Page 1 of So Special: Fanatic Love

Where We Left Off…

“How bout y’all get out my house and go get my gran,” Lina demanded. “Ain’t nobody tryin to see y’all witout my boy.” Lina took the ultimate pride in being a grandmother. It was the next best thing to her than having her own children.

Asher shook his head. “You got dat, Mama.” He tapped his sister’s shoulder “Let’s go. They ain’t wanna see your ass either.”

Tiara turned her nose up. “Mama love me. She talkin to you.”

“I talkin to both y’all asses. Go get my grand. I ga have his grits and buss eggs ready.” Lina didn’t care what the pediatrician said about what to feed her grandbaby. That country eating was what made babies hearty.

Both Asher and Tiara made their way out of the house to Asher’s G Wagon. The day care center was about fifteen minutes away from their mother’s house. They had light conversation on their way to the center. Once they arrived, Asher was the first out of the car as he always was. When they walked into the center, Charia beamed with admiration. On multiple occasions, she’d offered her pussy to Asher. He’d never partaken in the pussy, but the mouth was commendable.

“Hey, Asher! I’ll call back and have them bring up Ashan.” She used the announcement system that turned on a green light in the room that the child was in and listed the child’s name on a screen under the light. Parents were not permitted to go to the back for safety reasons; however, there were cameras in all the rooms. The center had runners that came in for a few hours in the morning and in the afternoon to deliver the children to the parents.

Asher and Tiara moved over to the waiting room. It never took long for the children to be brought out. In the distance, they saw the runner coming out with three-month old Ashan. At the same time, a familiar face walked into the center.

“Hey, Katniss!” Charia greeted. “Girl, your little one was giving us hell today. He want to walk and climb on everything.”

Katniss smiled with a giggle. “You know he thinks he’s a little man now that he can kinda walk. Imagine how it is at home. He’s actively working on opening his gate, but Pebbles is great at laying in front of the gate so that he can’t.” Pebbles was the puppy that Katniss adopted when she found out she was pregnant. After Charia told her the runner would bring her son out, Katniss turned to go into the waiting room. She stopped in her tracks at the sight of Asher.

“Here you go, Asher,” the runner said as she handed over Ashan. The smile on Ashan’s face at the sight of Asher made him smile. To Asher, Ashan was the greatest little person.

Katniss took a quick second to get herself together. She had no idea that Asher’s child attended this day care center. She’d only been using the center for three weeks since she moved close to it since her job was not far. “Asher, it’s nice to see you. Oh, your son is so precious.” Katniss also wasn’t aware that Asher had a son. She wasn’t into the blogs and all that shit because of how busy she was.

“What’s up, Katniss?” Asher looked her over. He admired her shape even more than the last time he saw her. He’d been on her Instagram a few times to check on her. He saw that she graduated from nursing school. He looked down at Ashan. “Oh, this isn’t my son. It’s my sister’s son, my nephew,” he corrected.

Asher looked toward his sister who stood there wondering what the hell was going on. She felt a tension in the air but wasn’t sure why. She reached her hand out. “Hey, I’m Tiara.”

Before Katniss could respond, the runner came out with a running little boy in front of her. “Ma, Ma!” His first and one of only two words that he spoke at ten months old. The boy ran to his mother who picked him up and kissed all over his face which caused an eruption of giggles.

“Chile, that little boy wouldn’t let anyone pick him up. He wanted to walk everywhere,” the runner said. “Ashtan is too much. I’ll see y’all tomorrow.”

Asher stood there frozen. He examined the boy for similarities. Ashtan was too close of a name to his. “Your little boy cute too. How old he is?”

Katniss didn’t want to answer, but it would be rude not to. “Oh, he’s ten months old.” She looked down at Ashtan who sat on her hip. “Can you say hi, Ashtan?”

On cue, Ashtan’s little hand went up in a wild wave. “Hi! Hi!”

Tiara was the first to respond. “OMG! Hi, baby. He so cute. I think I got baby fever.”

Asher’s neck snapped toward his sister. She’d better shut the hell up whilst he stood there holding her three-month-old baby in his arms.

That same little nigga that Tiara wanted a ticket to the game for all that time ago eventually let his representative go and showed his true self when she announced she was pregnant. It was then that he suddenly didn’t want to havechildren and tried to demand that Tiara have an abortion. When he informed her that if she didn’t have an abortion, then they couldn’t be together, Tiara told his ass goodbye. The young man left the relationship with a concussion after Collin knocked some sense into him for playing with his daughter. After Ashan was born, the father was asked to immediately sign over his parental rights which he did. “Tiara, don’t make me box you off in here. Talkin bout you got some baby fever.”

Tiara was blessed with a village to help her raise her son. Yes, she wished Ashan’s father was there to be in his life, but there were male, dominant role models in his life. Her father and brother were paramount in Ashan’s life. Zane also had a large part. Love was all around Ashan and Tiara. The media often claimed that he was Asher’s son, and the sister just claimed Ashan as her own. Sometimes when people had nothing true to say about you, they would make something up.

Asher’s attention turned back to Katniss. “I see you graduated and got a job at Presbyterian Hospital. Congratulations, lil one.”

She looked down at her scrubs that displayed the hospital’s name. “Oh, yes. I’m a labor and delivery nurse as well as a certified doula,” she confirmed with pride. She had worked hard to get her degree. After she attained her degree, she went a step further to become a doula.

Tiara’s eyes lit up. “Oh, man. I wanted a doula, but I couldn’t find a black one. That is so cool.”

Katniss smiled. “Yeah, we are unfortunately limited in the African American community. Hopefully, that will change over time. There are a lot of advantages to having a doula during pregnancy, at birth, and postpartum.” She shuffled on her feet, uncomfortable under the stare of Asher. “Um, I love your braids.”

“Oh, I did them.” It was Tiara’s turn to beam with pride. “I have a shop, if you’re ever interested in getting yours done. My prices include wash, deep condition, and hair. You also have the option to add on a refresh.”

Katniss was very impressed with that. Most of the braiders she ran across didn’t wash hair, so you had to come washed and blow dried. That made all the difference to her since she had a lot of hair, and it was thick. They also had asinine policies that weren’t worth navigating. “Oh, do you charge an extra fee for thick or long hair?”

Tiara shook her head. “Nah, I don’t. My hair is thick as well and I do my own braids. Imagine that?”

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