Chapter 13 #3
It didn’t take us long to get to the school, which was essentially right down the street from us.
Of course, the principal met us outside, and we walked the entire campus.
The principal, or headmaster as she called herself, gave us the history of the school and answered most of our questions.
I actually liked the school and what it offered while Savior took the liberty of asking about security and questioning their policy for people not on the pickup list. We were almost through the visit when a woman walked out an office and lost her whole ability to move.
I had never seen anything like it, but she was staring in Savior’s face like she knew him, and I was willing to bet she did.
It was all in the way that she stared at him like he was supposed to have some familiarity to her.
In true Savior fashion, he ignored her until the headmaster introduced her.
“Good morning, Dr. Stokes. This is Kale Harris and her parents. We’re on our way to admissions.” She smiled tightly.
The woman nodded and even offered a polite nod. During that time, her eyes only left Savior for seconds at a time.
The headmaster then turned to us. “Dr. Stokes is one of our guidance counselors here who help to provide top-tier support for every student who attends.”
I guess Dr. Stokes broke out of her trance because Savior did a good job of acting like he didn’t know her. “It was nice meeting you both.” Then she got down on a knee and looked at Kale with a big phony ass smile on her face. “You too, Ms. Kale. I can’t wait to get to know you this school year.”
I nodded and so did Savior as he grabbed my hand, and we followed he headmaster to the admissions suite.
In actuality, signing Kale up for school was quick and easy.
She was all set to go to school in the next few weeks.
The only thing I needed to take care of was her uniform that she was to have by the first day of school.
Now we were settled into the car on the way to the boat, and my thoughts were running rampant.
I wanted to curse his ass out, but I didn’t know why, and Kale was right on the side of me.
No matter how much I tried to talk her stubborn ass into getting in the middle, she just had to sit in near the window.
“So you finna have an attitude the whole ride?” he questioned.
I chewed the inside of my cheek before I lied.
“I don’t have and attitude. I’m just thinking.
” I didn’t have a right or reason to have an attitude, because whoever she was had to have been before me, and he didn’t disrespect me one time for the bitch.
I liked my man rude and stone-faced, and he was definitely that.
Then why the fuck was I still trying to find a reason to be mad?
“Bullshit. Yeen said two words in the same sentence to me since shorty acted starstruck in that hallway.”
Instead of lying again or avoiding his glare, I checked on Kale, who now wore her headphones, and then my eyes went to him. “I got jealous, and I damn sure didn’t like the way she was looking at you. I was looking for something to get angry over, but there is nothing, and I’m getting over it.”
He chuckled. “Nutty ass shit.”
I rested against him, feeling the agitation leaving my being. “If you knew already, then why ask?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “When it comes to yo’ wannabe fickle ass, a nigga never knows. I like to be sure.”
I laughed. “So we’re spending the entire day on the boat?” I asked.
“Yeah. I already had the food and shit picked up. Lil’ mama’s request because she sees what I mean about the water. It’s peaceful, even when you be on your shit.”
I pursed my lips. “I’ve only been ‘on my shit’, as you so elegantly call it, because I actually worry about you. You have been a little short and in your head, lately.”
“I’m making sure we’re good an—”
“There’s no need to explain it to me. I get it.
That doesn’t stop me from worrying about you and all that you do.
” I looked at him seriously. The day he called me from the hospital, telling me to get dressed and meet him there, my heart dropped from my chest. I feared the worst, and the entire ride was hell for me.
It was as if my mind had conjured up the most fucked-up things and brought them forth for me to fear.
He didn’t respond. Instead, he kissed my temple and held me closer for the duration of the ride.
That was his way of silently comforting himself and me.
I knew it wasn’t that simple for him just to tell me everything would be fine, because then I’d still have questions, or I’d still worry.
The thing about worry that I had learned over the years was I had no control over it.
If I worried about a person, then that was what it was.
I could tell him I was worried about him until I was blue in the face, but that did nothing.
I’d still worry about him, and he’d still do the things he did.
It was simply human nature, and I accepted it and him.
I just had to catch myself and focus on other things instead of worry.
Once we boarded his boat, of course I went to get Kale set up in the den while he sat out on the deck with a glass of brown liquor in his hands.
By the time I returned, he was deep in thought, and I just wanted to be up under him.
It was funny because if I didn’t want to pick with him, then I wanted to be all in his face.
Savior was the type to live in his mind most times, so that alone made me wanna crawl in that motherfucker with him most days.
“You think too much.” I used his words on him.
He chuckled and accepted my body crawling into his lap. I loved invading all of his personal space. In his space was where I found the most comfort.
“We gotta talk about something before you get all comfortable.” His hand gripped my bare thigh as he set the glass down and grabbed the manila folder from the side table.
When he had the folder in his hand, he dropped it on my lap.
“This shit is new to me, but if you let me, I plan to give all three of y’all every part of me and some.
I know you probably feel like we could be rushing into this, but it ain’t that at all.
Life is too short to do things in time or put anything off for another day. ”
I listened to him speak as I opened the folder, and the paperwork in front of me brought tears to my face. They were the necessary papers for him to legally adopt Kale as his daughter. I didn’t even know what to say to him. I was speechless.
“I tell you I got you because I do, and this right here is just the beginning of everything we—” My lips against his halted his speech.
“I swear I love you so much,” I said as tears now cascaded down my face.
These were happy tears brought on by the emotions he pulled out of me.
Savior knew nothing about relationships, but day by day, the way he loved and supported me had no bounds.
He had this way about him that not everybody got to see.
It was pure love, and it poured from him like faucet.
“Mommy, why are you crying?” Kale’s voice broke the eye contact between Savior and me.
I looked at her and smiled. “These are happy tears, baby girl.”
She didn’t believe me, so she walked closer.
I chuckled a little. I guess now was a better time than any since I still hadn’t told her about her impending sibling taking over my uterus. “Remember why I told you that you were special?” I maneuvered out of Savior’s lap and onto the cushion so I could pull her closer to me.
She smiled and nodded. “Because you told me that I had a village around me that loves me, even though I don’t have a dad.”
I nodded, but I didn’t get a chance to speak, because he spoke. I guess he sensed that I didn’t know what to say. He sat up like he was about to give an inauguration speech or something.
“Is it alright with you if I become your dad?” he asked in the sincerest tone.
She didn’t respond for a while. Instead, she just looked at him. In typical Kale fashion, she was studying him. Then, after what felt like an entire eternity, a mile-wide smile appeared on her face, and she nodded excitedly. “That means I get to call you Dad, right?”
He nodded his head. “That means I’m your father Kale, even though biologically we don’t share blood.”
“I like that idea. Is that why you were crying, Mom?”
I nodded. “There is also something else.”
Now she was giving me that look like I was about say something to annoy her. I swear she got that shit from my mama. “Now what, Mama?”
“In a few months you’ll be an older sister.”
She screwed her face up. “To what?”
“A baby, Kale.”
“A real one?” she asked.
I swear I didn’t know what I was gonna do with this this child.
Savior laughed. “Yes, Kale. A real baby.”
“Oh, well, okay, I’m going to go watch cartoons. I’ll be back in a little bit, Mommy and Daddy.” The shit slipped off her tongue with ease.
“Well, that was eas—”
“Nothing with Kale is easy, baby. You should know that by now. She will bring this up in a few hours—shit, maybe even a few days. She ponders over things.
He laughed and rested back against the cushion.
Of course I found my way back in his lap, pressing my lips against his exposed neck. “This father thing looks nice on you,” I joked.
“Is that right?” He rested his hands on my ass.
“Yeah, I’d be willing to put out, but too bad yo’ daughter might walk out here and catch us.” I gave him one last peck before attempting to get out of his lap.
He grabbed my chin and brought my lips to his. “Fucking tease.”