"Angel!" Kaiya dropped her backpack off at the door, running into the house to find her newest favorite person ever. She saw her silhouette in the kitchen, and attacked her legs with a hug as soon as she was in reach.
"Hi my baby! I missed you!" She returned the same energy, leaning over to pick her up from the ground.
"I missed you too, so much! I love you so much and me and daddy bought you flowers." She held out the squished roses to her after kissing her cheek, causing Angel to smile.
"Thank you pretty. I love them. How was the resort?" She sat her on the counter, away from the stuff she was using to cook lunch.
"Oh, it was so much fun. Me and Bre raced on the slides and we slept in a cabin that was in the room. And the food wasn't all that good so Nana brought us some. I didn't bring my iPad though so I had forgot to call you. I'm sorry." She apologized at the end, sitting the roses on the same counter that she sat on.
"That's okay baby. You don't have to apologize," Angel paused, running her fingers through her curly hair that seemed to be matted from the pool water.
"I started you a bath a few minutes ago, it's probably done by now. I'll come up to wash your hair in a minute, and then you can eat lunch and we can talk more about what you did this weekend. Sound good?"
"Ok, but don't take long 'cause I'ma get bored, ok?" She hopped off of the counter by herself, landing on all fours but shook off like it didn't phase her, and Angel amusingly shook her head at how she ran off without waiting for a response.
Turning back around to face the stove, Angel leaned over to open the over and looked at the sub sandwiches she had warming up, realizing that they were about done. She put on an oven mitt, then pulled the tray out.
She knew Raelle would be hungry after waking up from her nap, and knowing that Kaiya was on her way home as well, Angel decided to make lunch since Faye was also currently napping. She went with something simple; just homemade subs and french fries because she didn't feel like cooking for long.
"Aw, I would hug you but you stink and I just got out of the shower." Her heart warmed at the sight of an obviously tired Roman walking in the kitchen, heading straight for her.
"I'll settle for a kiss." His voice rasped, and she grabbed his face once he leaned down, pressing her lips up against his.
For most of the day he'd been making trips between her house and his to move all of her clothes to his house, as well as many of her favorite household items that she didn't want to part so long with since she was now moving in with him.
Her mother had told her that they'd keep the house empty for her because they didn't want to rent it out and had no one else to give it to, so it would still be available for her just in case she ever needed it again-but both she and Angel's Nana had faith that Angel would never move back home again. Roman was obviously keeping their baby very happy.
Before the trips between the two houses, he had done an eight hour shift at the hospital right after their flight landed from Hawaii because the emergency staff couldn't find anyone to cover the shift during a rush caused by an eight-vehicle collision on the highway.
Exhausted was an understatement. All he wanted to do was take a shower and lay up under Angel for a nap.
"Come upstairs wit' me and put me to sleep." He held her neck in his hand, leaving soft kisses on her bottom lip.
"I need to wash Ky's hair first and then I will, I should be done by the time you get out of the shower. You hungry?" She put her hand over his, chuckling as she freed herself from his tight grip.
"Roman," She smiled, gently pushing his face back after he continued to kiss her. He had a small frown on his face while not responding, wanting another kiss.
"Go get in the shower and then I'll lay with you, okay?" She gave him one last kiss before lightly pushing him towards the stairs, watching as he trotted up them with an attitude.
"Sassy." She spoke under her breath with a smile, using a napkin to wipe her hands off before following behind him a few seconds later.
She headed for Kaiya's bedroom, hearing Scooby Doo playing on her iPad once she walked in the bathroom. Looking underneath her sink, Angel grabbed the bottles of Mielle Shampoo and Conditioner.
During the hour it took to wash, condition, and blow dry her hair, Kaiya told Angel all about her weekend and didn't leave out a single detail. She didn't even need any input from Angel to keep the conversation moving, but Angel did chime in here and there.
Once she was dressed in her pajamas, Angel fed her lunch while the conversation continued, this time the topic switching about Angel's time in Hawaii-which Kaiya found boring because she and Roman really didn't do anything besides go to the beach.
Almost two hours had passed since she'd last seen Roman, so after Kaiya was finished eating, Angel sent her upstairs to go check on him while she stayed downstairs to make Roman a plate. She hoped he hadn't fallen asleep yet, and she kind of knew he hadn't because he could rarely go to sleep without touching her in some way.
Just as she was about to head upstairs too, her phone buzzed with a notification from Instagram, stating that Roman had posted on his account for the first time in a while.
eastfrmharlem
78,910 likes
eastfrmharlem : Daddy baby 💙💙💙
View all 825 comments
808zay : Mamas getting big as fucc 😢😍😍
↪️ eastfrmharlem : Everyday smh... My baby bouta give her a sister tho lol I need another little one 😂
only1stacks_ : Damnnnn shordy getting big bro u need to throw a party ain't seen her in a min
↪️ eastfrmharlem : I'm thinkin bout it for this year. We be out the way now but she still be asking bout the gang she say can't nobody take that Harlem shit outta her 😂😂
Angel liked the post after commenting heart eyes, chuckling at how her comment got pinned just seconds after she posted it.
Sometimes she forgot that Roman had friends. It seemed like since they'd started dating, literally all of his time went to her. She rarely ever heard him talking about any of his homeboys, unless he was on the phone with one of them-which didn't happen too often.
He told her about his life before Kaiya; back when he used to run the streets as a 'thug' with his friends, but it was kind of hard for her to see him like that. In her eyes he was just a big sweet teddy bear who caught attitudes when he couldn't hug her while being sweaty.
"Took you long enough." His eyes traveled towards the door once she walked in, making her playfully roll her eyes.
He reached up to give her a hug once she was close enough, still low-key salty that she didn't give him one when he first got home. Angel smiled at the feeling of him kissing her face, then she was let go moments later.
After giving him his plate, she laid down on her side of the bed, causing Kaiya to move herself and her iPad in between the two of them so that she could be next to Angel. Basically expecting it at this point, Roman got out of the bed and walked to the opposite side to lay on the other side of Angel, practically pushing her in the middle of him and his daughter.
A few months ago this would've made her want to burst into tears because she genuinely hated being touched and she didn't like being closed in by two bodies either, but she'd actually grown to love it over time. Knowing that both Roman and his baby loved her so much made her really happy.
"Daddy why you rubbing h-you pregnant?" Kaiya put the pieces together quickly, furrowing her eyebrows at Angel.
"No." "Not yet." She and Roman spoke together, and he smiled after watching her roll her eyes at him.
"But almost?" Her eyes were filled with curiosity as she continued to stare at Angel.
"Maybe. I don't know yet." She chuckled, not sure if this was a conversation she should be having with a child.
"Oh, okay. But you want a baby?" Kaiya asked another question.
"Yes." She answered truthfully, making Roman look over at her with a smile.
Although it had obviously been a conversation-and an action this past weekend-Angel had never flat out said that she wanted a child. All she'd done was agree with Roman when he suggested having one, and he thought the reason she'd-well, you know, this weekend-was only because she figured that was what he wanted.
He knew that if she didn't want a baby she would have no problem telling him because Angel was very vocal about things she didn't agree with, but still, it sounded good to hear the confirmation that she did indeed want a baby with him.
"And I'm not your baby no more when you have your own?" Her eyebrows slowly released the tension they held.
"You will always be my baby. This is so cliche." Angel snickered to where only Roman could hear, and he chuckled in response. It really was.
"When the new baby comes, and she calls you mommy, then can I too?" She followed up with her last question once Angel picked her up and placed her down on her lap.
"Kaiya what I tell you 'bout that," Roman's gaze locked on hers after a few seconds of silence from Angel.
Instead of giving him a response, she just sadly sighed, burying her face into the crook of Angel's neck with her small arms wrapped around her body.
She was already jealous of her half-sister that hadn't even been born-and nobody was even sure if she'd even been conceived yet. Kaiya just wanted her own mom so badly.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she climbed out of Angel's lap, then wasted no time to walk out of the bedroom to go back to her own.
"What did you mean by that? What did you tell her?" Angel grabbed Roman's arm to stop him from following behind her.
"Not to ask you shit like that and she don't listen 'cause now she crying. Watch out." He pulled his arm out of her grip, heading for the door.
"Roman you don't have to do that all of the time-you know, making decisions for me, about how you think I'd feel about stuff she wants to ask me. You hurt her feelings every time you do stuff like this but it's like you don't care because you keep doing it." Angel stopped him again from walking out, now standing in front of the door.
"Yes the fuck I do 'cause you don't be the one helping her calm down after she cry 'cause of shit like this. She's not your fucking daughter G. She's mine. I can do whatever the fuck I want to do with my kid." His voice was louder than the usual tone he held with her, catching them both off guard.
Roman never cursed or raised his voice at her, and this was only the second time that she'd seen him this upset-even though she was just trying to have a conversation with him. His rare, but sudden anger was something that truly surprised her because it was just that-rare and sudden.
She couldn't quite understand his anger this time since they'd already had a conversation like this a few weeks ago-more than once, actually. If they planned on being together 'forever', eventually the topic of Kaiya calling her mom would come up, so Angel didn't know why Roman was acting this way.
Children naturally form strong bonds with people they like, but in Kaiya's case, Angel assumed she just really wanted someone to be the mother that she never got to have; and she saw Angel as a surrogate for that maternal role.
The neglect of motherly love that Kaiya felt most likely stemmed from the fact that Roman never talked about Samaiya to her, so unlike most children with deceased mothers, she didn't even know that she previously had one, and figured that she just never had one at all.
Again, Angel didn't mind being that person that stepped up as her mommy, but she would never be able to do it if Roman continued to act like it was such a bad idea for her to do so. Since he introduced her to his family, you'd think this was something that he longed for, but it didn't really seem like it.
With the possibility of them bringing a child into this world together, Angel knew that Kaiya would expect her to be on mommy-mode with her too when-and if-the new baby came along. Once again, she didn't mind that at all. She knew what she signed up for the first time they had a conversation like this.
Though she wished Roman would be more accepting about this, there was nothing she could really do because like he'd stated before-Kaiya was his child, and not hers.
"Watch out Angel." He said again, and this time, she moved out of his way. She watched with sad eyes as he walked down the hall to Kaiya's bedroom, closing the door behind him once he walked inside.
There was something about this whole thing that Roman wasn't revealing and Angel wanted to know what it was. So instead of prodding at the subject and potentially upsetting him further, Angel went downstairs to go seek advice from Faye.
She knocked on her bedroom door, and waited for a few seconds for a response. Remembering that she was asleep, Angel sighed, turning around to head back upstairs.
Then, the sounds of faint whimpering coming from Faye's bedroom made her halt in her tracks. Now, she knew Faye wasn't in there having sex. Not because of her age or anything-ok, maybe because of her age-but also because she didn't seem to be interested in that kind of scene anymore.
Hoping she wasn't walking in on anything explicit, Angel granted herself permission inside just to check in on her. The comedic thoughts of Faye actually having sex left her brain, replaced by pure panic at the sight in front of her.
"Roman!"
The emergency room at the hospital that Roman worked at didn't seem as busy as it usually did when he was on the clock. In fact, everything was moving so drastically slow as if nothing was really moving at all. Even the time had seemed to stop.
His head currently rested on Angel's shoulder while she held Kaiya in her lap, who was currently asleep and wrapped up in a blanket that her great-grandmother Faye had knitted for her. On the other side of Angel sat Raelle, who was staring at the empty seat in front of her while also wrapped up in a blanket.
An hour ago, Faye was admitted into the intensive care unit at the hospital by paramedics after suffering from a mild heart attack. Roman, Angel, Kaiya, and Raelle had been sitting in the waiting room ever since, waiting for an update.
Even though they were in the middle of an 'argument' before coming to the hospital, Roman was eternally grateful to Angel for disregarding the entire situation so that she could comfort him and his girls while their grandmother was laid up in a hospital bed.
He didn't know what he'd do without her.
"East," One of his coworkers called, causing him to raise from his seat to go over and talk with her.
"She's okay. You guys found her right on time; the heart attack didn't even happen until she was already in the ambulance so they stabilized her. She's resting in room 237 now, we're going to keep an eye on her for a couple of hours but she should be good to go by the morning."
"I'm sure you obviously know this already, but please pay special attention to her the next few weeks. In most cases for elderly, the second attack is fatal and happens quicker than we think-even as nurses. God forbid she has a second one, but you know how this goes most times." Becca held out Faye's discharge forms for him to sign, passing him the pen that was in her other hand.
Like she'd just stated, Roman knew exactly how this went. He said an identical speech almost every other day when he was at work, but he never imagined someone would be giving him the same rundown about his own grandmother.
As a nurse himself, he kind of forgot that his family wasn't immune to the sickness that lingered in everyone's air. He barely dwelled on the fact that he could one day be the person receiving the bad news instead of being the one to tell it. Oh, was this a call to reality.
The information that Becca had just relayed to him wasn't that bad, but it was still frightening. No matter how mild or severe it was, a heart attack was a heart attack; whether fatal or not. Nonetheless, he was relieved that Faye would be able to go home tomorrow because unfortunately, not everyone got that luxury.
He's so annoying. Either you want her to play step mama or not tf