Page 29 of Solid
“And we won’t have to move again?” she asked, looking at me that time.
“That’s right. No more moving,” I guaranteed.
“Yaaay!” she squealed before clapping her hands. “Tae Tae, we’re gonna have a mommy and daddy again!”
I cleared my throat as my eyes watered all over again. These kids were making me soft. “How do you feel about that?” I asked Mateo.
Wordlessly, Mateo tossed his arms around my neck and buried his face in my chest as he sobbed.
“T-thank you,” he cried. “I would l-love that.”
“Aww, son. You about to make me cry.” I hugged Mateo back as my own tears fell.
Stacy squeezed Jayla’s hand, pulling her eyes away from us. “Thank you for loving my family,” she expressed before giving her a side hug.
“Thank you for trusting us with them,” was Jayla’s response.
December
Ilooked myself over in the mirror one last time. My sweater dress stopped at my ankles. The low drop exposed my shoulders, and the way it clung to my frame accentuated my waist and hips. I’d flat ironed my hair for a change, and I did a light makeup look with a bold burgundy lip that matched my purse and heels. Though I wasn’t sure what Kayne had planned for our date tonight, I was confident the outfit would work.
For the past three months, life had been beautiful. We were granted immediate and expedited custody of the kids while we waited for the adoption to be finalized. Thankfully, with Sonny’s approval, we didn’t have to jump through a lot of hoops and the kids didn’t have to stay with Pearl or go to foster care temporarily. God was definitely moving on our behalf andconfirming this aligned with what He had in store for us, and I wasmorethan thankful for that.
We had three months of time in limbo for the revocation phase. Though Sonny promised us he wouldn’t change his mind, I wouldn’t be completely at peace until the next three months passed and the kiddos were truly ours. That would be one of the best days of my life. The next would be my wedding day. We already had our license and were husband and wife, but I couldn’t wait to share our love and make our vows before God.
We wanted to prioritize getting the kids adjusted before we went into wedding planning mode, so we were waiting until the adoption was finalized to have the ceremony.
“You ready, pooh?” Kayne asked, walking into our bedroom.
“Yes. Are you going to tell me where we’re going now?”
“No, you’ll see in a moment,” he declined, wrapping his arms around me. “You look beautiful, bae.”
“Thank you, handsome. I love this burgundy sweater on you. Let me find out this is your color.”
He laughed and squeezed my ass, giving me time to take great pleasure in how fine my husband was. The pierced nose, sandy brown skin, lazy eyes, blunt brown lips. Jesus. There wasn’t a thing I’d change about this man—my man.
We made our way out of our home hand in hand, then Kayne helped me into his car. We sang and rapped along to every song that played as usual before pulling into the parking lot ofMera’s Soul Food & Speakeasy. It had the typical speakeasy vibe—very dark lighting, limited seating, and a small space. What setMera’sapart was the restaurant upstairs and the fact that they offered karaoke in the speakeasy. They only offered pizza during happy hour to ensure all food orders were done upstairs. We ended up getting drinks only and talking and doing a couple of rounds of karaoke before we left.
Honestly, I would have been content with our night ending there, but we went upstairs for a private event that was being held. When I found out it was a cooking class, I got super excited. We both could cook, but I loved trying and learning new things with Kayne. On the menu was a quick yet flavorful pasta dish that was paired with a crisp white wine. For dessert, we made individual cakes with the flavor of our choice. I chose strawberry and Kayne opted for chocolate.
As we waited for them to bake, we found a two person table by the tinted window that gave a gorgeous view of the beach.
“This has been amazing, baby. I don’t know how I’m going to top this when I plan our next date night,” I complimented.
“You know all I need is you. What does the song say?Waiting. . .” My hand slapped over my mouth when he started to sing. Kayne was good at a lot of things but singingdefinitelywasn’t one. “For peace of mind. I don’t need no frills . . . just need?—”
“Oh God.” Laughing, I grabbed his hand on top of the table. “Shh, please don’t. I get it. You don’t need nothing fancy. You just need me and my heart.”
“Aye, everybody can’t sing like you, hummingbird,” he conceded with a grin as my laugh died down.
“I appreciate the sentiment, babe.”
“Well how about you sing it then? Or . . .” With one swift motion of his hand, “Solid” by Savannah Ré started to play.
I looked around, finally noticing all eyes were on us. Finally noticing our family and friends were scattered into the crowd of students for the cooking class. Finally acknowledging the fact that when me and Kayne were in our own world, we truly were in our own world.
“Pookie,” I whispered as my eyes watered.
