11 months later...

I sat patiently in the small waiting room just flipping through magazines as I waited for Royce to finish up the session with her therapist. The sessions usually last thirty minutes, but sometimes an hour. Today was one of the longer ones.

Royce and I have different therapists so our sessions are never on the same day. When we first started therapy, we would go once a week for the first few months. Then we switched to once every two weeks. Now we go once a month. It's expensive, but our health insurance covers most of it, leaving me with a small copay for every visit. And I don't mind paying at all.

I looked up from the magazine when I heard a door open. I stood up and placed the magazine back on the table where I found it. Royce said goodbye to her therapist and ran over to me. I waved to Ms. Shonda and left with Imani.

"So, how did it go?" I asked her once we got situated in the car.

"It was good. We talked a lot," she responded back.

"I bet. You were in there for an hour."

"Yes, I told Ms. Shonda that me, you, and daddy are going out to eat today."

"You did?" I asked.

"Yes. I told her that even though mommy and daddy aren't together, they still love each other. I also said that I like when we all spend time together. It makes me happy," she smiled.

"I'm glad you're happy Imani. It makes me happy to see you happy," I told her. She only smiled at me as I started the car.

Once we got to the house, Imani and I took a long nap. Some hours later when my alarm went off, I woke her up and rushed to take a quick shower. And of course she was right behind me with all her little questions.

"Where are we going mommy?" She asked.

"Umm, that's a good question. I don't know, but all I was told was to dress nicely," I responded back.

"What are you wearing then?" I turned off the shower and pulled back the curtains.

"That's what I'm about to go figure out." Royce passed me the towel and I stepped out. "Did you want to take a shower?" I asked her.

"No, I already did before we took our nap," she said leaving out the bathroom. All right then. I finished drying off before following after her. When I got back to the room, she already had two of my dresses laid out on the bed. Her little ass was too eager.

"I like this one," she pointed to a very revealing dress.

"No, that's too much baby. Where do you think we're going?"

"It's pretty though," she pouted.

"I agree, but it's a hard no." I moved the first dress to the side and examined the next one. It wasn't bad, but definitely not something I would wear out to eat. These were too much. I picked both of the dresses up and went into my closet where I found the hangers on the floor.

"Imani, how about you go put on the outfit I laid out for you."

"But I wanna help you," she said.

"You can help me by getting yourself dressed."

"Okay," she mumbled. She then left the room.

I pondered over what to wear for awhile. When I found a dress that suited the occasion, I quickly got ready.

I made sure to put on some lotion, deodorant, and perfume. I then snapped on my favorite push-up bra, slipped into a thong, and shimmied into the stretchy material of my blue and orange dress. Since my hair was already done in a sleek low-ponytail, I only had to fix the minor imperfections. I grabbed my orange heels, a jacket, and a small purse before going into Imani's room.

I looked around before spotting her on the ground digging in her closet, and messing things up.

"Royce, why aren't you dressed?" I interrupted her. I sat down in her beanbag chair and took my time strapping on my heels.

"Can I wear this instead," she responded back.

"That's not what we agreed on. I told you to put on the outfit I laid out for you."

"But mommy," she dropped what was in her hands. I took off my heals and stood up. I walked over to her closet and started picking up all the clothes she had messed up. She even got the step-stool to reach some of the high shit.

"Imani, do you want to be late?" I asked her.

"No," she frowned.

"Then get up and get dressed so that we can leave."

"Yes ma'am," she huffed a little bit, but stood up and made her way over to the bed.

"Thank you for not arguing with me," I told her. She nodded and started changing. While she got dressed, I grabbed both her backpack with all her school supplies and her duffel bag with her school clothes. Imani starts First grade next week, which happens to be Dashawn's week. The elementary school that she's enrolled in requires uniforms, so I spent all week putting together her outfits. Since I won't necessarily be with her on her first week, I wanted to do as much as I could to prepare her. And even though she'll be with Dashawn, I still might show up at her school to give her a proper send off on her first day.

I took all her stuff downstairs and sat them by the front door. When I went back up to the room, Imani wasn't there. I just shrugged and continued straightening up her closet. Just as I finished, Imani came back fully dressed from head to toe.

"See, that wasn't so hard," I waved her over. "Bring me my shoes too," I pointed to my heels that were on the floor by her chair. I shuffled over to the bed and sat down as she bounced her way over to me.

Both of our heads perked up at hearing my phone go off from the other room. "I'll go get it." I didn't have to say anything before she rushed off. Knowing who was calling, I quickly slipped on my shoes before tying them up.

"Here you go." I took the phone from her and put it to my ear.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hey, where y'all at?" Dashawn asked.

"Still at the house. We're literally about to leave in a few minutes. We won't be late, and if we are it'll only be by some minutes."

"Mmm, okay. Take y'all time."

"Okay." We hung up after that. Royce giggled as I stood up and dragged her back into my room. I grabbed a good amount of Vaseline and lotion and slathered some on her face and arms.

"Leg," I ordered.

"Other leg." She laughed as she hopped on one foot.

"Your hair is already done, and now you look perfect," I straightened out her dress and checked to make sure she had on some spandex shorts underneath it.

We were out the house within five minutes. I put the address into the gps and it took us twenty minutes to get there. I called Dashawn once we parked, and he then came out to get Royce's things.

"Hi!" She was already in a good mood, but her smile increased tenfold once she saw him.

"Hey," he grabbed her and tossed her in the air a few times—something I couldn't do anymore.

I popped the trunk and straightened out my dress as I rounded the car.

"You been good?" Dashawn asked her.

"Yes sir." He gave her a kiss on the cheek before putting her down on the ground.

"Her stuff is in here." I leaned over the car to dig into the trunk, but Dashawn stopped me.

"I got it." I watched as he got her stuff out and closed the trunk. I locked the doors behind us, and Imani clung to me as we took the short walk to his car.

"Imani, stop," I laughed as she tried connecting her arms around the entirety of my butt. She only does this when I wear clothes that accentuate my figure. And since I've been wearing mostly sweats lately, she gets a kick out of seeing me dressed up. Her little antics are usually funny as hell, except for when she chooses to be goofy at the most awkward times.

"Mommy has a big butt—" I covered her mouth to stop her from talking.

"I didn't give you permission to touch me," I joked as I brought my index finger up to her forehead and nudged her back a few steps. Kids just do not care about personal space.

"Daddy, isn't mommy pretty!" She wrapped her arms around me again and squeezed tightly. She looked up at me and smiled, and I couldn't help but lightly pinch her cheeks. Once Dashawn was finished putting everything in the backseat, he turned to face us. He dragged his eyes up and down my body and smirked.

"She's always pretty," he said pulling us into a quick hug. It's been a minute since Dashawn and I've interacted with one another. When we do our exchanges with Imani, they're always so quick that we just don't sit around making small talk. He knows where we stand in our relationship. We keep it cordial and strictly platonic.

"Daddy said that you're always pretty." I snorted as she moderated the conversation.

"Guess who else is pretty?" He asked her. Imani let me go and pretended to think over his question.

"Well, daddy always says that I look like mommy. If mommy is pretty, and I look like mommy. Then...it's me. I'm pretty too." Imani said.

"Damn right." He responded.

"No daddy, you shouldn't say that. That's a bad word," she frowned.

"My fault. I forget I can't say bad words around you. But come on, we should go inside," he held his hand out for her. She gladly took it. Imani held her hand out to me and I took hers.

Tonight is special. Imani, Dashawn, and I are having a small intimate dinner to celebrate Imani starting First grade. It's a huge accomplishment—one that I plan on celebrating every year that she moves up a grade. To me, it's just as important as a birthday. I'm so proud of Imani for not letting any of what happened last year hold her back. We took our break, went to the beach like I always wanted, and I got Imani a tutor to prepare her for this year's screening tests.

And since she aced those tests, she is now officially in primary school. I couldn't be happier for her. She did so good that she was able to skip kindergarten. But I already knew she was academically ready; I just hope that she's psychologically ready as well.

We walked into the building and passed the long line of people waiting to be seated. Dashawn then pulled us along to a secluded area in the back of the restaurant.

"It's beautiful in here," I stared in awe.

"You like it?"

"Yea, it's nice—not too fancy, but like real homey, if that makes sense. Who told you about this place?"

"Nobody. I own it."

"What? Since when?!" I was caught off guard.

"Since I bought it," he snickered. When we stopped at a booth, Imani paused and looked up at me shyly.

"You can sit over there. I don't mind," I told her. She nodded and climbed into the booth. Dashawn got in after her and I took the seat opposite of them.

"So you own like four properties now?" I asked.

"Yea, the strip clubs, the lounge, and here." I nodded. Dashawn is always on his grind doing something to make money, and he seems to be sticking to his word by staying under the radar. I'm glad he decided to step down from his fast-paced life, and now he just seems to be chillin—still in control of everything, but not nearly as much as he used to be.

"Can we look at the menu?" Royce quietly spoke up. Dashawn nodded and gave her his full attention.

"My fault, I bet you're hungry?" He said.

"A little bit," she smiled.

"Your mama didn't feed you?" He asked in a mocking tone.

"Yes, but I'm hungry again."

"We had a big breakfast and a snack for lunch, but she's been excited to see you all day. And she said she wanted to save her appetite for you," I laughed as Imani covered her face with the menu. She's too cute when she starts blushing.

"You was really that excited to see me?" Dashawn asked her.

When she didn't answer, Dashawn reached around the menu and started tickling her. Imani burst out laughing and quickly nodded her head in response to his question. Dashawn stopped and pulled the menu from her hands.

"Well then, what do you want to eat?"

"I don't know, something good," she continued giggling.

I watched as they talked over the whole menu. Imani's eyes lit up as Dashawn thoroughly explained all of the options. I smiled softly to myself, almost painfully. Imani was just too happy as she absorbed everything he had to say. My jealousy wanted to show so bad, but I did my best to control my facial expressions. And it's crazy because Imani constantly brags about how much fun she has with her dad, but to see them actually play together makes the whole situation feel too surreal.

After all this time, Dashawn still got what he wanted—a child. Even though I initially wanted to keep Imani all to myself, I couldn't deny her the right to build a relationship with him.

And even though it took months for her to even open up to him, I don't think she could ever imagine her life without him now. They both can't get enough of each other, and I honestly think that she has way more fun with him anyway.

But despite my jealousy, Imani deserves to be happy, and I hope she never loses her smile. Was she a hundred percent healed from what happened? No, not even close, but I've never seen her smile as bright as she was now. Dashawn and I still have our problems, but I've definitely been sleeping better knowing that Imani has someone else in this world that she can rely on besides me.

And with Kennedy being gone and having no one else around that posed a threat to me or Imani, it was honestly only good vibes from here on out.

.....