Chapter 29 #4
“Don’t be smiling and talking to me now, girl,” I giggled as she babbled and showed off her dimples.
I walked towards the stairs that were at the front of the house and I instantly noticed that the front door was closed.
I thought Armias would still be standing there talking to Rahesha because that’s where I saw him last on camera.
He also never rejoined me, which I’m sure he would have done if Rahesha had left.
When I walked deeper into the foyer I saw exactly why the door was closed.
This was a con of living in a big, spacious house.
There was too much space between each room, making it hard to eavesdrop the old fashioned way.
“Is that my grand baby?” Rahesha smiled gleefully while standing up.
“Yes, this is Little Miss Alouri.”
She was still smiling from ear to ear while ooing and cooing. Her baby babble was the cutest thing ever and could melt the ice around a cold heart. Apparently it was having its effects on Rahesha because she was all teary eyed as she walked over to us.
“Can I hold her?” Her voice cracked as she held her hands out. To my surprise, Alouri reached for her. She was a relatively friendly baby who’d allow anyone to hold her, but she didn’t reach for anyone except her daddy. This was monumental.
I glanced over at Armias to gauge his reaction to all of this.
He’d been pretty adamant about our daughter not meeting Rahesha.
He was so hard up about it that he put his foot down when I wanted to take Alouri to Milan’s sleepover.
I figured that if he invited Rahesha into the house today that he knew there was a large chance that she’d finally meet her granddaughter.
I was staring a hole through him to see how he felt about his mom laying eyes on Alouri in person, but he was seemingly off in his own world as he stared into space.
Something was wrong with him, but his issue couldn’t have been with Rahesha if she was still here.
Therefore, I handed Alouri off to her grandma.
“Heyyy, Honey’s baby. You are just as pretty as the day is long!” She cooed, and Alouri blubbered a bunch of gibberish back her way.
“Yeaaa, pretty girl! I love you, tooooo,” she kissed her head, before looking up at me. “She reminds me so much of Aspen and Aneesah.”
“I can definitely see that. I also see you and Big Armias in her.”
“I do, too, because these are my dimples…I’m so happy to finally meet and hold her.”
“I hate that it’s been this long…”
“Me too,” her voice cracked again. “Oh Lord, I’m not going to cry.”
“Hey, as long as you respect me then I have no issue with you coming around,” I held my hands up.
“I promise to be on my best behavior, Lourdes. I’m truly sorry for everything and I’ll work overtime to prove it.”
“You don’t have to prove anything to me. Just continue to show up for your kids and your grandbaby.”
I meant that with every fiber of my being.
I didn’t need her love or support because my own mama showed up for me everyday.
Ideally, having a good relationship with my in-laws was important, but it wasn’t the end all, be all.
I just wanted her to be a better version of herself for her children.
Specifically the ones who were still in her house.
“I hear you, and I’m going to do that. But I also want you to be able to lean on me for help or whatever you need. I know I’ve done and said a lot, but I want to fix it Lourdes. I hope with time we can have a good relationship, too.”
“I’m willing to try, Rahesha, but like you said, it’ll take time.”
“Thank you,” she sniffled before looking down at Alouri and smiling big. “You look too cute in your little pink Juicy Couture dress.”
“I just slipped that on her because she got out of the pool,” I explained.
My baby wasn’t as perfectly put together as she always was.
I took her swimsuit off the second we got out of the pool and put her in some dry clothes.
The Juicy Couture sundress was cute, but it wasn’t a full, well thought out outfit. Plus her hair wasn’t combed.
“She’s so pretty!”
“Thank you,” I smiled while realizing that she didn’t care about Alouri not being all dressed up. She was merely happy to meet her for the first time. I glanced over at Armias again to see if he was catching all of this. He was still staring into space.
“Baby, are you okay?!”
He finally snapped out of it and looked up at me with a light smile, appearing normal again. I didn’t know what to think. Perhaps he was stunned that his mom finally seemed to have some good sense.
“Yea, I’m good. Mama, you gotta take some of this food we cooked today home to my brother’s and sister’s.”
Him addressing Rahesha causally as she held Alouri pretty much confirmed that he was okay with what was unfolding.
“I’ll definitely take some because I wasn’t cooking tonight.”
We all shared a laugh, further confirming that everything was copacetic.
I wasn’t sure what the future held for me and Rahesha, but it was evident that she loved her granddaughter and that her granddaughter loved her.
I was more than willing to step back, take my personal feelings out of it, and allow them to build a bond.
All I needed from Rahesha was respect, and it was clear that Armias had forced her into learning that was nonnegotiable.