Chapter 8 #2
Sitting the tray on the nightstand, I leaned over and shook her gently.
Just like earlier, she stirred awake, and I swore I felt my heart skip a few beats when she smiled at me.
Unlike any other time, the gesture actually met her eyes.
The light had been missing from them for the last few days, but I was noticing it shining more and more as time passed.
“I didn’t even realize I’d dozed off again and that quickly.” She giggled softly.
“I didn’t want to wake you, so my apologies for that, but I need you to at least take the medicine.
” I grabbed the small, plastic cup and handed it to her.
She tossed it back quickly then gave the medicine cup back to me.
“Can you at least take a few bites of the soup and drink the water?” I asked. “You need to stay hydrated.”
She smiled as she nodded. “Yes, Dr. Kiyan, I can eat a little and drink the water.”
“Good,” I said then stepped back. “Ava asked me to build a snowman, so we’re going to go out for a little.”
She was stirring the soup but paused the motion to peer up at me. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t,” I said, making my way to the other side of the room to get a hoodie and my coat from the closet.
I pulled the hoodie over my head first, then layered it with the coat before going to find my gloves in the drawer of my nightstand.
“She asked me to, so I’m going to take her out.
Where’s your phone?” She grabbed it from the other side of the bed and held it up.
“Put my number in it in case you need to get in contact with me while we’re outside. ”
“It’s off,” she announced, her flushed cheeks turning red from embarrassment, and I frowned.
“What do you mean off?”
“Aldrick disconnected my service,” she clarified. “I’m going to get another, but that will be a lot later. For now I’ll just have to connect it to Wi-Fi and communicate with Ava’s doctors and teachers through email.”
“It’s fine,” I let her know, taking it from her and keying my number in after seeing she was already connected to my Wi-Fi. She could still text me or FaceTime her daughter if she woke up and needed to check on her. “Just hit me up if you need us. We can get you a new phone when you get better.”
I turned and hurried out of the room because I didn’t want her to protest. She had a daughter who had special needs, so she needed a reliable form of communication.
I also couldn’t stand to hear another fucked up thing that her husband had done because I might have got in my car to go find him. I was fed up with him.
When I got back downstairs, Ava was still in the same place where I left her at the bar on her iPad.
I asked if she was ready to go outside and she let me know she was by hopping down off the bar stool and running in my direction.
We made a detour to the coat closet by the front door to grab one of the scarves I never wore and we grabbed a carrot from the fridge before going outside.
I got started on the first ball of snow then let her finish it up.
She didn’t want me to help with the next one, so I sat back and watched her do her thing.
Ava was a very smart little girl. She canvased each ball of snow that she rolled and made sure that it was nice and smooth.
I explained that she couldn’t make them all the same size while she worked then let her know when she’d made each ball big enough.
It was just a snowman, but I was impressed watching her mimic what she’d just seen me doing and essentially perfect it.
When she was done, I helped her stack them on top of each other, then the two of us set out on a journey to find enough rocks to use for his buttons, smile, and eyes.
Once we’d gathered enough, we went back to her snowman, and I helped her place them by pointing to where she should put them.
She’d nod and focus on getting them in the perfect spot.
After that, I handed her the carrot then lifted her so she could place it and helped her wrap the scarf around it.
I placed her back on her feet and she pointed. “Hat.”
I glanced up and realized that we didn’t have a hat for the snowman, and I didn’t think I had one in the house we could use for it—unless she wanted it to wear a White Sox hat.
“I think I got you covered, baby girl,” I heard my father’s voice behind me.
Ava glanced around me, and I looked over my shoulder to see him holding one of his Kangol hats in his hand.
She sprinted around me to go get it, then when she made it back to me, I lifted her to put in on the snowman’s head.
“Now he’s perfect,” my father commented. “Great job, guys.”
Smiling, I placed Ava down on her feet again and stepped back. “She did most of the work on her own. I just showed her how to get started.”
“Well, you did great, Ava,” he tapped her cheek with his gloved hand, “and you’re a great teacher son.”
“Appreciate that, Pops.” I smirked then looked past him. “Where’s Ma?”
“Heating up the soup you left on the porch for Leila.” He chuckled as I palmed my forehead. I’d completely forgotten that I ordered soup from Stack & Ladle for her. I was too preoccupied with baby girl and getting her snowman done before it got colder or dark.
“Damn, I forgot I ordered that because I heated up some of the cans I had then came out with Ava.”
“Your mama has it covered,” he assured me.
“I knew she would,” I chuckled and shook my head. “I hope you didn’t rush back because of that.”
“Naw, we didn’t,” he waved me off. “But if we did, I’d be thanking you because you know your mama knows how to spend some money.”
We shared a laugh.
“You’re the one that has her spoiled like that.”
“Least I can do,” he continued laughing. “She gave me more than I could ask for in a million lifetimes. A good home… love… even a couple of bad ass kids,” he teased. “Can’t put a price on all of that. You’ll understand one day.”
I nodded, keeping my eyes on Ava who had started to make smaller snowmen to put around her big one. “We’ll see.”
“You will, Son, you will,” he assured me. “One day someone will walk into your life and rewire your whole damn being, and suddenly you’ll find yourself wanting to give them everything.”
I could feel him staring at me, so I kept my eyes trained forward. I knew what he was doing. I could hear it all in his voice and in his words.
“You can try not to look at me all you want, but I see the way you look at her.”
“At who?” I glanced his way briefly, doing my best to appear unfazed.
He chuckled. “You know who, Kiyan. That woman in your house, and that little girl.” I saw him point out of my peripheral. “You think I don’t notice the way you light up when one of them comes into the room or how gentle you are with her child?”
“They needed help,” I tried to minimize it.
“And what you’re doing is more than helping, but I get it.” He gripped my shoulder firmly. “When you know, you know. I get it.”
“I’ve known them for a few days, Pops.”
“Doesn’t matter. Time means nothing when something hits you right. Hell, I wanted to marry your mother after a week.” He chuckled as he released me. “I didn’t tell her that, of course, because I didn’t want to scare her off, but I definitely felt it.”
“You and Mama’s story is different.”
“Not as different as you think,” he countered.
“You could know someone for years and feel nothing then meet someone else for three days and they shake your entire foundation. I’m your father, Kiyan, so I really know you and I damn sure know the way a man acts when he really cares.
Doesn’t matter if it’s been three days or three years.
What matters is she’s brought out a side of you that I’ve never seen before.
That’s definitely worth paying attention to. ”
Thankfully, Ava called us over to check out what she’d done, but what he said was heavy on my mind. So much to the point that I didn’t really hear what baby girl was saying. I knew she was saying something because her mouth was moving and she was pointing, but my father’s words were ringing louder.
I did care for her and her mother. The way I found them had me losing sleep for many nights, and now that I knew why, all I wanted to do was make things better for them and give them both the life they deserved.
I knew one hundred percent that it wasn’t out of pity, but because they literally deserved it.
Ava didn’t ask for the things she was dealing with, and I knew her mother didn’t either, but just because she was different from other people didn’t mean that she should be treated any different or robbed of the love of a father.
If anything, her condition would make me love her even more because like my mom had said, her extra chromosome didn’t mean anything besides she needed a little extra love.
“Get some pictures of her with the snowman, Ki,” my mother yelled out of the door.
I glanced back and chuckled when I noticed her standing behind the closed glass door with her arms folded in front of her. My mother hated to be cold, so I was shocked that she didn’t knock on the window and just yell her instructions.
I instructed Ava to go over to her snowman and take some pictures.
When I was done, she waved me over and asked me to take one with her.
I handed my phone to my dad before kneeling on the other side and allowing him to snap a few pictures.
She wanted him to take some too, so we switched places so I could take them then we headed back inside.
My mom had already heated some soup along with a grilled cheese sandwich for Ava, so after I helped her out of her things, I got her seated at the bar with her iPad that I’d made sure was charging while she was outside.
“I’m going to go up to check on Leila and take a shower.”
“We’ve got her. Go ahead.” My mother shooed me away before focusing back on Ava’s tablet.
Chuckling, I grabbed my phone from the counter then turned to head for the stairs. My mother was like a kid in the candy store having a child around, especially a little girl. Kayla had two boys who were both preteens now, and Khalil and I had no kids, so she was eating Ava up.