Page 88 of Made to Love Ya

“You give me the grace to do that, Chè. If it weren’t for the way you are with me, I doubt I’d know how to love properly. You’ve taught me how to love and honor you, and my heart can’t help but choose you every time, no matter what issues arise.”

She chuckled softly.

“What’s so funny?”

“I was just thinking that if it had not been for Ricky and Roshanda breaking my heart the way that they did, I would not have returned home, and I would never have known that you love me the way that you do.”

I smoothed the wrinkles from her creased brow and pulled her closer. After that ass whupping I had given Ricky, he never dared to come back around Talia. I had seen him eight months after that when I was in Atlanta on business at a restaurant. He had some broad on his arm, but the minute he saw me, that nigga almost ran out that restaurant.

Talia had heard from some of her restaurant friends in Atlanta that Roshanda had a baby girl, but the man she was pregnant by was married and didn’t claim her or his seed. The last we heard, she was stripping at some low-end club in Atlanta.

So much happened in the last year. The luxury apartments that I almost lost out on expanded to open another location in Cherokee Springs. The first location was in Atlanta. I was able to get in on the new one too. I sold my Airbnb homes and focused my investments on commercial real estate. After we returned home from the James Beard Awards, I found another failing restaurant that was looking for a buyer.

When I ran the details by Talia, she asked me for a one-on-one meeting with the owners. After hearing her plan, I set that meeting in motion. She asked them to give her three months to assess their business format, determine where they could improve, and work with their existing business manager, chefs, and staff to turn things around. She’d done it, and the restaurant was now nominated for a James Beard award and so was she for outstanding journalism. She had done the same thing with two other restaurants, assessing how they could improve operations and giving them detailed feedback for improvement.

Now that we had a little one of our own, I needed her more settled. I leaned sideways in the bed and pulled a set of keys from my pocket and handed them to her.

“What’s this, Zae?”

“Those are the keys to T’s Cucina.”

“What?” she asked and looked from the keys to me.

“That’s your restaurant, baby.”

“My restaurant? What are you talking about?”

“Do you remember the Panda Palace on Cherokee Springs Avenue?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, the owners were looking to retire, but they didn’t want to carry on that name. I remember how you had so many ideas for what they could do to improve that place and how you always stated it was on prime real estate for a restaurant.”

“And you agreed,” she remembered as her eyes widened.

“Well, that’s my gift to my wife for giving me the world’s most beautiful baby girl,” I replied.

“Izael Amir Ellis! God, how could I love you any more than I already do?”

“Just love me, baby.”

Tears fell from Talia’s eyes, and she leaned closer and kissed me deeply. We heard a tiny little wail, and she pulled back.

“Oh, my goodness. I’m sorry, pretty girl,” she cooed and stroked our daughter’s cheek.

“Damn, girl. Your ass horny already. Up here ’bout to crush my baby just to get a kiss,” I teased and leaned down and kissed River. I looked up and kissed my wife again.

Talia giggled and shook her head before she spoke. “Izael, you are the most amazing man I have ever met,” she whispered.

“No, baby. I was just made to love ya.”

I knew that I had done nothing to deserve the love of this great woman, but I was thankful that she was made perfect and made just to love me.

THE END