Edwin, the driver, pulled to the front of the restaurant and parked. I got out, then helped Naomi out. She smiled big and clutched my hand. I wasn’t nervous in the least. My whole life was in this woman forever.
“You’re gonna have to roll me outta here.” She chuckled.
“How ‘bout I carry you outta here?”
She laughed and said, “Okay.”
Inside, we were led to our table. Naomi was surprised to see her sister and Bri there. They screeched and hugged each other like they lived in two separate cities and hadn’t just seen each other a couple of days ago.
“You look so good!” Bri exclaimed, embracing Naomi.
I dapped my cousins and laughed at the way they were still salty over me proposing first.
After everyone was seated, we placed our orders and sipped our drinks while we listened to the women gush over how beautiful Naomi was. Pregnancy sure did make my baby glow even more. I couldn’t wait to see what our son or daughter would look like. Would we have a mini her with big brown eyes? Or would we have a mini me with soulful brown eyes? Either way, I was going to love my child ‘til death.
“Naomi?” Fuck it. I couldn’t wait until this dinner was over to ask her what I’d been wanting to ask her for some time.
She glanced at me in the middle of laughing at something Pen said. When she saw the look on my face, her hand went to my jaw.
“You okay, baby?” she asked, concerned.
“Yeah.” I pushed my chair back and stood to turn her chair to face me. Then, I dropped to one knee and produced the box from my pocket, opening it to show her the rock that laid inside.
Naomi gasped so loud, even over the music, it drew the attention of other patrons.
“Jamison!” she cried. Bri and Pen were already in tears, and I hadn’t said shit yet.
“I was gon’ wait until after dinner, but I can’t. I need to know right now if you wanna be in this forever. I love you beyond anything that I can describe. When I first laid eyes on you, there was no question who you were to me. I’ll go to my gravebelieving that. I’ll go to my grave loving you and the family we build. Will you marry me, Naomi?”
She was a complete wreck, crying so hard that I barely heard her, “Yes!”
“What?” I playfully questioned.
“Yes!” she screamed to the top of her lungs.
A chorus of “awes” and “that’s so sweet” sounded off as people started clapping. I slid the ring onto Naomi’s shaking finger, laughing because she was about to fly out of her chair. Standing, I took her into my arms and kissed her like it was just the two of us in here. Whistles rang out at the raunchiness of our lip-lock.
Now that I had a ring on Naomi’s finger, wasn’t shit that could break us apart. As far as I was concerned, we were already past the death-do-you-part stage. Hell, I’d been calling her my wife since the first day I met her. I claimed the prize that was put before me in the most intriguing way.
Naomi was different, beautiful, cocky, smart, confident, and most of all, genuine. I fucked with her on a level no one could ever knock me off of. Not until my last breath.
“I love you, Jamison,” she cried.
Kissing her tears away, I uttered, “I love you, wifey.”
She cried harder, realizing that she indeed was about to be my wife.
CHAPTER 16
BROOKLYN
Before Bronx and I got ready for dinner, we decided to go talk to my mom. The day of my birthday left me feeling low as hell. For days, I was just stuck in my feelings with those words that she’d said to me. They say you are supposed to face your fears but how do you face death and be ok? That shit was hard to do, and I’d never truly accept what could possibly happen to her.
After the party, we went back to my place, and Bronx wasted no time trying to cheer me up. I swear even though we just chilling, she’d been making me happy as fuck. My studio was mybaby and nothing could pull me from that shit. Someway, Bronx unknowingly did that shit and I wasn’t complaining about it at all.
She was on another level from the chicks I’d fucked with before, which is why I never tried to get serious with them. Bri though, the more I spent time with her, the more I wanted to write her a note asking her if she wanted to go out with me and to circle yes, no, or maybe.
When we got to my mom’s, I finally got all of the answers I needed about her health, what the doctors said, and so on. Hearing her percentage of survival, fucked me up even more. I can still hear her little voice telling me that I was strong and I’d be able to handle this if and when the time came. Her faith was bigger than mine. He may as well had picked a plot for me next to her ‘cause I was like my daddy, I wasn’t about to survive without my mama.
