Epilogue #2
Tears of joy filled my eyes, and a nigga couldn’t contain himself. Forget hiding my emotions; I was happy as fuck. I went from being a father of two to soon becoming a father of three. This was the best anniversary gift I could’ve ever asked for.
After we got done with all the emotional shit, Ember got up again. I gazed at her, admiring every inch. She was an amazing woman, and she was all mine.
She came back with a gift-wrapped, medium-sized box. “Babe, I forgot Mama T gave this to me and said for us to open it while we were on the jet.”
“What do you think is inside?” I asked, knowing she probably didn’t have a clue.
“Not sure, but she said it was an anniversary gift for both of us. She also gave me specific instructions that we open it together.”
I laughed. “That sounds like my mama.”
We opened the box together, and I was stuck for a minute, looking at the hundreds of envelopes that filled the box. What the hell? Ember looked confused too.
“A box of envelopes?” she questioned in a low tone as she picked one up. Her hand began to shake immediately. She dropped the letter and covered her mouth as she started to cry.
“What is it, Em Baby?” I picked up one of the envelopes and realized why she was crying.
My mama had kept all the letters I had written to Ember that were returned unopened.
All my love, tears, pain, and heartache were inside those envelopes, written on paper.
My woman picked up the envelope again and opened one.
If I had seen that box of letters before Ember came back into my life, it would’ve triggered me.
But knowing my baby was here to stay, my reaction was different.
She was about to witness my vulnerability and see how far back my love for her went.
For the rest of the ride, she read every letter, and not once did her face dry. It seemed like Ember cried more after reading each one. After she read the last letter, we were descending, and she was repeatedly kissing me and telling me how much she loved me.
“Mr. and Mrs. St. Pierre, welcome to Ember’s Retreat,” the pilot said on the intercom.
Ember’s neck snapped my way. “Huh? Did he just say Ember’s Retreat? Reason, babe, where are we?”
“Surprise, Em Baby. Welcome to our private island in Central America.”
“Are you serious?!” she shouted as her tears started up again. “Oh, my goodness! I gotta be dreaming… I gotta be dreaming,” she kept saying as she stared out the window at our mansion.
“You ain’t dreaming, Em. This real life, baby. Happy anniversary.”
EMBER
Two Weeks Later
Reason and I were back from our honeymoon, and I still couldn’t believe he purchased an entire island for us.
Not only that, but he had a mansion built for us too.
Our entire honeymoon was filled with happy tears, him giving me great dick, us eating good food prepared by a private chef, and constant laughter as we enjoyed each other’s company.
I felt like I was permanently on cloud nine.
Reason. Reason. Reason had me on some my man, my man, my man type shit.
Something I used to ignore whenever I heard women say it.
Now I wanted to shout it out for the world to hear.
All the things he said he was going to do when we were teenagers had come to fruition, and he had the kids and me basking in all the fruits of his labor.
A hard choice I made years ago turned out to be the right one. All along, God had already written our story.
Married, wealthy, the mother of two lovely kids and one on the way with a man I’d never stopped loving was the epitome of a dream come true. We were the embodiment of a real West Coast love story.
Out of nowhere, all the pieces that I believed were missing in my life started to fall into place.
My prayers were being answered, and my wishes were coming true.
Reason was back in my life. My cousins moved back to Los Angeles for good, and they played a huge role in our lives.
We’d even started a new tradition, which was to have a family get-together on Aunt Patty’s birthday to celebrate her life.
I couldn’t ignore the one part of my journey I wished was different, but I’d come to terms with the reality of it, my relationship with my mother.
She was stuck in her ways, and there was no changing her.
I was the least of her worries, and I was finally okay with never speaking to her again.
She’d given me enough time to know what it felt like not to have her in my life, so life wasn’t difficult without her anymore.
Our family dynamic was so messed up. I had no idea my father had passed until the day I showed up on my mother’s doorstep.
If I hadn’t shown up, I probably would have never known ’til this day.
I grieved in my own way, and despite everything, I hoped my father was resting in peace.
And I hoped one day my mother would learn to forgive herself before it was too late, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Especially since word on the street was that her husband, Dillan, had left her for good.
Sometimes you have to leave people where they’re at, relatives or not.
I gained a new family, and I was more than grateful.
Mama T. I loved that woman. She was more of a mother figure than my own mother.
Even as a teenager, she welcomed and treated me like I was blood family.
Mama T always wanted the best for Reason and me, and she was the same way with her grandchildren.
She was the reason I never felt like I was missing a parental figure in my life, because she filled any void I might have felt.
Then there was Doc, Mama T’s husband. Although he wasn’t Mr. St. Pierre, we all loved him dearly.
He never overstepped his boundaries, and there was always love and respect between us.
The sudden urge to pee snapped me back to reality.
I glanced over at Cassie, who was in the driver’s seat, as I crossed my legs. She was looking right back at me while we waited at the red light.
“Cassie, girl, why are you staring at me like that?”
She merged to the side of the road and found a parking spot, then gave me her undivided attention. “Because, friend, look how far you’ve come. This whole time, God was setting you up to be the Missus of South Central. My girl, you a bad Mama Jama.”
I couldn’t help but smile and feel my heart fill with warmth because I still hadn’t processed my new life myself.
She continued. “Reason is so perfect for you, Ember. If you would’ve told me about him before, girl, we could’ve turned into investigators and found his ass. I’m sure he would’ve still left that trash-ass ex-wife of his when he saw you, even if none of those horrible things had occurred.”
I made up my face. “Don’t remind me about that woman. I can’t believe she was the person…the soap actress who was occupying my man’s time all these years.”
“She was only getting him warmed up while he waited for his true love to return. That’s all that was.”
“I guess you’re right,” I agreed, smiling. “Enough about that. I’m not trying to get all riled up over his ex-bitch. But I will say one last thing. If I wasn’t pregnant, I would’ve flown back to Miami to find and beat her ass.”
Cassie nodded. “I meannn… I ain’t pregnant, so I could find out where she’s at and pull up on her.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “Put me on Reason’s private jet, and I’ll go whoop some ass for you.”
We both burst out laughing because I knew Cassie was serious. She had proven time and time again that she would do anything for me. And now that she looked at Reason as her brother-in-law, she would do the same for him.
“As much as I would love that, we’re going to take the high road. Life is too good right now for us to even think about stooping so low, Cass. I’m sure karma will get her ass good.”
“You’re right about that.”
“Cassie Phelps,” I uttered, using her government name. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Friend, you have all the time in the world to decide what you gon’ do with me because I ain’t going anywhere.”
“Of course you aren’t. Even if you tried going somewhere, I wouldn’t let that happen.”
I leaned over and hugged Cassie, catching her off guard, but I felt a sense of peace knowing I had a genuine friend.
“Ember girl, I love you.”
“I love you too,” I responded. “Sorry to cut this short, but I need to pee, and if I don’t find a restroom right now, it’s going to get pissy in here.”
“Oh, hell nah.” Cassie chuckled, looking around. “Well, I’ll be…” She stopped talking abruptly.
“Cass, what is it?”
“Do you see where we are?” she replied.
My focus shifted from her to our surroundings. When I realized what she was staring at, I understood why she reacted the way she did. Prior to this, we had one destination in mind and had unexpectedly ended up back where it all started.
Before she pulled over to talk, Cassie and I were riding through the hood on our way to Mercedes’s house to pick up Orisha for the weekend. Usually, we would meet Mercedes somewhere, but she couldn’t do it today, so I told her I would come to her house to get her daughter.
Thoughts of Orisha had never left my mind after I saw Mercedes at the mall that day, so after everything settled down in my life, I reached out, and we’d been in contact since.
Orisha pulled on my heartstrings after I found out what Shane had done to her.
I later learned that she was the only child among Mercedes’s six children to have been targeted.
Shane’s busted ass wasn’t someone who crossed my mind anymore after Mercedes told me she found out he’d been murdered. I knew it wouldn’t be long until he did some foul shit again, and somebody got him. It didn’t even pain my heart to find out the news.