I had to catch myself. Everything was getting on my last nerve. I was getting cabin fever, and I wanted to know what the real world—my world—was up to in my absence. I hadn’t heard from Kaylin, and Tasha had not heard from Trae. They said two weeks, and we were at twelve days. What was going on with our men? I tried not to worry, but I wasn’t having much success. They had been to Mexico and other countries in the name of business. They had money in the Cayman Islands. They both traveled to China before, so they weren’t new to this. So why were my nerves a horrid mess?

I thought about what was really irritating me. Babies, babies, babies. So many babies. Huggies, cute little dresses, bassinets, waking up to crying every night. Thank God, not a lot of baby bottles since both moms were breastfeeding. We had a damn day care going. I had one, Tasha had four, Kyra’s two and Jaz with Kaeerah. Too many kids and five women stuck in one house. I was going stir crazy. Jaz and I had started homeschooling all the children to take up part of the day, get some order and burn some energy. When we were youngsters, we used to talk about us getting a place together, raising babies and having husbands who were best buds, but who would have thought it would have been under these circumstances?

In the meantime, Kyra was all booed up with Rick, who acted as if he was going to move into our already crowded situation. Tasha was so wrapped up with baby Taylour; she was in her own world. These girl babies are so sweet, but I wanted a boy. I wanted a baby Kaylin this time around. Rambunctious. A spiders-and-worms-scrunched-in-his-hand little boy. I had been a stepmom to Kaylin’s firstborn son, Malik, but I wanted to give my man a son. I was looking forward to the day when Kaylin would hold his son by me.

To pass time, I did what everybody else does, troll the internet and play games. I often checked on the police sites since our house was shot up. I was curious to see if the police had found anything, but the police didn’t give a damn about our problems or our house. And I wasn’t expecting them to find anything. Then suddenly something caught my attention.

Amber Alert: Mother, Tasha Macklin, has kidnapped her baby girl from the hospital against medical advice. She is being sought by authorities for questioning.

“Get the fuck outta here!” What the fuck? This had to be a joke. I was there when she was released. There was no hold on her or the baby.

I rushed into Tasha’s bedroom, where the twins and Caliph were playing quietly on their tablets, and she was just putting the baby down for a nap.