“Oh, I didn’t know anybody was up.” I tried to wipe my face before my mother got close enough.
“Don’t even try to wipe ‘em away. I’ve already seen them.”
“I know,” I choked out. “It’s just that I can’t believe all of my dreams are coming true right before my eyes, and all at once. It’s almost too much. I’m scared to be this happy.”
“Don’t be scared, baby. That’s what it feels like when dreams come true. That’s how I felt the other day when you showed up on my doorstep. I know I’ve apologized so many times since you’ve been here, but I want to do it again. I am so sorry for ever making you feel unworthy, and I am so thankful to God for sending you somebody like Stone who sees you. I’m happy you have what your father and I had.”
“Me too, Mama.”
I threw my arms around my mother’s neck and kissed her on the cheek. Having her back in my life, the real her, the sober her, felt so good. I hadn’t seen that version of her since my elementary school days.
“Y’all good?”
Stone’s voice was so strong it startled us. It was so quiet in the house that he came through like thunder.
“Yeah, I was just talking to my mama about stuff, but we’re okay.”
“Come on in here, Mr. Stone. I’ll let you take over,” my mama said, waving Stone over. “Before I go, though, I do want to thank you for giving my daughter something that I couldn’t—a steady, sure love. I’m happy you’re here and decided to stick by her side through it all. I know the marriage you build is going to be beautiful as long as y’all build it together.”
“Thank you for saying that, Mrs. Ellis.”
My mama nodded her head, then left the kitchen. “What’s up with those tears, sweet girl?”
“I’m just so happy, Stone.”
I started crying again and lay my head on his chest. He wrapped me in his arms and squeezed a little bit.
“I’m happy too. Come on. Let me get you back to bed. We got to get on the highway in the morning.”
“Okay.” Stone picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around his body. “I can’t wait to see what you and Sakani did with the gym without me.”
“Oh, don’t worry. We saved some work for you.”
Two yearslater
Nice, France
Six months ago, I watched my son walk across the stage for graduation. Two months ago, I dropped him off at his college dorm and had to walk away. We’d only spent two years together, but those were hands-down the best two years of my life.
A day ago, I married the love of my life. I didn’t think Shanet and I would be engaged for that long. When I asked her to marry me, I was ready to do it right then and there, but she wanted to wait until Sakani was done with high school and on his way to college for us to get married.
She didn’t want anything overshadowing his last two years of high school, his graduation, or starting a new part of his life.That was the type of woman that I married. Now, I was sitting on a beach in Nice, France, watching her come out of the water.
Shanet’s two-piece was beige. It complemented her sexy, chocolate skin. Her cheeks were out, but I didn’t care. If we weren’t in another country, where I knew these men would never get to look at her ass again, I would’ve been hot about it, but my baby was fine, and she deserved to show that shit off. We had just saidI doin front of our family and closest friends. Sakani even came to see us tie the knot.
Mama Bea and Shanet’s mom made sure our destination wedding went off without a hitch. We both wanted something low key, and they made sure we got it. Aniya even flew out to be Shanet’s maid of honor, even though there wasn’t too much honorable about her.
We had everybody that we cared about present when we vowed to love each other for the rest of our lives. Now, it was just the two of us on a beach, celebrating our love. This was exactly the way I wanted it.
“You look good as hell, Mrs. Stone.”
“You don’t look too bad yourself, Mr. Stone.”
Shanet grabbed her towel from the chair next to me and sat in my lap. She straddled me and wrapped her towel around her. My dick instantly bricked underneath.
“You’re so nasty.” She giggled and looked up at me.
“You knew what you were doing when you came out of that water looking the way you do.”
