Epilogue #3
“Okay,” Dream said before someone untied the scarf and let it fall.
The first thing I saw was them crowded around me, cheesing like clowns.
When they moved out of my way I was able to see why they were so giddy.
My knees went weak and I literally dropped onto the pink walkway that had bent built over the sand.
The walkway led all the way up to a life size pink floral heart that said…
“WILL YOU MARRY ME, LOURDES?”
Armias
We’d discussed marriage so many times, so we both knew that we wanted this.
The only mystery was where and when I would pop the big question.
Mother’s Day showed me that I needed to stop thinking about it and just do it.
Life was too short and things could change in the blink of an eye.
I didn’t feel bad about Nalyssa losing her life because she was on borrowed time anyway and I definitely didn’t care about killing Kenny.
I was fucked up because had I not reacted fast things could’ve ended differently and my baby could have lost both of her parents.
I also hated to see Lourdes’ family dealing with a loss.
Watching her grieve would’ve been hard if I was the one who murdered her cousin, so everything happened the way it was meant to.
I just hated that all of that shit unfolded in front of Lourdes and Granny.
“Go get her, Bubby,” Phoenix insisted, while nudging me.
It was kind of sad that my little brother had to tell me to move, but I was freaking out just as much as Lourdes was.
I walked over to her as the live orchestra played “1+1” by Beyonce.
When we first started dating she said that was one of her favorite love songs ever, so it was only right that I proposed to it.
“Get up, doll baby,” I whispered to her, while helping her up.
Her teary eyes peered up at me, causing my heartbeat to speed up. Suddenly, my throat felt clogged and my eyes felt heavy. No way, man…
“You finna cry, bro?” Lucky asked in amazement.
Not bothering to respond to him, I pulled Lourdes over to the end of the aisle.
She looked around in appreciation at the set up.
Everything was pink, of course, and it was uber expensive to do this on the beach.
But she was worth every penny. This was just the beginning because we weren’t holding back for our wedding or the events leading up to it.
After all, it was Princess Lourdes’ world and I was just living in it.
The hot pink Casablanca short sleeved button down and shorts I was wearing was proof of that.
“Lourdyyyy!” Zee jumped up and down as she walked past him.
She stopped to bend down and hug him. When she stood up she gave me a look.
“What?” I grinned.
“Your whole family is here, Armias,” she sniveled.
“Not my whole family…just my mama and all my siblings. They had to witness our proposal.”
I really wanted my younger siblings to be present for a milestone like this, but dealing with four kids was a lot on an adult birthday vacation.
Therefore, my mom was going to have to come and tend to her own children.
But she couldn’t take a whole week off from nursing school, so she opted to come for the weekend which ended up working out even better.
I set them up in a villa right across from ours and they had arrived yesterday evening.
We were on a yacht, celebrating Lourdes’ birthday so it was easy to keep their arrival a secret.
Through conversations, I’d learned that Lourdes didn’t want to be proposed to on her actual birthday.
But she said she wouldn’t mind a day close to her birthday, so everything ended up lining up perfectly.
“Armias…” she cried, while looking around.
“Wassup, doll baby?”
“This is perfect.”
“I was hoping you’d think that…that’s all I wanted,” I kissed her lips, before pulling away and getting down on one knee.
When I popped the pink ring box open and revealed the pink diamond pear shaped 6 carat ring, I heard several squeals.
My mom and her mom were undeniably the loudest. Despite all of Rahesha’s shortcomings, I was happy she could be here for this moment.
I was still holding my breath with her, but I could finally acknowledge that she was genuinely trying for once in her life.
“Will you marry me, Lourdes?”
“YESSSSS!” She jumped up and down, while holding her hand out.
I slid the ring on her finger, and climbed back to my feet so I could scoop her up.
I held her bridal style as we kissed like we were the only two on the beach.
If it weren’t for our family and friends cheering I’d think we were alone, basking in each other’s love.
The orchestra was now playing “Radiance” by Dave & Tems. I thought that was a fitting song to move onto if she said yes because I definitely put a rock on her finger.
I pulled away from the kiss to stare at my fiance. My fiance. That had a ring to it.
“I love you so much, doll baby.” I allowed the tears to finally fall from my eyes, not caring about how soft I looked. Love did that to you and I fully embraced that.
“I love you, too, Armias,” she grabbed my face and kissed me again.