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“Love, you are that and so much more,” I flirted.
“We’ve gotta call everybody and let them know she’s arrived.”
“We can do that after you get some rest. You just pushed out a seven-pound baby. Get your rest, Love.”
“At least call your mom, Harvey. I don’t want to hear her mouth.”
“I’ll call Sincere.” I let her know. Kissing the top of Graelyn’s head, I rocked her in my arms and hummed not only her but her mother to sleep. After a while I got up and placed her in the bassinet before tipping out of the room.
“What’s up, Dutch?”
“She’s here man.”
“Aww shit. Congratulations man. I’mma call Mama so I can go scoop her up. We will be down in a minute.”
“Be careful Preme.”
“Always.”
Hanging up the phone, I dialed Mrs. Jessie up and told her she could come to the hospital. She screamed so loud in my ear I had to take the phone down. With Gema not being amongst the living, Mrs. Jessie thought for sure she would be out of a job. The day Talitha and I sat her down and asked her if she wanted to be the nanny she cried. With her kids away, she was lonely and had gotten comfortable being around us.
Once Talitha’s maternity leave was up, she had work to do so it was only right for us to keep Mrs. Jessie around. After all, she had become family to both of us. Talitha’s relationship with her family never bounced back. She moved around like they didn’t exist. That’s the way she preferred things, and I wouldn’t fight her on it. Her peace was the only thing I cared about.
It took some time, but we’d finally opened the doors of Lawton Technical College. The first semester opened we had managed to enroll over five hundred students. Talitha wanted to dedicate herself to the school, so she stepped down from her role at the youth center and had thrown herself into making sure the tech school was the best one around. In the future, we planned to offer more programs but right now we were secure in what we had.
Adele had stuck to her guns and kept things between us strictly business and it worked out for the best. Hendrix and Preme were so good at their jobs, that I never had to step in. In fact, I was handing everything over to them. I had my hands full now that the baby was here. Talitha and I had learned to love each other out loud. We were intentional with everything that we did. I knew for a fact that this woman was going to be my wife. Ibought a ring months ago and had been carrying it around with me waiting for the perfect time.
Stepping back into the hospital room with my girls, I pulled the platinum emerald cut five carat diamond ring out of my pocket. “Love.” I whispered into her ear. Talitha stirred but didn’t wake up. “Love.” I sang softly in her ear.
“Harvey, you told me to go to sleep.” she groaned. “Now you want me to wake up.”
“I’m trying to give you a push gift before everybody get here.”
That had her popping her eyes open. Holding her hand out, she flexed her fingers and said, “Give it to me.”
“Before I do I got one question.”
“What Harvey?”
“Do you know how much I love you?”
“Yes I do.”
“And you’re in a space where you can receive and accept my love?”
“Yes I am,” she confirmed.
“Do I make you happy? Happy as in you have no regrets?”
“The only thing I regret is not telling you how I felt sooner. I regret not doing it because had I done it, Gema would have got to experience me at my happiest.”
“She knew. She predicted this before either of us knew it was possible.”
“She did.” Talitha smiled.
Opening my hand, I dropped the ring in her palm. “You’ve given me the greatest gift of all times and the only way I know to repay you is to give you me. Forever.” Grabbing her by the hand, I took the ring from her and held it above her finger. “Talitha Howard, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
“Yes!” she moaned breathlessly.
“My latest… And my greatest inspiration.” I hummed and slid the ring on her finger.
The End.