Page 133 of Just Like Summer

“I’ll handle his hair and his daddy’s because why is Cairo walking around like he brushed his braids every morning?” Dania questioned, continuing to run Kamilla’s ringlets through her fingers.

“It’s me. My bad, but considering all things, it’s been almost three weeks since the desert. And I took them out this morning and washed it. The smell of his scalp was making my stomach turn. And I love the smell of that man,” Kamilla grumbled.

“You two are obsessed with each other and I love that. I love this for you. I love that you’re getting to finally live in your universe that you two dreamt about. There’s been nothing more magical than witnessing that, K.”

“I am quite obsessed with him. I want to be in his skin, and I know he likes being in mine. I don’t ever want to lose this feeling,” Kamilla gushed.

“I know I haven’t been married to Nate long, but I know that respecting him and growing with him has been the saving grace. I don’t know how I’d be able to live without him. He is my skin,” Dania laughed. “They see me, they see him and vice versa.”

“Despite how everything has happened and the gut punches, did you think this was where we were going to end up?” Kamilla asked, looking in the mirror at Dania.

Dania eyes danced with knowing. “I bought into your vision long before you put it into words. I didn’t have any female friends or family for real, and you quickly became my best friend and sister. Did I know that I would be everything my mother said I wasn’t? No. But I knew I was going to be alright because I prayed for a family that would see me and I got you.”

“Ugh, D,” Kamilla whined, swiping a few tears from her cheeks. “You know I turn into putty when I’m pregnant.”

Dania wrapped her arms around Kamilla’s shoulders and rocked her. A few tears falling of her own. “I’m serious, K. Thank you for showing me love.”

Kamilla rested her hands atop Dania’s arms. “I love you. You were everything I didn’t know I needed. Now let’s stop this before I turn into a blubbering mess and then I’m lying in bed all day crying.”

The best friends shared a tearful laugh.

Downstairs, Kamilla found the outside patio set up with a mini bounce house for the kids and a movie screen. Cherayne had clearly gone overboard with the dinner request. The family-style table was dressed with oxtail, macaroni and cheese, rice and peas, cabbage, and fried plantains.

“Cherayne, you really went out of your way,” Kamilla hummed in gratitude. “If you made rum cake, I’ll miss you.”

“I made rum cake. Yours with imitation rum though,” Cherayne announced as Kamilla threw her arms over her shoulders and kissed her cheek.

“This baby is going to come out strong,” Cherayne hummed, rubbing Kamilla’s bloated stomach. “Sit down.”

Kamilla sat next to Cairo and rested her head on his shoulder. “You good?”

“I’m great, you?” he asked softly, throwing his arm around her shoulder.

“Much better,” she announced. “Hungry but much better. What’s the screen for?”

“Dinner and a movie. Family style. Trying to make more memories as a unit. Once every month, we’ll do this,” Cairo shared fixing his lady a plate. The movie started with stills of them and short video clips of Kamilla and Cairo years ago. Some of them now that Cairo snapped from his phone when she wasn’t looking.

“I thought you said movie night,” Kamilla muttered, watching the videos string together. The final video was a recording of the Hendrix men outside under the cabana.

“Mariposa, you’re the moon that lights the way. The love that guides us home. The place where all of our dreams are safe,” Kairo-Palmer recited with that focused scowl on his face. “Will you marry Daddy?”

Kamilla’s plate of food was placed in front of her and Cairo pushed himself away from the table. Down on one knee, he looked up at her holding a pear-shaped halo-cut diamond ring cushioned on an eternity band.

“Oh, the tears are back,” Kamilla happily whined. “Ask me.”

“Kamilla Mariposa Palmer, would you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?”

Kamilla leaned down, held his face, and nodded. “I’ll marry you in every lifetime. I’ll be yours in every lifetime.”

“Good because you’re mine forever.”

It’d been two weeks and life had returned to its peaceful order. Cairo was locked in the studio for the next couple of days working on East’s project. He’d take a week off and then dived into Ekho’s. They’d scheduled their workload around each other’s schedules to ensure that family time and personal time was a priority.

Kamilla was thirty minutes out from arriving at Carado Federal Prison. It’d taken a great deal of convincing for her to get in to see Joey. Mainly having East bug him about it until he said yes. Familiar with the reason he’d landed in prison, Kamilla wasn’t walking in to sell him a dream.

He didn’t need that. He saw the dream up close and personal. His brother had gone from the streets of South Central as crip to being on top of the tech game. Kamilla could also imagine what kind of shadow Joey must’ve been standing in and how dark that cast must’ve been.

Checked in and in a private visitation room, Kamilla waited for Joey to arrive. Thirty minutes had passed by before the heavy door opened and a young man with similar features to his brother shuffled in. There was a small height difference between the two and Joey had just a little bit more weight on him. Instead of the sandy brown hair Indigo kept in a low fade, Joey’s hair was dark. Nonetheless, anyone who knew anything could see that they were brothers from the same set of parents.