Always Wrong - Xyla Turner Page 0,53

mom. I watched her on the beach, laughing, smiling and nodding at whatever they were discussing. This made me feel good because my mom didn’t have any daughters, so this would be a great change for her. When Sheryl returned, she had a smile on her face and a kiss for me.

“Your mother is the cutest thing.” She lingered in my arms. “I love her already. She’s pretty sassy.”

Ahhh.

This made sense, because the way Sheryl’s mom was described, she was someone that she’d mostly taken care of, because she was unable to do so for herself. Mental illness and other neglectful rubbish that my woman had overcome. She would love a mother figure and now that she had her true father, who’d opened up his arms and family – this was the life. I loved that for her.

The next week, we went to visit my mom and stayed in New York for a week. The two of them often acted as though I was not in the room. My mom kept saying that she could not wait for some little babies. Sheryl didn’t take offense but agreed with her. I nearly kept her close to me and could not help but touch her. Lately we had been having a lot of sex, but we didn’t go our original route, which was tracking her ovulation timeframes or a bunch of other stress producing techniques. Before, she and I had been hyper focused on having a baby, but now our focus was on us. We wanted babies, but even if she couldn’t have any, we planned to adopt. This revelation made her tear up and crawl into my lap. We sat, like we did at the end of every evening watching the sunset, but this day, she cried silently in my chest and whispered, “Thank you.”

Noah and Maxine came out to visit us while we were in New York. Maxine pulled Sheryl away almost immediately, and I was able to chat with Noah.

“Feeling trapped yet, mate?” Noah asked with one eyebrow up.

“Absolutely-fucking-not!” I slid him his signature drink as we toasted.

This caused him to laugh out loud as he congratulated me and Sheryl.

“Marriage is the best thing that happened to me, but it’s only because it’s with my soul mate.” He took a sip. “You’re going to love it. Sheryl is right up your alley. Won’t take any rubbish off you.”

“You are correct, mate.” I chuckled as I thought about her denying me. “You are correct.”

“Have you selected a date?” he asked.

“We’re thinking it will be in a few months. Before she gets off of her sabbatical that she’s already extended. Just close family and friends,” I shared.

“Doesn’t she have a big ole family in Indiana?” Noah asked.

“Yeah, that’s what I mean.” I shook my head.

“Well, I’m just glad that you and Sheryl worked this out, because the number of times Maxine has threatened to bury my ‘friend’ are too many to count. That was if you hurt her.” He shook his head, and though I was tempted to laugh, I knew there was some truth and seriousness around the threat.

“Well, your wife called it. She tried to warn me that she would eat me alive.” I remembered the day I’d seen her, and she’d piqued my interest. Almost instinctively, it was like she was calling out to me, without paying me any damn mind. This woman.

She was so resilient and capable. Sweet, yet tough as nails. Beautiful and confident. Sexy and adventurous. She did, in fact, eat me alive. I never stood a chance against her ways. Here I’d thought I was running shit. I was, in fact, not.

The day of the wedding, the entire family clan was in full effect, including her mother who seemed medicated enough. In addition, my mom, Elsbeth, my mates from London, Noah, Maxine, Harvey, Zora, Tammy, and executives at both of her companies, and mine were at the not so small wedding.

We wrote our own vows, and standing on the beach in sunset, I told my lady, “I never stood a chance with you, and each time we were always wrong, but it was in those times when we were wrong, it when we found what was right. Us. I vow to love, cherish, devote, motivate, encourage, support and embrace you in sickness and in health. Even in uncertain times, the phone hang-ups, no coffee and irritable times. I’ll always love you, because two wrongs can make a right.”

Fourteen Months Later

Baby Janique was born to