Soul

You Have My Baby

Watching him run around my house never tired me.

"Look mommy I fast." He says

"You are. Slow down for me though ok? I don't want you getting hurt."

He nods a yea and stops running all together. He's moved on to the toys in my living room. I decided to go start preparing lunch for us. I love being a writer because I never have to leave my house really. I take Soul out and do errands and things but for the most part I'm home. I don't have many friends because when I randomly got a baby they couldn't deal.

"Let's eat sweetie." I say to him

He comes barging into the kitchen hyper as always. I'm sure he got that from Tiana.

I place him in his high chair and put a bowl of mixed berries down. As I'm moving to get the other bowl that contains his chopped pieces of chicken and some rice there is a knock at the door.

"Mommy will be right back ok?"

I run to the door and swing it open. There is an attractive man maybe my age or more standing there looking confused.

(Payne' POV)

"Hi, I'm looking for uh Noah Karlin, is he around?" I say to the beautiful woman who answered the door. She must be his girlfriend or something. She chuckles and glances down. I could see her roll her eyes.

"I'm Noah. How can I help you." She responds confusing me a little more

"You have my baby." I say holding up the letter I had just received days ago.

She gives me a confused look.

"Your baby? You're Tiana's baby daddy?" She asks me

This causes me to laugh.

"No. I have no idea who Tiana is really. I met her once. My younger brother, Antony, got her pregnant. I received this letter two weeks ago telling me that he has a kid and that I was left all parental rights. I've been looking for you since then but I've been looking for a guy so that explains why every dude before you was lost."

She looks lost and momentarily upset. She steps aside and gestures her hand.

"Come in."

"Mommy! mommy!" I hear from what I'm assuming is the dining room

"Hey there little man." She says approaching him, I followed her to him. He looks a lot like my brother honestly. He's got strawberry and what looks like banana on his face.

"Hey Soul, this is..."

"Payne. I'm Payne."

"This is Payne. Him and mommy need to have a talk. How about you play outside for a little and we can eat later. I'll even give you ice cream." She wiping his mouth

Soul nods a yes and she removed him from his high chair. She motions for me to follow her and we go out back. Once we're outside Soul takes off. There are all kinds of toys and play sets out here.

"Who are you?" She says to me

"I'm Payne Cole. I got this letter," I say and hand it to her

"Basically saying that my brother just found out he had a kid and that I'm his legal guardian now."

She reads the letter in disbelief and shakes her head no.

"I'm sorry Mr.Cole but I've had Soul for two years. I named him. Tiana gave me full custody of him before even giving birth. He's my son now." She says

"Yes and I understand that, but being that you're not biologically related to him, I can take him if I want to."

"Over my dead body you will. Where was your brother when he sat at the hospital for a week before they called me? Better yet where were you?"

"My whereabouts then are none of your concern being that the kid wasn't even mine yet. As for Antony...well he says that this Tiana girl told him she was handling it. He thought she meant an abortion. Apparently he ran into her about a year ago and she gave him this letter," I say handing her another one

"Stating that his kid was alive and well and that you have him. When he found out he called me and told me. I did some research. Thy both went off the grid for a while and then this letterand since he never gave up his rights then he has the right to give him to me now."

"But why? Why doesn't he want him? Why do you want him? Why take him from me? What have I done?"

"Antony is not fit to be a father. He's just now twenty, me on the other hand. I'm thirty-four with a successful publishing company and we want the kid to b-"

"Soul. His name is Soul Theo Karlin."

"I'm sorry, we want Soul to be around his family."

She places her hands on her temple.

"I'm so confused. You want to come just take my son away after two years. Not to mention that Tiana is still missing and Antony or whoever he is doesn't even want him."

"Antony isn't in a good place. I haven't seen him in years so when he called me I was surprised. I was even more surprised when I got both those letters in the later. I don't want to be the bad guy and take your son but he has real family."

"I am his real family." She snaps, " He doesn't even know who you are."

"I'm sorry to offend you."

"So you just want to take him?"

"I no wanna go mommy." We both look over to see Soul standing on the porch now

"Oh baby. You don't have to go? This Payne. Can you say hi to him?" She says as she scoops him into her lap

"Hi." He waves to me

"Payne is going to be coming around a lot more. He's a going to help me with and you're going to meet lots of new people who love you." She says to me

Soul smiles up at her and nods his head. She tells him to play for a little more and then they'll eat.

"Look I'm not letting you take my son. If we have to go to court so be it. If you want to handle this outside of courts then that's fine too. You can see him as much as you want. He can meet your family, but you're not taking him away from me." She glances back to him

I look at her looking at him and I smile to myself. If I take him it'll just be and him. He'll need a mom right. I mean did I really expect to just take him. Did I ever really want to take him? I just wanted to make sure he was in a good place.

"I don't want to take him. I just want him to know that he has family, also since I don't have kids and Antony has declined his, Soul is set to inherit a pretty big piece of my families publishing company. That is if he chooses to accept when the time is right."

She looks at me, I can see the mistrust on her face.

"You can stay for food. We'll talk more. I can show you the paperwork that says he's mine. You can show me paperwork proving you're actually his uncle."

I laugh.

"Here's a picture of my brother." I say pulling it from my wallet

As soon as she sees the picture she gasps.

"Ok so he's Antony's kid but you don't look that much like them." She shrugs

"Yea I took after our mom." I say with a shrug