Epilogue
Romi
“Baby, hurry up!” Devin yelled from downstairs.
“I’m coming!”
Today was a big day. After six months of renovations, redesigns, product preparation, and countless, sleepless nights, Pure Glow Beauty Bar was finally reopening. I was so excited to present the new and improved version to everyone. Not only was I reopening, but today was the official launch of my skin care line, The Pure Glow Revival.
That was what I was most excited about.
True to his word, Devin matched the money he’d given me from Patrick for the start-up. Renay helped me secure a couple of shelf spaces, and she reached out to a few big influencers about testing the product. So far, I had rave reviews, which I was expecting. I wouldn’t toot my own horn, but I was great at my job.
I took one last look at my attire before leaving our bedroom and heading downstairs. I smiled as I watched him snapping selfies with our girls. Juri was strapped to his chest in her carrier, just as happy as can be, while Korri was at his side, doing duck lips and throwing up the deuces. The three of them were peas in a pod. Sometimes, it was like I didn’t exist because these girls loved their daddy, and their daddy loved them.
“How do you rush me, but you’re down here having a whole photo shoot?” I asked, hands on my hips.
Devin grinned. “’Cause you’ve been up there forever, woman.”
He reached for me and pulled me into his side to kiss me. Well, tried to kiss me. As soon as Juri saw us leaning into each other, she mushed my head.
“Girl, I can kiss my man!” I exclaimed.
“DaDa!” she squealed.
“I don’t care if that’s your daddy.”
Devin’s smile widened. The first time she called him DaDa, that man almost scared my baby with the way he yelled in excitement. Korri was already calling him Papa Devin, and he loved it.
“You don’t wanna share me with mommy, Ju?” he asked, kissing her cheeks. “What about you, Korri?”
She giggled. “You’re big enough to share, Papa Devin.”
He stooped to kiss her forehead, before reaching out to rub my stomach.
“I mean, we are gonna be sharing again in a few months,” he said.
I was currently five months pregnant with baby number three and four… twins. When I missed my period, I just knew I was pregnant. Devin and I hadn’t been using protection, and that man wasn’t pulling out. The last thing I was expecting when I made an appointment to confirm the pregnancy was to learn we were, in fact, having two babies.
Juri wasn’t even a year old yet, and I let this man knock me up. When I told him that, he calmly reminded me that I said yes to that when he shot up the club the day he presented me with my new building. I couldn’t say shit because we hadn’t used a condom since.
“We’re really about to have four kids,” I said, placing my hand on his.
“Right. We might need to expand the house because this is gonna feel real small soon. I mean, I’ma need my boy.”
I rolled my eyes.
It was just our luck that the twins were girls. His brothers were already talking about the suffering he was about to endure being in the house with five females. He always brushed them off, stating he could handle it because he was that nigga. I had to laugh and give it to him. He was, indeed, that nigga.
He made handling us look so easy. There was never a complaint, never a problem too big, or a request too difficult for him. Granted, we were easy to please. I didn’t come from a wealthy family, and I’d always lived within my means. It wasn’t until I met this man that I got use to a life of extreme luxury.
“Devin, you’re gonna get whatever comes out of here,” I stated.
He smirked, and I knew if the kids weren’t around, he would have had a smart-ass comment about cumming in me. I rolled my eyes.
“Let’s go, sir.”
I opened the door to find Senior standing there. He smiled as he pulled me in for a hug and kiss, before rubbing my belly.
“You’re gonna be late to your own opening,” he said.
“I told her that.” Devin chimed in. “We were just about to leave. Did you need something?”
“I came to see if Papa’s babies wanted to ride with him. Darlyn is already in the car.”
He motioned behind him to the truck. Maddie sat in the front seat and Darlyn was in the back, frantically waving her little hand.
“TiTi!” she yelled at me.
“Hey, baby!” I yelled back.
She blew a kiss at me, and I blew one back.
Korri immediately got excited. She loved being the big cousin as much as she loved being a big sister.
“Mommy, I wanna ride with Papa Senior.”
He chuckled as he did every time she called him that. “Come on, princess. Hand my juicy mama here, Smoke.”
Juri was already kicking her feet and waving her arms at him. To say she was a preemie, one could never tell it now. It didn’t help that all her grandparents loved feeding her. She would literally pull herself up and stand there with her mouth open, waiting to be fed.
Devin kissed his teeth as he lifted her from the carrier and handed her over to his father. We didn’t have to worry about a car seat because he kept one in his car for her.
“We’ll see you at the place,” Senior said, kissing my cheek.
“Okay.”
While he got the girls situated in the truck, Devin and I climbed into his, cranked up, and pulled out of the yard. We drove in silence for about ten minutes before he looked over at me and grabbed my hand.
“I’m proud of you, love,” he said, kissing my knuckles. “You’ve been through a lot of shit the past year… shit that was designed to break you. You took it like a G and kept pushing, even when you didn’t want to.”
I kissed his knuckles in return. “I don’t think you would have allowed me to give up.”
“You fucking right about that.”
I giggled. “Honestly, Devin, you and our girls gave me strength I didn’t know I had. If I’d only had me, I would have crumbled, because life was kicking my ass. You saved me. You saved me, and you loved me in spite of all the bullshit I had going on.”
“You were worth it. Always have been, always will be. That’s on my mama.”
I playfully mushed him. “You know Ms. Allison would be on your ass if she heard you put anything on her. You know how she feels about that.”
He chuckled as he pulled into the parking lot and found a spot. “I know. She wouldn’t mind this time. She knows how much I love you.” He motioned to the three-carat diamond ring glistening on my finger. “You’re gonna be my wife.”
I smiled. “Just like you said.”
“Don’t I always keep my word?”
“You do. That’s what I love the most about you.” I leaned across the seat and cupped his face. “You do what you say you’re going to do… Some things you do very… very well.”
I nipped his bottom lip before sucking it into my mouth. The kiss we shared was the very reason I was pregnant right now. I was almost across this man’s lap when a knock on the window broke our kiss apart. We looked up to see his brothers, all with frowns.
“Go on and get y’all’s ass out of this car,” Deuce said. “Watch me send y’all’s mamas out here.”
Kerrion shook his head. “Y’all can hump on each other later.”
Maceo added, “That’s why y’all are having twins now. Just fast.”
“Fuck all y’all,” Devin said, pulling out his gun. “Get the hell away from my shit before I get trigger happy in this muthafucka.”
His brothers broke into laughter as they headed back inside.
“Y’all are childish as hell when you get together,” I said, attempting to move.
“Now imagine how much worse it’s gonna be when we all have kids.”
“What have I gotten myself into?”
He grinned as he cupped my face and kissed me. “You’re stuck with me now, woman.”
“I know. There is nowhere I’d rather be.”
We shared another kiss, this time a passionate, sensual one. I loved this man to my very core. He was unexpected, but a blessing, nonetheless. Looking back on all I’d been through—the pain, the losses—he was my light at the end of every tunnel. My fiercest protector. My rock. If someone had told me a year ago that I would be madly in love with a Dillinger or that a Dillinger would be madly in love with me… baby, I would have laughed.
Now I was about to marry this man and have his babies.
I guessed life had a way of working out the way it was supposed to.
The End.