Everyone in the room stood up and clapped for China as she came up to the stage with cake all on her face. She ran on stage and her dad gave her two certificates that he had made especially for her and then turned around and handed her a gift bag.
I watched as he got down on his knee in front of her and the moment before me was so special that it brought tears to my eyes. “China, I don’t want you to ever think that your mother and I don’t care about you because we have a new baby on the way. We will always love you, and we’re so sorry that we weren’t there to celebrate that special day with you, and it will never happen again,” Jaquan said.
China wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Everybody, including myself was clapping because the moment before us was truly beautiful. I came around and helped my baby girl off the stage and then walked to the back so that I could wipe her face.
“Ay, Dre, where you at, nigga? You told me you had a few things that you wanted to say as well,” Quan said, and I watched as Dre made his way to the stage.
This was one cocky ass nigga, and all of the single females looked at his ass in awe. Toya had a problem on her hands, but she definitely knew how to control Dre’s ass.
“I don’t know how the hell I’m supposed to compete with the moment my nigga just had with his daughter,” Dre said, and again, everyone laughed. “But for real, though. China, I’m just as proud of you and keep doing good in school,” he said and China looked at him in smiled. “But onto what I came up here for. First off, where my lady at?” Dre asked.
Everybody looked around for Toya, and she was potted coming from out of the kitchen holding a plate of food in her hands. I watched as she looked at Dre with pleading eyes, shaking her head no. I found it to be hysterical as hell because Toya hated to be in the spotlight.
Dre laughed and continued his speech. “As many of you all may know, I’ve been home now for about a year, after spending five years in jail. I hadn’t even been home for a full forty-eight hours and I was already in love with that beautiful woman standing back there. I may not like to admit it, but she changed me, man. Made me realize what it feels like to give out love and to receive that shit in return. I’ll admit that she put my ass on a chase. She made me work to get her and it made the chase that much more intriguing.
This was the first time that I ever in my life had to go after a woman because I was used to them coming after me. Toya, come over here because I have something that I want to ask you,” Dre said.
All of the woman started hooting and hollering because most of us knew what was about to go down. Hell, at this point, I think I knew it too. I watched as Toya set down her plate of food on the table and then made her way on the stage. Dre pulled her in his arms and shared a quick kiss with her and then her pulled her to the side.
“What I’m trying to say, T, is that I love you, lil’ mama, and I want to continue spending the rest of my life with you. You make a nigga feel like all of this other shit that’s going on around me doesn’t matter, as long as I’m coming home to you at the end of the day. Latoya Diaz, my best friend, my everything, I promise you would make me the happiest man alive if you say yes to this question that I’m about to ask you,” Dre said.
He reached in his pocket, pulled out a small black box and got down on one knee. “Will you marry me, baby?” he asked, and Toya screamed yes.
I applauded for my girl because she deserved that ring. Dre slid the ring on her finger and when he stood up, he picked her up and the two of them engaged in a passionate kiss in front of everybody. Everyone in the room was on their feet, clapping.
When Dre put Toya down, she grabbed both of his hands and placed them on her small baby bump. Dre’s eyes grew with excitement and Toya nodded her head yes, confirming that it was indeed true. The look on Dre’s face was priceless, and if I’m not mistaken, I think I even saw a tear fall from his eye.
Today was such a beautiful day. To witness my best friend get engaged was a beautiful sight to see because almost a year ago, Toya’s man was her work. Toya worked her ass off and she never had anyone to come home to but her damn dog, Prada. Out of all people, I never would have thought that Toya would hook up with Dre’s thugged out ass, but she did, and the two of them were happy as ever. I swear black love was such a beautiful thing to witness.
After we finished eating again, we opened the gifts, danced, and played a few more games. The baby shower/school assembly/engagement party/baby reveal was a huge success, and now I couldn’t wait to get my ass home, kick my feet up, and just get some much needed rest.
Chapter 16: Chantel
For the month or so that Davion and I have been a couple, it seemed that for the first time in my life something actually felt right. I was able to sleep peacefully at night, knowing that I didn’t have any ill intentions with this man, and knowing that I wasn’t out here living foul. I never knew what love was before I got with Davion, but I knew for a fact that I loved him. I didn’t know if he loved me, but it still didn’t hinder the way that I felt about him.
This man supported me in everything that I did, and times when I wanted to stop writing this book, he was there for me, pushing me through it every step of the way. If it weren’t for him, I knew without a doubt that this book would have never been finished because I would have given up. Because of him, 315 pages later, I was sending my book to a publisher and hoping that this book did wonders. Nothing in this book was fiction, except for the names that I used so I wouldn’t have to call anybody out.
This book was going to be a positive reinforcement mainly for teens who had a greed for money. Maybe this book would change their whole perception of life. I knew without a doubt that if I had never met Davion, I would still be somewhere living foul because I never had somebody in my corner who actually saw something in me. Past dudes that I used to fuck with, the only thing they wanted from me was some head and some pussy. These niggas didn’t care about what my favorite color was, what I liked to do for fun, or my childhood experiences. I couldn’t place the blame on them because they were only giving me the respect that I earned. I wasn’t giving them nothing to respect, so they treated me as such.
“Hey, he’s downstairs whenever you’re ready to come down,” Davion said, coming into the bathroom as I finished putting the final curls in my hair.
Today I was meeting Davion’s son, DJ, and I was more than happy. This step showed me that Davion trusted me enough to be in the same room as his son, and it made me feel that things between us were getting pretty serious.
“Okay, I’m coming now. I don’t know why, but I’m so nervous,” I said as I walked out of the bathroom and turned the light off behind me.
“You have no reason to be nervous. That’s a little boy down there and he’s happy to finally get the chance to meet you because I have been telling him about you for weeks now,” Davion said as he walked up to me and placed his arms around my waist.
I smiled because it was the littlest things that he continued to do that made me feel special.
“What did you tell him about me?” I asked, as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“I told him that you’re daddy’s new girlfriend and that you were going to be in my life now, and I wanted you to meet him. My son knows that his mother and I are never getting back together, and I didn’t want to bring another female around him until I felt like I was ready. I know for a fact that I’m ready now,” Davion said and I smiled and kissed his lips.
“Okay, let’s go so I can meet him.”
We took the circular stairway, and when we reached the living room, I saw a little boy sitting down on the couch watching TV. Once I got close enough and took in his features, I realized that Davion’s son was absolutely beautiful. He had his long hair going back in about four big braids that stopped in the middle of his back. He was the spitting image of his father. He had big brown eyes and pretty long eye lashes. He was dressed casually in a pair of Jordan basketball shorts and the matching shirt with the shoes. I co
uldn’t stop staring at him because he was just that handsome.
“DJ, this is daddy’s girlfriend that I was telling you about. Come give Chantel a hug,” Davion told his son.
He got up from the couch, came over and gave me a hug.
“It’s nice to meet you, handsome. You look just like your daddy,” I told him, after he had pulled away.
When he smiled, I noticed that he was missing two of his front teeth and I almost died when I saw those deep dimples.
“Okay, now that’s everyone is acquainted, let’s go so we can have some fun,” Davion said.
He reached for the remote and turned off the TV in the living room. We walked out of the house, looking like the perfect family. Whoever DJ’s mother was, I was in no shape or form to try to steal her position, but if I planned on being in Davion’s life for the rest of my life, then that meant that DJ would be around. When he was around, I was going to make sure I set good examples for him.
Once we were in the car, Davion took off. He said that we were going to Dave and Busters, since it was his son’s favorite place to go. I was on board because I had never been before, so it would be a first time experience. Hell, many of the things that I have been doing with Davion lately had been new to me. My favorite thing to do with him was after we finished having sex, he would hold me in his arms and whisper sweet nothings to me. I had never in my life experienced that type of treatment because I was used to niggas bouncing right after they got what they wanted from me, and then leaving a couple of Benjamin Franklin’s on my dresser. Funny how the times have changed though.
Ten minutes later, we pulled up to Dave and Buster’s. Davion parked the car and all three of us got out. DJ and I each grabbed one of Davion’s hands and we all walked inside. Once we were seated in the restaurant area, I began to look at the menu. I felt so dumb because I’ve always thought that Dave and Buster’s was just an arcade. I didn’t know that it actually had a restaurant in it as well.
For the next thirty minutes or so, I learned a lot about DJ. I found out that he loved to play football and basketball, his favorite color was green, and he said when he grew up that he wanted to be a football player. Once he came out of this shyness, he began to talk my ear off, and I actually loved everything about it.
“You ready for me to beat you in a game of basketball?” DJ asked me as soon as we finished eating.
“DJ, you got to take it easy on her. She’s a girl and she may break a nail or some shit,” Davion said, trying to be funny and I discreetly shot him in the bird.
“Let’s go then, but I don’t know about you beating me,” I told DJ.
Davion paid the tab for the food and then he had the waitress put money on the card so that we could play the games.
No wonder DJ said that he loved to play basketball, his little ass was good as hell at it. We spent the next hour or so in the arcade section, and between myself, Davion, and DJ, I didn’t know who had the most tickets. Once we put all of our tickets in the machine, we had over 25,000 tickets. Of course, we gave the receipt to DJ and let him go to the little store and pick out whatever he wanted. It warmed my heart when he came back with a little teddy bear and gave it to me.
“Damn, lil nigga, you trying to take my girl already?” Davion joked and it caused us to laugh.
Overall, the day was a success. On the drive home, DJ was in the back seat knocked out. I guess he had way too much fun today. When we pulled up to the house, Davion handed me the key and he got DJ from the back seat. I opened the door for them and then I followed the two of them into the house. While Davion tended to his son, I went in the bedroom and lay down on the bed. I hadn’t had this much fun in years, and my body was super tired.
A few minutes later, Davion came back in the room with the biggest smile on his face. “My son really likes you. He told me to tell you that he enjoyed his day with you.”
Davion got in the bed with me and pulled me close to him. I turned over on my side, looked in his eyes and smiled. I was thinking about how I had lucked up and there was no place in the world that I would rather be right now, than to be laid up with this man. I also had something else in the back of my mind that I had been dying to ask him, but I was afraid because I didn’t want him to feel some type of way.
“What’s on your mind? Why you looking at me like that?” Davion asked after he placed two kisses on my lips. I stared at him for a while and then I went ahead and asked.
“I don’t want you to feel any type of way for me asking this, but I just wanted to receive some clarity. Did you kill him?” I looked in his eyes and watched as he broke contact. That alone proved to me that he did it.
“Kill who?” he asked, removing his arm from mine and sitting up in the bed.
I crawled over to him and straddled his lap. I put my hand under his chin and forced him to look at me.
“Don’t insult my intelligence, Davion. You haven’t lied to me since day one, so please don’t start lying to me now. You know who I’m talking about, so did you do it?” I asked, this time a little bit more forcefully.
He slapped my hand away from his and looked me dead in the eyes. “Yes, I killed the nigga and he ain’t ever coming back to fuck with you again because I made sure of that. He was a pussy, and the world would be a much better place without his ass. Think about it, had I not come when I did, it’s no telling what that nigga would have done to you or had you out here doing in these streets. That was the same day you had gave a nigga some pussy for the first time and I just fuckin’ snapped, but I damn sure don’t regret doing what I did. I love you, Chantel, and I’ll never let another nigga hurt your ass,” he said.
I looked at him in shock. This was the first time that he had confessed his love to me, and I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my face.
“That’s right, I said that I love you,” he said and I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his lips.
“And I love you too,” I told him.
Boy, love was the best damn feeling in the world.
Chapter 17: Quan
“Okay, she’s fully dilated now and she can begin pushing, the doctor said.
We had been in this hospital for the past thirteen hours and we were all standing around, waiting to meet our princess. Inside the room was myself, Monae, Toya, my mom and Charlie’s mom. Quay and Dre waited outside in the lobby with China. It was going to be way too graphic, and I didn’t want my daughter to see all of that. But as soon as the baby came and was cleaned up, I would run down the hall so that China could meet her little sister.
“I’m so ready for this shit to be over with! Oh my God, it hurts so bad,” Charlie screamed as another contraction ripped through her body.
I was standing in the middle of the room videotaping the whole thing, while her mom and my mom and her girls held her hands for support. Every minute though, I would walk over and dab her face because she was sweating and I would give her some kisses to calm her ass down, even though it wasn’t even working.
“Charlie, please, you have to breathe, sweetie. Take two deep breaths whenever you feel another contraction and start to push down,” the doctor said as she sat in her chair, right between my wife’s legs. I watched as tears steadily fell down my wife’s face and she looked at me, hoping that I could do something to take her out of this pain. Charlie had refused to have an epidural, so her ass was feeling every bit of pain right now.
“Good job,” the doctor cheered as Charlie did what she had told her to do. “Now rest, and when you feel another one coming, do it again,” the doctor said and Charlie nodded her head. She completed the process about another five times and eventually, we were able to see the head.
“There goes the head, baby!” I said happily as I zoomed in on the baby.
“Okay, wait, don’t push. Take a couple of deep breaths. Blow out from your mouth, Charlie, not your nose,” the doctor said. “Okay, one more gentle push.”
Within seconds, the doctor was slowly pulling the baby out. I wat
ched as my wife threw her head back in exhaustion and my beautiful daughter’s cries filled the room.
“Daddy, would you like to come over and cut the umbilical cord?” the doctor asked.
I set the camera down on the table behind me, with it still on, and came over and did the honor of cutting the cord. Charlie reached out for our baby and the doctor placed her on my wife’s chest as both of them cried together. The moment before me was beautiful as hell, and I was lucky enough to get it all on camera. The nurses came and took the baby, so that they could weigh and clean her, while the doctor took care of my wife as she pushed out the placenta.
“And here she is, weighing in at 6 pounds and 7 ounces,” the nurse said, placing our princess in Charlie’s arms. I could tell that my wife was drained, but she still reached out her arms so that she could hold our baby.
“What’s her name, Charlie? You kept it a secret for so long,” Toya said as she snapped pictures of the baby.
“Her name is London Mackenzie Williams.” Charlie beamed and kissed our daughter on her forehead.
I came over and took the baby out of my wife’s arms. Man, lil mama was so beautiful. I now had two young queens that I had to help raise and lead by example. Meaning, I had to treat their mama the way a man was supposed to treat them when they were old enough to start dating, which would probably be when they were about thirty years old. I wanted my girls to look at me and have a mindset like, Damn, daddy really loves mommy.
I whispered in my daughter’s ear a few times, telling her how much I loved her and I watched as a little smile came to her face. Tears welled up in my eyes and I let them fall. This was the second best day of my life, the first being the birth of China. I handed my wife back the baby because the doctor was telling her that it was time to start breastfeeding her. While she did that, I went down the hall to get my homies and my daughter.
305 Lovin' 4: The Finale Page 11
