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When we get back to my parent’s house, I see my mom has prepared much more than food. There’s a giant cake and gifts on the table in the living room, and when we enter the kitchen, she has enough food to feed us for the next three days laid out on the island.
“Mom.” I chuckle. “Did you think the whole town was coming?”
“Listen, this is basically the combination of three parties.” She explains. “An engagement party since my son bribed this amazing woman to marry him, it’s a baby shower for my grandbaby, and a moving party for both of you.”
“A baby shower?” Mariah exclaims. “We don’t even know the sex yet.”
“We got gender neutral gifts,” Liam says. “Or so Nia told me. I wanted to get everything in blue since I’m sure it’s a boy, but I was...dissuaded.”
Nia laughs. “And by dissuaded, he means I put back everything he had in the cart and got new gifts.”
“Well thank you.” Mariah smiles. “But first, we eat.”
Terry joins our little party just as we begin making plates, adding his gifts to the ones already sitting on the table. I make Mariah and myself a plate, hers much heavier than mine before taking a seat beside her at the table. We all gather around it and eat, my dad asking me how I’m going to get the house done before the baby arrives. Meanwhile, I hear my mom next to Mariah, telling her all the things she’ll simply need me to build in the house.
We open gifts, a weird mixture of baby items, things for our to-be house, and Mr. and Mrs. gifts. But my absolute favorite part of this day is looking over at Mariah, her beautiful smile beaming on her face, my ring sitting on her finger, and her rounded belly showing through her shirt. When I reach over and put my hand on her stomach, her eyes slide to mine as she places her hand over mine.
“I love you,” she says softly.
“I’ll always love you,” I reply.
Even though my parents refuse a thousand times, we all begin helping them clean up the wrapping paper and putting food in storage containers. When I look back into the living room to see what has my mom laughing so much, Terry catches my eye and nods his head for me to join him. Telling Mariah I’ll be right back, I walk over to him with eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the serious look in his eyes.
“Everything okay?” I ask when I reach him.
“I didn’t know if I should bring this up today, but I thought you’d wanna know.”
Anger rushes through me. “Something about Miller?”
“No, actually. Stanley.”
“Oh.” I murmur as I look down.
My anger quickly turns to sadness at the mention of his name. I’m still not quite over the loss. I hate how the loss of him is now intertwined with everything else that happened because of it. I can’t think of one without the other, and I know Stanley deserves to just be remembered for what a great guy he was and not the hardships his murder brought to me. I hope I get to the point where I can just grieve him without the anger that comes along with it.
“They found his murderer,” Terry continues.
My eyes snap back to his at that. “What? Who?”
“Xavier, his sister’s—”
“His sister’s boyfriend.” I finish, shaking my head. “Are they sure it’s him?”
“Yes. They arrested him for it yesterday, and he confessed today.”
“Confessed? He didn’t strike me as someone who’d confess.”
“Well, when you’re arrested with the murder weapon on your hip, it’s pretty hard to refute that.”
“Wow. Did he say why?”
“He had convinced himself that Stanley had something to do with his arrest. Stanley’s sister got him out on bail, and when he confronted Stanley about it, he ended up killing him.”
“But Stanley had nothing to do with his arrest. Didn’t know he’d been arrested until the probation officer told him.”
“Yeah,” he says sadly. “Died for something he didn’t even do. It was always a shame, but even more so now. I’m sorry.”
His death was always senseless, but to know he died for that, because of someone else blaming him for their own crime, just makes it so much worse. Such a waste, of who Stanley was, could have become, and all he had to offer.
I take a deep breath. “Thanks for telling me. I’m glad to know he gets some kind of justice in the end.”
“Speaking of justice, we finally got a court date.”
“When?”
“Two months, from today, exactly.”
That makes me smile again, the thought of bringing Miller down. “I can’t wait.”
“I’d still like to see you move sooner than it’ll take to build a house though. Just in case Miller tries anything crazy at the last minute.”
“Mariah and I agreed to get an apartment out here until the house is built. Especially since I’ll be starting the new project here in a few months. We’re just looking around to find the right apartment now. We’ll probably see a few while we’re here. Once we move, I’m gonna go back on weekends to fix up the house so she can sell it.”
He nods. “Good, good. I’m happy to see you starting this new phase of your life. Fatherhood is going to suit you really good. You have a great example.”
“I do.” I smile.
“No one ever wins at Monopoly,” Liam shouts, making us both look into the living room where my mom is sitting up a boardgame.
“Really, then how did I beat you last time?” Mariah smirks.
“Because I’m pretty sure you had money hidden under the board.”
“Did you just call my fiancée a cheater?” I chuckle.
Mariah grins at me. “Oh my fiancée, I like that. And yes, he did just accuse me of cheating. Come win this game and avenge my honor. I demand it.”
Terry laughs. “You had better get over there.”
I begin to walk away, but stop and turn around to say, “Thank you, Terry. For everything. I literally couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Happy to help. Sorry to say that gratitude won’t save you from me whooping your butt in the game though.”
Two very long games and one win for me and the other for Liam later, everyone says their goodbyes. After Terry heads out for the ride home and Liam and Nia go back to the room they rented in town, Mariah and I go to the guestroom. The moment the door is closed, I walk closer to Mariah and her arms wrap around my neck. Mine go around her back as she brings her body tight to mine.
“Thank you for making this day everything good,” she whispers against my neck. “For including my brother. For that list. All of it.”
“It’s only the beginning.” I promise. “That’s the deal. You marry me, and I make you happy, right?”
She pulls back and smiles. “Right. But for now.” She steps back. “I need my fiancé to help me out of these clothes.”
My eyebrows raise as my lips pull into a grin. “That I can do right away.”
I step forward and undo the bow in the front before unclipping the closure on the side and opening her shirt. Sliding it down her arms, I look at her in her bra, black lace covering her breasts. I step closer and move my thumbs over her nipples, knowing how much that drives her crazy now, more than ever. I smirk when I feel that shiver I love travel through her.
Kissing along her collarbone and then her shoulder, I walk around her body until I’m behind her. Unsnapping her bra, I push the straps down her shoulders until it falls forward, and my hands can come around and cover her breasts as I kiss the tips of the butterfly wings. Her head falls back to my shoulder when I begin massaging her breasts.
“Do you still feel like you need to fly?” I ask her.
Her eyes open lazily and look up at me. “I flew. I spread my wings and found myself, then I made my way to you. Where I belong.”
She turns around in my arms and brings her lips to mine. I hold her as close as I can, needing every inch of her against me. An indescribable feeling fills me when I realize this kiss is only one of many I’ll share with this woman throughout the rest of our lives. That I get to be lucky enough to know I can hold this unbelievable woman every day until my last breath. That I get to not only love her, but have her love me back. That she’s promised to be mine forever and I can always be hers.
