She nodded. “Yeah. I thought that was you.”
“This is my wife, Cashmere,” he introduced. Pride surged through him at being able to finally call Cashmere his wife. “Baby, this is Nola. She was a friend of Twizz’s.”
“Nice to meet you,” Cashmere said, still starry eyed from their impromptu nuptials.
He had seen her at the funeral, but his head was too fucked up to really entertain anyone. His eyes couldn’t help but to lower down to the very small bulge in her stomach. He didn’t want to assume anything, but his heart seemed to miss a step as a lump formed in his throat.
When her hand found her stomach and she caressed it gently, he knew.
“We only had sex one time,” she blurted out with a sad lilt to her tone. She clamped a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I swear I’m always saying things that shouldn’t be said these days. It has to be the hormones. What I meant to say is I’ve been trying to find you. Twizz and I only knew each other a short while, but he talked about you often. I wanted our baby to know their father’s side of the family.”
Tears pooled in Nola’s eyes, and Cashmere gasped beside Savio. He couldn’t really home in on any of that though. Savio’s eyes stayed glued to Nola’s stomach as he processed what this meant.
I have another piece of Twizz right here.
This was something special. God placed him in this moment for a reason. He got married today at this courthouse for a reason. Everything aligned, and he wanted to drop to his knees and give his thanks.
Instead, he cleared his throat and asked, “How far along are you?”
“Just barely two months,” Nola replied.
Savio nodded. “Do you need anything?”
“Just a connection to Twizz. Like I said, we didn’t know each other long, but he impacted my life in a big way. It would be nice to keep in touch and for my child to have a connection with you.” Nola glanced at Cashmere. “With both of you.”
“Of course,” Cashmere said with no hesitation and a whole lot of emotion in her voice.
And that was why he loved her. He was sure she worried about the fact that her sister had killed this woman’s baby daddy, but nobody could blame her for that. He wouldn’t allow them. Cashmere had no idea that no harm, mental, emotional, or physical would ever come to her as long as he was by her side. That was his word, and his word meant a whole fuckin’ lot.
Savio exchanged numbers with Nola before he said his goodbyes. Nola had no idea, but he was about to spoil that baby rotten and make sure she was good too. He just couldn’t fully explain that to her at the moment, because emotions hit him at every angle. He was a husband, and now he was about to have a baby in his life that would be a mini Twizz. God was good to him on that day.
When they got into the car, Cashmere grabbed his hand as soon as they pulled out of the parking lot and asked, “Are you okay?”
He pulled his hand away from her, wiped the moisture out of his eye, and then grabbed her hand again. “More than okay. I think I’ll be good for the rest of my life, Precious. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For giving me forever.” He glanced at her and saw her smile. As God as his witness, he would work hard to keep that curve spread across her face for the rest of their lives.
One year later . . .
“I swearI can’t believe how cute he is.” Cashmere gushed as they walked toward the waiting SUV.
Savio chuckled as his hand found her round stomach. “Not cuter than our baby.”
Cashmere giggled. “Not too much on TJ. We don’t even know what our baby will look like. He or she might have your big ass head.”
“Aye, man. Watch out.” Savio playfully mushed her in the head before he opened her door for her.
Cashmere giggled, but she knew Savio was head over heels in love with Tyler Junior, just like he was in love with their unborn baby. She was only three months pregnant, but from the moment Savio found out he was going to be a father, he had been all smiles.
Being around TJ healed them both in ways Cashmere never would have thought. Nola had taken it really well when they told her Ivoree was the one who killed Twizz. Knowing his killer was dead gave her peace. That felt complicated to Cashmere because even though she had grown to resent her sister, and even despise her some days, she didn’t find peace in her death. She could understand why others would though.
They climbed into the back seat of the SUV, and Cashmere’s head of security waited until their seat belts were secure before she drove.
Leah had been her new head of security for months now, and Cashmere hoped she’d never leave. Savio had a hard time accepting that someone new had taken over his position, especially a woman, but he quickly realized that Leah was perfect for the job. Who would have thought that after all those security guards, putting a woman in charge would ease Cashmere’s mind? Or maybe it was Savio who settled her down some and made her less mean. Either way, they lived in the perfect situation at the moment.
Savio had taken time off to do . . . nothing. In fact, Cashmere had taken a bit of a step back from the council to do nothing with him. She was still in the council, she just delegated a lot more, something King Ro had always encouraged them to do. They were there to oversee their operations, not run them. Some of them understood that a lot more than others.
