Epilogue
Cambrie
One year later . . .
“I didn’t realize how much I needed this.” Emerald tilted her head back into her lounge chair and tipped her sombrero-style wicker to block the hot sun.
St. Lucia was beautiful! I’d never been, and now that I had, I was thinking it needed to be an annual staple in my life.
She was adorable in her two-piece yellow bikini with her five-month pregnant belly poking out.
I was glad to see her so relaxed, considering how tight she’d been the last few weeks.
She brought that peach iced tea she’d been obsessed with since we landed to her lips and sipped through her straw.
She gave birth to twin girls right before this pregnancy, and only a few short months later, Ivo had her knocked up again.
I don’t know how they found the time between him helping Staten run things and Emerald becoming a voice in the media with her in-depth columns on the budding businesses and their black owners.
She loved shining a light on places like that and getting them the recognition they deserved.
She even started going to different food places and posting reviews.
Being that she was gorgeous and connected to Ivo, her views and following skyrocketed.
Including Brick and Six in some of her adventures left them all going viral online.
Not only did they have their twins, but Emerald had custody of Jury half the year as well.
She and Juke had found a routine, and he’d even married his long-time girlfriend.
Sapphire had gotten accepted to Syracuse University, and he was up there balling like the next up-and-coming star.
We all took the time to go support him at his games and make sure he was good.
I loved how Ivo, Brick, and Staten rallied around him.
Even his former coach, Blaine, rocked with him from a distance with his coaching job in LA.
“Girl, who you telling? Don’t get me wrong, I love being with Brick and the social media checks don’t hurt, but .
. . having a little bit of solitude and peace is ideal.
” Six shifted in her lounge chair under her umbrella and soaked in the warm rays.
“Plus, him and Diamond be in they own little world. I swear I just birthed that girl. He’s the one raising her. ”
Their daughter came like a thief in the night.
Six’s cycle was all off. She was still having regular periods and everything up until the day she was wheeled into the ER with stomach pains she couldn’t get rid of.
Those two became popular all over again on social media due to some ‘I didn’t know I was pregnant’ type shit.
TV networks were beating the doors down with deals to try and get them on a larger platform.
Six wasn’t lying when she said Brick and Diamond were connected at the hip though.
She didn’t want to ever be separated from her papa.
She didn’t say Dada like the other kids, nah, that was her papa all day.
“It’s been a while since I took a vacation myself.
I adore Staten and the kids, even with all the daily challenges.
It’s them baby mamas and Rossi that be having me ready to snap.
This man is struggling to tame the beast I know lays inside him, but I keep telling him I don’t need him to shield me from none of that.
It makes me feel like we’re not equals when he has to hide things from me,” I complained, tipping the tall sangria mix to my lips.
I’d gotten pregnant right before we were engaged but ended up losing the baby.
Staten wasn’t letting it come between us, but I couldn’t help the grief that had taken over after that.
He was more focused on making a baby, and I just wanted to heal.
Being married to him and raising the kids was more fulfilling than I could ever express.
There were those quiet moments when I thought about our baby and what they would look like or what milestones they might have hit by now, but I was more grateful for the family that we already had.
I didn’t want him to feel bad about it or blame himself.
I had them make all my drinks extra strong, emphasizing to the whole staff what I wanted out the gate.
I had every intention of getting lit as fuck this entire trip.
Since Emerald couldn’t indulge, I vowed to toss ’em back for her.
Our all-inclusive suite in Marigot Bay was luxurious and simplified.
I loved it over here. We weren’t but a few miles from their buzzing downtown area, too, so we were able to sightsee.
Nadia went back to Jersey and figured out how to live her own life, which meant she rarely came around to check on her kids anymore with me in the picture.
I peeped that both Saga and Tavi had grown resentful of her.
The only time she did come around was to flex on some new shit.
She had a new husband, and they were traveling and planning their lives together, but none of her endeavors seemed to include her own children.
I hated the effect that it had on Tavi. Even though Staten wasn’t a fan of it at first, therapy really seemed to help her.
After her accident, she tried pushing me away.
At that point, she didn’t believe that anyone gave a damn about her, but I wouldn’t give up.
Each session to get her back mobile was a challenge, but it was one that I was up for.
“Cambrie, let’s be real. You got the good brother.
Baby mamas and all. Staten has stood on nothing but business behind you from day one.
Don’t let that go over your head, and don’t let Nadia or Cyra drive a wedge between you and that man,” Six advised.
“As for Rossi, I can’t speak on that because she adores me. ”
“Hey, we started off rocky, but she loves me too,” I chimed in.
“She loves me more.” Emerald caressed her stomach.
Six and I both paused mid-convo to stare at her.
“What? Like y’all don’t know Ivo is her favorite son.”
“Girl, please. You wish. She strolled alongside me down the aisle at our wedding,” Six scoffed. “The sun rises and sets on Brick for that woman. I don’t know how you came up with that.” She fell back in her lounge chair with her Prada shades shielding her eyes from the sun.
“I told y’all they was out here trying to put us on babysitting duty.” Brick emerged from the villa with Diamond on his hip, and Ivo sported a twin daughter on each side as well as they sucked on popsicles.
Rogue, Piaget, Tavi, and Saga all trailed out one by one, indulging in the cold treat as well.
The last to come waltzing out was Jury, and I couldn’t help but smile.
With the birth of the twins, she’d turned into even more of a little woman, and nobody could tell me she wasn’t micromanaging everybody in that damn house.
“Please. Like you and your little shadow even noticed I was gone.” Six adjusted her glasses on her face and kept her face to the sky to soak in the hot sun.
“See, that’s what your mama sounds like when she being a hater,” Brick snickered, leaning toward Diamond’s little chubby face and poking at her rounded stomach.
The only time she wasn’t up under Brick was when Six was breastfeeding her.
“What do y’all even want?” Cambrie huffed.
“To give y’all yo’ kids back!” Ivo stepped up and handed one twin to Emerald while placing the other in my lap.
Jessie and Jolene both rested their heads against me and Emerald like they were ready to go to sleep. Inhaling that original baby scent left my hormones going crazy. Jolene buried her little face against my shoulder, and it didn’t take long before she was snoring against me.
“Damn, Cam. You got the magic touch.” Ivo stepped closer. “I can’t even get her down like that.”
“She’s pregnant,” Rossi interjected, her motorized chair pushing closer to the rest of us surrounding the pool.
“Lord, Staten, tell your mother to quit putting that on us,” I grumbled.
“Trust me, mother knows. I was right the first time, wasn’t I?” She placed a small hand against my thigh.
“You better listen to her, Cam,” Emerald piped up.
“Em, she didn’t even like you a year ago,” Cambrie countered.
“Let me be perfectly clear with both of you. I came up in a time where the men I loved were constantly being taken advantage of, and women were always their downfall. It left me cautious and always reminded me of the kind of woman I didn’t want to be.
That is all I have ever wanted for my sons.
Emerald, I was leery of you because it seemed like your father dictated everything in your life.
I realize that was presumptuous of me, and if Ivo loved you that much, then maybe I should give you a chance.
At the end of the day . . . all I have ever wanted is my son’s happiness. All of them.”
“You were still a bitch in the midst of that, Rossi,” I concluded, adjusting my dark shades against my face.
“I want you to keep this same attitude with your daughter when she comes out looking like me but acting like you,” she aimed an accusing finger at me.
“I need everybody over by the pool for a minute,” Ivo cupped his mouth and shouted.
“The hell this nigga on?” Brick strolled off behind his brother until we arrived at the pool area.
A glass platform had been structured, and Sol stood with her arms crossed in front of her legs.
“Ivo, what is this?” Emerald questioned when she waddled over.
“Come here, baby.” He held his hand so she would take it and slowly he pulled her to her feet in the two-piece bikini.
Even though it was obvious she was with child, Emerald was glowing, and it wasn’t foreign to find Ivo eyeing her when he thought nobody else was looking. I loved that for her because I couldn’t think of anyone else who deserved to be loved out loud like that.
“I proposed, but then you got pregnant . . . again. I know you said you didn’t want to do this while you were pregnant, but I couldn’t think of a better time for us to showcase our love to the rest of the world.
” Ivo grabbed her hand and pulled her into him.
“I love you, and before we bring this next baby into this world, I want you both to carry my last name.”
“Oh my God, you’re serious,” she gasped. “And Sol is officiating?”
“Damn right. I got ordained on the flight here,” Sol kidded.
“Look, we can have the wedding of your dreams when all this is over, but right now . . . a nigga ain’t trying to go another day without you being my wife in every way,” he pledged, leaving all the women in the vicinity with misting eyes.
Staten eased behind me, arms falling around my waist as he pulled me into him and applied a supple kiss to the nape of my neck.
I didn’t doubt that one day we would have our baby.
I just didn’t want to get my hopes up for it.
We had our hands full with the rest of the kids, and the older they became, the busier their little lives got.
When the time was right, we would have our little miracle, and I had no doubts about that.
This man loved me like nobody ever had and we deserved to have proof of that in a little boy or girl.
The day we got married, my father was able to be there and root for us, and everything was perfect.
A baby would only solidify what was already between us.
Standing there watching Ivo and Emerald take their vows, surrounded by their kids and everyone who loved them, was something right out of a fairytale.
None of us could have imagined we’d be here a year ago, and even though it might have started with the decree of one man, it had become so much bigger than that.
In a world ruled by Mafia kings and potential wedding rings, I finally understood—love was never the promise, only the gamble.
The End