend more than she asked about me.

"Well, mother, I'm doing well and Carter is great, thanks for asking." I was tired of the small talk and I knew she just wanted to know what was going on with Micah; I wasn't about to have that conversation with her, so there was no need for us to be on the phone with each other anymore. "Look ma, I'm kind of in the middle of something, so can I call you back later?" I asked in a rushed tone.

"I had a feeling you'd rush me off the phone, that's why I'm inviting you to dinner this Friday. Go ahead and tell Micah, he and the kids are invited as well since he's not answering my calls," she scoffed.

"See you Friday," I sang before hanging the phone up and sitting it on the dresser in the room.

I looked around the room that was usually for Micah Jr. whenever he came over and sighed to myself. I don't know where the feeling came from but all of a sudden, I felt extremely overwhelmed. I felt like I might have bitten off more than I could chew by taking my brother's teenage kids in. What if they didn't want to live with me? I checked the time on my phone and noticed I only had an hour to get everything ready before they got out of school. I shook the nervous feeling off and shot Micah Jr. a text message before heading to clean Miracle's room.

'What about Jr. and Miracle?'

Aight cool...everything straight with pops?

Yeah he's fine, we'll talk more when y'all get here.

coo see you in a min

It didn't take much longer to get the rooms together for them and once I was done, I headed to the kitchen to see what I could make for dinner. There was no doubt that I needed to go grocery shopping. I was a vegan about to house two meat-eating teenagers. We'd just have to go grocery shopping after we dropped Micah off at the rehab center. There was a knock at the door, breaking me out of my thoughts. I still wasn't expecting the kids for another 20 minutes but if MJ drove anything like his father, this was them at the door.

My heart smiled when I saw my boyfriend of two years, Carter, leaning up against the door frame with a smirk on his face. I pulled him in for a hug, closing the door behind him once he was fully inside the house.

"What you got going on in here?" He chuckled while looking around.

"I'm waiting on MJ and Miracle to get here; they're coming to stay with me for a while." I didn't feel like getting into the full story of Micah and rehab at the moment.

"How long is a while?" Carter asked, pulling me down on the couch with him.

"I don't know, maybe a month or two."

"Oh shit, you about to be a whole foster mom out here."

"Don't ever refer to my niece and nephew as foster kids. It's a sure way to get your ass beat," I warned him and although he chuckled, my face stayed straight, letting him know I wasn't playing with him.

He could tell I didn't want to talk too much about it and I was grateful that he at least knew me well enough to know that it was time to change the subject.

"I was just stopping by on my lunch break. I went by the shop and they told me you were home." He eyed me before sending a light slap to my thigh. "Why did I have to find out from your people that you weren't at work?"

"Long day babe, I honestly forgot to call you and tell you. I forgot about our lunch date and everything. It's been a long day and it slipped my mind."

I sighed before getting up from my seat on the couch and heading to the kitchen to grab my cell and my car keys. "When the kids get here, we're leaving right back out, though; you're welcome to join us for dinner."

I was shocked to see Carter shake his head "no" before standing up from his seat.

"You don't want to join us?" I asked while standing in front of him.

"Nah, I'll call you later to talk about what's going on, though." He smiled before kissing my lips softly. "I love you."

I folded my arms across my chest and turned my lip up at him.

"Mmhm, talk to you later. Love you too, all that."

Before he could answer, the front door opened and in walked Miracle and Micah Jr.

"You gotta lock the door, aunty. You live in a nice neighborhood and all that but still, shit ain't safe." Micah chuckled, making his way over to me with his arms wide open for a hug. "What's up, Carter?" Micah and Carter shared a bro hug while I greeted Miracle.

"Alright, well, it was good seeing y'all. I'm going to head out, though," Carter said to MJ and Miracle, who probably didn't care if he stayed or left. "I'll call you later, babe," he assured me before heading out the door.

I'd be lying if I said Carter wasn't acting funny but I figured I'd have that conversation with him later. Right now, it was about my family. Before we left the house, I explained to the children what was going on with their father. Micah and Miracle already knew about his addiction, so telling them the truth about what happened wasn't too hard. They were actually glad to hear that he had agreed to rehab and apparently, I was the cool aunt, so staying with me wasn't going to be that bad either.

When we got to the hospital, I let MJ go in to speak to his father first. About 30 minutes later, Miracle went in to have her one on one. Once she was done, we discharged Micah and the four of us headed over to the rehabilitation center that was literally two buildings away. Getting Micah signed in and signing the guardian paperwork didn't take long at all. Once he was settled in, we said our goodbyes after promising to visit once a week. The trip to the grocery store all but turned my stomach. Seeing how MJ's greedy ass planned on eating, had my mind blown. This kid had no boundaries; pork, beef, milk, and don't forget the cheese. I mean, he had all kinds of dead animals in my shopping cart and all I could think about was actually having to cook meat again.

"Aunty, don't make that face like your bar-b-q ribs aren't better than life." Miracle laughed as we loaded the groceries into the trunk of my car.

"But I don't eat it anymore." I chuckled. "I'll cook it for y'all, though; anything you want as long as you promise you'll have a smoothie with me every morning."

"Promise," they replied in unison.

"Alright, what's for dinner?" I asked once we were all in the car.

"I kind of got a taste for some fried chicken. I don't care what you make with it," MJ answered.

"I'm with Micah but maybe we can make some red beans and rice on the side with some cabbage. I know you got cabbage, aunty." Miracle giggled.

"You know I do." It was literally the only thing I'd eat when I first stopped eating meat—cabbage and brown rice.

As we headed to the house, we made small talk about what living with me would be like. We went over some rules; even though I didn't have many, I still wanted them to know what I expected of them while we were living together. I was thankful that my brother and Diana had done a great job at raising MJ and Miracle; they were good kids and I didn't have much to worry about when it came to them.

However, I did have an uneasy feeling about how this would go with Carter. Something told me he wasn't too fond of the kids staying with me and the fact that I didn't come right out and tell him about what was going on today also had him feeling some kind of way. But like I said before this was about family and family would always come first to me, helping my brother was the number one thing on my to-do list and that included taking care of MJ and Miracle until he was better and with all that their parents did for me when I was younger, having them in my house for however long wasn't a problem with me at all. I was actually looking forward to what was in store for us, this should be exciting!