Page 147 of Don Caselli

Stevie held her hand out,and I took it as we made our way up the steps. “Stevie, your hands are sweating. I should be asking are you nervous?”

“A little.”

“You’re going to do fine… I saw your art, it’s beautiful.” I bypassed the fact that we were here instead of her gallery, but figured she was so nervous that she must have got the details mixed up.

We entered and it was empty. I half expected to see some people here, but there was no one here. Like the first time I witnessed it, the art on the ceiling took my breath away. The marble stairs with polished wooden railings greeted us.

“Mavie!” Stevie let my hand go and rushed to her husband, who was dressed in a suit, with two gold pins on his lapel.

His hardened expression softened when he saw his wife. Before he allowed her to hug him, he spun her around and sang her praises, which had her blushing. She needed that from him, and I loved that for her.

He kissed her lips a few times, as she held him around the neck. Like his brother, his hand went directly to her ass, giving it a squeeze.

“You wanna fuck my wife, Paris?”

The nice moment was soiled the minute this nigga called me another damn city in Europe. “Hi Menace,” I greeted.

Low music played through the library, and I listened to John Legend croon out the words. “Pooh?”

I heard his voice.

My body knew he was near.

Goosebumps appeared on my arms, as I looked around, and my eyes landed on him. He was standing at the top of the steps. “Hi baby,” I greeted.

He wore an all-black suit, and his accessories were all black. Like his brother, he had a pin on his lapel, but only one whileMenace wore two. Slowly, he walked down the steps to come to me.

“You look pretty, baby,” he complimented me, and now I felt like Stevie. My cheeks were about to come off my face with how hard I was blushing.

“Thank you, Handsome. What are we doing here?”

“Baby, she slow, too… damn,” I heard Menace mutter, and Stevie shushed him, as I paid attention to my man.

“Navy Bleu, when I met you, I never knew how much of an impact that you would have on my life. Wasn’t really looking for love, and then I met you reading in the middle of a dinner party.”

“The book was more interesting,” I playfully shrugged.

“Pooh, I find myself thinking about our future. Wanting to be with you all the time, see you smile. I feel high when I’m with you, Pooh. My feet never touch the ground until I’m away from you. We laugh together, and that’s something I haven’t done in a long time genuinely. I can sit with you in silence or listen to you bicker that your Sims got knocked up.”

“She’s always getting knocked up.”

I heard jingling and saw Mink coming down behind him. “I want forever with you, and I don’t want to wait forever to do that,” he kissed my lips when he finally made it down to me.

Taking my hand, he pulled me behind him, around the staircase and into a room filled with books. It wasn’t the books that were the focus in this moment. Each of the study tables had a picture of us together.

He printed the pictures we took and sat them on the table. When I looked up, I squealed and fell to my knees. My parents, grandparents, aunt, uncles, and Greene were standing there.

“No, you… no,” I sobbed, as he helped me back to my feet and laughed, while hugging me.

I tried to walk away, and he pulled me back to his arms. “I never witnessed what real and true love looked like.”

“Um, hello?” Stevie coughed, offended.

I turned to look at her, and more tears fell when I saw Kora and Zoya standing next to Menace and Stevie.

Landon shot Stevie a look. “I realized love isn’t complicated. It doesn’t take much, and it doesn’t change you. It makes you better, forces you to want to heal, and give in to it. Pooh, I can’t do this without you. I don’t want to do this without you, and I want to be your husband.”

He got down on one knee and I backed away holding my mouth. I remember when me and Greene talked about how we would act if we ever got engaged. I told her I hated when women did all that screaming and running and look at me.

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