“I know ‘I declare war.’”          

“Not a real card game, babe. Pick a game.”

With a hand to my chest, I widened my eyes. “Oh how shall I ever choose with such a huge selection?”

He flashed a wide-dimpled grin. “Or I can go out and buy a few more games if you like.”

“No, Scrabble is fine.”

“Atta girl.” He reached up and lightly tugged at my chin.

During the next hour, Marcus and I were still on our first game of Scrabble, which I was winning, of course, when we heard a knock at the door. Vinnie walked in and my entire body froze. I hadn’t seen him since the day of the shooting. Marcus told me that he was fine, but just seeing Vinnie in person made it all come back.

“Mia, how you feeling?” Vinnie asked as he slowly approached the hospital bed.

“I’m good, better than good. How are you?”

“I’m glad you’re doin’ well. I’m doing well too. Hey, Marky.” He nodded over at Marcus who returned the gesture. Marcus exhaled and stood. “No, no, please sit. I don’t want to intrude. I just wanted to say a few things.”

“Alright.” Marcus said cautiously as he slowly sat back down.

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“I just wanted to let the both of you know that I’m sorry for what happened and how everything went down. Especially for you, Mia. You shouldn’t have walked into that.”

“It’s not your fault. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Still it wasn’t right, so I’m sorry.” Smiling at him, I nodded. “And, Marky, just so you know, there was glitch with the surveillance camera videos after Lou left the building, if you know what I mean.”

I turned my head toward Marcus, who wore a baffled expression. “So just like that. Everything is good?” His tone screamed with uncertainly.

Vinnie nodded. “I told you I owed you one, so yeah, just like that.”

“But how?”

“Like I said, there was a glitch.”

Marcus stood up from the chair walked over toward Vinnie and offered his hand. “Thank you.”

Vinnie took it and shook Marcus’s hand. They exchanged a quick manly hug, and once Vinnie pulled away, he smiled at me, turned, and walked out the room.

“What was all that about, Marcus?” I asked him the moment Vinnie was out the door.

He shook his head in disbelief. “That was my out.”

“Seriously?” My heart fluttered in anticipation.

He nodded. “Yeah. It’s over.” I reached my arms out, and in a few strides, he was beside me. He kissed my forehead and pulled me into a tight embrace.

We could finally start reclaiming our lives.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

THREE MONTHS LATER

MARCUS

Fingers traced along my arm, toward my shoulder, and across my chest. Once at the middle of my chest, the fingers glided down my torso and stopped at the edge of my briefs. A finger hooked its way in and played along the rim of the cotton fabric. “Wake up, my sleepy man.” Her voice was a whisper along my ear.

I moaned and adjusted my arm around her to pull her in closer. With my eyes still closed, I smiled at her giggle. She continued to play with the rim of my boxers. I caught her wrist and pushed her hands down. She giggled again as she gripped my length and began stroking it up and down. “I didn’t wake you for this.” She teased as she went on with her gentle strokes.

“Well, why else would you wake me?” I slightly stretched underneath her and smiled as she leaned in and grazed her lips along my jawline and toward my ear.

“Today is a good day.” She mumbled as she sucked in my earlobe.

“Oh, yeah? What’s today?”

“I need you to wake up so I can tell you.”

“I’m up, baby. Don’t you feel the hard on? I’m wide awake.”

Another soft laugh escaped her. “Open your eyes for me.”

Just like that, I did as I was told, flashing my eyes open. I had the privilege to wake to that beautiful face every morning. She bit her lip as a thrill of excitement filled her eyes. She was so happy with whatever she wanted to tell me that the vibe was transferring onto me. “You’re killing me here, Mia. What do you have to tell me?”

She kneeled up on the bed and wrapped her legs around my hips to straddle me. I placed my hands on her waist and stared up at the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. Her hair, long and wavy, was draped down the front of her shoulders and down toward the middle of her torso. Her soft face radiated a glow that would lighten a room, and those big emerald sparkling eyes, that I fell in love with the moment I saw them, weakened me every time. I raised my brows, waiting for her to respond.

“Well . . .” She looked down at me. Her smile softened as if she were unsure of why she’d awoken me, and then she blurted, “I’m pregnant.”

My mouth dropped open and then turned into the biggest grin. “What?!”

She nodded adamantly. “I know. It’s crazy, right? I mean we’ve done everything backwards. Moved in together, pregnancy, and then marriage, but even though it’s not in the order everyone expects it to be, I’m okay with that. I’m not sure . . .”

I gripped her face and brought her down, shutting off the rambling that she always did when she was nervous. I smashed my lips against hers. She weakened in my hold and moaned against my mouth. Slowly pulling her away, I stared into her eyes. “Who cares if it’s backwards? Who said there was a rule of how to plan your life? Are you happy?”

Her eyes filled with tears as she forced a smile and nodded. “I’m so happy, but I feel guilty for feeling this happy.”

Puzzled by what she meant, I traced the back of my fingers along the side of her soft cheeks. “Explain that to me.”

“Well, every time I begin to feel like my life is finally taking off, that nothing could change the pattern of how great things are going, just like that,” she snapped her fingers, “it’s taken away from me, as if I don’t deserve for once to just be happy.”

“Baby.” I pulled her in against my chest and ran my fingers through her soft brown hair. “I can’t promise you that life won’t try to take a stab at you, that you won’t run through a few obstacles, and that you won’t feel like quitting at times. But I can promise you that, with each stab, I’ll be there to heal the wound. With each obstacle, I’ll be running right beside you. And every time you fall, I’ll be right there to pick you up. We’re in this together, always, and no matter how many times it feels like a struggle, we’ll fight through it together because we deserve to be happy. You deserve all the happiness life can bring.”




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