“Nice,” I cut in, not knowing what the hell he was talking about. “Theodore Graham, nice to meet you.” I handed him the card he’d asked for, plus one for my publicist. “I don’t personally have anything going on right now where I could use you, but I’ll keep you in mind. Good luck to you, aiight.”
“Much appreciated Mr. Wright, thank you,” he called after me as I hurried off, trying to get to my car. I’d barely pulled out of my parking spot when the phone rang, and I grinned as soon as I saw the name that popped up on my dashboard display.
“What can I do for the soon-to-be newest Mrs. Wright?”
“Ohh, have a glass of wine ready for me as soon as I walk through the door tomorrow?” she asked, sounding tired. I knew she’d gone to the Bahamas for work, but I’d kinda hoped she’d find a moment to relax too.
“Damn, it’s like that? Something go wrong with Soriyah’s book?”
“No, not at all. It’s… nothing for you to worry about.”
I frowned as I drove. “You sure babe? I don’t like how you’re sounding right now…”
“I’m sure Jus,” she insisted. “I’m crazy exhausted, and ready to be back home. Did you make a lot of progress with Ferdinand Vance today?”
I scoffed, then quickly cleared my throat to cover. “Uh… you could say that. If by progress you mean… did we decide it was best to wait for you, and let you make these important decisions. Then, yes, we did.”
“Jus…”
“Baby, that shit is not for me,” I told her, shaking my head. “And I came dangerously close to hurting Ferdinand Vance’s feelings, but I know that’s your dream wedding planner so I chilled. But keep that nigga away from me.”
“He’s not so baaaaad.”
“To you. That motherfucker is like nails on a chalkboard to me though, so… y’all put together your dream babe. Just tell me when to show up and where to stand.”
On the other end of the line, Toni groaned. “Fiiine. I just didn’t want you to feel bad, or left out.”
“Nah. Please leave me out,” I asked, making her laugh.
“Duly noted. But on another note… how is Jason doing? Is he okay?”
I frowned. “He’s good as far as I know. I haven’t seen him today, but he was tossing back wings like usual last night at the sports bar. Why, what’s up?”
“Oh nothing, I just thought about him. I know he was complaining about having to use the wheelchair at dinner last week.”
“That’s Jay,” I chuckled. “You know that. Mr. Independent isn’t fond of anything slowing him down, so the chair feels like a cage to him. It’s only temporary though – he’s only using it at the basketball court now.”
“So I see he refuses to slow down.” She sighed. “It’s admirable though, honestly. I don’t understand where he gets the energy – and I’m wondering if he’ll bottle some to share.”
I laughed. “Man, I’ve been trying to figure it out since childhood. I haven’t so much as broken a sweat today and I’m ready to call it a night.”
“You already took Bri to see the lights?”
“Headed to pick her up now,” I said, as I pulled into my father’s neighborhood, heading for the house. “About to turn into Pops’ driveway in a second.”
“Oooh, I’ll let you go then – have fun, and give everybody a kiss for me okay? Tell Bri-Bri I’ll see her tomorrow.”
“Consider it done baby.”
“I love you,” she crooned, as I parked the car.
“I love you too, Almost Mrs. Wright,” I shot back, making her laugh as we ended the call. I didn’t hang around long to grab Bri, knowing our time was already short. She had school tomorrow – and the rest of the week – so it wasn’t wise to keep her out late.
That little wisdom was soon forgotten.
We drove back into the downtown area, stopping for our loaded hot cocoas first. We walked and looked at the vast, intricate light display the city had sponsored, took pictures, talked, laughed, stopped to speak to any friends from school she ran into, with her giving me all the hot ten-year-old tea along the way. Before I knew it, it was damn near eleven at night – way past bedtime – and the light display was starting to clear out.
But my girl was happy, so I wasn’t going to complain too much about it.
“So…” I started, as we headed back to the car. “You know Toni and I started the process of adoption several months back, right?”
“Yeah,” she gushed, stopping to look at me. “Wait… am I getting a little sister or brother?!”
I wrinkled my nose. “You have a little sister. Your mom had a baby like seven months ago.”
“Yeah, but she’s boring,” Bri groaned. “When you adopt, it’s like… a real kid. Not a boring baby.”
“Well, that’s the thing – we don’t know who we’ll end up adding to our family. The agency is going to let us know when there’s a kid who needs a home.”
A grin spread across Bri’s face. “And… they called you, didn’t they?”
“Don’t say anything to Toni,” I warned immediately, since she’d caught on. “I don’t know any details yet, but they contacted me to make sure we were still interested in fostering. So… I’m expecting another call soon, yeah.”
“Congratulations Daddy,” she beamed. “Toni is gonna be a good mom.”
I smiled back. “Yeah… I think so too.”
Back at the car, Bri fell asleep almost immediately, exhausted from bouncing around all day. I was ready to be on that same energy, wasting no time waking her up to get out of the car once we got home.
But then the phone rang.
As soon as I saw Joseph’s name on the screen, I knew what was up.
Seven
I can’t believe I let him talk me into this…
Well… more accurately, I couldn’t believe I’d almost talked myself out of it.
I’d convinced myself that I hated Joseph, had once counted him among the worst people I had the displeasure of knowing.
And now we were here.
In the car on the way home, Josie had started wailing, putting those young new lungs to good use. She was uninterested in anything we could do without taking her from the safety of the car seat, so by the time we pulled into our driveway, I’d leaked through my shirt – my body’s natural, unavoidable response to the alarm Josie was sounding.
But that was fine.
I had what she needed.
Instead of going all the way upstairs, we settled right there in the living room – me and Josie in the recliner, nursing. Joseph and Jaden on the couch, watching. Both in love with what they saw, but also a little jealous – I’d weaned Jaden when I found out I was pregnant, so I could have my body somewhat to myself for at least a few months before the new baby arrived.
Joseph’s reasons didn’t need explaining.
I smiled down at Josie, half-asleep but still suckling – already a pro, our first day home. After five days in the hospital though, she’d had plenty of practice, and I… had plenty of time to worry I’d never see her again.
She was perfect.
Seven pounds of tawny skin and juicy cheeks and thick hair that was already curling. She’d come a month too soon, but with no complications. A smooth, unmedicated vaginal delivery – exactly what I’d wanted, and was so grateful to have experienced.
But then came the problems.
The bleeding wouldn’t stop, and my blood pressure was too high, and my blood sugar wouldn’t regulate, and a half dozen other, smaller complications I didn’t even care to remember. So instead of bonding with my baby, and basking in the love of my family, I spent that first forty-eight ours getting poked and prodded and pumped and injected and… kept alive.
Joseph had made damn sure of that.
I remembered, vaguely, him telling me he wasn’t leaving the hospital without me, and he’d made good on that promise.
The next time I looked down, Josie had fallen completely asleep, releasing her latch on my breast to let a lin
e of milk drip down her chin – another thing to be grateful for. I hadn’t even been able to feed her those first two days, with everything going on. But as soon as I knew my milk was safe for her, we’d been on it. Practicing. To make sure this connection was something I didn’t have to lose.
So everything ended up fine after all.
I looked up at Joseph, getting his attention to tell him I was taking the baby upstairs, to sleep in her crib for the first time. He nodded, turning to tend to Jaden, who’d fallen asleep as well after bouncing around all morning.
Walking into Josie’s beautiful gray and yellow nursery with her tucked into my arms gave me a deep sort of joy I hadn’t expected. I stared down at her little face, so peaceful and sweet, practically a mirror image of my Jaden.
Perfection.
I glanced toward the crib, trying to remember if it was still filled with all the decorative stuffed animals and blankets – things that would have to be removed. Very quickly, that thought was struck from my mind, and I stopped in my tracks, staring at the wall space overlooking the crib.
The illustrated baby elephant canvas was gone.
In its’ place hung a portrait of… me. One arm curved protectively around Josie, still in my belly. The other around Jaden, as he pressed his face to my stomach, and I laughed.
I remembered this.
Jaden, in his two-year-old wonderment, wanted Josie to hear him singing to her, so he’d put his mouth as close as he could to belt his ABCs for his baby sister. Joseph wasn’t in the image because apparently he’d been the one to take it – something I hadn’t even realized.
I didn’t flinch at all as his arms circled my waist, settling under my arms to help support Josie. I’d felt him coming.
“Merry Christmas,” he murmured into my ear, then kissed me there too.
I smiled, even though he couldn’t see it, blinking away happy tears. “That’s not for another nine days.”
“You’re right, but… I couldn’t hold it. Especially after Miss Josie decided to debut early.” He propped his chin on my shoulder, staring down at her with me. “Thank you.”
I frowned. “For what?” I asked. “It’s my turn to say thank you, for this beautiful portrait. It’s perfect in here. Levi?”
“Yeah, this is a Levi Anders original,” he told me. “And you’re more than welcome. But thank you, still.”
Grinning, I carefully lowered Josie into the crib, her swaddle blanket helping keep her bundled and warm and asleep. Then, I turned to my husband.
“Thank you for what?” I asked again, as he pulled me into his arms.
“For having another one of my big head ass babies,” he teased. “And… for not leaving me. You scared me.” The humor was gone now, as he cupped me under the chin, using his thumb to lovingly caress my face.
“You made sure I was taken care of,” I reminded him, and he nodded.
“Always. Merry Christmas.”
I shook my head. “Nope. Still not for another week.”
He planted a kiss on my lips. “Whatever. Close enough.”
Eight
I can’t believe I let him talk me into this.
But I wouldn’t – couldn’t – lie.
It had felt good.
As soon as I stepped off my flight, I’d had to go straight to the hospital to see about Devyn and the baby, and be with the family through that rough time. That day and the one after it had passed in a blur, and then after Devyn was stable and Joseph was calm, and baby Josie was absolutely perfect, I was able to unpack my suitcase, and settle in at home.
And then, with a week until Christmas Eve, I woke up to Justin staring at me, smiling.
“Marry me today,” he’d said, holding up the marriage license we’d applied for before I left for my trip. It had to have come while I was gone, and that official document made it feel so much more real.
I didn’t really care why he wanted to it today.
I just said “yes”.
Because I trusted my best friend.
Aviva, my cousin, was going to be my maid of honor when we did the big shebang in a few months, so calling her to stand as my witness – and help me find something to wear – wasn’t even a question. Justin’s friend Rich came to stand with him. Our wedding bands had already been chosen, and were in the safe, waiting for the occasion.
I was Mrs. Wright by that afternoon.
“How hard do you think everybody is gonna flip when they found out we did this?” Justin asked, pulling into a parking spot on the west side of the BSU campus. This had been our hangout spot as students here – complete with the green apple slushes we were both slurping now.
“We don’t have to tell them,” I shrugged, popping the top of my slush, then reaching for his, to top both off with the cheap vodka we’d grabbed, for nostalgia’s sake. “The rings could go back in the safe, and it could stay between us, until the wedding.”
Justin scoffed. “And not brag about finally being able to call you my wife? You got tipsy fast, huh?”
“Oh whatever,” I laughed, returning his drink. “You’re telling me you can’t keep a secret for four months?”
“I can definitely keep a secret, Mrs. Wright… when I want to. But this isn’t one I want to keep, unless it’s what you’d prefer.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Boy please. I can’t wait to join the Constant Obnoxious Reference to my Huuuuzbun club, are you crazy?”
Chuckling, Justin detached from his seatbelt and exited the driver’s side of the vehicle, coming around to my side. He winked at me as he opened my door, unclipping me before he moved to open the side door of the SUV.
“What in the world is going on?” I asked, not really needing the answer once I stepped out. He’d already hit the button to make the back seats sink into the floor, and as I watched, he was spreading a thick blanket out. “You’re not serious,” I laughed, and he turned to me with a grin.
“Oh I’m deadass.”
I shook my head, taking a long sip from my spiked slush. “Last time we tried this, we got caught by the cops.”
“Last time we tried this, was a Friday night in the middle of the semester – nobody is going to be out here on a Monday evening when classes aren’t even in session.” He abandoned the spreading of the blanket to put his hands at my waist, pulling me into him. “Come on, Mrs. Wright… it’s technically our honeymoon.”
“Really nigga?” I giggled. “This is why you wanted to go and get married, isn’t it? So you could talk me into public sex again.”
His hands went to my ass, gripping and squeezing as he easily picked me up, depositing me on the blanket-covered floor. He climbed in too, closing the door behind him before he faced me, shaking his head.
“Nah, you would’ve been about this life anyway, don’t front,” he teased, already undoing the buttons of my ivory blazer. “I wanted to marry you because I didn’t want to wait to be your husband another second longer than I had to. And… another reason I’ll tell you later. And…” he let out a deep sigh, and his hands went still at the waist of my matching ivory slacks. “If, God forbid, something happened to either of us, between now and the wedding… I wouldn’t be able to live with it if…”
He stopped speaking, seemingly unable to find the words for what he was trying to say. Still, I nodded, stowing my cup in the door so I could pull his face between my hands.
I knew what he was saying, and I knew what had sparked it.
We’d all been there at the hospital with Devyn and Joseph – had seen how he’d been able to manage her care with little red tape, because they were husband and wife. It wasn’t the sexiest thing in the world, but it was real, and it was responsible. Seeing how quickly Devyn’s health took that turn had put our own mortality right in our faces. And the fact was, if we hadn’t done this, and Justin died tomorrow, the wedding itself wouldn’t even register in my list of regrets.
Not having exchanged those vows, though?
Would kill me too.
“Y
ou aren’t nearly drunk enough if you’re being this sappy, Mr. Wright,” I told him, biting my lip as I reached for his pants. He smirked, and sat back, grabbing his drink from the front cupholder as I stripped him out of the beautiful charcoal suit he’d worn for the ceremony, and then rid myself of the rest of my clothes too.
It was cold.
And still relatively light outside.
Both of those were pretty exciting.
I grinned as Justin pulled the blanket over us, wrapping us like a cocoon before he brought his vodka and green-apple flavored lips to mine. Because of the drink, at first his hands were cold against my hot skin, creating a contrast that put my sensitive places on even higher alert than they already were, so different, so good, that I was a little sad when his hands finally warmed.
I got over it quickly though.
What else was there to do but get over it, when his hot mouth was so attentive to my nipples, and his scorching fingers were so skilled between my legs? I stretched out, enjoying every second of my husband’s rapt attention to my neck, my breasts, my stomach, my thighs, and then finally between my legs.
My mouth fell open and stayed that way as his tongue worked, and worked, and worked, until I was bucking against his mouth as I orgasmed, all underneath that blanket.
He came up for air wearing a goofy, satisfied grin that turned to wide-eyed wonder as I shoved him onto his back while he was caught off guard. It was my turn under the blanket, breathing him in and swallowing him whole and massaging handfuls of his balls, and finding nothing to complain about when he dug his hands into my hair and bucked his hips, plunging himself into my throat as he released, and I greedily took every drop.
“Goddamn, Mrs. Wright, ” he grunted, flipping the blanket back.
I licked my lips as I crawled up his body, ready to ride him into oblivion. “Mmmm. Was that good for you, Mr. Wright?”
“Hell yes.”
I squealed as he flipped us over so he was on top, then spread my legs and buried himself in me in such quick, fluid movements I couldn’t do anything but take it. And moan. And love how he felt, hard and thick and so deep it made me squirm.
Christmas With the Wrights: A Wright Family Holiday Short (Wright Brothers Book 4) Page 4