“Is this like when I make good grades and everybody gets a milkshake?” he asked, his head cocked.
“Exactly like that.” She squeezed his hand, and when I caught Holly’s gaze, there wasn’t an ounce of jealousy or discomfort there. She appeared to be open and even hopeful.
“How about both?” Muriella asked. “We’ve got the ingredients at home for all of it. The cookies are already done.”
“Will everybody come for pizza night?” Gabriel asked hopefully, his eyes on me.
“We’d like that if it’s okay with your parents,” Sonya answered when I couldn’t.
“We’ll do it at our place,” Vivian said. “Let’s go home. It’s freezing.”
“Will you walk with me?” Gabriel asked, and Holly nodded her permission.
“All right, slugger,” I said. “But hold your grandma’s hand.”
He let go of Sonya and gently took my mother’s hand in one of his and mine in the other. Sonya’s grip tightened on mine, and I was grateful for her support. She had a way of showing up just when I needed her. This time, she wasn’t going anywhere.
“You look beautiful, Loretta. I love your cap.”
“And I like your jacket, Sonya.” They matched, though Mama’s faux fur hat was black and Sonya’s jacket was a cropped neutral faux fur. “Are you here to do as I asked?” she asked sternly, speaking to her across our human chain.
“I am,” Sonya promised, and I jerked my head in surprise. “I’m the only one who can take care of Drew.”
“I trust that you’ll see it through.” Mama didn’t let her off easy, and I hoped that meant we were a step closer to her forgiving me.
“We were just discussing that,” Sonya said, her eyes meeting mine. “I’ve already been practicing my vows,” she smirked.
“Drew Harris.”
My stomach dropped. This was my mother’s serious tone. Whatever argument I might have, I wouldn’t win. “Yes, ma’am?”
“I believe you recognize your responsibilities now.”
I nodded, though I’d always known what they were. I just hadn’t accepted them or had blatantly chosen to ignore them.
“That includes taking care of those who you love. Even those you don’t realize you love yet.” She turned to Dad. “I want this to stop now, Harris. Drew’s apologized, and only time will tell if it’s sincere, but I won’t have this rift any longer. We’ve all made mistakes, and we’re not going to tally up whose are the worst. I need peace. I told you I might not be able to forgive you, Drew.” Her eyes darted to Gabriel, who was soaking up every bit of this conversation, his head bobbing to and fro as he looked at us. “But I can. Because I want to. If I didn’t, what kind of mother would I be? What kind of grandmother would I be?”
“You’re an incredible mother. What I’ve done isn’t a reflection on you. It’s all on me. Do you understand?” I asked, pleading with her.
“It’s hard to accept but yes. Your choices are your own. Not mine.”
Relief swept through me. The last thing I wanted was for her to blame herself for what I’d done. “I love you, Mama. You too, Dad.”
“I love you too, Grandma and Grandpa,” Gabriel piped up, and somehow, he eased the tension in that instant.
“We love you,” Dad said, patting Gabriel’s head. “And you too, son.”
Everything clicked into place. I could see a path forward, where I was part of the family again, and that family was expanding.
“Drew,” Sonya said softly, slowing her gait. She pressed up on her toes, her lips against my ear. “I love you way more than I hate you.”
“I know, Tigress. I know.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Drew
Five Months Later
* * *
“You’re scaring me.”
Sonya dragged me down the street to an unknown destination. We’d been back together for five months, and I still wasn’t sure most days if she wanted to kiss me or kill me.
“You should be scared.” Her eyes gleamed, her pace quickening. She stopped in front of a bar.
“Nuh-uh. I am not going to watch you hustle some guy tonight.”
She stopped in the doorway, leveling me with a look. “I know that. Just trust me, sugar.”
“You make that difficult.”
She led me through the crowded bar, wedged us between a man and a woman, and ordered a couple of drinks. “Tell me how you used to go trolling. Did you pick out a group of women? Was there a method to the madness or just anyone who was willing?”
I nearly choked on my drink. “It’s irrelevant, Tigress. The only woman I see in this bar is you.”
Her cheeks turned pink. “Don’t try to sweet-talk me.”
“Getting laid is not a guarantee with you. I have to do what I can.”
She slid a hand under my suit jacket, tugging me closer. “Tonight, it’s guaranteed.”
Her seductive purr had me setting my drink on the bar behind her. “Then let’s get out of here.”
“Not so fast.” Her fingers dipped beneath my waistband to tease the top of my ass. “Indulge me. If you were here to pick up women, who would be the lucky ones?”
“Not playing this game. You just promised me we’re fucking. If I answer that, you’ll change your mind.” She appeared pleased by my answer. I brushed my lips against hers. “I can’t let that happen.”
“Please.”
I cocked my head. “What are you up to, and why do you keep referring to ‘women’?”
“Other than me, how many times have you been with only one woman at a time?” She was downright smug.
“Let’s go home.” I gripped her hip, pulling her away from the bar.
“You have to be honest.”
I groaned at the reminder. Me and my stupid idea for complete truth. “Two.”
She grinned. I was confused. “Why are you happy about that?”
She looked past me, scanning the room until she decided on two women beside us, a blonde and a redhead dressed to the nines in skintight dresses and sky-high stilettos.
“What about them?” she asked, pointing her chin at them.
My eyes met the blonde’s, a knowing glimmer in them as she appraised me. Once upon a time, that would have been all the signal I needed, but now? I wasn’t interested in anyone other than the woman in my arms. “Not doing it for me.”
Sonya pouted. “They’re perfect. Just your type.”
I wrapped one hand around her nape and cupped her cheek with the other. “Not anymore. You’re it.”
“I was so sure.”
“Can we go home now?” I was already steering her toward the entrance.
“But I arranged for—”
“I don’t want anyone but you, Tigress. You’re all I can handle.”
A devious smile lit her face. She grabbed my hand and led me out of the bar. I steered us so her back hit the side of the building. She yanked on my hair, and I dug my fingers into her ass.
“Don’t say I never tried to do anything for you,” she said.
“The second one of them tried to touch me, you’d have lost your mind,” I pointed out.
“You know me too well.”
“Is that alley a couple of yards back the one you scoped out for me to fuck you in?”
A sharp gasp escaped her, and I smirked.
“Maybe.”
“Some other time. I need you in our bed.”
* * *
We crashed through the front door of my parents’ apartment, a frenzy of hands and mouths. We couldn’t get enough of each other.
“You’re home early.”
Abruptly, we halted. My mother was sitting on the living room sofa, book in hand. Dad was asleep with his head on her lap. Sam was curled up beside them.
I cleared my throat, and Sonya disentangled her arms from around my neck. “Good book?”
“Don’t stop on my account.” Mama fought a wicked smile.
“Where’s everyone else?” I asked. It was t
oo quiet for six people living under the same roof.
“Called it an early night.”
I led Sonya over to the loveseat. We settled on the plush cushions, and I arranged Sonya’s legs over my crotch to disguise the hard-on trying to get out of my pants. Better her panties showed than my mother seeing me in such a state.
Mama lifted an eyebrow ever so slightly, her smile broadening. She slipped her hand into the pocket of her robe and pulled out a worn black velvet box. She held it out to me. I stared at it for a minute before cutting my eyes to Sonya, who appeared as apprehensive as I was.
“It’s not going to hurt you to take it.” I held up my palm, and Mama reverently placed the box in it. “It’s great-granny’s ring. The one on my side.” Her gaze drifted to Sonya. “You remind me a lot of her. She was spirited and the only one who could put up with Drew’s great-granddaddy.”
I opened it. A simple diamond engagement ring was inside. “I remember her wearing this.” She’d passed away when I was eight. I hadn’t thought about it in a long time, but this ring was always on her finger despite the fact my great-granddad died well before I was born.
“She wanted you to have it.”
I blinked at her. “Me?”
Mama reached over and squeezed my knee. “Why don’t you see how it looks on Sonya’s finger?”
My stomach lurched. Mama was up to no good. I looked at the ring, then at Sonya and then at Mama, who nodded in encouragement. A weird kind of peace settled over me.
I slid the ring on Sonya’s left hand and gazed at it.
“Yes,” Sonya said. I blinked at her. “Since you asked, I’ll marry you.”
“You already agreed to when you started practicing your vows.”
“Isn’t that park where you taught Gabriel to play baseball just lovely?” Mama asked.
What did that have to do with—I grinned. “I am rather fond of that place.”
“The weather is supposed to be good on Sunday.”
“This Sunday?” Sonya asked with a hint of panic. “Like five days from now Sunday?”
“That’s the one.” Mama tapped the air with an index finger.
“You’re killing me, sugar. What is it? You want to marry me, just not anytime soon?” I put on the best wounded expression I could muster.
Sonya slapped me. “I can’t just give in without a fight. You’ll start to think you can steamroll me with everything.”
“But you hurt my feelings.”
She smacked me again. “You’ll get over it.”
“Time for bed, you two,” Mama said.
“Yes, ma’am.” I was on my feet, Sonya scooped up in my arms before I got the words out.
“That’s the first time ever you haven’t given me a hard time about that.”
“Only took forty years.”
* * *
“Your mom looks good,” Sonya said as I pressed her up against the bedroom door.
“She does, especially considering the past few days.” They’d been rough, some of the worst yet, but Mama was fighting with all she had.
“I was glad to see her up.”
“She’s happy.”
“Because we’re getting married?”
“Yeah, but also because we’re all together and getting along. And Gabriel . . . he’s done wonders for her.”
She smiled, tangling her fingers in my hair. The two of them had been inseparable, and though it didn’t make up for the years I’d taken from them, at least it was something.
“If we’re going to keep talking about this, I’d rather leave my clothes on,” I said against her mouth.
“That’s all I have to say on the matter, except I’m glad we’ve had this time with her and all your family.”
My brows shot up. “Come again?”
“It’s not so bad living with your family. Kinda fun, actually. It’s home. I haven’t had one in a long time.”
I brushed my thumb across her cheek. “Have you thought any more about calling your parents?”
We were slowly fixing our lives, and I wanted her to have some peace.
She sighed and leaned into my touch. “I’m thinking about it.”
“Sometimes you just gotta take the plunge, Tigress.”
“I said I’m thinking about it.” Her snap had no bite to it.
“You’ve got time,” I said, turning playful. “We’re going to be under house arrest for a few more years.”
“Not we, you.”
“But we’ll be married, so you have to stick by me through thick and thin.”
“I think you mean for better or worse.”
“With you, worse is better.” That earned a yank of my hair. “Ow. What? I meant it in a good way.”
“Should I brew the coffee in the morning naked?” She was the devil. That was why I loved her so.
“Let’s not give my father a heart attack.”
“I could deliver coffee in bed to your brother and Mulaney,” she offered.
“That’s very generous, and I’m sure they’d love it, but the only one getting naked coffee is me.”
“God, you’re absolutely no fun.”
“I’ll remember that when you can’t move from how many times I’ve made you come.”
“You infuriate the hell out of me.”
“Is that why you’re trying to get my pants off?”
“I should be lifting my dress, so you’ll have something to occupy your mouth.”
I smashed my lips to hers, swollen from the make-out session on the street. If I were a better man, I’d be gentler, but I wasn’t. Sonya didn’t want gentle anyway, her greedy hands fumbling around the waist of my pants.
“Tigress?” I paused mid-unzip of her dress. She didn’t stop unbuckling my belt.
“Not now. I’m busy.”
My pants fell to the floor, her hands already under the waistband of my boxer briefs. She hadn’t even taken off my jacket yet.
“Why didn’t you drink any of your whiskey tonight?” I murmured against her neck. She froze, her fingers tightening on my underwear.
“I wasn’t in the mood?”
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
Her mouth flattened like it always did when she wasn’t getting her way. “I want an orgasm. No, I want multiples, and you standing there talking isn’t getting the job done.”
I tossed her on the bed and covered her body with mine. My face hovered a breath away from hers. “Tigress.”
“I haven’t had my period,” she spat, fierce eyes locking on mine.
I grinned, and she growled. “And?”
“I took a test today.” Her nose wrinkled. “Oh, stop looking so smug.”
“What did it say?”
“You know what it said,” she huffed.
I brushed my mouth against hers. “I want to hear it.”
“It’s all your fault.” She stabbed an index finger into my forehead.
“What’s my fault, sugar?”
“I’m pregnant.”
Warmth filled me, overshadowing the frisson of fear. I beamed at the woman who had changed my life. “You don’t sound happy about that.” I kissed the tip of her nose, and she bared her teeth.
“I don’t even like kids. We’ll be stuck with this one,” she wailed.
I nuzzled her. “That’s not true.” I paused, tilting my head. “We will be stuck.” She stabbed me in the forehead again. “But you do like kids. Ella, Gabriel, the baseball team.”
“Oh, shut up. What do you know anyway?”
“That you can’t get enough of me, and now I’m inside you. All. The. Time.”
“You’re not helping.”
“I love you, Mommy.”
Her eyes softened. “That’s a little better.”
I slid down to her stomach. “I love you, baby.”
Sonya ran her fingers through my hair as I kissed her tummy. “Damn you.”
I looked up at her. “We’re really having a baby?”
She nodd
ed, cupping my cheek. “We are, Daddy.”
Epilogue
Drew
Four Months Later
* * *
“Get your own damn popcorn.”
“I’m starving, sugar. Do you know what kind of energy it takes to keep up with a bunch of six-year-olds?” I asked, diving into her nearly empty popcorn bucket.
“Um, yeah. I’ve gotten a crash course in it,” she said pointedly, trying to yank away her snack. I grabbed her wrist and stole another bite. “You are so sweaty.” Sonya stuck out her tongue and made a face.
“You’re going to be soon,” I promised, giving her a wet kiss on the cheek.
“Get away from me,” she shrieked, pushing at me. “If they keep winning, I’m going to be waddling permanently.”
“They’ll keep winning. They’ve got the best coaches in the city.”
Gabriel had wanted to join a Little League team. I’d volunteered to be the coach, much to his excitement. Carlos, Easton, Stone, Daniel, Donato, and my father weren’t going to be left out. We were a couple of months into the season, and nobody could beat us. Because we were having fun, we didn’t take it too seriously. Gabriel had a future in baseball if he wanted it. That was obvious even at his age.
“She’d be so thrilled,” she said as Gabriel celebrated with his teammates. He encouraged them more than anyone else did and had made a lot of new friends. Sonya was right, my mother would have been happy.
She’d gotten to see him hit his first home run. Watching her cheer had reminded me of when I’d hit mine. She’d spent every moment she could with Gabriel. With all of us. Holly had stayed true to her word. It was just another thing I owed her and could never repay.
My mother had never been happier than the last few months of her life. My family had become inseparable, our lives converging, centering around one another in a way most people never had a chance to experience. There had been good days and shitty days—some really shitty days, ones where Mama couldn’t eat and I’d had to feed her because she’d lost the desire and nothing tasted good—but damn it, she’d tried for me.
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