Page 146 of Smoke

“I know, right? Who knew someone so little could smell so bad? She had shit all up her back. I’m about to give her a bath.”

Romi came over to stand beside me. She smiled as she looked down at our baby.

“Good morning, princess,” she said.

Juri’s eyes lit up when she saw her, and she smiled.

“You got daddy good, huh? Yes, you did.” She giggled as she looked up at me. Standing on her toes, she leaned in to kiss me. “Good morning, my love.”

“Good morning.”

Romi was doing much better. After having to pull the trigger on Dana, she had a lot of guilt until she finally accepted that she had to choose herself and her kids over anybody, even if it meant taking a life. She and Salima had a long talk about that. I didn’t know what my sister said to her, but it snapped her out of the funk she was in.

“I’m gonna go wake Korri up, then I’m gonna start breakfast while you get Juri situated.”

“Okay.”

We shared another kiss before she kissed Juri and left the room. I finished cleaning the mess my baby made, then took her into the bathroom to wash her up. She absolutely loved bath time. I mean, if someone were pampering me, I’d love it too. She had it made in this life. Once I was done, I swaddled her in her towel and carried her back into her room to get her lotioned up and dressed for the day.

Noticing she was dozing off, I carried her into our bedroom and placed her in the middle of the bed, with pillows on either side so she didn’t roll away. I made haste in taking a shower and getting dressed myself. Baby girl woke up just as I was done, so I scooped her up.

“Can you keep a secret, Ju?” I asked, kissing her cheeks.

I went to the dresser and pulled open a drawer. This particular drawer had a false bottom where I kept important shit. Once I got it opened, I pulled out the box I’d been hiding for two weeks now.

“Look at that,” I said, flipping it open. “You think mommy will like that?”

She grinned at me as I spoke to her.

“Yeah, I think she will.” I closed the box and tucked it into my pocket. “I know you guys have been through a lot, but you’re safe with me. I promise I’ll never let anything else happen to you. You, your mom, and your sister have no idea how much I loveyou. You’ve given me a love I didn’t know I was capable of having outside of my family. I forever got you.”

I kissed her little cheeks and held her close to me.

This shit was crazy, but in the best way. If I’d ever pictured myself settling down, it didn’t include a ready-made family. Then these three came along, and a nigga fell head over heels in love. So much so, I was about to ask this woman to marry me… me… Smoke Dillinger.

Life was crazy.

Juri and I left the room and headed downstairs. Romi was whipping up breakfast, so baby girl and I settled on the couch to watch TV. Romi brought me a bottle to feed Juri, who greedily sucked it down. Korri came down shortly after. She made her way over to hug and kiss me and her sister before going into the kitchen to help her mother. Thirty minutes later, we were all seated at the table, eating breakfast. Korri was dominating the conversation, as usual, talking about what she wanted to do for summer since it was coming up.

“And I wanna go to Disney World,” she concluded.

Romi laughed. “You got money to pay for all these activities?”

“No, but Mr. Devin does.”

She said that so confidently. I had to laugh.

“You just gon’ run my pockets like that, lil’ bit?” I asked.

“You said I could have whatever I wanted, remember?”

“I don’t remember saying exactly that, but you know I got you. It’s your world. I just live in it.”

She smiled big. “In that case, can I have a pony?”

“Korri!” Romi exclaimed.

“Mommy, a pony would be my size. You and Mr. Devin said I can’t go fast on the big ones.”

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