"Good Morning mommy. Are you okay?"Aaliyah poked her head in Damita's room to check in her. It was Father's Day, a day that was always hard for her.
"I'm alright baby. Thank you for asking. I'll be down to put breakfast in a minute."Damita replied with a small sigh. "Come give mommy a hug."
Aaliyah walked up to her mom and tightly wrapped her arms around her mothers waist and Damita kissed her forehead. "I Love You so much you know that? You're always taking care of me."Damita explained, holding her daughter close to her.
She needed that hug, because truthfully she wasn't okay. She missed her husband more than anything. She had a new man, but he didn't mean nearly as much as Amaru meant to her.
"I love you too mommy."Aaliyah replied with a toothless smile. "Want me to help you cook?"
"Sure honey."Damita replied, sliding on her robe.
Damita was very affectionate with her children, she made sure that she was always around and got them whatever they wanted. She didn't want them to hate her like Amari. She wanted them to know that mommy will always be around, especially because their father wasn't.
"Can I make the pancakes mommy?"Aaliyah asked as she followed her mother into the kitchen.
"Yeah, make sure you make waffles too because your brother doesn't eat pancakes."Damita replied.
"He's so weird."Aaliyah giggled and rolled her eyes.
"Your dad didn't eat pancakes either. I swear your brother is like a clone of him. He even talks like him now."She sighed.
"You miss him a lot huh?"Aaliyah asked.
"Of course I do. I think about him everyday."She replied then became silent.
"Mommy can I ask you another question?"Aaliyah asked. Damita nodded her head and continued to crack eggs open into the skillet in front of her.
"Do you ever miss your dad? I mean you never talk about him or grandma Katherine. And when they come to pick us up you don't even speak to them."Aaliyah spoke, causing her mother to become slightly irritated.
"Do you want omelettes or scrambled eggs?"Damita asked, dismissing her daughters question.
"Scrambled is fine."Aaliyah sighed. Her mother always did this. She never wanted to talk about anything. Even if she knew something was tearing her up inside, she was always "fine" and Aaliyah hated that.
"I'll finish up here, go and wake up your brother."Damita said as she put the eggs in a separate bowl then filled the skillet with bacon.
Her rose gold iPhone 7 started to vibrate on the counter, causing her to become distracted from cooking. She then rolled her eyes at the number that was displayed on her screen.
Afeni.
They had grown apart over the years. Especially after all the things that Katherine had done to her. Damita felt that she couldn't trust anyone, considering that it took them a whole year to get her out of the asylum and three years to get her kids back. She felt that if they wanted to get her out sooner, they could have.
"Yes?"she scoffed.
"Goodmorning to you to Damita."Afeni chuckled.
"Goodmorning."She said in her best fake happy voice.
"I know that you and I don't speak, but I'm calling because the police station just called me. They're reopening Amaru's case and they need us to come down to the station to answer a couple of questions."Afeni explained.
