“Well, I don’t know about you, Mama, but since Tinker Belle is growing up so fast and pushing us aside, I could use another little one to baby and coddle.”
“Not you giving up on my baby already,” Angel declared, giving her mother a stank face.
“Well, I’m just saying . . . It wouldn’t be such a bad idea to have another little one.”
The doorbell rang, and Mama Angelina went to open it. Belle played in the middle of a stack of Christmas paper that she happily tossed in the air.
“Baby, we need to clean this stuff up. She’s gonna rip that paper up and make an even bigger mess than we have right now.”
“It’s all good, Angel. You sit here and relax. I’ll clean it up.”
“You’re gonna spoil that girl, Chris,” Grandma Helen declared as I got up and picked up the paper.
“It’s okay, Grandma. You ladies worked hard to cook a big meal. The least I can do is spoil y’all today.”
“Well, in that case, I’ll just kick my feet up,” Grandma Helen proclaimed and sat on the couch and grabbed the remote.
I chuckled as I stuffed paper into the trash bag. Belle cried when I took some of the wrapping paper out of her chubby hands and placed it in the trash bag.
“Look who’s here,” Mama Angelina sang out.
I turned around to see Sawyer and Sampson walking into the living room with gift boxes in their hands. “Look what we brought for Baby Belle,” Sawyer sang out.
“What about her mama?” Angel asked.
“I don’t have to spoil you. That’s your man’s job,” Sawyer stated.
Angel pouted and jumped up off the couch to hug Sawyer and Sampson. “And he does a great job of it too,” she declared.
“Never too much for my ladies. They can have the world.”
“So, how’s married life?” Sawyer asked, sitting down beside Grandma Helen and kissing her cheek. “Is it all it’s cracked up to be?”
Angel looked at me and smiled. “And even more. I feel like life is exactly where it should be, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I mean, I know that it won’t be perfect, and we’ll have our share of challenges, but I’m with the person I’m supposed to experience all that with.”
“Y’all two are sickeningly sweet sometimes, you know that?” Mama Angelina stated.
“Lina, don’t be a hater all your life,” Grandma Helen declared, causing the rest of us to laugh. Mama Angelina pretended to scowl at her mother, but she broke out in laughter too.
“What’s been up, man? Family life treating you well?” Sampson asked, dapping me up.
“Better than I expected, man. I can’t complain. This is exactly the life that I wanted. I’ve got a beautiful wife, who gives me—Angel, what’s wrong?”
Angel was running out of the living room, and I was right on her tail. I heard commotion behind me as the rest of the family tried to figure out what was going on, but I wasn’t worried about them. I needed to check on Angel.
She rushed into our bathroom, and I guided her to the toilet and helped her kneel. I pulled her hair away from her face and rubbed her back as she vomited into the toilet. I thought over the last year and how our lives had come full circle.
Everything that we ever wanted had finally been placed in our laps, and there was more to come. I was here for it all. Over the last year, our old friends had begun to come around again. Angel was surprised to learn how much they embraced us and the idea of us as a couple. I had explained to her that even if they didn’t, we didn’t have to have them in our lives.
Jeremiah was no longer with the woman he left Angel for, and he wasn’t in Hawaii. He moved to Chicago for a better opportunity with some other woman he met, who was the CEO of a beverage company.
Erica had recently found herself single again, and she seemed to be bitter toward men. The last I heard, she was dating a girl that she worked with. Ashanti had finally divorced her husband after giving him an ultimatum that he refused to accept.
There were three other friends in our friend group: Yadira, Isaac, and Elian. The three of them, Sawyer, Samson, Angel, and I were all solid. There was no envy or judgment, just true support and cheering each other on. It felt good.
“I’m sorry,” Angel apologized when she lifted her head.
“There’s nothing for you to be sorry for, baby. Everything’s going to be all right,” I whispered, pulling her into my arms.
