Chapter 16 #2
“Love you too,” I say, then end the call. All the hours and stress over Ace’s case is over and my brother doesn’t have to step foot back in jail. Hearing the relief in his voice is all the thanks I needed.
When I end the call I see I have another text from Shuga. She has been texting all day, being her normal nosy self. So I hit her next.
“What took you so long to call?” she answers.
“We were at lunch but we just got back to the house. What’s going on?”
“I wanted to know how things are going. I got the pictures of the dresses. I had a black one but I think I’m going to find something with a little green in it,” she says and I grin.
“You don’t have to wear green. Keep your coins and go with the dress you already have.”
“Don’t count my money. I’m good and I want some green too. Asali’s suit is black. He’s fine, but I’m getting a green dress,” she insists. “Everything’s okay though. Is my little princess enjoying her time with my new daughter-in-law?”
“Yeah, she really is. They’re upstairs drawing on the wall.”
“Aww, she’s letting Mireya draw. She really is taking to her but I knew it. I knew it. We all have that one, and when they come into your life, it works. It just works. Now I can stop worrying about you and Niya,” she says.
“And why are you worried about us?” I ask, caught off guard by her words.
“I worry about all of my men, and as my baby, I worried just a little bit more about you. I know you are this successful defense attorney and the man you were raised to be. I’m proud of you, more than you probably even know, but I know your heart and I know you.
You’re a great father and you do a great job of taking care of our little princess, but every man needs a partner, a life mate to navigate things.
I felt like you dismissed that because of Niya and I worried that you would miss out on yours.
And I know you have women; I keep Niya when necessary, but I know it’s never been anyone serious.
We haven’t seen a woman with you since that girl,” she says, referring to Janis.
Shuga was never a fan. “So I worried and you putting bass in your voice to question me about it isn’t going to change that,” she adds, then laughs.
“I’m worrying less now because of Mireya.
She’s genuine and I can tell she comes from good stock.
She reminds me of myself a lot. You saw how she was with your family.
That says a lot about a woman and I saw how you looked at her and she looked at you.
But what did it for me today was the smile on my princess’s face in the pictures of her in those dresses,” she says and I smile.
My baby girl is always happy, but today, she’s been excited and I’ve loved seeing it.
“She really likes Mireya,” I say.
“I know and that’s why I’m good, real good, and my worrying is lessening. It’ll probably go away when I see rings. It’s hard to believe you’re married without them,” she throws in.
“I’m handling that.”
“Okay. No ring, no marriage. No matter what, I always have my ring on,” she says.
“When Asali put it on my finger, he promised to always love and protect me and I promised the same. Marriage is sacred and our rings are the tokens of that sacred commitment. Get a ring and make it one she deserves. That’s the last time I’m mentioning that. ”
“I doubt that,” I say and she laughs.
“I swear, you are just like Asali. I love you, son.”
“Love you too.”
As soon as I hang up the phone, Niya comes flying into the kitchen. “Daddy, she drew me a big ol’ tree!” she says excitedly and almost out of breath.
“Did you run down those stairs?”
“No. I walked fast,” she says, obviously lying. Her little chest is heaving.
“Really? ’Cause you look like you ran. There’s no running in the house, especially on the stairs. You can get hurt, okay?”
“Okay,” she pouts, then gets over it quickly. “But come see the tree.”
She’s too excited to pay me any attention. So I place my hand on her chest. “When you calm down, we will go back upstairs.”
While nodding fast and still breathing hard, she says, “Okay. Okay, I’m calm.”
“I doubt that, but let’s go,” I tell her, then grab her hand.
If she had the power, my baby girl would drag me up these stairs because I can tell I’m not moving fast enough for her. There’s a little scowl on her pretty face. She looks so cute I can’t even be mad.
When we walk into the room, Mireya is standing at the wall examining their work. There’s a huge tree taking up most of the wall on the left side. She has a little skills because it doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would.
“See, Daddy. The tree is all the way up there. I drew the birds and that’s my sun and boat under the tree,” Niya proudly points out once she rushes to the wall. “You like it?” she asks, beaming.
“I love it. The birds and the boat are my favorite,” I tell her.
“And the tree too, Daddy,” Niya says.
“Yeah. The tree is beautiful too,” I say and Mireya smiles.
“But I agree with your daddy. The boat is gorgeous and so are the birds. We need more though. Don’t you think?” Mireya asks Niya. “Like up top here,” Mireya says while pointing up at the wall.
“Yeah, we do,” Niya answers quickly.
“Daddy,” Mireya says and damn. I like hearing her call me that. I guess she sees the change in my expression because she shakes her head and grins. “Quintus, grab a marker and help. We need birds up top,” she says with a smirk.
“Nah, y’all got that. My birds might mess this up.”
“Yeah. He don’t know how to draw,” Niya says, turning on me right in my damn face. Mireya laughs. “He don’t,” Niya says, then shrugs. “Daddy, hold me and I’ll draw them.”
“Even though you clowning me, I can do that,” I say ,then tickle her sides from behind her. She giggles. “I’m going to remember how you played me when you ask me to draw again.”
“Mireya gon’ be here. You gon’ spend the night?” Niya asks. Mireya’s whole face changes. Her eyes widen, her eyebrows tent, and her teeth pull in the side of her bottom lip.
“She can,” I add and my wife’s eyebrows become more tented.
“I didn’t bring anything to stay,” she says, almost apologetically.
“You can use my soap and stuff. Daddy buy me stuff for girls,” Niya offers.
“Aww, that’s so sweet of you. We’ll see,” Mireya says. She’ll concede; it’s two against one.
“And you can sleep in my room,” I whisper in Mireya’s ear before scooping Niya up.
Mireya grins as she hands Niya the marker. After Mireya agrees with Niya’s location of the additional birds, I hold her as she draws her wide Ms—the birds—on the wall. Once their work of art is complete, Mireya and Niya walk into Niya’s bathroom and I hang back and watch their interaction.
My wife is so attentive and Niya is all ears. She hangs on Mireya’s every word. I even catch her mimicking some of Mireya’s actions ,like how she put the soap in her hand and how she dried her hands. When they walk out, Niya informs me of our evening plans.
“We going to the movies to watch Bluey and then the princess,” Niya says, referring to our theater and game room here upstairs. “Come with us, Daddy.”
Because I’m curious about her new favorite princess with the green dress, I follow them down the hall to the entertainment room.
We have a pool table, foosball table, six leather theater chairs, a mini bar, and 180” zero edge television.
Once we are inside, Niya rushes to the bar to rummage through her snack basket.
“This is beautiful. Your entire home is beautiful actually and her room is adorable. When I was a little girl, I wanted a canopy bed so bad but my ma wasn’t having that,” Mireya says with a grin. Her face usually lights up every time she talks about her grandparents.
“Thanks. It looks better with you in it though. I’m glad you are staying tonight.”
“Is that what you heard? Because I said we’ll see,” she counters.
“Niya’s not letting you leave and neither is your husband.”
“I thought it was so cute when she offered her soap to me. She has the sweetest little heart and she’s so talented. I love that you are cultivating her love of art. She’ll probably end up being an artist.”
“I think so too, but as of this week, she wants to be a firefighter; it changes weekly,” I say and she laughs.
“Daddy, you want some fruit snacks,” Niya yells from the bar area. ”I got you one, Miss Mireya.”
“Why the hell do I feel like the third wheel?” I ask Mireya even though I’m loving everything about their budding relationship.
“Aww don’t,” Mireya whispers before joining Niya by the bar.
While they get the snacks, I turn on the entertainment system and cue up the KidTV app. Then I walk over to the bar and grab water and a beer. Mireya and Niya have their snacks and drinks and are getting comfortable in the seats.
“After this can we make pizzas, Daddy?” Niya asks.
“You make pizzas?” Mireya asks, sounding surprised.
“We make the pizzas together but I can cook. Shuga made sure we all could cook. If you haven’t figured it out, you married well,” I tell her before pecking her lips.
“I see.” She smirks. “Lucky me.”
“Nah. Lucky me,” I say, then kiss her again. Then I turn to Niya. “Yeah, baby. We can make pizzas.”