Page 62

Bailey

I relaxed and enjoyed the company of the family and friends that were gathered here in their backyard.

Hell, it was enough of Browning’s in my opinion that they didn’t need to invite anyone else.

Everyone was here, all seven of the Browning siblings.

My family was here; my mom and my two brothers.

Ms. Grace and Mr. Titus also allowed my friend Marlow and her husband Rodney to come.

Giada and her fiancé Devin, and his daughter Zuri came, and her cousin Kiara was here too much to Anthony’s satisfaction.

I barely saw her sister Ciara, but according to Giada and Kiara that’s normal.

She’s probably out doing her sexual deviant behavior.

I thought as I remembered Eva’s words from that day her and Angelo’s crazy ass abducted me.

I kind of wanted to ask Ciara what type of shit she was into, but people who are normally that private might beat you up for prying into their business.

The only people who knew about my abduction was Marlow and the people who came to save me, and I wanted to keep it that way.

My mother just now stopped bursting into tears whenever she saw me after I told her about what Angelo did to me years ago.

I was sitting in one of the comfortable chairs outside sipping a delicious mocktail trying to pace myself from tearing into my plate of ribs, grilled chicken wings, corn on the cob, mac and cheese, collard greens, and baked beans.

Once I noticed I was getting strange looks from Titan’s mom and his sister.

I told Titan to bring the gift bags into the house because something was telling me they had a suspicion that I was pregnant.

I was inhaling my ribs when I felt his warm hand on my shoulder.

“You ready baby?” He sounded excited he was barely restraining himself. I smiled then I looked down at my plate. I was actually conflicted between finishing this plate and telling our families we were pregnant. Titan saw the look on my face and burst out laughing.

“Baby you can bring the damn plate inside,” he said, helping me up.

“Mom, Dad, I have your gift in the house!” Titan shouted over the music being played on the outdoor surround system.

“You bet not have got them something better than my all-expense paid trip to Dubai!” Titan’s brother Travis shouted as we all walked inside.

Titan’s parents were the first to enter the large open kitchen through the spacious mudroom, and Titan and I were a few paces behind them.

On the long dining table, there were gift bags lined up, but Mr. and Mrs. Browning and my mom had the largest bags, and they went to them.

Inside their bags was a large sterling silver photo album that was engraved with their last name on the front.

I watched as Titus held the heavy book and Grace opened it.

The first picture inside was the sonogram and I felt like I was holding my breath.

As soon as it registered what they were looking at, Grace let out a loud ear-piercing scream and Titus’s hand shook so badly he had to put the book down.

My mom looked suspicious, and when she opened her bag and saw the same engraved photo album, after she opened it, she had the same reaction as Grace.

“Thank you Jesus! Thank you Jesus!” Grace and my mom kept screaming as tears ran down their faces.

“What is it?” Multiple people were whispering behind me and when I gestured toward the bags they all looked at me weird, but they went to their bags.

“Oh shit!”

“Whaaaaat!”

“Bitch, I knew it!” That was Marlow.

That was pretty much everyone’s reaction when they opened their gift bags. I cried as I felt all the love from everyone who hugged and kissed.

“Our kids are going to be best friends,” Giada said, rubbing her pregnant belly against mine.”

“They better be! Shit your twins and my triplets gone go to college together and probably raise hell on campus.” I laughed and the room went quiet at once.

“TRIPLETS!” The room shouted in unison.

“Yeah, y’all each got a copy of the sonogram,” Titan said, coming to stand by me.

“Nigga, don’t nobody know how to look at that blurry ass shit. I just knew what it was.” Trent yelled and I cracked up.

“Three babies your first time out the gate!” Traci yelled as she came to give me a tight hug.

Her large afro was glistening under the recessed lights in the kitchen, and she looked cool and stylish in her black harem pants jumpsuit.

Traci always radiated happiness but something about her right now was slightly subdued.

“ Chile my man wouldn’t be able to touch me again if that happened to me.

” She was laughing but her smile looked a little forced, like she was in pain, and I immediately wanted to pull her to the side, but Titan distracted me.

“Bailey knows better than that shit,” Titan said, smacking my ass. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. When I focused back on Traci, she was now bee-lining away and headed toward the front of the house.

“Aye, that’s still my sister, I don't want to see that sh—stuff.” Dante stopped himself from cussing in front of our mom as he looked at Titan with a frown on his face.

“Dante hush, that’s about to be her husband, get over it,” my mom said, rolling her eyes.

“Thank you, Mommy,” Titan said, leaning over to give my mom a kiss on the head and she blushed. Titan’s phone rang and when he looked at the caller ID his eyebrows lowered in confusion as he answered and walked out of the loud kitchen.

Wondering who the hell he needed to talk to in private, I followed his ass. I don’t give a damn if you think I’m insecure, but I don’t play about Titan, and his ass don’t have no privacy around me – because who was that damn important that you couldn’t speak to them around me?

“…really?! That soon? Let me speak to my fiancée and I will call you back shortly…ok. Thank you.”

Now I was really confused. What made him so happy that he had to talk to me about it?

Titan hung up, and when he turned around, he had a smile on his face.

When he saw I was standing there his smile grew wider.

He stood in front of me, sliding his hands down my lower back until they rested on my ass.

“Hey nosy! Glad you’re here. That was the wedding coordinator, and she said our venue, just had a cancellation and we can move our wedding date up,” he said, smiling down at me before giving me a kiss.

“Ok…. when’s the cancellation?”

“Two weeks from now,” he mumbled, and I looked at him like “are you serious?”

“TWO WEEKS?” I screamed in shock.

“Now think about it, you were kind of apprehensive about being late in your pregnancy in a wedding gown. Now you won’t be,” he said, staying positive.

“Baby, my dress hasn’t even been altered to fit me now. ” I felt my palms start to get sweaty. I tried to back up, but Titan gripped me tighter and massaged the stiff muscles in my back.

“Not you got a sister-in-law, who happens to own one the best boutiques in the city, who also knows her way around a sewing machine, and you’re worried about alterations,” Traci said skipping into the living room from the staircase with a big smile on her face.

She was now wearing very dark sunglasses which seemed strange since she wasn’t wearing them earlier, and her full afro was now held back with a thick head band.

When she walked past Dante, he tilted his head, as he watched her sit on the couch.

He was probably thinking it was odd for her to wear sunglasses in the house too.

“See, baby… alterations are taken care of. What other problem do you need me to solve?” Titan asked.

“What about our family and friends? What if they can’t get off in two weeks?”

“We all own our businesses; we can take off,” Marlow said, and everyone agreed.

“What about the wedding singer we booked? She may not be available on such short notice.

“Kiara’s an amazing singer. She’ll sing.” Giada blurted out, and a second later Kiara said, “What the hell? How you just gone volunteer me?”

“Yeah so is Trent. He don’t mind singing either,” Tyrin said from behind me.

“You can sing Trent? Kiara?” I asked in surprise. Not that you can tell who could and who could not sing just from looking at them, but they didn’t “look” like the singing type.

“I tease Trent a lot, but his singing might bring a tear to your eye,” Torrence said.

“And my cousin’s throat is blessed,” Giada said, and I heard my brother Anthony clear his throat to cover up his laughter.

“Will you grow up?” Giada sounded exasperated as she rolled her eyes and Anthony let out the deep laugh he was fighting to hold in.

“Seriously, Kiara has a beautiful voice, sis,” he said once he got his laughter under control.

Each excuse I tried to come up with, Titan and the rest of our family shot it down.

“I guess we’re getting married in 2 weeks!

” I said with a smile on my face and Titan lifted me by my ass.

He didn’t give a damn that we were in front of our family as he kissed me deeply and with so much passion.

I knew we must have been borderline inappropriate when I heard Marlow say to her husband.

“Aye, let me talk to you outside real quick.” Her voice sounded breathless, so I knew exactly what was on her mind.