He looked at me and grinned. “Because you know your man.”
I nodded. “Indeed, I do.” I took a seat on the swing beside him. “Are you okay?”
He sighed before returning his eyes to the sky. “I lied to you.”
My body stiffened in surprise. “Um, . . . okay? About what?” I tried to keep my breath even because I had no clue where he was going with this, but I wanted to trust that it wouldn’t be anything to jeopardize our beautiful life.
He finally turned to look at me. “I lied about the reason I left.” He paused and said, “Well, not entirely. If I’m honest, there was a part of me that was afraid you would play me like Star. I knew I was falling in love with you, and it scared me.” He ran a hand down his face before he stood up and came to drop to his knee in front of me. “Then a nigga was broke as fuck, so I’m likeyeah, it’s only a matter of time before she moves on.”
I could see the tears in his eyes. “Where did this come from?”
“That bitch commenting on my shit, trying to be funny,” he said with disgust. “I was going to delete that shit, but then I was like,nah, I want her and the world to know I’m as off-the-market as off-the-market can get.” He went into his pocket, then pulled out a black velvet ring box.
“Perfect.” I gasped, covering my mouth.
He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, it’s like that. I want you to know that I am fully committed to you, Rockel. I know I let my fears run me away once, but I’m never going to be pussy like that again. You are everything to me. You and Precious are what I look forward to every morning when I get up for work. Y’all are what keeps me going, so please know you will always be taken care of, loved, and adored.” He popped the box open, revealing a beautiful Versailles, hidden halo, princess-cut diamond ring. The diamond was two carats and set in a shimmering 18k white-gold band. Literally, no matter what angle I looked at it, the ring sparkled with a unique brilliance. “Will you marry me, Princess?”
I screamed before crashing into him and making him fall back on the ground. “Of course, I will. I love you with every breath in my body.”
Our lips crashed into each other, and I swear I heard fireworks go off. When I looked up, I realized I didn’t make that up. There really were fireworks going off. I sat up, realizing our family had all come to the park. Precious raced toward us when my dad placed her down.
“You planned this?”
He nodded. “I did. Can I put this ring on you now?”
I giggled and nodded. “Yes, you can.” I held out my left hand. Chills ran down my spine when he slid the ring on my finger. “I know you don’t fuck with your mama, but if she didn’t do anything else, she named you right.” I stopped admiring my ring and looked up at him. “You are perfect.”
“You trying to make me cry in front of all these people, El? That’s fucked up.” He joked with tears in his eyes. “You are perfect too. I love you.”
“I love you more.”
We kissed again before getting off the ground to watch the fireworks show. Perfect picked up Precious and snapped a picture of us three. He told me to hold up my hand for the photo, which I did proudly. I watched him go to his social media profile and type up a post.
“Since bitches wanted to be funny on my other post, ha ha this! She said yes! Mrs. Porter and baby number two coming soon.”
I laughed. “Oh, you saw my comment, huh?”
He smiled down at me. “Of course, I did. We can start on that tonight.”
“Okay,” I said with a grin because there was nothing else that needed to be said. With Perfect’s arm around my waist, my head resting against his chest, and Precious in his other arm, we watched the fireworks show. I knew there was nothing to worry about. Everything was going to be fine.
Months later. . .
I opened the front door and smiled when I saw Tashay standing there. “Hey, Shay,” I greeted her.
She opened her arms for a hug. “Hey, Son.”
For the first time, I didn’t flinch or feel any way about her calling me that. Since the day she came to pick me up, I learned that she truly was a good woman. She was very motherly and caring, something I never experienced from my own cracked-out mama. I fought against her guidance, but nowadays, if I had a problem and couldn’t talk to my father, then I was calling her.
“It’s good to see you,” I said, opening my arms for her. We hugged, and then I stepped back to allow her to come inside.
She looked around our grand foyer, taking everything in. “This home is stunning, Perfect. Is that a custom chandelier?”
I followed her eyes, feeling proud. It was worth the investment. We’d closed on it around Halloween and were hosting our very first Christmas party tonight. “Yeah, it is.”
Our home was modern and luxurious, sitting on ten acres of land that belonged to us. The foyer had a huge Christmas tree sitting next to the floating staircase. It was very elegant, and that was all thanks to El. I bought the house, but she went out of her way to make it a home for us.
I led her through the house until we were in the living room, where El had everything set up on the stone, waterfall countertops. “Babe, Shay is here,” I called out because the doorbell rang again.
