“Come on nana’s baby. Come get some water,” Nora said as she grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler.
“You want some water CJ?” Cam asked him.
“No,” CJ replied with a frown, like they were getting on his nerves.
“My baby is hot Camden!” Demi yelled.
“He sure is. Look at how he’s sweating,” Nora fussed.
“Are you a baby CJ?” Cam asked.
“No. I’m a man,” CJ replied while hitting his bare chest with his little fist. Cam had already removed his shirt to make sure he stayed cool.
“Oh, okay. Your mama and your nana must not know what’s up,” Cam replied as he threw the ball to his son again.
“I’m so happy that I didn’t have a boy,” Lacey said as she laughed at Cam and his son.
CJ was rough and Cam wasn’t having it any other way. Lacey and Kobe’s daughter, Khloe had just turned a year old the day before. They were all in City Park on that beautiful Saturday, celebrating her first year of life.
“I want a little girl, but I don’t want to endure the pain again. Both my sisters have girls and Isis just had another one a few months ago,” Demi replied
Isis had planned a big wedding celebration until she found out that she was pregnant again. She and her fiancé, Shane, scrapped the fairytale wedding and went to the justice of the peace instead. They used the money that they’d been saving for the wedding and purchased their first home. Imani hadn’t had any more kids, but she and Steve were proud homeowners as well. Demi was still very close with her sisters, but they still didn’t fuck with Savoy. The last they’d heard, Savoy was on husband and baby number three. That didn’t surprise anyone because she was a well-known hoe.
“I want my first baby to be a boy,” Nia spoke up as she looked at a picture that Lacey had pulled up on her phone
“Lacey!” Kobe shouted as he gave her a stern look.
“Okay Kobe, damn,” Lacey said as she rolled her eyes up to the sky
“You and Nia can do that another time. This is my baby’s day and it’s all about her,” Kobe replied.
Nia had just graduated from college a few months ago and her boyfriend, Darren, popped the question the same day. They had been dating for a little over two years and they were both going into the same profession. They were planning a big wedding for the following year, and Lacey was helping her get everything together. Nia was happier than she’d ever been and her future husband had a lot to do with it. She didn’t think that she’d ever find love again after Randy, but fate had other plans. She didn’t have many friends, but Lacey and Demi were two of the best ones she’d ever met. Laila was around, but conversations with her were forced. Her own sister didn’t fuck with her too much. They were all cordial with her, for the sake of Nadine. She tried hard to get back in their inner circle but, deep down, she knew that things would never be the same again. She lived with her mother and she had no life outside of work.
“Drink some water and take a break CJ,” Cam said as he sat down next to Demi to rest.
“Come here my baby,” Demi said as she reached her hands out to her son.
“Stop babying him all the time Demi,” Cam fussed.
“He’s a baby Cam. He’s only two years old,” Demi replied.
Cam and everybody else fell out laughing when CJ bypassed Demi’s outstretched arms and took a seat next to his father. It if weren’t for Cam, his son would be as soft as cotton. Between Demi and both their mothers, they babied him all day. Even Cam’s grandmother, Trudy, treated him like porcelain. They wanted to hold him and feed him like he was an invalid. Demi didn’t even want him to sleep in his own room, but Cam wasn’t having it. He worked hard to teach him how to be independent at an early age. He kept telling them that he was a boy and that was how he should be treated. He didn’t want his son going through life depending on people to do everything for him.
Cam taught his son the things that he wished his father would have taught him. He threw the football with him and they played video games all the time. Cam even took him to a few of the car shows, and CJ seemed to be just as interested as he was. Cam was determined to be a great father and he was succeeding. He forgave his father a long time ago, but he vowed to do things differently with his own son. Granted, Cam’s situation was very different from his father’s. His father was married and had an affair on his wife when Cam was conceived. His wife, Amy, hated Cam and she proved that when she tried to send him to jail for a long time. Because of that, Amy was disbarred and given a year of house arrest. Cam’s grandfather thought it was a slap on the wrist, but that was the law.
Since then, Amy had moved to Georgia with her elderly parents to help take care of them. Demi said that she heard from some of her co-workers that Amy was teaching paralegal and notary classes at a local university.
“My feelings are so hurt,” Demi pouted as she looked at her son with puppy dog eyes.
“Sorry,” CJ said as he ran over to Demi and gave her a hug.
“Aww, my baby is so sweet,” Demi said as she kissed him and sat him on her lap.
Cam smiled as he watched Demi interact with their son. He couldn’t have asked for a better wife and mother for his child. Demi was everything that his ex-girlfriend, Asha, wasn’t. Asha would have been the mother of his first-born son, but Cam was happy that things took a different turn. Asha was selfish and it took a life-changing incident to finally slow her down. She had two brothers in jail for life and one in the grave. Her appearance had been altered forever and she didn’t even go outside anymore. Cam ran into her sister-in-law, Kelly, a few times and she always gave him an update on what was going on. Kelly still went around to bring her boys to see their grandmother.
Asha and her mother lived in a two-bedroom apartment and depended on Asha’s disability to keep the bills paid. Asha still sold hair, but she did everything online. She was too superficial to let anyone see how she looked. Kelly showed Cam a picture, and he wanted to cry for her. Asha had gained a lot of weight and she was unrecognizable because of the fire. After all the lives that she had ruined, karma was nicer to her than Cam thought it would be.
“Are y’all ready to eat?” Nadine asked when Kobe’s brother came over with a pan of freshly barbecued ribs and chicken.
She didn’t have to ask twice. Everybody jumped up and raced to the pans, while she fussed and yelled the entire time. Cam grabbed his son and cut in front of everybody, but Demi didn’t move. Cam always had her covered, so she didn’t have to. Demi loved her and Cam’s relationship. She hadn’t known him nearly as long as she knew her first husband, but she felt like she knew him better than she knew Kamari. Her and Cam’s marriage was built on trust and communication, something that she lacked in her first union. Because of some of the decisions that he’d made, Kamari was in jail serving a fifteen-year sentence. Demi tried to get him to do better, but he wanted to do things the easy way.
“Thank you, baby,” Demi said when Cam sat a plate of food in front of her. He sat down next to her, while CJ sat in between them.
“Baby stop, let him eat by himself,” Cam fussed when Demi tried to feed their son.
“Come on Camden. I feel like I don’t even have a baby anymore. You’re making him grow up too fast,” Demi whined.
“When you have a cry baby ass lil boy who can’t even wipe his own ass, you gon’ wonder why,” Cam replied.
“I’ll wipe it for him,” Demi smirked.
“Now, you got me fucked up,” Cam laughed.
“Ms. Nora still calls you her baby,” Demi pointed out.
“He’ll always be your baby Demi, but you can’t always treat him like one. I have to step in and draw the line sometimes. If I leave it up to you and his grandmothers, he’ll be wearing tights and taking ballet lessons,” Cam replied.
“What’s wrong with that? Lots of real men do ballet,” Demi noted.
“Do you want a divorce Demi? You keep talking like that and I’m taking my son and leaving your ass,” Cam th
reatened while she laughed.
“Man, I want a daughter. I need somebody to play dress up with and stuff,” Demi pouted.
“I got you, baby. I’ve been asking for another one since last year, but you weren’t ready,” Cam replied.
“Yeah because CJ was still so little. I think I’m ready now though,” Demi said while looking over at him.
“Seriously?” Cam asked with a bright smile.
“Yes.” Demi smiled back.
“CJ, you wanna go spend the night with nana?” Cam asked his son.
“Yeah,” CJ replied as he made a mess with the barbecued chicken that he was eating.
“Good because me and mommy need to get to work on your little sister,” Cam whispered.
“Don’t tell him that Cam,” Demi laughed while slapping his arm.
He was too excited to know that Demi was ready to expand their family. With Demi and his son, he felt rich, even without all the money. There were some things that money couldn’t buy and Cam was happy that he’d learned that early on. Unlike his father, he wasn’t going to buy his children’s love; he was going to earn it.
Check Out Other Great Books From Chenell Parker
I Hate That I Need You
What You Won’t Do For Love
You Should Let Me Love You
Never Knew Love Like This
Complicated
I Heard It All Before Page 34