All She Wanted Was Love

20.1: Pop Ups & Family Dinners

"I missed you too baby" her mother rocked her side to side and pulled back cupping her face in her hands looking into her eyes that mirrored her own. April knew she was reading her. It was something she did to both her and Alaina. Let's just say a mother knows.

"I'm ok mommy"

"Uh huh you know you can't lie to me but I'll let it slide for right now" she kissed her forehead.

"SHORT STACK" her father yelled while walking into the kitchen with a big smile.

"Daddy" she laughed and smiled excitedly. Her mother let her go and she ran into her father's arms embracing him in a tight hug. Ian was a good looking man as well. He was 2 years older than Ananda and still looked like he was in his in his 30's as well. Smooth dark caramel colored skin, light brown eyes like Alaina. He was 6ft 4in with a nice muscular build not too big but just right. He wore his hair in long dread locks that he always kept in some type of style with a neatly trimmed full beard. The ladies loved him but he only had eyes for his wife just like she only had eyes for him. They were the type of family who loved their blackness. Black was beautiful. They embraced it. They were the type of parents who raised their kids to love themselves inside and out.

"Hey Thing 1" he kissed her forehead. April just laughed. She was Thing 1 and of course Alaina was Thing 2 and Hazel was honorary Thing 3. "What you make for desert"

"Hmm I don't know" she laughed at him as he let her go.

"Momma what she bring" Ian asked his wife. Yup he called her momma as well. It was the norm for them.

"How bout you come and see" Ananda replied as he walked up to the cake carrier and opened it.

"Aww fucks yea Thing 1 you came through for ya old man" he rubbed his hands together still on his birdman shit.

"You know I got you" she laughed.

"Come on so we can get dinner started so we can get to desert" he walked off and out of the kitchen causing April and her mother to laugh and follow behind him to the dining room where Alaina and August were already seated and talking amongst themselves.

"Sistaaaa" the girls both said to each other and shared a tight hug.

"Hey lil big brotha" April hugged August.

"Wassam big sis"

"Nothing much" she took a seat on the other side of Alaina.

Her father prayed over the food and everybody fixed their plates. Her mother went all out as usual. Oxtails, macaroni and cheese, cabbage, brown rice, seared butter and garlic shrimp, and let's not forget about the home made cornbread. They all shared small talk but were more into the food on their plates. They all talked shop basically everybody filling each other in on their careers and how everything was going. Ian and Ananda were proud of their kids August included. They were doing damn good for themselves. Dinner done and now they were on desert.

"Aight, Thing 1 fill me in on this new nigga you're dealing with" Ian said making everyone laugh as he put a hefty slice of cake on his desert plate. April didn't care if August was there for this. There was no more hiding Dave.

"Time out my baby's finally dating again" Ananda said cheesing at her daughter. She was happy. She thought April would never date again after what happened between her and Chris. Ananda had never seen her little girl so defeated after she left Chris and she prayed to God that she would be ok and learn to accept love again because somebody out there was made just for her.

"Yes mommy. It's still new but we definitely like each other so we're just going with the flow. So far so good daddy you may have heard of him. He's a Harlem rapper that goes by Dave East" she looked at him.