Page 21 of Solid

“Yeah,” I answered with no hesitation. “That’s my wife.”

“That ring is ready whenever you’re ready for it,” Pops reminded me.

He was referring to his mother’s ring that would go to whichever one of his sons got married first. I think we all knew I’d be first, because Kenya was just as disinterested in being with one woman now as he was ten years ago.

“I’ll go ahead and get that up off you,” I decided. “I’m going to get her a second ring for the wedding, but I definitely want to use Grandma’s as her engagement ring.”

“My boy.” Pops beamed as he leaned forward and patted my shoulder before squeezing it. “I’m glad you finally went after what and who you wanted. Your mother and I knew all along Jayla would be our daughter-in-law. She just picked the wrong brother first.”

We all laughed.

“Aye, if she wouldn’t have met me, she wouldn’t have met him. I deserve credit for that,” Kenya acknowledged.

“I will give you that,” I replied. “Had it not been for you, I don’t know how, when, or if I would have met her. For that, I’ll always be grateful to you, bruh.”

Lifting my glass of cognac, I tilted it in his direction. We toasted before we took a sip. Conversation shifted, and before I knew it, we’d been down there talking shit and joking for an hour. I went up to check on Jayla, and she’d fallen asleep on the couch. Her head was in Mama’s lap. Mama’s eyes were closed as she ran her fingers through Jayla’s hair and sang under her breath. I took a picture and quietly made my way back downstairs.

That was going to be the first picture in our new scrapbook.

That Weekend

“Miss Anderson, I’m sleepy,” Miley whined, rubbing her eyes.

We’d had an eventful afternoon at the beach, then we took the kids insideThe Splash, which was a pool and small indoor water park at the beach. They had a hot tub, water slides, and sprinklers along with the pool. Between the heat and the exertion from hours in the pool and water slides, her being tired didn’t surprise me. In fact, I was surprised she’d lasted as long as she had.

“I know, munchkin,” Jayla said as she picked her up. “We’re going to get something to eat then take you back home, okay?”

“Can I stay with you tonight? Pleeeeaaasseee?”

With a warm smile, Jayla melted when Miley laid her head on her shoulder. “I’ll ask your grandma. If she says yes, of course you can.”

“Yay!” That seemed to give Miley a little energy.

“You have fun, big man?” I asked Mateo as we walked the boardwalk with no real destination in mind.

“Yeah, today was the best.”

“What do you want to eat?” I checked, palming the top of his head like it was a ball.

“Can we get burgers and fries? Or pizza?”

“We can get both,” I granted since they were right next door to each other in the food court. Besides, I could take the rest of the pizza home for leftovers later.

“Cool!” he cheered, pounding his fist in the air and racing toward the food court. I kept my eyes on him but let him do his thing.

While I ordered everything, Jayla sat at the table with the kids and reached out to Pearl. Today was crazy. When we started dating, it never registered to me that we’d have dates like this. Dates with kids that weren’t even ours, though they’d ransomed so much of the love in our hearts. I wouldn’t trade today for anything in the world. Though I loved spending alone time with my pooh, today was a different kind of special. A different kind of fulfillment. I didn’t take it lightly, and I made sure to thank God for the opportunity to be present in the kids’ lives.

When I made it back to the table, Jayla told me that Pearl said we could keep the kids overnight, which didn’t surprise me. Sonny still hadn’t come home, and just being honest, I didn’t think he ever would. He’d been gone long enough for me to question how much vacation time he actually had from his job. I searched for him on Facebook to see if his profile would lend me more information on his time away.

While I couldn’t see where he was at, he’d made a few posts of him doing recreational activities in different places. It seemed like he’d been telling the truth about needing time for himself to rest. All I could do was pray it healed enough of his heart for him to be more active in his kids’ lives when he came back. If he wasn’t, they’d want for nothing with me and Jayla around, and no one would ever change that.

“She said they can stay all weekend, so we need to get them some clothes,” Jayla informed me.

“Aight cool. We can stop by the mall. If you want, you and Miley can stay in the car since she’s sleepy. Just give me her sizes and me and Tae will pick some things out.”

“We gon’ have you fly, little sis,” Mateo assured her, pinching her cheek and making her giggle.

“Okay, but no boy stuff! I want pink and yellow and dresses and maybeonepair of shorts,” she demanded in the cutest little voice.