“Night, Savage.”
29 /EMANI
Morning came fasterthan Emani expected and it was accompanied with the soft touch of the nose and a subtle gasp. Emani could sense the tiny being in the place Jahlil had taken up hours before. She chose not to pop her eyes open and startle the observation of her. Instead, she laid still, allowing Jahlil’s youngest to move the coiled tresses of hair out of her face and observe her fully before running out of the room. In the distance, she could hear Andrew, her heart ached, but for baby girl’s big reveal, she laid still.
“I told you not to come in here with them click clackers,” Andrew grumbled. “I’ve been running since the crack of dawn’s black ass.”
“You’ve been running because your black ass is bad,” Sanaa fired back. “Fine, I’m going to go tell E.Rose how you use my markers to draw on your asses.”
“Abs,” Andrew corrected, and Emani snickered into the pillow. “You’re not going to tell her nothing. You don’t even know her.”
“I touched her face and her hair. And she’s wearing daddy’s shirt,” Sanaa shared. “That means they were kissin’.”
“You’re smoking too many markers. Did you get in the cookies again?” Andrew asked with a huff. “Get out of here, I want to shower.”
“Fine, don’t believe me. Punk ass,” Sanaa huffed and started clacking back down the hall. “And you need to wash everything. You smell like daddy’s dirty gym bag.”
“You look like it,” Andrew called back.
“And you look like a hole. Asshole,” Sanaa fired the last shot.
“Oh?!” Emani gasped, before covering her mouth to muffle the giggle. This time, Sanaa’s return was louder than the first.
“You been kissing my daddy?” Sanaa asked as Emani shook with laughter. “You staying with us?”
Emani opened her eyes fully and beamed at Sanaa. Sanaa’s face lit up the same. “Depends, do you want me to stay?”
“Yes! I love you! I know all your songs,” Sanaa shared excitedly. “And the dances. This is my favorite one.”
Emani rose her brows as she watched Sanaa spin, kick, twerk, and throw her arms in the air. A laughter Emani didn’t know she needed coursed through her body and her legs swung out of the bed. Grateful to have put on shorts at some point in the night, she stood near Sanaa. “I think it goes like this.”
Happily, Emani showed her the PG version of the dance Sanaa was attempting to do. When the dance was done, Emani dropped down to her knees to hug Sanaa. Sanaa flung her body around her.
“I told daddy he couldn’t come home without you. Are you his girlfriend now?”
Emani sat on the floor with her and hummed. “Mmm, I think he wants me to be, but he hasn’t asked me to be.”
“Oh, then girl, he needs to get on it. You can’t kiss him again until he does. You got to whip these niggas into shape, girl. I’m having the hardest time with Drewy,” Sanaa spoke, feigning exhausted. “Makes me want to smoke a marker right now.”
“Girl,” Emani quipped a laugh. “This mouth on you.”
Sanaa flipped the back of her pink bonnet. “I know, it’s my best quality.”
Emani chuckled. “I’m Emani, by the way. Emani Rose Wheaton.”
Sanaa scrunched her nose. “Wheaton?”
“I know, not really a cool name for a diva,” Emani responded.
“It doesn’t give bad bitch. Savage is better,” Sanaa responded, settling in Emani’s lap. It was clear to her that Sanaa had been longing for a warmth that couldn’t come from her father, aunt, or brother. She wanted a mother. Emani felt that tug because for as long as there had been breath in her body, she’d wanted one too. “Emani Rose Savage, that’s your new name.”
Sanaa hummed. “I can handle that. What’s Andrew doing?”
“Washing his stinking ass,” Sanna huffed.
“Let’s try butt,” Emani gently corrected.
“But ass is just so much better. Like when you said he a bitch ass nigga,” Sanaa recited making Emani sway her head.
