Page 51 of Grown Folks Confessions: Black Lush

He was my rock.

By biggest supporter.

And I was so damn lucky to have him, I couldn’t stand it.

Ares quickly cleaned himself up and headed to the door, while I made myself look somewhat presentable. Knowing Audrea, she wasn’t coming in, but Ajax still had an obsession with breasts, and had even moved onto ass, so I needed to cover the goods.

“Let me make sure Audrea is good with our vacation week,” Ares stated, kissing me on the cheek when I made my way to the living room before kissing Ajax on the top of his head. “I’ll be right back.”

I waved to Audrea, who was standing in the doorway, before they both disappeared on the front porch.

Since getting to know Ajax more as his daddy’s girlfriend and not daddy’s friend, I can honestly say that the kid had stolen my heart. He was so smart for his age, and being around him just made me want to give him all of these little brothers and sisters, which was nuts considering I hadn’t really imagined myself as a mom before.

“Daddy has to go poopies,” Ajax muttered a few minutes after Ares left.

So cute. “No, Daddy isn’t in the bathroom,” I corrected.

“Poopies. Poopies,” Ajax repeated, to which I just laughed.

What is with this kid’s obsession with the bathroom?

He threw his sippy cup, and as I went to retrieve it, he stood and wobbled down the hall into his bedroom. When I found him there, he was already pulling toys from his toy box, tossing things around.

“Ajax, it’s not playtime yet,” I told him, as he pushed something into my hand. I was seconds away from tossing it back with the other toys, but the soft, velvet box gave me pause.

“Poopies,” Ajax repeated, pointing to the box. I was already close to passing out before I even opened the box, my mouth dry at the sight before me.

“Were you trying to say propose?” I asked Ajax. “Is that what you meant, sunshine?”

“Poopies!” he yelled, turning back to his toy box to throw more shit around his room.

“Uhh.”

I looked over my shoulder at a stunned Ares. “Sorry, but I think Ajax spoiled the surprise.”

“Buddy,” Ares called, dropping down beside me and Ajax, “I told you that proposing to Layla was a secret.”

“Poopies, poopies!” Ajax yelled.

“Please tell me you did not give a toddler an engagement ring to hold onto?” I asked in utter disbelief of the beautiful diamond that was currently blinding me.

“Not exactly.” Ares nervously ran his fingers through his curls. “He must have seen where I put it in the bedroom last month and hid it here. I’ve actually been freaking out because I couldn’t find the ring.”

“Ring with toys,” Ajax confirmed, pointing to his toy box.

Ares laughed. “Now you tell me.”

“Is this for real?” I asked, my emotions wreaking havoc in my body at the moment.

“Of course it is, Layla. After I told my family I was going to propose, I really wanted to tell Ajax, too. Don’t get mad, but I asked Audrea if it was nuts that I wanted to tell our kid and she thought it was so sweet. She’s happy for us to by the way. So are our friends.”

My tears came almost immediately at his words, my heart so full that he’d told all the people closest to us that he was proposing. My fingers were slightly shaking as he removed the box from my fingers and took the ring into his hand.

Since we both were already on the floor, he placed one of my hands in his, as Ajax came and sat on my lap as if he felt like he was missing out on the moment.

“Butterfly, from the moment I—”

“Yes,” I blurted.

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