A light || Ricky and Nini

Chapter 187

Ricky POV

"Well can I go in and see her? Is she like... giving birth now?" I ask and Todd looks down the hallway again before looking back at me. "She's only 7 centimeters dilated, so she could have anywhere from 10 minutes to three hours before our baby arrives. She'd love to see you right now though." Nini rubs my back and I stand up. "Is this..." I gesture to everything and swallow my emotion. "Is this all my fault? Her giving birth at 8 months... going into labor and-" Todd shakes his head and he takes a deep breath. "None of this is your fault Ricky. She... we... dug ourselves into a hole and it was our fault that all of this happened. You deserved to know about this baby when you came for the wedding, and she and I let our fears take over. And your dad, with that phone call, wasn't out of line at all. He was protecting you, being there for you, and it's about damn time you get that care." I almost feel my heart swell at Todd's words. Nini's hand keeps rubbing my back and my head keeps swimming, but I feel a small smile playing on my lips. "Thank you. I really appreciate that." Todd nods, and he seems to relax a bit. "You should go see your mother before she gets mad at me." He grins and I nod, moving over to press my lips to Nini's forehead. "I'll be back okay? You'll be good here? I think I might want to do this alone." Nini smiles and tilts her head up. "I'll be right here when you're done." She says and she squeezes my hand which gives me a burst of encouragement. Todd tells me he'll stay back as well, walking over towards the seats next to Nini. "I'll keep your lady company since I can't seem to find my son." Nini laughs genuinely and gives me a confident smile which is all I need to encourage my feet to walk towards my mom's hospital room.

I tap on the door lightly before hearing her voice grant me entrance. "Hey mom." I say, walking over to the side of her bed. "Hey there baby. I can only assume you're as stressed as me?" I can't help but laugh, fixing her sheet to stop it from falling off of the bed. I cover her gently and even though I'm not looking at her directly, she's studying me with pure emotion in her eyes. "Well I mean I don't have to push a kid out of my body so I don't think we can compare." She laughs and reaches for my hand. I still, before giving into her touch. "I'm so sorry Ricky. I'm so sorry for all of this." I shrug and look at the wall. "It's whatever. Some people find out about their soon-to-be half brothers the same day they enter the world." I try to joke but my mom doesn't laugh.  "Todd was insisting I tell you when you arrived in Chicago for the wedding. That's why he came to the airport with me, to pick you up. But I got too nervous and I just didn't want to ruin my wedding and I'm so selfish but-" I cut off my mom and meet her eyes. "I wouldn't have ruined your wedding. I probably wouldn't have even reacted like this if you had told me when you found out. But it's whatever, what's done is done." She squeezes my hand and shakes her head. "I want you in this baby's life. I want... I want to pretend like I didn't screw all of this up." I rub my neck with my free hand and huff. "Like we're one big happy family?" She looks hesitant to nod, but she does. "I know you don't exactly like Todd but-" I cut her off with a wave. "Hey no, I never said that. I didn't like that you were dating him when you were married to dad, I didn't like that you got married like three months after your divorce, I didn't like that you hid the fact that he had a son or that he just kept showing up all the time, but I never said I didn't like him. He's not that bad." I say, thinking back to the conversation I just had with her new husband. My mom smiles, then frowns and then squeezes my hand. "I guess I've really screwed up a lot of things huh?" I nod and she gives me a sympathetic look. "Look I don't even get your attention as it is, I'm such an afterthought in your life. How do you expect I'd react to this stuff when I'm the last to know?" Her thumb runs across my knuckles and her eyes tear up. "You're number one in my life baby. Right now, you're all I care about-" I cut her off with a laugh. "Oh so not the human coming out of you?" She joins me in laughing and places her other hand underneath mine. "Ricky I swear I can do so much better. Baby I promise that-" I shake my head and give her a small smile. "I don't really want promises, because I'll be fucking crushed if you don't keep them." I cringe as I swear but she nods, choosing to ignore it. "That's okay, I'll show you darling. I'll show you this family will work somehow. There's a reason this baby is being born here." I pull my hand from hers. "Alright." I say and relief flushes through her expression. "Okay. Okay thank you baby. Thank you." I nod, taking a deep breath. I handled that much better than I thought I would, and when I look at my mom it's almost like she's thinking the same thing. "I'm so grateful you're my son." She says and I can't help but smile, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "Love you." I say and she smiles, squeezing my arm. "Could you grab Todd baby? I've got a feeling this might happen sooner than everyone's expecting." She says, uncomfortably shifting and gripping the sides of the hospital bed. "Oh uh sure, um yeah okay. Good luck." I say, giving her a thumbs up and rushing out of the room to find her husband, and my support system.

Nini POV

"So you and Ricky then?" Todd attempts to make conversation with me and I laugh, giving him a glance. "Yeah probably for life." I say and Todd laughs genuinely, nodding along. "He seems like a great kid. I haven't gotten to know him as much as I would like though." I bite my lip and look at my lap. "I don't think that's either of your faults." I mumble and Todd surprises me by nodding. "Maybe mine, I can't imagine how I let myself walk in during the middle of a performance to meet my girlfriend's son for the first time." I let out a laugh and turn to him. "Memories for the kids." I shrug and he smiles. Our small talk is going better than I could've imagined, and I couldn't help but start to like the man. "I really do want to get to know Ricky though. It's hard with the distance between us, and he can be a little closed off and aggressive but-" I cut Todd off and immediately touch my hand to the promise ring around my neck. "He's more bark than bite I promise. That boy doesn't have a hurtful bone in his body. He's just been a victim to a lot of shitty situations." Todd nods. "No I get that. My kid Jason didn't have it nearly as complicated and adjusting to Lynne and the new life was still hard. Ricky deserves a lot of slack." I nod and give him a small smile. "Everything will work out." I shrug and almost like I summoned him with my unofficial end to the conversation, I feel two warm arms engulf me from behind my chair. "I've got no clue what you're talking about but you've got that right." Ricky's lips are against my ear and I can't help but melt into him. "You're needed in the room Todd." He says, keeping his arms still tightly wound around me and his lips still close to my skin. "Sounds good buddy, I'll see you in a bit." Ricky's body stills at the nickname, but then I feel him relax a bit and he mumbles out his next words. "Alright cool." Not an ounce of anger, aggression or malice present in his tone.

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When we reach 200 chapters, Wattpad is going to make me start a new book. It'll be A Light Part 2. No worries though, and I'll remind ya'll as we reach that point that your updates will no longer be in this book.