ログインAfter the ceremony, we waited in one of the museum’s holding rooms while the staff flipped the main space for the reception. It was impressive watching them work. The ceremony chairs were moved, tables were set, centerpieces came out, and within an hour, the museum would look completely different. Maya disappeared to change into a less formal dress. Still off-white and beautiful, according to her. Just shorter and more comfortable. Her exact reasoning had been, “I’m pregnant, and I’m already a mother of six. I’m not walking around in that long-ass dress all night.” Six. I smiled every time she said that. Because she always included all the children when she talked about them. Our children, and soon, if everything went the way I wanted it to, I was going to give her a surprise. I wanted to formally adopt Gabby. Maya had told me a long time ago that Stanley had given up his rights. He hadn’t wanted anything to do with Gabby. Well, I did. I wanted to be her fa
Maya’s POV Okay. I had to admit it. I was nervous. Just days before the wedding, I had been doing my best to keep myself calm, eat normally, and not overthink everything. Especially because I had a baby to feed. I took a deep breath and let it out just as someone knocked on the door. “Come in.” The door opened. My brother Jason walked in looking dapper as hell. Fresh haircut. Beard lined perfectly. I smiled. “Look at you.” He grinned. “You ready?” I turned toward him and sighed. “I’m as ready as I can be.” I grabbed my bouquet. “Can I hang on to you?” “That’s what I’m here for.” “Is Mom already downstairs?” “Of course she is.” He laughed. “She has the kids, so you know she’s down there.” “Thank you for walking me down the aisle.” His expression softened. “No problem.” Then he looked at me for a second. “If Dad was here, he would’ve been already trying to drag you downstairs himself.” My smile faded a little. “I miss Dad.” Jason nodded. “I know.” “I k
Maya’s POV continued Standing directly in front of the damn restaurant was Stanley, his wife, and not one, but three babies probably via surrogacy, or whatever situation they had going on.I had no idea, but somehow there were three infants.Stanley adjusted his suit when he noticed me.We kept walking.Sienna leaned toward me.“You want to go somewhere else?”“No.”“We can go to Wildfire or The Cheesecake Factory is right across the street.”“No.”She looked at me.“We are going to The Tavern.”“Okay.”“We planned on going to The Tavern, so we’re going.”I took a breath and continued forward.When we reached them, I smiled politely.“Excuse us.”Then I looked at his wife.“Hi, Mrs. Rogers.”Her face brightened.“Oh, hi!”She looked at all of us and laughed.“Oh my God. Is this like a school of mommies? Can I join?”I stared at her. I knew my expression said exactly what I was thinking.Bitch, are you insane?But I didn’t say it. Instead, I laughed.“No. These are just my friends.”
Maya’s POV One Week Before the Wedding “Okay, girl, let me see the dress!” I could hear Keisha squealing from outside the fitting room. Sienna was laughing, and beneath all of that? Babies. So many fucking babies. Not just mine either. Sienna had brought the twins. Keisha had Baby Mabel and little Miles. My Double G’s were out there too. We had somehow turned wedding dress shopping into a playdate. I stared at myself in the mirror and sighed. “Okay,” I called out. “Here we go.” I looked down at my stomach. Hopefully, I didn’t look pregnant, because I was absolutely pregnant, but apparently, I had some kind of magical genes because my stomach still wasn’t really protruding. It mostly looked like I had eaten a really good meal. I turned slightly and looked at the dress again. It was simple but sleek. A straight A-line silhouette with an off-the-shoulder look, two thin spaghetti straps, and a soft sweetheart neckline. Nothing too dramatic. It looked like me. That was wha
Shane's POV Continued His eyes widened.“What?”“Keep your voice down.”He leaned forward.“Again?”“Yes.”“Damn.”“And don’t say anything. We’re not telling anybody yet.”He grinned.“How far along?”“Four months.”His mouth dropped open.“Four months?”I laughed.“I know.”“I just saw Maya last week. She’s barely showing.”“That’s how she is.”I rubbed the back of my neck.“Even with Gabby, she barely showed in old pictures. The twins were the real shock.”“No shit.”“This time, we made damn sure there was only one.”Crandon laughed.“So no surprise Baby B?”“No.”“Thank God.”“She found out around two months, so it wasn’t anywhere near as dramatic as last time.”He shook his head.“Congratulations, man.”“Thanks.”“And this is it?”“Oh, absolutely.”I pointed at him.“She already said she’s getting her tubes tied, burned, clipped, removed, whatever the hell they can legally do.”He burst out laughing.“We are done.”“Smart man.”“I love my kids, but enough is enough.”Crandon smil
Shane’s POV Seven Weeks LaterI sighed as I sat behind my desk.Technically, I was supposed to be working, but I had finished almost everything on my plate, and tax season was very so much over.This was my downtime.Which meant I had no excuse for staring at the blank page in front of me for the last twenty minutes.My wedding vows.I rubbed a hand over my face.I had no idea what the hell to write.Maya and I were finally getting married next week.Finally.We were supposed to get married last December, but after having the twins, Maya hadn’t felt comfortable in her body yet.I respected that.Didn’t mean I hadn’t wanted to marry that woman immediately.Hell, I think some part of me knew the first day I met her that she was going to change my life forever, but it was what it was.We pushed the wedding back to May.Then May came, and she still wasn’t feeling completely comfortable.After that, we had some issues come up in June involving my son, my ex-wife, and his girlfriend.That
Shane’s POVSitting across from Maya feels unreal, like I slipped into someone else’s life and forgot to check the mirror on the way in. She’s beautiful in that effortless, dangerous way. The kind of woman you don’t approach unless you’re prepared to have your whole equilibrium shaken, and here she
Keisha’s POVI sit beside Kole, watching him spiral in real time, and honestly, I’ve seen a lot in my life. Boardrooms full of men twice my age trying to intimidate me. Audits that would make lesser people sweat through their suits. Hostile takeovers. Corporate warfare.But this?This girl has been
Crandon’s POVAs I walk around Knox’s wedding, I sigh, long and heavy, because I see her.Her.The beauty that should’ve been mine.The one I really, really, really fucked up with.Carmen.She’s standing a few feet away, laughing as her cousin comes down with the bouquet like she just won the Super
Kole’s POVWalking around my brother’s wedding, I feel… good. Like genuinely good, proud, happy, and whole.I watch Knox laughing with Sienna, the way his hand stays anchored at the small of her back like he’s afraid she might float away, and it hits me how far we’ve come. There were plenty of tim







