Page 21 of Laws of Love
Once Knox finished with his shower and dressed in a pair of boxers and pajama bottoms, he returned to Yasmine’s room to find her sitting on her bed in her pajamas, rubbing moisturizer onto her legs.
“Did you let the water out?”
“Mhm, and I rinsed out all the bubbles.”
When she finished with the lotion, Knox took it and placed it back in the bathroom, turning the light off on his way out. He tucked Yasmine into bed, kissing her forehead before turning on her nightlight.
“Goodnight, baby girl.”
“Goodnight, Daddy.”
Knox turned off her light as he exited her room. He ensured the nightlight in the hallway was on before turning that light off and returning to his bedroom. Typically, he would have made Yasmine’s lunch before getting into bed, but since they were having nachos at school, she hadn’t wanted him to do so. He figured he’d watch television for a while to eat away at the night hours.
His phone alerted him to a message, and he picked it up, finding that Molly had texted him back, apologizing profusely because Yasmine overheard her. Knox told her it was fine before placing his phone back down. After all, Molly hadn’t lied, and he firmly believed that no one could be angry with the truth.
Aiva glanced down at her phone as it rang to see her younger sister Tara’s name flash across the screen. Her eyebrows furrowed because the teenager typically preferred to text. It was seldom that she called Aiva. Picking up the phone, she brought it to her ear.
“Hey, Tara. Is everything okay? You rarely call.”
“Tara’s fine.”
Aiva gritted her teeth, and her first thought was to hang up the phone, but she knew he’d just call her back. She wished she’d listened to her first instinct and not answered the phone because Aiva could count on one hand the number of times Tara called her. However, she thought it may have been important.
“I’m at work. I can’t talk right now,” she responded to her father after a brief silence.
“I just want to talk for a few minutes. We haven’t spoken in months.”
He wasn’t wrong, and if Aiva had her way, they wouldn’t have spoken then, either. She’d been at her grandmother’s house, and Edison was there as well. The only reason Aiva entertained any conversation with him was that Kaley, her youngest sibling, was there, and she didn’t think being hostile in front of the nine-year-old was appropriate.
Aiva sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “What is it you want to talk about?”
“I just wanted to see how you’re doing?”
“I’m fine.”
Edison was quiet on his end of the phone, and Aiva assumed it was from how fast she’d answered the question. Or maybe he expected her to ask him how he was doing, and she probably would have if she cared. However, Aiva had stopped caring about anything that had to do with her father when he’d attempted to use her and Meila as pawns in his divorce proceedings with their mother.
It was compounded by the broken promises of still being in their lives and getting his act together. Yet, he constantly cheated on the women he was with and now had a slew of children. Aiva wouldn’t be surprised if there were even some he didn’t know about.
“Did Meila tell you about the gathering for my birthday?” Edison questioned after a few seconds.
“She did.”
“I was hoping all of you kids could come, and we could celebrate as a family.”
Aiva bit her tongue, trying to keep her following sentence from leaving her lips, but she failed miserably. “Do you plan on having your wife and both girlfriends in attendance as well?”
It was Edison’s turn to sigh. Aiva knew that whenever his love life was brought up, he got uncomfortable and fidgety. She didn’t understand why. If you were going to do the dirt, the least you could do, in her opinion, was stand by it, especially since he would not stop the behavior.
Aiva also wondered what the three women who shared him saw in him. She knew well that dynamics like that worked for people every day, but that was when they entered with a mutual understanding, and everyone knew what was happening. That hadn’t been the case with her father. None of the women knew about each other for a while, and there was damn near war between them when they eventually found out. Somehow, none of them left him.
She could understand them staying if they got along all the time, but it was a toss up about how they would act when Edison was present. It was clear when any of the women were around, the disdain for her father was apparent. So why stay? It was stupid, honestly, in her opinion, but to each their own. She got along well with her siblings’ mothers and that was enough for her.
“Aiva, you can’t fault me for staying cordial with the mothers of my children.”
Aiva scoffed as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Because he was not cordial with her mother. “Is that what your generation is calling cheating nowadays?”
“That’s enough, young lady. I am your father, and you will respect me.”
