Page 49 of Passion
I gave him a slight smile. “I wasn’t going to tell you at first. I was just going to wait to see what happened, but I want you to know that I stopped my birth control pills a week ago. Whatever happens, happens.”
His lips parted slightly as he stared at me. Grabbing my hand, he pulled me closer to him then embraced me. “Damn, baby. You ready to have my hardheaded babies?”
I giggled. “I’m ready to do life with you, whatever that entails. I love you so much, Gentry.”
“Mm. That’s good to know. We need to make a trip home to celebrate the outcome of this meeting before we go get the kids from day care.”
“I thought you had to go to work?”
“Shiiiid, that’s what I have an assistant vet for. Girl, ain’t nothing more important than fertilizing your garden right now. Then you can go to the store to prepare for the family later.”
“Okay, husband. Let’s make it happen.”
Gentry grabbed my hand as Shy stared at us while standing at the car. “’Bout time y’all bring y’all asses on. It’s fucking hot out here.”
I laughed and said to Gentry, “Please hurry and unlock the doors so we can get this nigga to his hotel.”
“Hotel? I told you I was hungry, girl.”
“Shy, you can come to our house if you want to, but I need to go worship my man. So if you wanna hear all our action, then come on, because I refuse to restrain my screams when he tearing my?—”
“Hell naw. Take me to my hotel. I’ll do DoorDash or something and get with y’all nasty asses later.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Gentry slowly shook his head as he drove off. The drama was over, and the sun was peeking through the clouds, revealing the rainbow that had surfaced after the storm. Life was ours for the taking, and I couldn’t wait to see what all would manifest for our new family unit. Yeah… family.
GENTRY
Giselle and I sat in the waiting area for our appointment with Kerri at Arranged Hearts. The past year being a husband and father had been one for the books. Although the beginning was turbulent, I didn’t regret a moment. Those trying times showed me who I was deep down inside when love was in control. The past ten months, though, had been like a fantasy.
We’d established a hell of a routine that the kids were comfortable with and that maximized the amount of time we were able to spend together. I’d even adjusted my Friday schedule to hers, just so we could spend the day together. With the arrangement she had set up with Clayton, most weekends, the kids were with him unless we had plans.
Surprisingly, he and I were pretty cool now. That was what was best for the children. When they saw the adults getting along and on one accord with how they were being raised, it left little room for bullshit. However, when bullshit arose, we handled it immediately and as a unit… all three of us.
Our three-month, six-month, and nine-month evaluations had gone well. I was expecting this one to go well also. It was our last one. The three-month evaluation was the most emotional because we shared all the changes we had been through and how close we were to turning our ‘I do’ into ‘I don’t’. Had Vegas not called me that day, I probably would have filed for an annulment. I would have missed out on all this love, simply because I refused to keep weathering the storm.
What we had now was worth every minute of heartbreak, irritation, and sadness. The Giselle Serenity King Fleming I was currently married to was the most loving, sexy, considerate, and passionate woman I’d ever known. I never thought I could love someone as much as I loved her and the kids.
“Mister and Missus Fleming? Kerri will see you now.”
I smiled as I stood and helped Giselle from her seat. Placing my hand at the small of her back, we made our way to Kerri’s office. When we walked in, Kerri smiled brightly. I swore it was like looking at Giselle all over again. It turned out they weren’t related though. They just had a lot of the same features, which was crazy. They said everyone had a twin, and they weren’t lying.
“Hello! Y’all come on in and have a seat! The two of you look amazingly well. Giselle, how are you?”
“Hey, Kerri. I’m doing okay. Just ready for the next two months to be over.”
I chuckled then rubbed her belly. The baby had been kicking her entire ass for the past month. She could barely keep anything down. Apparently, she was getting what she was supposed to though, because she hadn’t lost any weight since the beginning of the pregnancy and the last ultrasound proved that the baby was progressing just fine.
Kerri chuckled too. “But you look so beautiful pregnant. Your skin is glowing even more than it already was. I mean, the pregnancy even has Gentry’s skin glowing too.”
I twisted my lips to the side, causing them both to laugh. Placing my hand on Giselle’s stomach, I began rubbing in circular motions as my second princess kicked, acknowledging she knew that it was me. Whenever I laid my hand on Giselle’s belly, she would kick. That could have meant she didn’t like me, but we would surely see in the next couple of months.
“Aside from the pregnancy, how has everything been going between the two of you?” Kerri asked.
I glanced at Giselle and decided to be the first one to speak this time, since at the last interview, she was the first to speak. “I honestly feel like I owe y’all some more money. Our love is perfect. Even when we weren’t getting along, I knew that y’all had gotten it right. Things have been amazing. That isn’t to say we haven’t had disagreements, because Giselle is ‘stubbornly confident’ and hardheaded as hell.”
She slapped my arm and rolled her eyes as I laughed. Kerri had to laugh too, remembering my answer to the question about the characteristics I wanted my woman to have. The smile broke out on Giselle’s face as she said, “That’s why we’re okay after we bump heads because your head is just as hard.”