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“Do I adopt her?” Kokou asked. “Is that how it works?”
“Kennedy?” I asked. “If you want to.”
“I want to.”
“This isn’t something you enter into lightly.” I reminded her. “You should think about it.”
“I want her, Daniel.” Kokou lifted her eyes to mine. “I want her.”
“Okay, darling.” I kissed her between the eyes. “We’ll work something out when we get back home.”
“Uncle Angelo wants a picture.” Kennedy got up and hurried over to climb into Kokou’s lap and flopped her back to Kokou’s chest. “Smile!”
She held up the tablet. But instead of smiling, I kissed Kokou’s cheek.
“Aww, dad!” Kennedy moaned when she saw the picture. “Stop ruining it. you’re supposed to smile.”
“I am?” I teased.
“Iya,make dad behave,” Kennedy said.
Kokou gasped and looked over at me. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but I knew from the look on her face that something happened.
“What?” I mouthed.
Kokou hugged Kennedy as tears rolled down her cheeks. I tried wiping them away, but they were toppling down too fast for me to keep up.
“What’s wrong?” Kennedy asked.
“You called me mom!” Kokou cheered, then kissed Kennedy’s cheek and forehead.
“Aww,Iya!” Kennedy groaned.
Kokou laughed out loud and hugged her again.
This time I obeyed and smiled for the picture.
Kennedy hopped down and skipped off into her room.
“Iyameans mom in your language?” I asked.
Kokou nodded.
“When did she learn that?” I wanted to know.
“Maybe when we went to see the Nigerian dancers.” Kokou replied, the biggest grin on her face. “I’mIya! That means she claimed me!”
“Congratulations,Iya.”
“Thank you!”
“She’s growing up way too fast.” I groaned.
“Tell me about it.” Kokou laughed.
That night after we’d tucked Kennedy into bed, we walked into our bedroom, and I used the remote to close the curtains. While Kokou plugged in the phones to charge, and packed our things, I used the bathroom, including brushing then returned in time for her to do the same.
“Daniel?”
