Page 95 of Betrothed To Love

“If you want to but I wouldn’t.” She shrugs. “And thanks for the ride and these,” she says, nodding down at her snacks.

“No problem. I really wanted to meet you,” I say.

“Me too.”

After placing her snacks and drink on the table, she opens the muffin then picks at it. “So… y’all don’t hate me?” she asks.

“Hell nah,” Shiro says at the same time I say no.

“Why would we hate you? You’re our little sister and what happened is between the adults, not you. You didn’t ask to be here,” I say and she nods then smiles. “So Tre, Ace, and Deuce aren’t here. Am I going to meet them too?”

“Yeah. I want to get us all together,” I say. “I didn’t want to overwhelm you all at once. We are a lot together.”

“A whole lot,” Shiro cosigns. “Plus, you gotta meet your nephews and niece, his daughter Niya, too. She was the only girl until you.”

“How old is she?” Alami asks.

“She’s only four but she’ll be happy to meet you.” Her cell rings an R&B song and she pulls it out, stares at the screen, then silences it. Seconds later, it starts again. “You need to get that?” I ask.

“It’s Daddy. He doesn’t know I’m here but my mom does,” she says and Shiro and I glare at each other.

Daddy? We never even learned the word. As soon as any one of us could talk, he made us call him Asali. Nothing else was acceptable or allowed.

“Asali?” Shiro asks.

“Yes. He’s staying with us now,” she says, confirming what Tre heard. Her phone rings again. “I better get it. Can I go out there?” she asks and I nod. She stands and answers before she opens the door. “Yes, Daddy.”

“Daddy,” Shiro scoffs as soon as she’s out. “This nigga is a whole daddy now.”

“Crazy work,” I admit.

Shiro stands. “I gotta get back to the shop before Tre trips. I just wanted to lay eyes on her. Let me know when you want to do something with everybody. It should be at your house,” he says and I stand. We dap and hug right as Alami walks back in. “Nice to meet you Thursday,” he says, then pulls her in for a big hug. “I’ll see you again.”

“Okay,” she says.

“Later, bruh,” I tell him.

“Fo’ sho,” he says then leaves.

“Why did he call me Thursday?” she asks and I don’t know why I’m surprised at her question. If she’s calling him daddy, she might not know much about her Hausa culture. The Asali I thought I knew seems very different from hers.

“You know Asali is Hausa, right?” I ask and she nods.

“In Hausa, girls born on Thursdays are often named Alami. You must have been born on a Thursday.”

“Really?” she says excitedly with a smile. Then she swipes on her phone. “I was. So cool. I did not know that but he doesn’t talk much about that anyway.”

“Are you two close?”

Shaking her head, she says, “No. He wasn’t there a lot. Now, I know why, but it’s cool. In eight and a half months, I’ll be on my own at CFU.”

“Eight and a half?”

“Yeah. I’m starting Summer B. I’m so ready to go ’cause I want this,” she says while admiring my office. “My own practice and everything.”

“Criminal law?”

“No. Family law. That’s why I’m majoring in social work. I think that’ll help. Did you go nonstop? Undergrad and straight to law school?” she asks, clearly much more comfortable. Talking about the law and law school has alleviated some of the awkwardness.