Epilogue
Karim
Christmas
If there’s a question of my heart, you got it.
When I walked into my place a few weeks ago and it looked like Christmas had thrown up, I didn’t know what to think.
I’d had a long day from shopping with my mother to finding myself in the pregnancy test aisle in Target since Kay and my mother were convinced I was pregnant.
I hadn’t exhibited one symptom in front of them, yet I had Kay telling me I looked like I had gotten thicker, then my mother told me my nose looked shiny.
I didn’t even know either of those things had anything to do with pregnancy and I was seriously waving them off, then it hit me.
I hadn’t seen my period and I wasn’t on any type of contraceptive.
That was extremely reckless, but before Reminisce, I wasn’t having sex.
I wasn’t on some celibacy journey or anything like that, I just wasn’t.
I was in denial about wanting Reminisce and living in that delusion.
Then boom, two weeks before Christmas, I walked in the door holding baby girl and saw Christmas had not only thrown up in the living room, but I realized lunch was on its way back up.
“Yo, you gonna stand there looking crazy or come open this box?” Rem’s voice broke me from my thoughts.
I blinked a few times, glancing around the room that looked war-torn.
The wrapping paper I had used on the influx of gifts Reminisce’s crazy ass bought Romance, along with what I’d also gotten, was all over the floor.
A few feet away, she clicked and clopped away in a pair of Disney heels I couldn’t not buy for her. Reminisce hated them.
I moved toward him, deciding to sit in his lap on the floor rather than on the couch next to him. Once comfortable in his lap, he set the small black box in my hand.
“What is this?”
“Open it and find out.” He kissed the side of my face.
The box was wrapped tightly in a silklike black wrapping.
This was nothing like any wrapping I had ever done, but luxury.
I peeled the lining from the back and dropped the silk into my lap.
Once I had it open, my eyes landed on a key fob.
It was dark emerald green with a silver Mercedes emblem.
“You didn’t.” I was out of his lap in seconds, hopping up much faster than I knew I could.
“In the driveway.”
I nearly tripped on the toys and wrapping paper trying to get to the door, but thank God I made it.
The excitement in me didn’t give a shit that it was eleven degrees out there.
I opened that door barefoot and all. My jaw dropped when I saw the emerald green G-Wagon parked in the center of my driveway.
That meant he had moved his into the garage early this morning.
When we got in from his sibling’s house last night, it was late, and I had damn sure parked us in the center of the driveway.
“Shoes,” he said, alerting me to his presence behind me.
I turned around and jumped into his arms, kissing all over his face. Fuck them shoes.
“I love you, I love you, I love you.” I continued to kiss all over his face.
“You know how to thank me later. Right now we’re about to get out of this cold. It’s cold as fuck out here, Karim.” He carried me into the house.
Once we were inside, he sat on the couch with me in his arms. “You fuck with it?”
I smiled hard, nodding. “Yes. How did you know?”
“’Cause once you got the key to my shit, yeen wanna put that motherfucker down.”
I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his. “Thank you.” A kiss or two followed right before I heard the Disney heels clicking up the hall to us.
“Daddy?” Romance’s little cute ass called out.
I glanced from Reminisce to Romance and a smile filled my features. She was dressed in her green Princess Tiana dress, a pair of wings halfway on with a crown on her head, all while holding a wand. I didn’t have to look at her feet to know what she had on. Shit I heard them.
“Yeah, Ro?”
“Santa got me all this, what did he get you? Or were you on the naughty list?”
“I ain’t on no nigga’s li—” My finger to his lips shut him up. He absolutely hated the fact that she believed Santa Claus brought her these gifts and not him.
“Yeah, Ro, your daddy got a gift. Can you hand me that box under the tree?”
“Okay,” she dragged out and moved toward the tree.
Leave it to nasty to take my finger into his mouth before I could snatch it back. “Thought I told you not to get me shit.”
“What do I look like doing what I’m told?”
He laughed just as Romance brought the box to the sofa.
I went to climb off his lap when he snatched me back. “Nah, stay right here.”
I did as he asked and sat there. I watched him then open the medium-sized box I didn’t wrap because it was designed on its own with red glitter and a plaid bow atop.
The first thing he pulled out was a pair of the underwear my face was printed on several times. I’d gotten him three pairs—black, blue, and red.
He laughed hard and so did I. Ro had long since lost interest in seeing what her father got for Christmas. Instead, she had moved on to the Leap Frog block set on the floor.
“Rim, what’s this?” He then pulled out a golden envelope.
“Open it and find out.” I waited, watching his face as he unrolled the string from around the top, before pulling the paperwork out.
“The good thing about being married to you is my ability to sign leases in your name for small storefronts. Therefore taking the first step of several in the direction of making Killer Apparel not only a physical entity but also giving it its own space. Keys are in the envelope too.”
He dropped the papers into the box and put it on the couch next to us and pulled me in so close to him, so tight, I melted. Who was I kidding? I would always melt against this man.
“Yo, I can’t believe you did this.” He had picked the papers back up and was staring at them in awe.
“That’s not all I got you. Might wanna dig a little deeper into that box, big homie.”
He set the papers down, then dug in the box, pulling out the Ziplock bag with a Target receipt. On it was written the words, “Congrats, we’re pregnant!” in black marker. Then beside it, the test that also proved we were indeed pregnant.
I’d found out two weeks ago and held it in just to give it to him as a Christmas gift.
“Yo, whole time this is one cheap ass gift in theory,” he mused, his hand already finding its way to my abdomen.
“Not if you really think about it. Merry Christmas, Reminisce Blac.”
I leaned down against him, my lips not too far from his. “Merry Christmas, baby.”
The End**
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