Crown's Chance at Love

by Mayra Statham

  “It wasn’t right for us,” I whisper against his lips, “Mike?”

  “Hmm?” he asks as I’m in his arms, our foreheads touching. Everything feels great. It’s like at this moment I know no matter what, everything is going to be okay. Everything I feel for him is bubbling over inside of me.

  “I love you,” I tell him and he looks down at me smiling, his pale blue eyes warm and open. He knows I love him, but he had known I needed time to say it and he had given it to me. Now in his arms I knew I couldn’t hold back anymore.

  “I love you too Sabrina,” he says, his voice filled with emotion and love. My eyes start getting teary, I shake my head trying to breathe.

  “I can’t believe you are here!” I say untangling myself from him. His hand in mine I look up at him and notice he gets serious and runs his fingers through his hair. A slight twinge of nerves flutter through me and I look out to the water and then glance back at him, and realize that he is on one knee looking up at me, all while holding my hand.

  My heart starts to race, both my practical and inner bad girls holding hands as they jump up and down.

  ***

  Mike

  I can tell by the look on her face that she is completely caught off guard and I smile as I look up at her, on one knee in front of her.

  “What are you doing?” she whispers, her big brown eyes wide in surprise, a pink blush on her face. She is so fucking beautiful.

  “Sabrina, you and the kids, I told you that you are it for me. You are the rest of my life. I love you. I love the way you look at me, the way you smile, the way you lay everything out. Baby I love everything you are. I can’t imagine life without you. Marry me. Marry me and I will spend the rest of our lives being the man you need. I will be the one to stand next to you at any struggle and to cheer on not only the kids at their victories but ours as well. Let me grow old with you. Let me love you. Let me be part of your family,” I tell her, never looking away from her eyes. Her eyes get watery and she is smiling and when she starts to nod, my heart feels like it is going to burst.

  “Yes,” she whispers with tears running down her face, and I feel like I can’t breathe.

  “Say it again,” I say hoarsely wanting to have her confirm she was saying yes. that she was saying she was giving me everything I want.

  “Yes. Yes Mike I’ll marry you,” she says and I stand pulling her up and we hear people around us start to clap. I kiss her, both my hands on her face. Once I pull away, I look at her.

  “I talked to your parents,” I tell her and she tilts her head slightly.

  “How’d that go?” she asks smiling brightly.

  “Your dad lost a bet to your mom, and your dad welcomed me to the family!” She laughs and fuck if her laugh doesn’t make me feel like I can do anything. I love the way her face lights up bright, her eyes dancing happily, her cheeks flushed and pink. I know that this is the rest of my life. This incredible woman is it for me, I just can’t believe she wants me the way I want her. I will make sure to spend everyday working my hardest to deserve her.

  “I also talked to the kids.” Her laughter stops and she looks up at me, her eyes wide, maybe even a little worried. I knew she would be.

  “What did they say?” she asks, her forehead bunching up a little.

  “We told him he could be part of our family. That we would be honored if he did as long as he took care of you Mom,” Marks voice says behind her.

  She turns and sees the three kids standing there, all of them smiling happily, and that is when my girl starts to cry happy tears. They come over and wrap up tight with her, Chris pulling me in. I glance at each of the kids. Mark’s smiling, Penny’s laughing with tears rolling down her face, and Chris is teary eyed and happy. After hugging them and kissing the three of them, Sabrina looks at me with these eyes filled with so much love and hope, I never want her to look at me in any other way. I will do whatever it takes to keep that look of sheer happiness on her face for the rest of my life; because when she looks at me this way, I feel like anything is possible.

  Mike

  Opening my eyes slowly, the sound of waves crashing near by make me smile in my half asleep state. Reaching out for her, I realize the bed is empty and I pull my body up, stretching looking around the room. Empty.

  “Babe?” I call out and the room stays silent. I get up and put on the pair of blue swim trunks that in the heat of the moment we had thrown aside. I smile at the memory of how she had responded to my touch, to my commands, and how she had given herself completely and how hard we had both came.

  Stepping out to the patio area that faced the private beach of the Riviera Maya, she looks up at me smiling brightly. Her cheeks and the top of her nose are slightly sunburned look brighter because of the pretty bright pink swim cover, her bare feet sprawled out on the patio furniture, her eyes full of mischief.

  “Hey,” she says as I sit next to her, pulling her feet onto my lap.

  “Hey. What are you doing out here?”

  “I couldn’t sleep,” she says smiling at me, a look of peace over her face that makes me lift her on to my lap.

  It took us five months to get married, almost a year from when we had first met. If it had been up to me we would have been married the same day I had asked her. But I understood where she was coming from. She wanted a little time to get the kids settled into the idea.

  When we returned from Seattle I was surprised to hear a voicemail from my dad. He had finally left my mom. It seemed as if my mom’s outburst at the Gala had been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  We quickly grew into a routine and I moved into their place, putting my condo up on the market. Life was better than I could have even imagined waking up in the home she made, and lying my head next to hers every night.

  My hands rub her soft, slightly sun burnt shoulders, moving down to her small baby bump. Luck was in our favor when it came to conceiving and our ages. When we found out about having gotten pregnant on the first try, she’d worried and tried to push back the wedding until our daughter was born, but there was no way I would wait that long. Sabrina being the woman that she is gave me that.

  John offered his property to hold the ceremony. Between Nick, Dan, Joe, Tony fucking Garibaldi, Holly’s husband Robert, John and I, we fixed up a garden area and the downstairs of John’s monster of a house up in the Hollywood Hills. John had paid for all the repairs, even splurging on an extra paid crew to come out and finish so we could finish a month ahead of schedule.

  The ceremony had been sweet and intimate, only friends and family, people who really mattered surrounding us as we promised one another forever.

  John had stood as my best man and Emmi had been her maid of honor, and Penny had been our flower girl.

  When I saw her walking towards me down the aisle that was filled with white Peonies and baby Roses my heart had stopped beating. The sight of her wearing a cream colored, strapless, empire waisted dress that was made of layer upon layer of soft almost sheer fabric, her maple brown hair down slightly wavy curls with small soft blue flowers in her hair, her baby bump slightly showing, with Mark and Chris at each of her sides holding her elbows, made my heart skip a beat and my eyes water. She was perfect. Like a whimsical princess walking towards me. All I could think about was That’s my future walking towards me.

  When she reached me, the boys putting their mom’s hand in mine, I swallowed hard. Knowing that Mark and Chris were handing their mom to me, did something to me. It made me fall more in love with these kids who had lost so much but still believed and hoped in happy endings. They did that because of the woman who raised them. Because of Sabrina. When she looked up at me her eyes bright and dancing, filled with secrets and mischief, I let the tears fall. Not giving a shit who saw it. Words couldn’t even describe how much I loved this woman and her kids. I smiled so hard my face hurt, but I couldn’t help it, we exchanged our vows.

  Now here we were on the last day of our honeymoon in an all inclusive hotel, our
room facing the private beach on the Riviera Maya.

  “I love you Mrs. Crown,” I whisper into her ear and I can feel her smiling.

  “I love you too Mr. Crown.”

  ***

  Sabrina

  nine months later

  I wake up, surprised at the silence that fills the house. Getting out of bed I look at Nikki’s crib in our room and it is empty. Grabbing my soft cotton yellow robe I head downstairs where I hear noises coming from the backyard. I stand off to the side as I watch Penny and Chris set the patio table in the backyard all while Mark holds Nikki. I see that he is talking to her and she smiles at him.

  She’s almost six months old, and such an incredibly good baby. Dark brown ringlets and bright blue eyes, she is possibly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I hear footsteps behind me, and I know who it is without a word. His large body behind me, his arms wrapping me up close, giving me something I’m not even sure I could describe. I love his body, his warmth, god even the way he smelled.

  “Hey, you sleep okay?” he whispers into my ear, the stubble on his face slightly tickling me, and I can’t help the shiver. I love that my body reacts to him the way it does.

  “Yeah, I didn’t hear her wake up,” I whisper back. God I loved when we whispered.

  “I know. We wanted you to sleep in. Come on breakfast is ready,” he says his face leaving my shoulder and I look up at him and he looks at me. The hungry stare makes my skin warm up and I laugh shaking my head.

  I know exactly what he wants.

  “Breakfast is ready,” I say laughing and he dramatically pouts. He wants us to try again for another baby, and if he gets his way, which he usually does, we will, and I’m happy.

  I see John in the back grabbing Nikki from Mark walking her to my flower garden, pointing out brightly colored flowers as she holds his finger with her whole hand. John is incredibly enchanted with Nikki, much to Mike’s surprise.

  It makes sense to me. Somehow John had become a steady fixture at our house, as he grumbled about how he lost his best friend to a domestic way of living, but I know he is happy for Mike. Sometimes I catch him staring at us with sadness in his eyes. Even if Mike had hinted that John had been through a lot a long time ago, I would have guessed it. Whatever it was it must have been bad, because Mike’s never told me, but I’ve never asked. I know all about sad stories, but I know how quickly they can turn around. I have hope that John’s will too.

  Nick had finally moved his software company to LA and decided to buy a house near us. He was also a steady fixture at our place. He even started to hang out with John. There were nights they’d go out, but somehow they always ended up at our house to finish watching Sports Center with Mike and drinking a beer.

  Not much has changed.

  Well one thing has. Jake has started to come around, and he’s pretty great with the kids and Cara and Jerry’s twins. We have worked through some things but for the most part, things are still unspoken between us.

  “Come on sweetheart, let’s go,” he says. His strong big hand extends towards me and I smile at him as I walk into the warm bright sun.

  I’ll follow him anywhere.

  Tania Sanchez, there was a moment I was ready to press delete, without you I might not have had the courage to show my writing to anyone. Thank you for giving me the courage to not only keep going and finish, but for the courage you swept over me to release this story and let it fly. You are such an incredible person. Thank you for your friendship and support.

  To my beautiful sister Natalie: Thank you is not enough to express the gratitude for everything you do. From telling me to relax to being my soundboard. Love you nanababy.

  Natalie, Heather, Ceci, Chrissy, Randi, Tania, and Wendy … when this project was finished, your feedback was wonderful! Thank you for being such a wonderful support and my cheerleaders!

  Rebecca from BertoDesigns, thank you for the beautiful cover work!

  Nicole Louise Editing: Thank you for being such an incredible editor. Thank you for seeing my vision alongside with me.

  Kate Roth: Thank you for your help with my synopsis.

  Wendy Ferraro, a.k.a W.Ferraro, one of my favorite authors, thank you for being my cheerleader and guide in Indie Publishing. So thankful and utterly honored to be able to call you my friend.

  To you my reader: Thank you for taking time to read this story and your encouragement.

  Mayra Statham, born and raised in Southern California is an avid bookworm who devours books one sitting at a time, and a complete fangirl of authors like W. Ferraro, Kristen Ashley, Roxie Rivera, and Tia Louise. Her love of reading was something that her mother encouraged at a young age. Crown’s Chance at Love is her debut novel of her Six Degrees series.

  She is the oldest of three so she is slightly bossy and always worrying about something or someone. Her parents brought her up to believe that you can do anything you put your heart to as long as you follow it up with hard work and determination. Something she hopes to pass along to her own kids. She has always believed that she is an incredibly lucky girl for being blessed with the wonderful family she was born and married into.

  She has three children and an amazing husband, who will no doubt one day be doctrinated by the Pope as a saint for the patience he has dealing with all her shenanigans and never telling her it’s too crazy or absurd. Instead he has always smiled and cheered her on ‘til she reaches a finish line.

  She loves all things that require creativity. From scrapbooking, to upcycling furniture pieces, to sewing. She also has a great love for desserts!

  Mayra would love to know what you thought about Mike and Sabrina’s story.

  Feel free to contact her via email at: mayrastatham@gmail.com