Page 109 of All The Smoke
“And you didn’t believe me?”
“No, of course I did.”
“Aight then.” He smiled and took me in before placing his hands on my swollen belly. “I couldn’t miss this, my little protégé.”
“No disrespect, OG, but that’s all me,” Solomon said.
“It’s my baby brother in there,” Solo added. “I’m Solo.”
“What’s up, Solo?” My dad smiled. “You don’t know who I am?” He shook his head. “You don’t remember talking with me on the phone when you’re with your Gigi?”
He shook his head again but lifted his head some as if he was trying to think. His eyes grew as wide as saucers moments later. “Papa Dot?”
“The one and only.”
“Wow, you’re back from vacation?”
“Yeah, lil man, I am.” He grinned.
“Can I go with you next time?”
We shared an awkward laugh because he didn’t know any better, but if any of us had anything to do with it, he would never see the inside of a place like that.
“Maybe not where I went but as soon as I get settled in at home and your baby brother gets here, we’ll go somewhere as a family.”
“Okay, bet.”
I hugged my father a little longer before I finally gave him enough space to go inside. I was for sure ready to go home because my body was beyond exhausted and ready to spend time with my family. It felt good to have my entire family together once again and even better with the new addition of Solomon and Solo.
We sat at the venue long enough for the movers my mother hired to get all of our things loaded up and for the cleaners, The Cleaning Lady, to come in and get started. I was too tired to drive, so I had Solomon drive my new car home while Bino drove his back to his place.
I showered and changed into something comfortable when we got home while everyone else helped bring all of our stuff inside. If we hadn’t needed a new place before, we definitely needed one after the addition of all of our gifts.
Once they were done we settled in my living room. Solomon sat on the couch with me and pulled my feet into his lap, giving me a much needed massage. I was ready for my own body back real bad. I couldn’t be up for five minutes without my feet swelling.
“Thank you for today, mama.” I smiled lazily due to being exhausted. “It was perfect.”
“No thanks needed.” She returned the smile. “Anything for you and my baby.”
“Speaking of, what’s the timetable on the new house?”
“We just have to do the paperwork on Monday,” Solomon answered.
My father nodded. “Good. Me and Ice are staying here, at least until she has the baby, so we’re going to need more space.”
“If we’re not moved by then, you guys can just stay with Granny.”
My grandma spoke up. “Who? I’m going to be there helping you with that new baby. You’re going to need it.”
“Granny.” I laughed. “All of you want to stay with us?”
“Right because one of the rooms is automatically mine,” Mo added. “And I don’t know how I feel about giving it up.”
“Y’all,” I groaned.
Treva came to our rescue. “Nobody is staying with them. They’re going to be new parents getting used to a new baby in the house. Even though we’re all excited about that, we have to give them the time and space to transition into that.”
That was why I loved my godmother. She always had my back and didn’t mind being the bad guy for me because Lord knows I was going to try to figure out how we were all going to fit in my condo or rush the move.
