☺️
-1 year and 6 months later
Mariah

"Look mommy." Skylar smiled.

"I see. Now roll it back to him." I said, sitting on the couch

I was watching Skylar and DJ roll the ball back and forth on the floor. Yes DJ as in Dorian Jr.

He's 8 months old and is my twin, just like Skylar. Speaking of Skylar, my little lovebug is 3 years old now, and the best big sister ever. Especially considering the fact that I'm-
Someone knocked at the door, interrupting my train of thought.

I checked the ring camera before unlocking the door from my phone.

"Wassup bestie boo." Kendra and Hunter came in the house

"Hey y'all." I smiled

DJ and Skylar got excited seeing as they are all best friends.

"Let mommy take your jacket off." Kendra said to Hunter as he tried to rush off to play

"Hi Hunter" Skylar smiled, letting him have some toys

"How you feeling love?" Kendra sat beside me

"Tired." I chuckled

"Chile' I know the feeling." She took her jacket off "I only got one kid and I'm drained."

"Yes, motherhood is the toughest hood." I shook my head

"Facts. Which is why you need a break." She smiled "Somebody's gotta' birthday coming up in a few days."

I groaned "Don't remind me. I'm getting old."

"Yes, yes you are."

"Some friend you are." I playfully pushed her

"I ain't yo' friend, I'm family."

"Yes, yes you are." I mocked her

"Yes ma'am, get it right. So, you decided what you want to do for your birthday?"

"I told you I just wanna chill in with the kids." I sipped my cran grape

She pursed her lips "Really Ry?"

"Yesss Kendra. What better way to celebrate than with my kids?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to go to the Bahamas?" She wiggled her eyebrows

"Yeah but that was before-"

Somebody else knocked on the door, interrupting me.

"It's Rio." I checked the cameras "Can you get that?" I politely asked

She got up and opened the door. "Wassup RiHO" she joked

"Wassup KenHO."

She sucked her teeth at him "That don't even make sense"

"I know but I couldn't think of nothing else. Hey kids." He greeted as he sat on the floor with them

"What about me?" I asked

"Saving the best for last." He blew me a kiss

"I know that's right." I popped my tongue

"Y'all disgust me." Kendra shook her head

"The feeling is mutual." He replied

"Y'all stay going at it." I chuckled "But what you doing here?"

"Just came by to keep you company." He said before somebody else knocked on my door

"The hell?" I checked my cameras again. This time it was Joyce "Why all y'all popping up here? Did something happen?" I got up to open the door

"Girl relax, maybe it's just a coincidence."Rio shrugged

"Coincidence my ass." I opened the door "Hey Ms. J, what's wrong?"

"Why something gotta' be wrong? I just came to see my grand babies." She came in the house

"Oh...ok." I side eyed her

Something seems off.

"Girl I rode pass the new beauty bar on Bishop St, it's coming along nice. They almost done putting in the windows." Rio said

I sat back on the couch "That's good, I should be able to open it next month then."

Business is great, they're almost done building my third beauty bar in midtown. The other two are doing wonderful as well, I'm thinking about expanding out of the state soon.
Maybe Luxur Los Angeles? That got a nice ring to it.

"Wassup beautiful." Dorian entered the house

Speaking of ring, I decided to keep mine.

"Hey handsome" I pecked his lips "How was your day?"

"Good, I ain't have to fire nobody, so everything copacetic."

He now owns 5 restaurants and 4 night clubs. My baby turned his life around and I'm so proud of him. But him being in the drug game was just one of our main problems, there were other things we needed to work on as well.
Like how we're both stubborn as hell.
But Dorian agreed to try anything to help our marriage so I suggested counseling.

We did that for about six months before deciding to stop. Even though we stopped going, we still use some of the skills we learned and now our relationship has drastically changed for the better. We communicate without yelling, when we're getting frustrated we learn to slow down and explain our feelings better. I just love it, and all that love is why we're on our third baby.

"How my lil' man doing in there?" He rubbed my 5 month belly

"She is doing fine." I swatted his hand away

"I'm telling you, it's a boy." He chuckled, pecking my cheek before going to greet Skylar and DJ

We decided to wait until I was 6 months to find out the gender of this baby. The only person who knows the gender is Joyce and she won't tell us no matter how much we beg.

"Mother knows best." I rubbed my tummy

"Mother need to invest in birth control before y'all have a damn football team." Rio said

"Whatever." I chuckled

"What all y'all doing in my house anyway?" Dorian asked

"Boy" Joyce said in a warning tone

"With the exception of you mama, you always welcomed." He quickly said with a pleasing smile

"Don't act like you ain't ask all us to come over." Tim said, entering the house

Ok now I'm confused.

"Baby what's going on?" I asked Dorian

"Well I know you said you ain't wanna' go nowhere for your birthday, but I couldn't just let your special day go by without celebrating you." He said

I felt a smile creeping onto my face "What'd you do?"

"I planned a family trip to the Bahamas."

"Dorian" I gleamed, getting up to hug him

He pecked my lips as we hugged "Our flight leaves in an hour."

"An hour? Baby I don't have anything packed, the kids-"

"I snuck and packed everybody's bag two days ago." He smiled down at me

"That's why you got Kendra to get me out the house." I softly nudged him "So all y'all knew?"

"Yup." Kendra said

"Yeah." Tim chimed in

"Happy early birthday!" Rio exclaimed

I shook my head chuckling. "I can't even be mad at that. You sneaky sons of bitches."

"Daddy, what's a bitch?" Skylar asked

"Oop!" I covered her mouth "Skylar, why don't you go help DJ and Hunter put the toys away?"

"Ok mommy." She said before walking off

"Bahamas here we come!" Kendra and Rio excitedly shouted

"Uhm, you want an early birthday present?" Joyce asked, waving an envelope in her hand

"That's the gender?" I eagerly asked

"Yeah."

"Oueee gimme." I grabbed the envelope

I skimmed over the paper and got to the good part.

"It's a girl!" I jumped in excitement

"Woah, don't be shaking my baby around now." Dorian held me, lightly laughing

"Not so fast." Joyce pulled another envelope from her purse

"What's this?" My smile faded

"Open it." she handed it to me

"Mmm, you open it. I'm scared" I handed it to Dorian

"It's a boy?." Dorian read aloud with a confused expression

"So which one is it?" I asked

"Well, baby A is a girl and baby B is a boy."

"You having twins!" Kendra hugged me

"Whew" I sat down "Twins, huh?" I mean I'm happy but that was totally unexpected

"Yup."

"Damn, bro." Tim said to Dorian

"I bet you get on birth control now." Rio snickered at me

"Shut up." I flicked him off "Baby how you feeling?" I asked Dorian, who had an unreadable expression

"Shid, I'm happy. I knew my swimmers was potent." He sat beside me, boasting

"Oh my- Please hush." I laughed

" Nah seriously, I love you more than life itself." He stared into my eyes "You know together we can conquer all. I'm so ready to grow our lil family."

I delicately held his face "Aw baby. I love you more." I leaned in and we shared a kiss

"Alright that's why y'all finna have four kids now." Joyce said

We chuckled into the kiss before pulling away.

"Alright y'all let's get going so we can be on time. You know black folk always late to something." Rio stood, putting his jacket on

Dorian helped Sky and DJ put their coats on and I sat there smiling at everyone.

"Ok, big Ma. Why you just sitting there cheesing?" Kendra asked me

"I love my tribe." I smiled, getting teary eyed

"Don't start that mushy pregnancy stuff." Rio shooed me off

"Awww baby." Dorian, came back over to me, holding DJ

"We love you mommy." Skylar came over and hugged me, mainly hugging my belly

Everyone else joined in the hug, even Rio with his fake emotionless ass.

I'm so happy we got Back To Love.

Y'all know I had to let them have their happily ever after.

The enddd.

-Carlisha ❤️