Page 26 of Christmas Luvin

CHRISTMAS EVE

“Lookat her.She’sso beautiful.”Bria’spops,Miguel, came over, holding a bottle ofCoronathat he quickly took a swig from.

Iwas sitting in the backyard ofBria’sgrandparents’ house, full as hell from all the food thatI’deaten since we’d been over there.Whenit came to food,Iwould pretty much eat anything.Iwasn’t a picky eater like that.Iloved my chicken, butIdidn’t mind experimenting with food.WhenIsaw all theMexicandishes they had out,Ididn’t even know what the fuck it was, butBria’sfamily assured me that everything was good, soIgave it a try.Iwas gladIdid because my greedy ass had gotten seconds and thirds sinceI’dbeen there.

Notonly did they haveMexicandishes, but they’d cooked someAmericanfood too, andIliked that shit.Briawas half black, and there were other women and kids in the house who were half black as well, so they acknowledged that by having someAmericandishes.Idon’t even know who cooked that fried chicken, butIalready had plans to get a fourth plate afterIlet my food digest for a bit.

Bria’sfamily was cool as hell, man.Myfamily welcomed her with open arms, and her family did the same for me.Itwas the women who loved me, and you knowIate all that shit up.Hermale uncles and cousins were all cool as fuck, and they knew how to play spades and everything.Ihad been sitting at the table with them, beating ass whileIlistened to stories about how much of a beastBria’smom was at playing spades.

Onething about these damnMexicanpeople was that their asses knew how to fuckin’ drink, and they could party.TheChristmasEveugly sweater party had started at around four this evening, and there we were, well after eleven at night, and the music was still playing, kids were still running around, and they’d turned the backyard into a dance floor.Mybaby was coming out of her shell these days, soIlooked at her with just as much love in my eyes as her pops had as we both watched her on the dance floor withCarmenand the rest of her cousins.

“Sheis.Toeven see her not being shy, timid, and in her little bubble lets me know she’s comfortable here, and she genuinely loves y’all,”Iresponded.

Miguelsmiled and took a seat next to me.Iwas sitting on one of the patio chairs, and he took the empty one on my right.Babywas in my arms becauseBriahad made that shit clear that she didn’t want to leave him with anyone while we traveled, so here his spoiled ass was.EveryonelovedBaby.Whenwe walked in with him, the kids went crazy, and even the adults.Hewas such a chilled, cool dog.Hewas tiny, andIwas told by the owner that he wouldn’t get too big, which was cool because a small dog was whatBriawanted.

WithMiguelsitting next to me,Ifelt like it was the perfect time to get his blessing to marry his daughter.Itwas just something thatIknew to do out of respect.Althoughhe andBriahad just formed their relationship, this was still her father at the end of the day.Thisman loved his daughter, and forBriato marry me, he basically had to give her over to me.Ijust wanted to ask him first beforeIstarted making plans.Granted,Ihad my hopes high that he would say yes, so my proposal was pretty much in the works for tonight, butIjust needed the green light from him.

“Iwant to ask you something,”Istated after a few moments of silence.

Hetook his eyes off the dance floor and turned to look at me.IlikedMiguel.Realcool dude.Notonly did he have a good relationship with his daughter, but he andIwere cool too.Wehad each other’s numbers, andItexted him from time to time just to make sure he was straight, and he did the same thing in return.Acouple of weeks ago, he andBria’suncleLucashad hit me and told me that they’d copped one of my sweatsuits from my site.Theywere supposed to swag that shit out tomorrow.Lowkey,Icouldn’t wait to see them in my designs.

“What’sup?Youknow you can ask me anything,” he responded.

Iwasn’t even the kind of person to be nervous about shit, butIknew whatIwas about to ask him was pretty major, soIguess that’s why my nerves and shit were getting the best of me.

“Iwanted to ask ifIcould get your blessing to askBriato marry me,”Ishared.

Miguelsmiled and looked atBriafor a few seconds more and then turned back to me, but he was no longer smiling.Hehad a more serious look on his face.

“Youready for marriage?Youknow it’s a big step, right?” he asked.

“I’mready for it.Iknow what comes with it, andI’mprepared for all of that.Ilove your daughter, andI’llnever go out of my way to hurt her.Ijust want to love her and give her good memories that’ll heal her inner child because she went through a lot of shit and just treat her as she deserves.We’realready living together, andIdon’t want our shit to look like we just shacking up with no goal of marriage in the picture.Forme to even let the thought of marriage enter my mind, knowing how big of a commitment that is, that’s howIknowI’mready,”Ilet him know, and he nodded.

“Ibelieve you.Mydaughter loves you, man.Whenwe’re on the phone,Ihear her sayPee-Weeover fifty times.Icall it a look of love.Y’allhave that look of love in your eyes, andIjust remember a time when me andBria’smom used to be like that.Allyou had to do was take one look, and you knew we were a couple in love.I’venever been married, butIknow what comes with being in a relationship, soI’llonly speak on that.I’msure you know your relationship will have its good days and bad days, but y’all have to work through that.

“Thebiggest piece of advice thatIcan give you is to always know that life is short.Tomorrowis not promised.Youdon’t want to live your life with regrets.Oneof the biggest regrets thatIlive with to this day is allowingBria’smom the space she asked for.Becauseof that,Ididn’t get to learn anything about my daughter, andBrittneypretty much died alone whenIcould have been right there.Whateverproblems that will occur with you two, just work it out.Thelove you have for each other is special, so there’s no way you shouldn’t be able to make it to the end.Youhave my blessing to ask for my daughter’s hand in marriage.Icouldn’t have asked for a better son-in-law,” he finished.

Thatshit made a nigga smile, soIshook it up with him.Momentslater,Briacame over and stood in front of us with a big smile on her face.

“Whatare y’all talking about?” she asked.

Mybaby looked so pretty.Shewore a red ugly sweater with a greenChristmastree that had gold, silver, and white decorations on it.Pairedwith theChristmassweater were denim jeans that clung to her.Becauseher thighs and legs were small, she wore a pair of red thigh-high boots with a long heel, so it had her standing up even taller.Briahad done her make-up, giving herself a light beat, and she’d gone to the hair salon this morning before our flight to get her hair washed and blown out.Itwas parted down the middle and flat-ironed to perfection.

“Grownman business, baby,”Iresponded.

Shelaughed and went over to hugMigueland kiss his cheek.Then, she tookBabyfrom my lap and held onto him.

Westayed at the party for a little over thirty minutes more, and that was only becauseIcould vividly seeBriareleasing yawns.Iknew her ass was tired, even though she kept saying she was fine.Wewould be back over in the morning forChristmasbreakfast.

Thesecond we got in the car,Ipulled my phone out and texted a number, basically giving them the green light that we were on with the proposal plans sinceMiguelhad given me his blessing.

“Ithought your ass wasn’t tired,”Ifucked with her, putting my hand on her thigh because literally five minutes into us being in the car, she’d already propped her arm up on the window, rested her head on it, and was knocked out.Babywas in her lap, just chilling, not making a sound.

“I’mnot sleeping,” she responded, andIjust laughed because her ass was asleep.

Wewere staying in a high rise out inMidtownAtlanta, even though damn near everybody inBria’sfamily had told us we didn’t have to book a spot because we could stay with them.Iliked to fuck at night, andIdidn’t need anyone knocking on the door in the wee hours of the morning, wondering what that loud, crying sound was coming from our bedroom.So, to avoid all of that,Igot us our own shit with a nice ass view where we could fuck in peace without having to worry about anyone hearing us.

Thespot was some nice shit thatI’dfound onAirbnb.Itwas a two-bedroom apartment, modern style, and equipped with everything we would need for the few days we would be inGeorgia.Wewere leaving two days afterChristmas, and instead of traveling back home after the holiday, we would head toOrlando, where my baby would get the otherChristmasgift that she’d asked me for, which wasDisneyWorld.

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