Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
As soon as we are back in the living room, they start the questions.
Her friends are cool, so I don’t mind at all.
I’ve actually heard of Giselle and Kyrah before I met Mireya though.
Everybody in Crescent Falls and any city within two hundred miles knows about Madame Giselle and her elite escort service.
As an alum of CFU and CFU Law, I’m also aware of Dean Kyrah Morris.
This is just my first time meeting them officially, along with Alex.
“So, the masquerade ball was the first time you saw her?” Kyrah asks.
“Met her and saw her in person? Yes. I saw her campaign pictures and pictures online, but that night was my first time seeing her and I was hooked when I did,” I admit.
“Aww. That’s what I’m talking about,” she says.
“But can you be monogamous? With just one woman?” Alex fires off next.
“No doubt and it’s real easy when you’ve made a commitment like marriage,” I say and look at Mireya. Our eyes stay locked until Kyrah jumps back in.
“So you’ve never cheated?” Kyrah asks.
“No. Never,” I answer.
“After my ex-husband, I learned that cheating needs to be defined,” Kyrah interjects.
She takes a sip from her shot of tequila before she continues.
“Cheating isn’t just fucking or penetration.
It’s giving anything or doing anything with another woman that’s not the one you’re committed to and keeping it from your woman. ”
“I agree and the answer is still no,” I double down.
“Okay!” Kyra exclaims then smiles. “Okay,” she repeats before finishing her shot.
“You seem pretty settled and with your shit together. It’s just been you and your daughter. Are you sure you’re just not looking for a mother for your child?” Alex asks.
“Alex!” Mireya snaps, clearly not liking the question. I don’t either but I’ll answer it ’cause I’m a man of my word.
“I’m good,” I say, but Mireya shakes her head.
“No. You do not have to answer that,” she says.
“It’s cool. I get why she’s asking.”
“Good because I’m not trying to insinuate anything or accuse him of anything. It’s an honest question. I had to ask. I’m sorry, but you know me, Reya. If I want to know something, I just ask. No malice involved,” Alex says, standing behind her question.
“My baby girl is four and for all four years of her life, she’s had me and my family.
If I just wanted a woman to be a mother to her, that position would have been filled years ago.
Getting a woman I want, trust me, wasn’t a problem.
But when it comes to my daughter, my family, and my home, all of those things have been reserved for the woman I need; they were reserved for my wife. ”
“That night at the ball, neither of us had intentions of waking up that morning with our lives forever changed like this, but I know me and I know the man I am,” I say, then look at my wife.
“And I’ve already learned that she knows exactly who she is too.
Together, based on our mutual attraction and undeniable connection, intoxicated, tipsy, or whatever, we made the decision to get married.
Obviously, we were sober and determined enough to put our damn legal brains together and find a place online that performed ceremonies that are, in fact, legal. I married her and she married me.
“So, to answer your question, nah, I wasn’t just looking for a mother for Niya, I was waiting for Mireya,” I say and Mireya lifts her head, meets my lips, and kisses me.
“And just like that, the damn game is over,” Giselle says as we kiss. “No other questions are needed.”
“I know that’s right,” Kyrah says.
And when Mireya and I break our kiss, Alex smiles and says, “See, I knew he would have the right answer. We approve,—Alex stands—“Let’s go find our movie for the night.”
Giselle and Kyrah stand too. When I see them stepping over to the sofa Mireya and I are sitting on, I get up too. Giselle hugs me first.
“You have the best of us. Treat her right. I know too many people willing to do what I want if you don’t,” she whispers in a threatening tone, contradicting the smile on her face. Her threat doesn’t land though. For one, I’m never going to mistreat my wife, and secondly, I genuinely fear no man.
“She’s perfectly safe with me,” I assure her and she nods.
As she hugs Mireya, Kyrah hugs and thanks me again. Then Alex embraces me. “My question was purely out of love for my friend. I meant no disrespect,” she says apologetically.
“None was taken. We straight.”
“Good and thanks again for my bottle.”
Mireya and Kyrah hug then she pulls Alex in for a hug. When they are out of the living room, she steps right into my space and into my arms.
“You not going up to finish y’all Friday night routine?” I ask and she shakes her head.
“No. I’m letting you take me home,” she says with a simper.
“Is that right?”
“Absolutely.” She beams then raises on the balls of her feet to lean up for a kiss I don’t hesitate to give.
“I guess I passed the friend test,” I say while still holding her.
“It wasn’t a test. I really wanted you to meet them and also let them see the man I’m becoming more and more enamored with each day. But know this, if it was a test, you definitely aced it.”
“Not the man, your husband. You’re slipping, kyau,” I remind her before pulling her in for a deep kiss.
“I like to draw. Do you like to draw?” Niya asks as she grabs Mireya’s hand to take her upstairs to her room.
“I love to draw but I’m not that good,” Mireya says.
“I’ll show you,” Niya says.
As they ascend the stairs, I fall back for a moment and just watch the two of them, my heart and my kyau. Niya means the world to me. She is my world and having her come into it being unwanted by Janis fucked me up. When she said she didn’t want a baby, she meant that shit.
At every doctor’s appointment, she was so disinterested.
For our first sonogram, she played on her phone the entire time and refused a copy of the picture at the end.
Stupidly, I thought that maybe while carrying Niya, Janis would change her mind.
Of course, she didn’t. When Niya came into this world, I cut her umbilical cord.
Her first cries almost exploded my damn heart.
While I fell in love immediately, Janis didn’t.
She wouldn’t even allow the nurse to place Niya on her, so the nurse advised me to remove my gown and shirt and I held my baby first. I stayed with her in the hospital that night, and the next morning, I left with my baby girl and Janis left Diamond Falls.
“Daddy, you can stay there,” my baby girl says, breaking my thoughts. I just shake my head and laugh. I also stay downstairs. I’ll eventually go up but I’ll give her some time with Mireya.
My baby girl really likes my wife.
Instead of going to Crescent Falls this morning to shop for our dinner on Saturday, Mireya came here. She searched online and found a small boutique that specializes in formal dresses. It’s located in the new plaza behind the mall. The three of us went there at eleven.
From the moment Mireya arrived, Niya was stuck to her.
She even let Mireya fix her hair and redo her ponytails with no pouting or fussing like she does when I try to do anything to her hair.
I learned a new trick watching her. A little water and leave-in conditioner works like magic when combing through Niya’s head full of hair.
At the shop, they picked out a few beautiful dresses for Niya.
While she tried them on, I slipped away to handle something, and when I got back, they had decided on two pretty dresses just in case.
Mireya also let Niya choose the color. Her dress is green like some princess with a frog she recently fell in love with.
We went to the mall next, and after about an hour, Mireya found a beautiful green and gold dress that hugs the hell out of her curves.
My suit was last but the easiest. We went to my normal shop and Mike hooked me up.
Niya insisted that we eat lunch at her favorite spot, so we had crab legs. My baby girl can legit eat seafood every day and not just legs. She loves shrimp and fish too. We just got back from the Seafood Spot and Niya immediately wanted to take my wife back up to her room to draw.
This day couldn’t have been more perfect if I planned it.
The two of them together are just right.
My baby doesn’t take to new people this fast and she definitely doesn’t let just anyone draw on her wall.
As much as she loves the twins, they don’t even have that privilege.
All of that just solidifies my mission to make my wife see what I already know.
She’s mine, I’m hers, and what happened with us was some meant to be shit. I needed her before I even met her.
Giving them time together upstairs, I head to the kitchen and grab a bottle of water. I also call Ace. This evening I got the news I’ve been waiting for.
“What’s up, bruh?” he answers.
Getting straight to it, I ask, “You ready to have this case shit over with?”
“You know I am. Even though I’m home with my baby, I can’t really sleep,” he admits.
“Well, prepare to sleep like a baby tonight. The judge granted my motion. The drugs got thrown out. Without the drugs, there’s no possession charge or a case. After throwing out the drugs out, the judge had no choice but to dismiss the case. It’s over.”
After a deep ass sigh, he asks, “Real shit? No trial? No nothing? You fucking with me, right?”
“You know I would never play about something this serious. It’s really over.”
“Sade! Sade! Baby! It’s over. That bullshit is over. Quintus came through,” he says excitedly and I hear Sade shriek. “Bruh, thank you. I’ll never be able to thank you properly for this. Never! Damn… it’s over. Thank you.”
“That’s what we do. Look, go handle Sade and get some sleep.”
“I’m ’bout to go do all that thanks to you. Love you, bruh.”