26. Izael Epilogue
IZAEL EPILOGUE
NINE MONTHS LATER
“She’s so beautiful, sis. She looks just like you.”
“Nigga, why you hating? You know my princess looks just like me,” I remarked and took my daughter back from my best friend’s arms.
“Nigga, she don’t look nothing like yo’ ugly ass,” Tahj remarked.
“Baby, tell him she looks just like me.”
“After all that pushing I’ve done and walking around here with swollen ankles, hemorrhoids, and gaining twenty-five pounds, you would think that she would come out looking just like her mother, but she does look more like you than me,” Talia stated and rolled her eyes.
“I think she’s the perfect blend of you both.” My mama intervened and looked at her granddaughter from her position beside me.
“She’s got Zae’s lips and eyes and Chè’s nose, chin, and face,” Mama Linda stated.
“She’s beautiful,” Daddy Walter replied.
“Isn’t she, though?” My pops agreed.
Our baby girl was less than three hours old, and she already had more visitors than either Talia or I knew what to do with. Asante and Kenyatta had stopped by for a few minutes before they left. Dahlia, Celina, Jaylen, and Rashad had stepped out to get everyone something to eat, and the two of us, our parents, and Tahj remained.
My mother’s new husband, whom she’d married within three months of introducing him to us, had stopped by earlier, but he was called away to some other part of the hospital to perform an emergency surgery. My dad’s wife, Staci, and my new little sister, Elyse, were at home resting.
“Well, let’s give the new parents some bonding time. I’m sure that we’ll have more than enough time babysitting when they get out of the hospital,” Talia’s mom stated.
“Ain’t that the truth,” my mama agreed as she kissed our daughter on the top of her head and then kissed Talia and me.
“Bye, River,” my mother-in-law stated, waving at our baby girl after kissing her.
I grabbed my daughter’s little hand and waved it at my mother, making everyone laugh.
We said our goodbyes to everyone before I was left alone in the hospital room with my wife and daughter. Every time I thought about the title “wife” in connection with Talia, I felt something explode in my chest.
We married a month after I won the James Beard award in a quiet little ceremony in our backyard with just our family and closest friends around. We had taken a three-week honeymoon to the Maldives where we relaxed, ate, and just loved on each other.
This girl was my world, and I was honored to love and protect her. I was even more blessed that she had given me a little one to do the same with. I was their provider, their protector, their haven…In short, I was their world, and they were mine.
There wasn’t anything in the world that I wouldn’t sacrifice or go through for them. When I fell in love with Talia, I thought there was no greater love until I laid my eyes on the beautiful life that she and I created. I was overwhelmed with a surge of love and devotion the minute I saw River being pulled from her mother’s body.
The day Talia learned that she was pregnant, seven weeks after I told her to remember the moment when I pumped her with my seed in Chicago, she declared that we would name her River. She said that she did remember that moment, and she did remember how beautiful the Chicago River was that night with the stars shining down on the water’s rippling surface.
I had been terrified of fully committing to any woman for the long haul. I was convinced that all good relationships fell apart eventually, and that was all because I never knew the truth about my parents’ failed marriage. My mama was a good woman who had understood the difference between a no-good man and an excellent father. She hadn’t wanted our perception of our father to be discolored by his wandering ass dick.
Looking at my wife, I was glad I had gotten past the self-erected barriers. I had almost missed out on a good love because I had all these misconceptions in my head—All good relationships fell apart, and the apple of my eye was off limits because she was my boy’s sister.
“What are you thinking about?” Talia asked as I handed her our daughter.
“You…our princess.”
“What about us?”
“How blessed I am to have you both in my life and how thankful I am that you took a chance on my ass.”
“Was there ever any doubt that I would? I’ve loved you almost my entire life, Izael.”
“And I couldn’t ask for more. I just want all your love for the rest of my life, and I vow to love you until the world is no more,” I promised and kissed her lips.
I climbed onto the bed beside her and held her in my arms as I leaned forward and kissed our daughter’s head. She wiggled in my wife’s arms and scrunched her face up.
“She’s so perfect,” Talia whispered.
“Just like you.”
“I’m far from that, baby. But I am glad that you choose to see all that’s good in me and overlook my flaws.”
“You give me the grace to do that, Chè. If it weren’t for the way you are with me, I doubt I’d know how to love properly. You’ve taught me how to love and honor you, and my heart can’t help but choose you every time, no matter what issues arise.”
She chuckled softly.
“What’s so funny?”
“I was just thinking that if it had not been for Ricky and Roshanda breaking my heart the way that they did, I would not have returned home, and I would never have known that you love me the way that you do.”
I smoothed the wrinkles from her creased brow and pulled her closer. After that ass whupping I had given Ricky, he never dared to come back around Talia. I had seen him eight months after that when I was in Atlanta on business at a restaurant. He had some broad on his arm, but the minute he saw me, that nigga almost ran out that restaurant.
Talia had heard from some of her restaurant friends in Atlanta that Roshanda had a baby girl, but the man she was pregnant by was married and didn’t claim her or his seed. The last we heard, she was stripping at some low-end club in Atlanta.
So much happened in the last year. The luxury apartments that I almost lost out on expanded to open another location in Cherokee Springs. The first location was in Atlanta. I was able to get in on the new one too. I sold my Airbnb homes and focused my investments on commercial real estate. After we returned home from the James Beard Awards, I found another failing restaurant that was looking for a buyer.
When I ran the details by Talia, she asked me for a one-on-one meeting with the owners. After hearing her plan, I set that meeting in motion. She asked them to give her three months to assess their business format, determine where they could improve, and work with their existing business manager, chefs, and staff to turn things around. She’d done it, and the restaurant was now nominated for a James Beard award and so was she for outstanding journalism. She had done the same thing with two other restaurants, assessing how they could improve operations and giving them detailed feedback for improvement.
Now that we had a little one of our own, I needed her more settled. I leaned sideways in the bed and pulled a set of keys from my pocket and handed them to her.
“What’s this, Zae?”
“Those are the keys to T’s Cucina.”
“What?” she asked and looked from the keys to me.
“That’s your restaurant, baby.”
“My restaurant? What are you talking about?”
“Do you remember the Panda Palace on Cherokee Springs Avenue?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, the owners were looking to retire, but they didn’t want to carry on that name. I remember how you had so many ideas for what they could do to improve that place and how you always stated it was on prime real estate for a restaurant.”
“And you agreed,” she remembered as her eyes widened.
“Well, that’s my gift to my wife for giving me the world’s most beautiful baby girl,” I replied.
“Izael Amir Ellis! God, how could I love you any more than I already do?”
“Just love me, baby.”
Tears fell from Talia’s eyes, and she leaned closer and kissed me deeply. We heard a tiny little wail, and she pulled back.
“Oh, my goodness. I’m sorry, pretty girl,” she cooed and stroked our daughter’s cheek.
“Damn, girl. Your ass horny already. Up here ’bout to crush my baby just to get a kiss,” I teased and leaned down and kissed River. I looked up and kissed my wife again.
Talia giggled and shook her head before she spoke. “Izael, you are the most amazing man I have ever met,” she whispered.
“No, baby. I was just made to love ya.”
I knew that I had done nothing to deserve the love of this great woman, but I was thankful that she was made perfect and made just to love me.
THE END