“How about I do you one better, and I take care of you both, then I cook dinner while you soak in a hot bath. Would that work for you?”
She glanced up at me with her bottom lip poked out. “Yes, that would be perfect, actually.”
I smiled. “A’ight, I got you. Did you already take something out to be cooked?”
“Yeah, it’s some salmon in the fridge.”
“Cool. You just relax and let me handle everything else.”
She palmed my face, staring deeply into my eyes. “That’s why you’re the Alpha, babe.”
I grinned while placing my chin on top of her head. She snuggled into me as we fell into a silence. Not too long after, she was snoring softly. As I sat there, watching her sleep, all I could think about was how grateful I was. I was going to marryValleigh’s ass because she was the only woman to ever mean me well. She didn’t see the superstar status or all the money in my bank account. She saw me, . . . Symphony: the man who was broken, damaged, and filled with fears. Yet she still chose me. Yeah, I wasn’t letting this one get away from me.
13
VALLEIGH
Afew months later . . .
The soft patter of little feet broke through the darkness of my slumber. Seconds later, I felt a weight jump on top of me. I groaned, coming out of my sleep to find Doodle sitting beside me on the bed with a wide grin.
“Good morning, Doodle.” I greeted her with a smile.
“Good morning, Squirt,” she replied, making me sit up quickly in panic.
The door opened as Sym pushed it with his foot. “Doodle, what I told you about calling her that?” She loved to parrot the things she heard, but calling me Squirt was where we drew the line, especially knowing its origin, but no matter how many times we told her not to call me that, she wouldn’t stop.
I giggled when I noticed her sitting there and pouting. “You call her dat,” she replied with attitude.
He smiled, coming around the bed to sit on the side of it. “Because this is my woman. I call her whatever I want to.” He glanced down at me, then said, “Respectfully.”
I chuckled. “Good morning, babe.”
“Morning.” He leaned over, placing a kiss on my lips. “My bad. I told big head to wait a little longer before she came in here bothering you.”
“You big head,” she said back, baiting him.
He quickly turned to look at her. “You pressin’ an issue, Doodle Bop?”
She raised her little shoulders like she really understood what he was asking her. He jumped up and raced to the other side of the bed. She tried to crawl away but was too slow. He snatched her down the bed by her foot. She screamed for me to help her, but her little giggles were so satisfying that I couldn’t help if I wanted to. Sym held her up by her foot.
“What you got to say now, lil’ girl?” he teased her.
I could only laugh while watching the two of them. Leaning against the headboard, I started to think about my ex-boyfriend leaving me because he wanted to have a family. I remembered being so heartbroken because that was my dream too. Now, there I was, with that dream fulfilled. Iylah wasn’t our biological child, but she was our baby, our daughter. We showered her in the love she was missing from her parents, and she was thriving because of it.
“You good, baby?” Sym asked, taking notice of the distant look in my eyes.
I snapped myself back into the present with a nod. I pressed my eyes closed and took a deep breath. When I opened them, I smiled. “I’m great. This is all I’ve ever wanted,” I admitted in the shakiest of voices. I cleared my throat, hoping it would remove my bubbling emotions, but it didn’t help.
Sym placed Iylah on the bed to come back over to my side. He palmed my face while staring deeply into my eyes. I got lost in the sea of serenity swirling in his brown irises. “So, these are happy tears?”
“Very happy tears.”
He leaned forward, kissing them away. “They taste a little too salty to be happy to me.”
I giggled then whacked him on the arm. “Stop it. I’m good, I promise. I love our little family and this little life we’re building together.”
He intertwined our fingers with a toothless grin. “You can have anything I’ve got. All of me right on the spot,” he sang to me, making me cry harder. Sym’s voice would always bring me peace because it was angelic. He kissed my third eye with a tenderness that melted me. “We came to wake you up because it’s almost time for your lesson with Soulan. You don’t want to be late.”
