Epilogue
ONE YEAR LATER
“Hey, bae. Have you seen my controller to my game?” Reighvyn shouted from somewhere beyond the kitchen.
“Baby, come in here and stop shouting!” I shouted back.
I snipped the thorns off the last rose and stuck it into the floral arrangement of other red roses and Moonvista deep purple carnations. I stuck my tongue between my teeth as I tucked the center flower a little deeper into the bouquet.
“Hey, you seen my controller to my gaming system?” he repeated when he appeared in the kitchen with a pout.
It took everything in me not to laugh at him. “Check that box over there,” I instructed, pointing at a large box filled with stuff I had labeled “junk.”
Reighvyn frowned as he sifted through the box and found the controllers he was looking for.
“Baby, why are my controllers in this box of trash?” he asked, lifting them out.
Shrugging, I replied, “They looked like they belonged in that box to me.”
“These look like junk to you?” he asked, lifting them in the air.
“Mm-hmm.”
He scratched his head as he headed for the doorway with the controllers in his hands.
“You’re not gonna ask why I thought they were junk?” I asked, following him.
“I don’t know, babe. I just know I can’t play my game.”
I laughed. “You’re acting like a spoiled little boy around here,” I declared, shifting the bouquet in my arms.
“I mean, I don’t go around throwing your stuff away.” He stopped in the hallway and wrapped an arm around my waist before he kissed me.
“That’s because your remotes are cracked. I don’t know why you just don’t bother buying new ones.”
“Because these are my lucky remotes.”
“Mm. Well, I guess it’s a good thing that I bought you some new ones.”
He frowned and tilted his head at me. “What’re you talking about?”
“Let’s go to your game room.”
He released me from his embrace, and I took his hand and led him to the room that had been converted into a full game room for him. “Baby, look on the shelf behind the bar.”
“Which shelf?”
“The one with your favorite liquor.”
He did as I told him and smiled and bobbed his head when he found the gift bag with four new controllers in there.
Our anniversary and his birthday had passed, so he wasn’t expecting gifts.
For our first anniversary, he had bought me a brand-new Genesis G90, and I had his new gym fully designed and decorated.
My baby was officially retired with his undefeated status intact.
“Thank you, baby,” he replied, walking to me to grab and kiss me. He spanked my ass before he turned his attention back to his new remotes. I noticed the old “lucky” ones had been left behind on the bar, and he hadn’t thought twice about them as he ripped into the package of the new ones.
“You’re welcome. You don’t want your flowers?”
“Flowers?”
I held up the bouquet that I was still holding. “Yeah. These are for you.”
He had grown accustomed to receiving flowers from me, and he didn’t think it was odd for me to be giving him some. He often came into my shop and ordered flowers for me, too, but he did it whenever I wasn’t there so one of my staff handled it.
“What did I do to deserve flowers today, baby?”
Shrugging, I extended the vase to him. “I don’t know. Why don’t you look inside and see if you can find a card.”
He set the controllers down and took the bouquet from me.
I pulled my phone from my back pocket and opened the camera.
“They’re beautiful, baby.” His face scrunched up as he carefully searched through the bouquet for the card. I always included love notes. When he removed the middle flower, he jerked his head back. “What’s this?”
I watched in fascination as my stomach trembled while he stared at the fake flower. The flower was designed from tissue paper and attached to an oblong stick. I chewed nervously on my bottom lip as I held my camera up to record him.
“Baby?”
“Yeah.”
“We’re having a baby?” He held the pregnancy test up in the air and turned it over repeatedly.
“What does that stick say, bae?”
“Uhm, . . . positive.”
“I’m positive that we’re positively having a baby.”
“Could it have been a mistake?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
He seemed like he was trying to hold back his excitement until I gave him permission to be excited.
“I’m sure.”
“How sure?”
“Like, when I went for my annual a week ago, they ran all the tests they usually do and told me that I was seven weeks pregnant type sure. Like sure enough that after the doctor informed me, I bought another test to take just to show it to you.”
He dropped down onto the couch and stared at the stick for several long seconds. I sat beside him and wrapped my arm around him. After I rested my head on him, I spoke. His siblings refused to have kids, but I knew it was his dream.
“You are going to be an excellent father, Reighvyn. Our child will love you, and you will shower him or her with so much affection. You’ll teach our baby how to play games, how to survive, camping, how to tie their shoes, brush their teeth, and ride a bike.
You might fall and make mistakes, but you’ll never give up.
You’ll keep on trying until you look like an old pro. You know how I know?”
He shook his head and wiped his tears.
“Because I’ll be by your side, and Papa Reed will be there to guide you whenever you need advice.”
I knew he was thinking about his mother and how he hadn’t had a good role model in her when it came to parenting. But he had the Reeds as excellent role models, as well as my parents.
His mother had a couple of relapses over the last year, but none where she disappeared. If she didn’t break down into depression, then she would shut people out or start talking nonsense for a while.
Reighvyn turned to face me and cupped my face. He pressed his forehead against mine. “I love you.”
“I know that you do.”
“You’re so amazing, girl.”
“And so are you, husband.”
“I cannot believe that I’m about to be somebody’s father. I’m gonna spoil her if it’s a girl, and if it’s a boy, that li’l jit about to be my roadie. He’ll be in the gym with me from the time he can walk.”
I laughed, because I knew that he was serious. “I’m sure that he will be.”
“I love you, Dove. Thank you for continuing to give me such precious gifts. Shit hasn’t been easy for me.
I haven’t had much experience in what a normal, healthy relationship looks like, but you believed in me enough to take a chance on me.
You have taken time to make sure that I’m healthy mentally and that when it would be easier for me to shut down, you wouldn’t let me.
Thank you for getting in this fight with me, because I swear, learning to be in a healthy relationship and receive love has been the biggest battle of my life. ”
“Reighvyn, you’ve been so worth it, baby.”
We kissed for a while before he reclined on his couch and pulled me with him. The game was forgotten as was the dinner I had just finished cooking.
“What do you want to name her if she’s a girl?” I asked.
“I was thinking of Robyn or Lark.”
I giggled. “So we continue the theme of bird names, huh?”
“Why not? I mean, we don’t want our baby to feel left out, do we?”
“Absolutely not.” I agreed.
“What about you? You like those names or something else?”
“I think they’re both perfect.”
“Not Robyn Lark, baby. Either or.”
“Uhm, I like Lark then, if I have to choose.”
“What do you want to name him if it’s a boy?” He pressed a soft kiss to my forehead and rested his hands on my midsection and gave it a little pat.
“I like the name Reighvyn.”
“Nah, I don’t think so.”
“What’s wrong? I love your name.”
“Really?”
“Yes, baby. I pray that he’s an exact little replica of his father. You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever known.”
“Reighvyn Jr. or RJ it is then.”
I giggled until he silenced me with a sweet, slow kiss.
My heart was so full of gratitude for the blessings we had received.
I knew that we would be fine. I had no doubt that despite the things he had gone through in his past, he would be an excellent father.
My husband had so much love inside of him to share with someone else, and as much as he showered on me, I knew he would double that with our child.
We had come a long way in a short while. I was thankful that within each other, we had both found healing and peace. Reighvyn was as much my peace as I was his, and within him, I had found love and learned how to forgive myself.
THE END