Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
Karim
A few days later…
Thursday, we applied for the marriage license. Then Friday we went back and made it official. Exactly two days ago we returned to the courthouse and everything about us shifted. It wasn’t loud nor dramatic, but it was felt. My life had taken a new shape and I welcomed it.
Karim Ortega-Blac.
My mind continuously replayed the moment we pulled up to City Hall and my whole body threatened to bend into a smile. Shit wasn’t even possible, but the impossible had happened already. I was married, legally tied to Reminisce, and my whole body accepted it.
“Rim, we go see my cousins?”
I nodded and glanced up from my coffee mug to the toddler in the doorway.
“Yeah, in a little bit. Is your iPad on the charger?” This too was new, but it belonged to me in ways I didn’t know possible.
Reminisce had cut out early this morning to meet with his brother.
Romance would be with me for the better half of the day before I met him later at Rennix’s place.
I had a late start this morning since I’d stayed up doing work for one of my clients.
“Okay. We eat?”
I nodded, then pulled the gray sweater over my head. “Yeah, we’re gonna go see somebody, then we’ll go.”
“Okay.” She left the room, leaving me to my thoughts. That only lasted for a couple minutes though because my phone was ringing seconds later. I already knew it was Reminisce seeing if I was up yet.
Squeezing the headphone in my ear, I moved into my closet to grab jeans. “Yes, I’m up. No, we haven’t left yet. I’m getting dressed and we’ll be out of the door in less than thirty minutes.” I answered every question he was about to ask before he spoke.
He chuckled.
“That is why you called, right?”
“Nah, smart ass, I was calling ’bout something else but you know everything, right?”
“Mhmm.” I pulled my jeans up my legs.
“Renny is saying I should give the T-shirt shit a fair shake. What do you think?”
I smiled at him wanting my input. “I already told you that you should. You said it did good when you rolled it out in Poles & Pastries, right? Let it stand on its own and see what’s to it.”
“You sound just like him.”
I shrugged. “Well, I’m just saying, but of course you’re gonna do what you want. How is your meeting going?”
“What you want, yeah. But it’s cool. Poles & Pastries numbers look fucking good, even with me here and not there. We were talking about opening another and rebranding his location here to Poles & Pastries instead of Donuts.”
“Why do that? Isn’t Donuts the parent company of Poles & Pastries?”
“Same thing I said, but per the branding lady Renny hired, it would match everything up.”
“But isn’t it like he’s erasing the foundation that he built everything on to make it more digestible?”
“See that’s what I’m saying, you heard her, Renny?” Reminisce said aloud, letting me know I was indeed on speaker.
For the most part I listened to them talk back and forth before I was fully dressed and ready to leave the house. After slipping my boots on, I went to make sure Romance hadn’t taken hers off.
“Y’all leaving out?” he asked impatiently.
“Yes. We’re stopping to get food, then at my mother’s house, and we’ll be there in a few.”
“Aight, baby. I love you. Hit me when you get to yo’ mama’s.”
“Okay. Don’t be rushing me either.” We hung up and immediately my heart began to palpitate. He told me he loved me and shit I loved him too. It was a little late for that, considering we were already married as fuck.
I was about to set my phone on the table, but it vibrated, indicating I had an incoming message.
Reminisce: You better fucking love me back.
I smiled before typing my own message.
Me: I do! And not just because you’re threatening me.
Me: I love you too, Reminisce.
Once I was done smiling and staring at my phone, I put Ro’s coat on her, making sure she was bundled up before we left. I walked through my house turning all the lights off as I stuffed her tablet into my purse then stuffed my phone into my pocket.
“Did you pee, Ro?” I asked, hearing the door to the bathroom open when I reached the garage door.
“Yes. I wash my hands and wipe myself too.” She showed me her little hands as she walked toward the door.
I laughed. “Good. What do you want to eat?”
“Chicken, with the red sauce.”
I laughed. The concept of mild sauce still hadn’t clicked to her, so she called it red sauce. “Okay.”
It didn’t take me long to get her settled in the back seat with her tablet, then I got into the driver’s seat of Reminisce’s G-Wagon.
When he told me he was leaving his truck, I nearly rejoiced out of my skin.
I loved this fucking truck. It screamed money and I had always wanted one in matte forest green.
Every time I was about to do it, I gave myself every reason why I shouldn’t.
Now I got to drive my husband’s. Shit, I could get used to this.
Once I finished adjusting the seat and mirrors, I pushed the button in the app on my phone to lift the garage door. I pulled out and sat in the driveway, watching the door close behind us before pulling off.
I absolutely hated taking the expressway anywhere, but the last thing I wanted was to be in traffic all day, especially since I was trying to get from the city to the suburbs.
So I merged onto the expressway immediately.
It was moving, which meant it would cut the thirty-minute trip ahead into like fifteen or twenty at the most. For most of the ride I was in my head.
Being married to Reminisce these last few days had me thinking about a lot I hadn’t considered at first. I was used to seeing everyone around me settling down, becoming parents and merging their lives with their soulmates.
Never in a million years did I think it would ever be me.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want it, but I never knew how I’d do it…
not until I was doing it and it felt natural.
Loving and being there for Reminisce and Romance felt natural, like it was all a part of a bigger plan I wasn’t privy to.
I pulled into my mother’s driveway seventeen minutes later, parking behind Aroyal’s Range Rover. He never parked correctly, even though she fussed him out about it often. I cut the engine and got out.
“Where are we, Rim?” Romance asked when I had her out and we walked up the three stairs to my mother’s front door.
“My mom’s house. We’re stopping here, then we’ll go get food, okay?”
“Yes.” She reached for my hand at the same time the front door opened. In the doorway stood the last person I expected to see. The sight of this bitch had me rolling my eyes to the ceiling.
“Hello, sister,” Ariya greeted. She stepped on the porch, lit a cigarette, and leaned against the tall pillar built into the porch.
She looked like age was catching up to her, even though she wasn’t that old.
She had raccoon eyes, beady with dark rings, and her hair was pulled up in a messy bun atop her head.
It wasn’t the cute type messy, but instead the nappy, dirty type of messy.
She had also put on some weight, a shell of the sister I knew before she packed up and jumped town like our bastard of a father.
Ariya and I had never been that close seeing as how she was always either chasing after a nigga or hanging with those messy ass chicks she called friends. We were just into different things. Plus I was a tomboy, so I was also more into the things Aro got into until I found my own lane.
“’Sup,” I greeted, stepping right past her into the house.
“I don’t even understand why you keep letting her stray ass come back. She stops through when she needs money.” Aroyal’s irritated tone let me know they were in the kitchen.
“Aroyal, language,” my mother scolded as I entered the kitchen. The moment I entered her eyes were on me, then my little shadow who looked around as we walked. I didn’t miss the smile that settled into my mother’s features.
“When did you go to the pound?” I leaned over and hugged my brother, then approached my mama.
Aro laughed. “Same thing I said.”
“Stepmother duty, I see.” Kay walked into the kitchen holding a bowl, setting it down in front of my mother.
I waved her off. “Romance, this is my mama, my brother Aro, and my sister Kay. Y’all this is Romance, Reminisce’s daughter.”
“So, y’all are serious like that?” Aro asked, eyes traveling from me to Ro.
“Apparently. You’re asking questions that you already know the answer to. Her name is so pretty,” my ma commented.
“She’s so cute.” Kay walked up to her with a smile. Of course she kneeled in front of her. “You wanna get some snacks with me?” Kay was always the one to break the ice with a kid who was nervous. It was her thing, kids loved her. She had a spirit like Jade’s.
Romance looked up at me to ask for permission and I nodded. She then took Kay’s hand and allowed her to lead her into the living room that had been turned into a kid’s haven. Yep, my mama took her grandmotherly duties very seriously.
“You real comfortable, huh?” Aro asked. I felt his eyes as I looked at my mother.
“So comfortable that two days ago we got married. Next question?” I didn’t mean to blurt that part out, but the look on my mama’s face was priceless. I didn’t keep things from them, never had, so this was a normal course for me.
“You did what?” Aroyal asked, now standing up straight.
“We went to City Hall.” I shrugged.
Aro waved me off. “Yeah, you just got a license. That’s gonna expire if you don—”
“Yeah, that too. But we went back the next day. I’m serious about him and he’s serious about me.
And before either of you start, I’ve been engaged before, so I know how that feels.
With me and Reminisce things are different.
I know he’s my person and I need y’all to be on board with that.
I love him and he loves me. What we did was for us, so at some point there will be a wedding, but right now it’s me and him. ”