Page 45 of Give Me All Of You

“A gift? That’s an expensive gift from a boyfriend.” She speculated.

“Well, he’s not just my boyfriend. He’s my husband,” I blurted.

“Husband? What the hell, JaRue!”

When she said that, her eyes shot to my hand and she spotting my ring.

“What’s going on in here? Whose truck is that outside?” my father came in and asked.

“It’s your daughter’s,” she told. “A gift from herhusband.”

“Her husband? What is your mother talking about, Rue?”

I explained everything that was going on and about how me and Hassan were married. By the time I was finished, both of them had blank expressions on their faces. I hated I told him not to come because I could really use the backup now.

“Look, I don’t like any of this, but I get it,” my father started.

“Rueben,” my mother cut in.

“Let me finish, Jay. I may not like it, and even though I know the type of things that family is into, I also know that he has to care about our daughter to go these lengths that we don’t lose our granddaughter. That alone earns him a fair chance in my book.”

“Thank you, Daddy.” I looked at my mother. “Ma?”

“Bring him to dinner after the hearing. Looks like I need to get to know my new son-in-law.” My mother held a smirk on her face, and I let go of the breath I was unintentionally holding. To say that I was relieved to have my parents back me up on this was a big deal for me. Now all I had to was convince a judge.

I left my parents’ house and came home and began to finish the sides that I prepared for the pot roast in the crock pot. I left Hassan home, but he wasn’t there when I got back. By the time I was taking the macaroni out of the oven, he was walking through the garage door looking fine as hell. I washed and rebranded his hair last night and he was looking every bit of fine. He swaggered inside with a bouquet of sunflowers and roses in his hand and a smaller one that resembled mine. The way that he thought about Infiniti made my heart melt.

“Wassup, baby?” he greeted as he placed a kiss on my lips.

“Hey. I missed you,” I confessed.

“I missed you, too, love.”

“Me, Daddy!” Infiniti clapped with a huge grin. That caught me and Hassan both by surprise because she never called him daddy before. Granted, she didn’t know Keith, but I didn’t want him to think that I was forcing her on him.

“No, baby. That’s no-”

He cut me off.

“Wassup daddy baby? You want some love too?” Listening to Hassan talk to my baby and hearing her laugh as he kissed her little chubby cheeks had me crying like a baby. When he noticed, he pulled me in with his free arm.

“Stop all that crying. I told you I had the both of y’all and I meant that. If you’re my wife, then she’s my daughter. Ain’t that right, baby?” he asked Infiniti, and she started clapping and dancing, causing us laugh.

“She’s been around Peace’s bad ass too many times,” he joked.

While he played with Infiniti, I finished dinner and when we sat down to eat, he asked me about the visit with my parents.

“How did it go with your parents?” he asked, taking a pinch of collard greens to give Infiniti. She didn’t like vegetables, but for some reason, she would try certain things for him. I was surprised when she ate them.

“Good girl,” he praised, and she started clapping.

“You’re so good with her,” I complimented.

“I had enough practice with Peace, but you’re deflecting. How did things go today?” he asked again.

Taking a deep breath, I told him about the visit with my parents and by the end of my spiel; I expected him to be mad.

“That’s it?”

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