Chapter 32 – War
Chapter
Thirty-Two
WAR
You don’t know babe
When you hold me
And kiss me slowly, it’s the sweetest thing
And it don’t change
If I had it my way
You would know that you are
You’re the coffee that I need in the morning
You’re the sunshine in the rain when it’s pouring
Won’t you give yourself to me
Give it all, oh
Best Part by Daniel Caesar softly played as Gutta Barbie stepped inside of the dining hall. Our family and friends smiled as she walked through the trail of red rose petals under her feet.
She looked so beautiful.
She thought we were only going out to dinner and she still threw that shit on.
The Chanel sequin maternity dress she was wearing accentuated her pregnant curves perfectly, showing off her beautiful baby bump.
I was speechless seeing her, she had a natural glow to her already beautiful face.
Her hair was styled in a half up, half down and her make up was light highlighting her flawless beauty.
Tears crowned her face as she looked on in disbelief. There were so many red and black roses in the room giving it an intense romantic vibe.
Dark red linens draped the walls, black and red center pieces lined the S shaped banquet tables, red and black pillar candles burned brightly among silver candle holders giving it a luxurious romantic feel.
Red glass goblets, custom made cards and coasters, and a beautiful large rose arch with red and black roses that were hand picked and customer designed was the cherry on top giving the occasion a dramatic look.
“What’s going on?” Gutta Barbie giggled, unable to contain her excitement and shock.
“I should be the nervous one,”
I got down on one knee taking her hand into mine. She covered her mouth with her other hand.
“Chanel Key, from the moment that I first laid my eyes on you, I knew that you were the one. Everything about you was hard not to love. Since you’ve been in my life, everything that I thought I knew about love ended up being a fantasy.
You bring realness, you’ve shown me what love truly means and how it should be embodied.
You have shown strength and resilience despite everything that I unhappily watched you endure.
You have remained empowered, courageous and authentic since day one.
You are not the person I want to wake up next to; you are the home I want to build and come back to every single day.
With you I have found a peace and a purpose that I never knew existed.
You are the greatest gift and the safest place. ” I spoke.
Gutta Barbie wiped the tears from her eyes as she stared in disbelief.
“I’m going to be the greatest husband and father to you and our child. All I need is for you to do me the honors of becoming my wife and saying I do.”
I pulled out the ring, a pave pink sapphire ring 5.25 ct 18k white gold. The heart shaped pink sapphire had ran me 30 bands and I felt that Gutta Barbie was worth every penny.
“Awe.” The entire room gasped before going completely silent. Every one waited in anticipation and I was growing even more nervous than I already was.
Gutta Barbie stood before me, her entire body trembled.
“What the fuck-
She gasped.
I chuckled.
“You gonna give me an answer or leave me waiting all night?” I half joked.
“Yesss! I’m sorry babe! Yes Yes he’ll fucking Yes I’ll be your wife!” The entire room laughed, cheered, cried and hugged each other. I jumped to my feet and immediately swept my girl in the air.
We kissed.
She had said yes.
I couldn’t believe it. I had finally done one of the hardest things in my life.
But my decision of knowing I wanted her to be my wife was even easier.
Love, so many things I got to tell you
But I’m afraid I don’t know how
Cause there’s a possibility that you’ll look at me differently
Love
Ever since the first moment I spoke your name
From then on I knew that you being in my life were destined to change cause,
Love.
I held Barbie close in my arms as we danced to Musiq Soulchild Love. The room stared enamored in our love as I embraced my soon to be wife. This was every real man’s reason and dream life.
After our dance ended the champagne bottles popped open and the DJ played Let’s Get Married by Jagged Edge and the entire band began to cut up.
It went down in that building, our engagement party turned into a movie as some of the biggest ballers in the city turned up for the celebration of me and my family engagement party.
I held Gutta Barbie's hand as I led her on to the beach. The sand melted between our bare feet as we approached the blanket spread out with Indian style pink and blue pillows. I looked around before nodding my head at the host and chefs, everything was perfect.
On the small table surrounded by pillows set a delicate layout of grapes, pineapples, watermelon and strawberries. Lobster, shrimp and stuffed crab cakes with baked Mac and cheese and broccoli with sides of salted garlic butter, cocktail sauces and horseradish.
With Gutta Barbie and Holly being pregnant and Hood Brat being gone I knew that Gutta Barbie wasn’t in the mood to plan a big gender reveal.
That was Hood Brat’s thing, her specialty and what she was known for being the best at.
I knew that her not being here to host any of our baby events was something very sensitive and emotional for Barbie.
So I did the honors by hiring a host and chefs.
I made sure to keep the moment private and intimate so that she wouldn’t feel the need to have to hide her emotions or the pressure from trying to keep everything together.
“This looks amazing.” Gutta Barbie glanced around.
We were both matching in our tan linen fits.
Gutta Barbie was rocking the tan linen baby doll sundress giving her a sexy yet modest and classy look.
I had on a two piece linen fit with the button up shirt and matching shorts.
The Rolex I was rocking on my arm was the only expensive jewelry I was wearing and my Baccarat cologne had me smelling like money in my fiancé voice.
I looked at my girl smiling as she sat down and peacefully enjoying her food.
I found everything about her sexy and appealing to me.
I couldn’t wait to feel the inside of her.
Now, I have never been the type of nigga to stick my dick in just anybody.
I didn’t have a reputation for being a player.
I was a humble G and didn’t do too much when it came to women because it came with too much drama.
I was the money-getting type of player, a hustler, not much of a ladies' man.
I always knew from day one that I wanted to get married, settle down, and have children, but I wanted to do all of that with the right woman and I was certain that woman was Gutta Barbie.
I had survived shootouts.
Betrayals.
Jail cells.
Funerals.
Street wars.
I have done things that made it hard to sleep at night. Put in work that only left me with trauma and nightmares. I had seen people close to me lose their lives.
But nothing had my heart pounding the way this gender reveal did.
Nothing.
It meant we were that much closer to having a family together. Finally making love and closer to saying those words that would forever unite us as one.
Everything was beautiful.
Pure.
Elegant.
Beautiful.
Just like her.
My eyes landed on Gutta Barbie.
God.
That woman took my breath away. She was amazing, everything that I could have ever hoped for and imagined my wife to be. She was breathtaking.
Her hair cascaded down her back in soft waves, a quick switch up from her engagement hairstyle.
The diamond necklace around her neck sparkled beneath the hanging lights.
She looked like an angel. She was my angel, and I’ll kill a nigga behind her.
And somehow she was carrying a child that I was proud to call mine. Our child, a child that I was going to raise to be everything that would make its mother proud.
I adjusted the sleeves of my matching tan suit. I was matching my girl fly. We looked good together.
Today wasn’t just about finding out whether we were having a boy or a girl.
Today was about forever.
The host stepped onto the sand.
“Are we ready to find out what Gutta Barbie and War are having?”
We smiled.
I looked again at Gutta Barbie and held out my hand.
She smiled immediately.
The smile that still made me weak.
The smile I’d spend the rest of my life protecting.
She slipped her hand into mine.
Together, we walked toward the giant white gift box sitting in the center of the beach.
My pulse was racing.
I looked down at her.
“You nervous?”
She laughed.
“A little.”
“A little?”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Okay. A lot.”
We both laughed.
I kissed her forehead.
“No matter what happens…”
I placed my hand over her stomach.
“I already love this baby.”
Tears immediately filled her eyes.
Mine too.
The host smiled.
“On the count of three.”
The chef joined in.
“ONE!”
My heart pounded.
“TWO!”
Gutta Barbie squeezed my hand.
“THREE!”
Together we pulled the ribbon.
The giant box burst open.
Pink balloons exploded into the sky.
Pink confetti rained down around us.
Pink smoke filled the beach sky.
For a second, everything froze.
“It’s a girl!”
“A GIRL!”
“Oh, my God!”
Fire works exploded everywhere.
My knees nearly buckled.
A daughter.
I was having a daughter.
My eyes immediately filled with tears.
I looked at Gutta Barbie.
She was already crying.
Laughing and crying at the same time.
“A girl,” she whispered.
I nodded.
“A baby girl.”
She wrapped her arms around me.
I held her as tightly as I could.
Our daughter.
Our princess.
Our little miracle.
As the sun began setting behind the city skyline, I knew it was time to spend forever together.
“I spent years fighting battles.” I said looking into the sky just thinking.
My voice cracked.
“Trying to prove something.”
For a minute we both became silent.
“But every road I took led me to you.”
She was everything.
Beautiful.
Perfect.
Mine.
I smiled through my own tears.
“You gave me a family.”
I glanced at her stomach.
“You gave me a daughter.”
Then I looked back into her eyes.
“And you’ve given me more love than I ever thought I deserved.”
And as I held my fiancée in my arms, one hand resting on her stomach where our daughter grew, I realized something.
For years, I thought power was money.
Or fear.
Or respect.
I was wrong.
Real power was this.
Family.
Love.
A woman who believed in me.
A daughter on the way.
And a future worth fighting for.
Gutta Barbie rested her head against my chest.
I kissed the top of her head.
“My girls.”
She smiled.
“Our girl.”
I looked toward the sky and smiled.
The future had finally arrived.
And it was perfect.
She was perfect.
My daughter was perfect.
I knew this was a love that was going to be impossible to come between.
A bond impossible to break. I had never had love for anybody the way that I had love for Gutta Barbie.
Being in love with her was an understatement.
I was addicted to everything about her. I was obsessed with her.
I needed her in ways that humans needed air.
There wasn’t a woman in this world who was comparable.
She was more than enough for me. I was more than happy and ready to settle down with her and give her my last name.
I was ready to build a future with her and show her how a real man treats a real woman.
She was worth every second and moment of my life, love, and attention.
I had known it was her from day one; it was love at first sight.
The first time I laid eyes on her, I knew exactly who she was.