She kissed my lips then jokingly said, “Plus, my mama knowing she can have access to Noah is the icing on the cake.”
I chuckled as she continued to walk around comfortably. The salesman told her to walk around quite a bit to be sure it fit correctly and didn’t become uncomfortable. If something happened to where it became inadequate, we had up to thirty days to return it. After that timeframe, we could still bring it in to be altered. With this prosthetic leg, she could wear any type of shoe she wanted to wear. We also got decorative covers to go along with it. She wanted one that would match her caramel-colored skin tone, and they were able to get extremely close to it.
She was so happy. I truly believed she would have been happy just for it to fit right, regardless of how modern it may or may have not been. I didn’t have to pay a penny for it. Noah covered all the costs associated with the purchase. I tried to fight him on it, but it was of no use. If my family had it, I had it. No question.
After we’d been here for a couple of hours without any changes in the way it fit, we headed home. Uncle Carrington told me he would have the plans finished before I got out of class. He was a genius at what he did. I was grateful for him. I was on the fast track to make Azari mine forever. She deserved the world, and I was going to do my best to make sure she got it.
As we traveled from Cove City back to Atlanta, her phone rang. She frowned slightly, but she answered the phone and put it on speaker. “Hello?”
“Hey, Azari. I know Xavier probably told you about his brother. While it may not mean anything to you right now, I wanted to apologize. My refusal to take care of you had nothing to do with you but everything to do with me and the mess I had created. I wasn’t man enough to tell you the truth, and I’m ashamed you had to hear it from our son first.”
“When he told me, it enlightened me of so much. My first reaction was to be angry. The more I thought about it, I realized that the truth released me in a way. I was so critical of myself, thinking I wasn’t enough because of what I was going through. I took your rejection personally. After I found out about the baby, I realized the decision you made was because you couldn’t afford to take care of me because you had two families. While it was still wrong of you to throw us away, it helped me to realize I was being too critical of myself.”
“I hate that. I really wish I could have been who and what you needed, but maybe it wasn’t meant for me to be. It seems Chozen was the man you needed.”
She closed her eyes and nodded, as if he could see her. “He is. He’s the man I’m supposed to do life with. I can feel that already. Thank you for your apology, Fabian.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I owed you at least that. I’m going to step up and start taking care of my responsibilities too. Nothing against Chozen, but the last thing I want as a father isfor my son to be more taken care of by another man than by me. I do feel like Chozen will be a good influence on him, but I need to do my part for him and for you. I don’t want him to feel unwanted. I’d like to pick him up Friday, if that’s okay.”
I glanced at her and smiled slightly then grabbed her hand. I was glad he was handling his business, because I had no issue with being the father X needed. He had a great time playing with Brooklyn and Luca yesterday, and I planned to teach him everything I knew. Whether he called me dad or not would depend on Fabian. I wasn’t setting out to replace him, but if that was what happened, he would only have himself to blame.
“It’s fine. Umm, . . . we will be moving soon. Once that happens, I’ll give you the address.”
“Okay. I’m happy for you, Zari. You deserve all good things that come your way.”
“Thank you, Fabian.”
“Talk to you later in the week.”
“Okay.”
She ended the call and looked over at me with her eyes stretched wide. I chuckled as she slowly shook her head. “He didn’t want X calling you daddy and resenting him.”
“Whatever the reason, I’m glad he’s taking his place in X’s life seriously now.”
“That has yet to be seen. He’s often made lots of empty promises, but hopefully, he follows through this time.”
“Yeah. Hopefully.”
When I turned into my complex and parked in my garage, I got out and went around to help Azari out. I grabbed her hand, and she practically hopped out of her seat. My eyebrows lifted, and she giggled. She felt so much better. I wished I would have done this even sooner, but I supposed I did it when the time was right. She was receptive. Had I done this when she first toldme about how uncomfortable her prosthesis was, she probably would have shut down on me.
Before we could get to my condo, her phone rang again. She frowned, just as she did with Fabian’s call. However, I could tell by the inflection in her tone when she answered it, she didn’t know who the caller was.
“I can absolutely come in tomorrow. Thank you so much.”
Her eyes were wide once again. “That was the doctor’s office in Cove City, . . . the oncologist. They want to see me tomorrow for blood work.”
I chuckled. “Noah is resourceful as hell.”
“I can’t wait to hug him later. This is amazing, Chozen.”
“Well, it’s about to get even better.”
She had a confused look on her face as I grabbed her hand and walked to the door. When we walked in, I could smell that Aunt Candace was frying chicken. X came running to us to greet us. “X! How did you get here?”
When Mr. and Mrs. Michaels walked around the corner, Azari’s eyebrows lifted. Mrs. Michaels came to us and said, “I see you, girl! That leg is fire!”
Azari giggled as Aunt Candace came out of the kitchen with a huge smile on her face. When Azari walked toward her, she said, “You look so much more comfortable. It hurt my heart the way you were limping last night. I could tell you were in pain. I’m so happy for you.”
