Page 18 of The Love Bully
“What are we going to do about Maddie? I know Karla can take care of her. I just don’t want her to feel anchored down by a child that’s not hers.” I heard the concern in my own voice.
He still held my hand. “Marsha, love, everything will work out exactly the way that God intended it to. Stop worrying about it. Westins don’t worry, we move.”
In my mind, I wasn’t a Westin technically yet, so I was worried. Not because I thought she couldn’t do it, but because I knew she could. My sweet baby Karla would put her life on hold for the happiness of everyone else. One thing that I knew about her, that I wasn’t sure if anyone else did, was that she didn’t want children at all. That was more than likely why she called her brother in a panic.
“I know, baby. Westins move, not worry. Orion, I’m not a Westin yet,” I said. I knew how to get a reaction from him to lighten the mood. Yes, he may not have been worried, but I knew he was upset.
He chuckled under his breath. “Shut up, Marsha. As much of this Westin dick that’s been in you, you’ve been a Westin since high school. Stop fuckin’ playing with me.”
A Short Time Later. . .
Time To Get Married . . .
“You ready to be a husband, man?” Grant asked after he patted my back.
The day had finally come for a king and queen to be married. It was a long time coming. “I’m so ready for her to formally wear my last name. Marsha makes everything look better, including my name.”
Grant tittered. “That man is in love. There is nothing wrong with that. I feel the same way about my Norma. She told me about y’all’s new house. Can’t wait for the housewarming.”
Marsha and I decided to purchase a new build that was a few streets over from our homes. We agreed that we would move inafter we came back from our honeymoon. I put my home up as a long-term rental and moved in with Marsha a month after we announced our engagement to the family.
Marsha and the girls worked with an interior design firm to decorate our new home so it would be move-in ready. Once we moved in, we would also rent Marsha’s place. “I haven’t seen anything in the house. I gave her free reign of all of that, but my man shack was all me.”
I stood in the mirror, adjusting my tie. Of course, the wedding theme colors were purple, black, and gold. I couldn’t wait to see my woman. Instead of having a best man and groomsmen, I had all best men. Grant and my three sons would stand behind me as I swore before God and our people that I would love, cherish, honor, and respect Marsha for life.
“Pop Pop and Poppy!” A little voice sounded from behind me.
I spun around on my heel to see one of the most beautiful little girls in a gorgeous purple dress. “Look at my beautiful grandbaby. Come here.”
I scooped her up into my arms to kiss all over her face. “Pop Pop! You mess my makeup.”
My face scrunched as I looked at her, then her father who had walked in behind her. “She has on lip gloss, Pop. That’s it.” He answered my unasked question.
“Oh, because I was about to say. You look beautiful, baby. Such a pretty two-year-old.”
Her little face tightened and brows dipped. When she leaned her body back and crossed her arms over herself, I knew she was about to tell me off in her own little way. “I not two. I three.”
She wiggled out of my arms. Once her feet were on the floor, she looked up at me with a side-eye like I’d just committed the ultimate sin by not acknowledging that she was now three years old. Her little neck twisted before she pushed my leg with her little hands, then walked toward her Poppy.
“My three-year-old beauty,” Grant said after he picked her up. When he glanced at me with a smirk, I gave him the beautiful vision of my middle finger.
Bridgette’s ass would have you pining for her little toddler love. She was the most perfect creation of her mother and father. Euri walked over to me in a fit of laughter. “See, you done made my baby mad. Pop, you know she’s sensitive about being three now.”
“Her little ass has been three all of two weeks now.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “She got that sensitive but violent shit from you and her mama.”
All our attention went to the door that opened. In walked my other two sons and my baby. “Man, Pop, get this damn girl. How are you bad and not even one yet? She pulled a whole floral arrangement down,” Aaron fussed.
Maddie reached out for me. “Dada,” she mumbled with her sad face.
“Give me my damn baby,” I demanded. “If she was able to do all of that, then y’all asses weren’t watching her. Y’all know she’s been a little demon since she started crawling.”
A lot had shifted in all our lives since Kim’s junkie ass dropped her daughter off on Karla’s doorstep. When we left Karla’s house that morning, it was clear that Maddie, which was her name and not short for anything, would be in our lives. Marsha and I talked ad nauseam about Karla taking care of her. We finally came up with a plan when Maddie was three months old.
Yes, Karla wanted to take care of her sister, but she was not ready and didn’t want the responsibilities of motherhood. There was nothing wrong with that at all. Marsha and I offered to adopt Maddie and raise her as our daughter. That would give my baby girl the freedom to be who she wanted to be and still know that her sister was accessible and well taken care of. There waspush back from Karla because she felt like Maddie was not our responsibility, but we shut that shit down.
Yes, she wasn’t our responsibility, but she was Karla’s sister. I knew that she loved Maddie the minute she said that she would take care of her, so that made Maddie important to us. Marsha, the kids, and I all sat down to discuss it and all came to an understanding. Maddie now had three brothers, and two sisters. The time would come when we would tell Maddie about her birth mother.
The last thing that junkie Kim did before she overdosed was complete the legal forms so that Marsha and I could adopt our baby. If you wanted to know what was wilder than dropping your baby off on someone’s doorstep, it was choosing to be new parents after fifty. As crazy as it sounded, Maddie was the last piece of the puzzle in my and Marsha’s life. There was this light that was now in Marsha that wasn’t there before and was one that I couldn’t have given her. Maddie didn’t have our blood running through her, but she was ours, and she had our love.
