Epilogue
KENEDI
ONE YEAR LATER.
As I finished getting everything ready for us to bake chocolate chip cookies before we left for Kru’s performance tonight, I smiled at Sincere and SJ standing next to me.
That man was so in love with his son that whenever you were around the two of them, you couldn’t help but smile as well.
There was so much love there between the two of them that it was truly contagious.
My pregnancy and birth with SJ were as smooth as they could go, and definitely had me wanting more children in the future.
I loved being a mother, and I knew that God willing, we’d be bringing more babies into the world.
If it were up to Sincere, we’d have an entire football team built within the next few years.
“Okay, I got everything that we need ready to go. You ready?”
One of the things Sincere mentioned missing the most when it came to his mom was the cookies that she used to bake for him. He said that no matter what they were going through, she always made him cookies on Sunday. And, if they didn’t have a kitchen to cook in, she’d get him one.
So, I had been working with my mom to teach me how to make them from scratch, and now that I felt as though I finally had the recipe down, I was ready to make them with him.
He didn’t come out and say it directly, but I knew that it was a sensitive spot for him.
And I hoped that it would be a new tradition that we could start with our family.
I had no idea what it felt like to lose a parent, and especially to grow up without one, but I always made it my mission to make sure that Sincere never felt that void.
While I could do nothing about the broken bonds that he had with his family, well, everyone except his cousin Reese, I tried to make him feel as though he always had my family in his corner.
My entire family had accepted him with open arms, and if you didn’t know who married into the family beforehand, you wouldn’t be able to tell.
That was how much everyone loved and respected him.
And, to me, that alone was a blessing in itself.
“Yeah, let’s pray we don’t burn the house down. I told you already that cooking or baking of any kind is not my thing.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. You trust me, right?” I asked, leaning up for a kiss. I didn’t have any shoes on, so our height difference was even more noticeable now.
“With my life,” he said, connecting his lips with mine.
“Okay, then just follow my lead. Now, first we have to prep our wet ingredients,” I said, motioning towards the section of the counter I’d placed everything.
I had everything separated by step to make it easier for us. Once he grabbed what we needed, it was time for us to start the baking process.
“You did such an amazing job,” I said, hugging Kru as he stepped in the back where Sincere and I stood.
“You huggin’ that nigga kinda tight, ain’t you? Unhand my wife, nigga,” Sincere said, pulling me away from him. Slapping his arm, I turned back to Kru.
“I appreciate y’all coming out. I know y’all be tied up with the baby and apparently each other, so it’s rare we see y’all out these days.”
I couldn’t do anything but laugh because it made no damn sense that I was pregnant again.
I would say that trying to keep Sincere off me was a lot easier said than done, but I was probably on top of that man more than he was on me.
Something about seeing him in daddy mode always got my juices flowing and usually ended with me sitting on his dick.
I wasn’t complaining, though. I wasn’t sure about the whole football thing he had in mind, but we definitely could have at least a couple more babies.
I was just going to be more diligent about spacing them out.
“You know we’ll always come out to support. And I got your email about you being okay with the collab, so we’ll get to work on that next week,” Sincere said, referring to the deal we worked out with Lyrics’s label.
I was going to have so much fun coming up with a plan to get their names out there even more than they already were.
I’d heard through talk around the office that the two of them weren't exactly friendly and had already had a few run-ins with each other that didn’t end well.
My hope was that they’d moved past that already, and we could have some fun marketing them together.
We were still waiting for Lyric’s label to get back with us to seal the deal, but I knew it would be coming any day now.
Whether they liked each other or not, this collab could do wonders for their relationship.
“Yeah, I guess it’s worth a shot. Let’s just hope that I don’t end up shooting her ass,” Kru said, laughing. He had a smile on his face, but his eyes told me that he was very serious.
“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. It would be a nightmare for me to try to clean that up.”
“I got you. Well, let me go take some pics and shit. Y’all enjoy yourselves,” he said, disappearing into the crowd.
Once he was gone, we made our way back to our table and took a seat.
As much as I wanted to get back home to my son, SJ, I wanted to enjoy a night out with my husband.
We didn’t get out that much, so this was some necessary time out of the house and away from the baby.
In fact, I had already asked my parents to keep him until we came and got him after work tomorrow.
It didn’t take much to get them to agree.
Hell, if it were up to them, he’d live with them.
I was so happy about the way my parents had taken in Sincere and treated him like the son they never had.
And I knew that he looked at them like the parents he didn’t get to experience growing up, especially my dad.
They had their own father-son things they did once a month now, and I thought it was the cutest thing.
And don’t even get me started on my mother.
Sincere was her son, and nobody could tell her any different.
I was truly blessed to have all of them in my life.
“Can I get the two of you anything else to drink?” The waitress asked, bringing both of our attention to her.
“No, I’m good,” I said, smiling as Sincere shook his head no, too.
“What are you over there thinking about?” He asked, scooting my chair closer to him and kissing my forehead. It didn’t matter where we were or what we had going on. That man was going to find a way to touch me, and I always welcomed the attention from him.
“Just how blessed we are. We’ve come so far, and our life together is literally a dream come true,” I said, smiling as I kissed his lips.
Biting his lip as he looked me up and down, he replied, “I feel the same way. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to spend the rest of my life with.”
“I know,” I said, smirking.
“As long as you do.”