Luckily, Mikayla stayed asleep the whole night. Parenthood had definitely taken its toll on us, but we were making it work.
It had been a while since we had a family dinner, so Janiyah, Mikayla, and I got ready to head over to my parents’ house. Janiyah’s grandma was included, too. I wanted to pick her up, but she told us that Mr. Walter was going to bring her. I made sure she knew that he could stay for dinner if he wanted to. He’d been coming around more since Janiyah came back home, and it didn’t seem like he was going anywhere any time soon.
Work had been crazy, and I was tired, but there was no way I was going to miss family dinner. Janiyah knew how to cook, and so did I, but it was something about my mom’s cooking that made my mouth water. I already knew she was going to make some of my favorites since I hadn’t been over there in a whileto eat. According to her, I was still her baby boy, and I would always be spoiled by her. I wasn’t going to complain about it.
While Janiyah got ready, I went to check on Mikayla. She was napping when I got home from work, but I needed to get her ready to go. Since Janiyah was home with her all day, she did more than I did, but I tried to take the load off when I could.
I’d taken my shower when I got off, so I was dressed. I sat on the side of the bed and listened to Janiyah sing in the shower, and I smiled. The months she was gone, I missed the sound of her singing, even though she didn’t sound that great. I’d rather listen to that than the silence that filled the house in her absence. It was the smallest things about her that I missed while she was gone. I hadn’t realized some of them until she came back. Like how she would leave sticky notes all over the house because an idea randomly popped into her head. Or how she left her coffee cup in the sink.
I got up from the bed, shaking my head as I left the room. Mikayla was in her crib, playing with one of her toys. Janiyah and I talked about transitioning her to a toddler bed, but we hadn’t done it yet. Her third birthday was coming up, so we would probably do it then.
“Hey, pretty girl.”
Mikayla’s head popped up when she heard my voice. She looked up at me, and her brown eyes sparkled. Every time I looked at her, my chest tightened. I felt protective of her, and I wanted to be the one to fight the monsters under her bed or the men in the streets when she got older. Some days, I still couldn’t believe we had a child in our house.
“Are you ready to get dressed so we can have dinner? We are going to my parents’ house, and we are going to have some good food.” She giggled when I tickled her stomach.
At times, I would look at her and wonder how she would turn out once she learned her parents weren’t here anymore. Wouldshe be angry with us? I prayed that we did right by her. I hadn’t shared my thoughts with Janiya. It wasn’t that I couldn’t; I just kept things to myself sometimes, especially when it was things I couldn’t control. This parenting thing was new to Janiyah and me, and we were doing the best we could.
Janiyah had already set out Mikayla’s clothes, so I got her dressed, then took her to our room.
As soon as she saw Janiyah, she wiggled to get out of my arms. I put her on the floor, and she quickly made her way to her.
Janiyah picked her up and kissed her cheeks.
“Did you have a good nap? I see you are dressed already.” Janiyah looked up at me, then back to Mikayla.
“Yeah, I figured I’d get her dressed while you were getting ready. I’m glad you did her hair already, because you know I do a terrible job at it.”
Janiyah laughed, and Mikayla joined in like she knew what she said.
“You did good when you did it.” Janiyah smirked because she was full of shit.
I called myself trying to help out and did Mikayla’s hair one time, but her parts and ponytails were crooked, so Janiyah banned me from it.
“In my defense, she kept squirming.”
“Because you don’t have the juice.” She tickled Mikayla’s stomach.
I smiled as I watched them for a few seconds.
“Is there anything else you need to do before we leave?” I asked as I leaned against the dresser.
“No. I already packed her bag, so we can go if you are ready.”
“Cool. I’ll grab her bag and coat from her room.”
Janiyah fixed one of Mikayla’s ponytails because it shifted during her nap. She would go to sleep with a bonnet on, but she didn’t always wake up with it.
A few minutes later, the three of us left the house and headed to my parents’ house.
My mother couldn’t wait to hug and kiss Mikayla when we arrived, and baby girl ate it right on up.
“She is just so precious,” my mom gushed.
“That she is,” Grandma Ethel said from the living room. She and Mr. Walter sat on the love seat, while my dad sat in his recliner.
My mom, Janiyah, and I sat on the long couch. My mom kept Mikayla on her lap.
