And then there was one.

Bonnie: You're the father 💣

One lone text changed his life in seconds.

He was going to be a father.

He wanted to tell Ginger first, but things had not been going great between them since the Bonnie fiasco. After he bailed her out of jail, she cursed him out and left for the airport. Bonnie dropped the charges because she did not want her life blowing up in the media, and he thanked her for that. But she doubled down that she did not want Ginger anywhere near her or her baby.

So he went to see the other woman in his life. The only other woman that loved him no matter what.

He was a momma's boy and his mother was his best friend. She had him young, at nineteen while in college. She had to drop out and raise him. She eventually went back and earned a Bachelors in Education and taught music at an elementary school. She could sing too, she had a lovely voice.

He learned everything he knew about singing from her. She helped push him to not hideaway his talent, as he was extremely shy as a kid. Without his mother pressing him to do big things, he would not be a Grammy award winning artist.

She would be so disappointed in him.

"Hey ma!" he yelled out when he let himself into her Hollywood Hills house he bought for her before he bought his own house.

She never married. She dated a bit, but never serious. She always said her focus was on him. He wanted her to enjoy life now that he didn't need her.

"Boy, stop yelling in my house!" His mother was in the kitchen stirring a pot. Collard greens by the smell of it. Also cooking he smelled cornbread, baked ham with a pineapple glaze and baked mac n cheese.

"Why you doing all this cooking? Who's coming over?" He gave his mother a kiss on the cheek before wrapping his arms around her, squeezing her tight.

"Boy get off me!"

"I love you too ma."

His mother was gorgeous and he wasn't saying that because he was biased. She looked like Halle Berry only better. She did not look forty-four, not at all. When he took her to events with him they thought they were dating, or sister and brother. He had to correct them real quick.

His mother had hazel green eyes, sepia-brown skin, dark brown hair worn in a short, low haircut, and she was just as thin as him. She stayed slim because she was a fitness buff, not because she ate healthy. His mother cooked like there were five or more kids in the house, and it was always only them. Except in Oakland, the neighborhood kids would come over when their parents were not home, or didn't have enough food to make dinner, or just because sometimes.

She taught at the elementary school that was down the street. She gave extra vocal lessons to anyone who wanted them. There was no one like his mother.

"I was making this for you and Misty, that girl not feeding you right, You're skin and bones," his mother went on. "Now I taught the poor thing how to cook, but you know how those rich folk are. Pay someone else to do it."

He couldn't believe he had not told his mother he broke up with Mystique. Now he had to tell her that on top of letting her know she was going to be a grandmother.

"Mystique and I broke up."

His mother stopped stirring her pot and gave him her full attention.

"Beg your pardon boy. I thought you bought a ring and everything? Did she turn you down?"

"No ma...I kinda...I'm seeing someone else."

His mother crossed her arms across her chest. "This someone have a name?"

"Ginger. Ginger Hollands."

"Ginger Hollands? That lil girl from Petite Trois?"

"Yes ma, but it's been a long time since she's been in that group. She's solo. I told you I got to know her through M'Liyah when we were working together."

His mother went to wash her hands and then wiped them on a towel. Her not saying anything meant she had a lot to say and she was trying to get her words right. She checked inside the oven, turned it off, grabbed her potholders and pulled out the ham.

He waited.

"So is she pregnant?"

"Huh? What? Mom, no...uh...Ginger is not pregnant."

She looked him up and down, sucking her teeth at him. "Boy why you lying?"

"Ma, I swear, Ginger is not pregnant." And no lie was told. "But uh..."

"Spit it out lil monster."

"There is someone else who is. And it's mine."

"Boy! Have you lost all the good sense I gave you!"

"It just happened, I-"

"Boy babies don't just happen, tell me you know better than that. You out here living your life, huh, Mr. Superstar. All these girls giving you attention, you're hopping bed to bed now? You know I raised you better than that."

"You did ma. I'm sorry. I just...I don't know. I was with Bonnie Walker and then-"

"Bonnie Walker!" His mother threw up her hands and walked away from him. "I'd rather it be Ginger pregnant, or Misty..."

"Ma, you don't even know Bonnie."

"Hell I don't. She's been splattered over the world for damn near forever. She always putting her business out there. In fact...I thought she said Icee was the father?"

"No, he never cheated on his wife. It's mine. Bonnie did the DNA test already."

"Ain't like I should be surprised. You're handsome, you're rich, you got these lil girls thinking you the the next Michael Jackson or something."

He chuckled at her. He was far from his level. He preferred comparisons to Chris Brown, Neo or Usher.

"So did you cheat on Ginger, or you cheated on Misty?"

"Misty. I couldn't stay with her when I knew I had feelings for Ginger. But then I told Ginger about Bonnie and...tried to get her to talk with Bonnie with me, and that did not go well. Now she won't talk to me."

"And you're here because you want me to help sort your life out, huh?"

"No, because I'm hungry and I know you cooked," he said as he picked off a piece of the ham.

"Boy get them paws off my ham!"

They didn't talk for awhile until they made their plates and sat at the kitchen table. Even then, they both got in a few good bites of food before anything was said.

"Ma...I think I love Ginger."

"You tell her that?"

"No. I'm scared she doesn't feel the same way. And now the baby...my baby..."

"He better look like you!" His mother pinched his cheeks. "I want a mini TimTim!"

"I want to be a good father...and I want Ginger too. Ma, I don't want to give her up."

"Why would you have to?"

"Ginger is not going to want me when she finds out the baby is mine. Bonnie doesn't want Ginger anywhere around the baby. How can I be a good father in that situation?"

"Look here lil boy, Imma tell you like this...if you love her, work it out. If you love your baby, and you will, work it out." She stuffed a scoop of mac n cheese in her mouth. "Now when am I gonna meet Ginger and teach her how to cook my baby's favorite food?"

**************

After he left his mother's place, he went shopping and bought way too many baby things. He was going to set the baby up with a nursery at his place. He would have to work out visitation with Bonnie, but he wanted to spend as much time as he could with his son.

He then texted Ginger

Babe, call me back, please

He was supposed to be working on a new album, but his focus was not on that. He could not write a love song when his world was in shambles. He was supposed to be the smooth, ladies man singer that made everyone want to fall in love, stay with that person forever, have a happily ever after. Right now, he did not know if he believed in love.

If Ginger was not going to come to him, he was going to go to see her.

He did not want to warn her that he was coming to Atlanta, he just showed up, at her place, knocking on the door. She opened it with a scarf wrapped around her head, a white tank top and leggings. She looked a mess, like she had been crying for days. Eyes red, face ashen and dry. This was the worse he had seen Ginger and he had seen her lots of different times without hair and makeup.

"I don't want to talk to you Tempo."

Ginger walked away from him, but least she did not slam the door on his face. That was a good sign. He walked in and closed the door behind him.

"Gin, I'm sorry. I'm sorry all this is happening to us."

"Yeah, sure," she sighed and sat on her sofa, grabbing a bottle of Ciroc on the table and tilting it to her lips.

She was drunk. Probably drinking for days. He went to her and grabbed the bottle from her. "Stop this!"

"Fuck off!"

"Gin, I'm here and I'm not going to leave you till we talk about this." He sat on the sofa next to her, but she scooted far away from him. "I shouldn't have made you come with me to see...Bonnie, but I just wanted us all to work this out."

She chuckled. "You know what, this is just the roosts coming to taunt me."

"The what?"

"The roosts coming back...fuck, it, karma!" She jumped up. "All the fucked up things I did in my life. Fucking with Spitfire...fucking up my career...pissing over my friends M'Liyah and Melodie. I can't have one goddamn good thing in my life, why did I ever think I could have you."

"Gin, I'm not going anywhere."

"Yeah, right!" She stomped around the room, kicking one of her shoes that lay in the floor. "When that baby comes, I'll lose you Tempo. To that bitch! That evil, crazy, good for nothing bitch! You and her...a family...she's having a boy. Your son! And me? What can I give you?"

He rubbed a hand over his face. He did not know what to say to Ginger to make it all better. He could lie, but the truth was, things would change now that he knew the baby was his.

"I can't have anything!" she yelled. "I can't have the perfect little life like Kitty and Icee have. Why can't I? Because of what I did to Craig?"

"Babe, I don't think..."

"I destroyed him, someone so good. Tempo, I'll destroy you as well."

"Babe, stop, don't think like that." He never saw this side if Ginger before. He knew she was still so destroyed by both the Craig and Spitfire situation, but he knew he was not like either of those guys. "Gin, Craig was not a saint.

"Stop! Don't say that about him! He was."

"Did you put the drugs down his nose? Down his throat? Did you even supply the drug? Babe, you weren't even there."

She broke down crying into a ball on the floor and he rushed over to her, pulling her in his arms. He kept rocking her and rubbing her back as she cried.

"I don't want to hurt you Tempo."

"It's okay if you hurt me, I'm a big boy."

"I can't...I can't be around you, with her...a baby. I don't know if I can do it."

He kissed her forehead. "I wouldn't ask you to do that."

"Tem...she had a part of you...I haven't had...it hurts."

He held her tighter, never wanting to let her go. There were no words he could say to take away how she felt. So many things he wanted to say but he did not know if that would make it better or worse.

"It was just sex." or

"I don't care about her." or

"It meant nothing." or

"But I love you."

Nothing he could say right now would make her feel better.

"Have you eaten? How much did you drink? Baby, let me take care of you."

Tempo helped her undress and shower, then get dressed. He went into the kitchen and started making them something to eat. With her limited supplies, he was able to make boxed mac n cheese with canned peas and hotdogs. Ginger still ate like she was a poor eight year old. Poor thing.

He sat a bowl of the pasta in front of her and sat next to her.

"No noodles, but this'll do, huh."

She groaned, holding the spoon and moving the pasta around. "Will you stop about the noodles, that was eons ago."

"Our first date," he said, scooping up some mac n cheese and eating it.

"Ummm...that wasn't exactly a date. You, always hungry, came to mooch off of me."

"Something like that," he said with a chuckle.

After they ate, she wanted to snuggle with him on the couch. Holding her in his arms, he finally managed the words to her.

"The baby is mine, Gin." He felt her try to move, but he held her tighter. "It doesn't change us, I promise you that. I need you in my life."

"I can't be around your son...with her. I won't!"

"Is this why you don't wanta make love to me?"

"No! Yes! I don't know! Yes!" She looked down at her hands, examining her fingers without the manicured nails. "I just...don't want to be disappointed. It's like...we waited all these years...what if...we both don't satisfy each other."

He grinned, kissing her neck. "That will never be the case with me. Never. And if you're thinking about what Bo..she said, trust me baby, I can go all night when it's with someone I love."

Ginger turned to look at him. "You love me?"

"Always have."

She leaned close to him and kissed him. "I love you too Tem. I don't want to lose you to her."

"You're not. I'm not going anywhere. And if you want to wait till you're ready for us to take that step, I'm still not going anywhere."

She nodded and laid her head on his chest.

This still was not going to be a happily ever after he envisioned for Ginger and him, but he was going to fight to do whatever he needed to do to keep Ginger, and to have a relationship with his son.

A/N: Should be no shock Tempo is the father. When I first wrote Err'Thang About Ya ten years ago, the spinoffs did not exists, so that meant no Tempo, definitely no Sharif. Tucker was the father. But with additional characters, I thought to have several possibilities of Bonnie's baby father.

I settled on Tempo for many reasons. He was supposed to get the spinoff novel after Err'thang, dealing with his feelings for Ginger. I felt I did not have enough for a whole book of him, and readers loved to hate Bonnie and I wanted to see if I could make her a likeable person.

All that to say, Tempo will have a son. Tucker has a son as well. Kitty and Icee have a son. All relatively the same age. After the seven Six Sexxy Sisters books, there will be a new series dedicated to the kids. I'm just saying...I'll be writing about these characters forever!