Page 37 of Passion
Her eyes widened, and I could see the sparkle in them. “So, are you going to marry Mommy?”
“Absolutely.”
She giggled. “I used to wonder why my mommy and daddy didn’t get married. They said they were friends that agreed to raise us. It’s confusing. When will we get to stay here? I wanna stay in my room. It’s so pretty!”
She stood and twirled around the room. “Hopefully, really soon.”
“I hope so. I don’t like staying with Daddy all the time. He doesn’t play with me as much as Mommy does. We play makeup and dress up! Daddy won’t because he’s a boy.”
She giggled and put her hand over her mouth again. I found myself smiling the entire time I stared at her until she said, “And sometimes he doesn’t play with us because his lady friend comes over. She’s not very nice.”
She quickly covered her mouth, and her playful demeanor became serious. “Oh no! I wasn’t supposed to say that.”
I moved closer to her. “It’s okay. Who told you to keep that a secret?”
“Daddy,” she said softly. “The lady doesn’t talk to us like you do. She just looks at us and goes to Daddy’s room. He would rather play with her instead of us.”
I swore I wanted to go find that muthafucka. How dare he put stipulations on who these kids could be around with Giselle, when he’s allowing a woman to be around them that Elle knows nothing about. “Well, sometimes grownups need to interact with other grownups,” I said, trying to coax more information out of her.
“Well, he plays with other grownups all the time. Sometimes his friend Paul comes over. Then there’s Lauren, Monique, and Stacy. They never come on the same days though. That would make it easier if they all became friends and played together.”
Her innocence about the situation was somewhat funny, but at the same time, the shit was irritating as fuck. He was having sex with multiple women while the kids were in the house. I supposed there was a frown on my face because she said, “Uh oh. Am I in trouble? I wasn’t supposed to tell anybody.”
“You’re not in trouble, sweetness.”
“Please don’t tell anybody.”
She started crying, and that action took my heart and turned it to mush. “Shh. Don’t cry. I won’t say a word, Princess Tiana.”
I said those words to ease her mind, but my petty side was smiling like the Joker. While I knew this information would give Giselle leverage, I didn’t understand why he was so adamant about keeping the kids away from me. It had to be more than him being jealous that Elle had found love the unconventional way.
I gently wiped Kizzie’s tears and said, “Come on. Let’s play with this jewelry. I’m gonna have you icy, girl.”
She wiped her face and smiled. Following me to her vanity, she sat on the stool and looked up at me. “Are you gonna be our daddy too?”
I went to my knees and hugged her. “I am going to be here for whatever you need me for. Okay?”
“Okay. Can I go to work with you so I can see the animals?”
“Hmm. We’ll have to check with your mom and dad about that, but I would be cool with having an assistant.”
She giggled as I put a necklace on top of the necklace she already wore. “I already have on a necklace, Mr. Gentry!”
“I know, but I said I was finna make you icy though. You finna look like the next female rapper.”
“Like GloRilla?”
I frowned. How in the fuck did this lil girl know who GloRilla was? As if sensing my questions, she said, “My daddy was listening to a song. He said I couldn’t say the bad words though.”
Maaaaan, this child was dropping all kinds of fucked up information. There was no way I would be able to sit on all this tea. I smiled slightly then put another necklace on her as she giggled. I glanced at Dakota to see he was still playing with his cars. After I clipped earrings on her ears, she said, “My daddy said that he would always love us.”
“That’s good, baby. I can agree with that. He’s your dad, and he loves y’all a lot.”
“But he said it like he was mad.”
I frowned slightly. Something was up with that nigga. Those kids could very well be getting traumatized living with his toxic ass. Giselle was gonna hear about this shit later. I couldn’t respond to her. I just started putting bracelets on her. I was surprised she hadn’t told her mama all this shit. I supposed she was considering me a friend that she could confide in. I would have to be sure Giselle kept this shit to herself when I told her.
Instead, I decided to be real with Kizzie. “Baby girl, I need you to listen to me right quick, okay?”