Chapter Fifteen.
Crown sat stretched out on the couch with Nyla in his arms while Nivéa moved around the kitchen preparing dinner. The smell of baked chicken and seasoned vegetables filled the house, mixing with the sweet scent of Nyla’s baby lotion that lingered on his shirt from holding her.
Nyla had been fighting her bottle for a while with Nivéa. Nivéa had finally given up and handed her over to Crown so she could get started on dinner. They had company coming over soon, and she wanted everything prepared before Smoky and Tanya arrived.
“Yeah, you just wanted daddy to feed you, huh, baby girl?” Crown said, watching Nyla gulp down her bottle with no problem now that he had it.
Nyla released the nipple, answered with a small coo, and kicked one sock-covered foot against his stomach.
Crown chuckled, shaking his head. “Ma, she been in here playing with you.” He called toward the kitchen. “She drinking just fine.”
“Tell me about it. If she ain’t getting these breasts, she ain’t worried about me.” Nivéa replied.
“Facts,”
Nyla’s small hand opened and closed against Crown’s shirt before she returned to drinking, her feet still moving as if she had somewhere to be.
He smiled at her, noticing how much she loved doing that.
She was always moving and making some kind of noise.
Seeing her little face and hearing her noises were the highlight of his day.
It was hard to remember what his days felt like before her.
Their bond grew stronger with each passing moment.
She already recognized his voice and settled differently whenever he held her against his chest.
“You just making a mess now. You done.” He told her when milk escaped the corner of her mouth, and she made no attempt to stop it.
Crown wiped it away with the cloth draped over his shoulder before lifting her against his chest to burp her. He gently patted her back, waiting patiently. For several seconds, Nyla remained quiet. Then she released a burp loud enough to make him pull his head back.
“Damn, baby girl.”
Nivéa laughed from the kitchen. “She’s something else.”
“Yep,” Crown grinned and kissed the side of Nyla’s head. “Too pretty to be making noises like that.”
Nyla shifted against him before starting to squirm harder. Crown’s nose wrinkled a moment later. “Oh, nah.”
“What?” Nivéa asked, though the amusement in her voice told him she already knew.
“She took a shit.”
“Then change her.”
“Say what?”
“You heard me, Daddy. You gotta do that too. Go ahead. I showed you how.”
Crown looked down at Nyla, raising one of his brows. “I don’t know about this, baby girl.”
Nivéa turned from the stove and pointed the spoon in his direction. “I do. Go ahead.”
“I’m going.”
Shaking his head, Crown stood with Nyla, held carefully against his chest, and carried her to the extra changing table they kept in the living room. He laid her down and stared at the snaps beneath her sleeper.
“Why they put all these damn buttons on baby clothes?”
With a toothless grin, Nyla kicked her legs while he worked them loose.
“You think this funny?”
She stared back at him and pooted, causing more poop to come out.
“Shit,” Crown whispered, trying not to breathe too deeply as he remembered each step through the smell.
This whole thing was still crazy to him.
He never expected fatherhood to happen this way.
He never expected a woman with a small infant to walk into his life and make him want both of them permanently.
But Nyla never felt like a responsibility that came with Nivéa.
Crown loved her separately and completely.
So, he did what a father was supposed to do and changed his kid.
Carefully, he removed her diaper and immediately leaned back. “Aw, hell nah.” Nyla’s legs kicked harder. “Ain’t no way something that bad came out of somebody this little.”
He complained…joked. Yet cleaned her carefully, holding both ankles in one hand the way Nivéa had shown him.
He moved with extra caution. No matter how chunky that breastmilk was making Nyla, she was still so small, and he was aware of how fragile she was.
Once she was clean, he secured a fresh diaper around her and reached for her sleeper.
He paused halfway through snapping it closed.
“Nah, we gon’ change this too.” Crown shook his head, remembering the smell. “That shit might be stuck to ya clothes.”
He reached underneath the changing table and grabbed another onesie. After getting her dressed in something fresh, he snapped the last button into place and finally felt like he could breathe again.
“There. Brand-new baby.”
After applying hand sanitizer to his hands, he lifted her from the table just as Nivéa stepped out of the kitchen.
“She all good?” She asked, giggling as she reached for the soiled diaper.
She loved messing with Crown, but more than that, she loved watching him figure it all out. He was a man who had never been around babies before Nyla, yet he handled her with a patience that surprised even him.
“Yeah. She tried to take me out, but I survived.”
“Whatever,” Nivéa playfully rolled her eyes at his dramatics as she headed to discard the diaper.
Crown settled back onto the couch with Nyla against his chest. Her cheek rested over his heart while he slowly rubbed her back.
She was tired, but she kept lifting her head and looking around.
Eventually, she released a small fuss. He quickly adjusted her, lowering his voice as he began talking to her like he always did.
Crown told her about his day. About how hard he worked.
About how everything he did was to make sure she and her mama never wanted for anything.
He promised her she would always have what she needed.
That nobody would ever harm her or make her feel unloved.
If they did, they would have to answer to him.
Her tiny fingers curled into his shirt as if she understood every word, and within minutes, she was out.
Nivéa stood quietly near the dining table, watching them. Every time she saw Crown with Nyla, her heart softened. He had entered their lives and showed out.
Crown glanced toward the dining area and caught her staring. “What you smiling at, ma?”
“You. I like watching you with her.”
Crown nodded, looking down at Nyla before kissing the top of her head.
This was his baby; he loved her just as much as he loved her mama.
He waited several more minutes before carrying her upstairs and into the nursery.
He lowered her into the crib carefully and kept his hand against her stomach until he was sure she had settled.
Once she remained asleep, he pulled the blanket no higher than her waist and quietly left the room.
Nivéa was back standing at the stove when Crown returned downstairs. He walked up behind her, wrapped both arms around her waist, and kissed the side of her neck.
“You almost finished?”
“Almost. The chicken needs another ten minutes.”
“Cool. Come sit down until it’s ready.”
Before she could argue, Crown took her hand and guided her toward the couch. He sat first, pulling her down beside him. Nivéa leaned against the cushions as he lifted one of her legs and placed it across his lap.
“My feet are fine today.” She told him.
“I ain’t ask.”
Crown removed her fuzzy sock and inspected them for himself. When he saw there was no swelling, he relaxed and began massaging her feet.
“See, I told you.”
After several quiet moments of him working her ankles and feet anyway, Nivéa opened her eyes and looked at him. “Your turn. I owe you one, remember?”
Crown would’ve told her he was fine, but the thing about his wife was that she was much like him.
She didn’t take no for an answer when it came to caring for him.
Nivéa moved behind him and placed her hands against his shoulders, working the tension from his back.
Her fingers moved slowly, finding every knot she knew he carried.
She did it so well that Crown nearly fell asleep.
“How do you feel about Smoky and Tanya coming? Do you think it’ll be awkward now with all that you know?”
Her question pulled him from the edge of sleep. Crown’s eyes opened.
“I don’t know, ma.” He sighed heavily. “Shit been on my mind all day. But I keep telling myself it ain’t none of my business. It ain’t my place. And if she knows, then it really ain’t nothing for me to feel awkward about.”
“That’s a good way to look at it. I’m proud of how you’re handling this. I’m sure Smoky appreciates it too.”
“He better appreciate it. Because any other nigga would already be d—” Crown quickly stopped himself. But Nivéa caught on to what he was about to say and brushed it off as she smiled.
“You love him.”
“He my brother, ma. Of course I do.”
“Yeah. Like I said, I’m proud of you. Hardest man I ever met, but you real. Your heart is so good. You love and protect your people. You’ll do anything for us.”
Crown looked back at her.
“I’ll do anything for you. Them niggas got limits. Straight up.”
Nivéa snickered. “I hear you, big man with the big bike and big guns.”
Crown smirked. “Move your hands.” His tone was firm, but there was no irritation behind it as he caught one of her wrists, kissed the center of her palm, and pulled her around until she was sitting on his lap. His hands moved over her thighs through the soft material of her leggings.
“How your back feel?” He asked.
“It’s been much better since the massage. I’m good.”
“Aight,” He wrapped both arms around her and rested his hands underneath her shirt…over her stomach. “You and my babies gon’ always be good.”
Nivéa placed her hands over his as his thumb brushed over the scar from her Cesarean incision.
“I’m worried about you.”
“I know. I can feel it. I’m going to be fine, baby. I ain’t the first woman that gave birth back-to-back, and I won’t be the last.”