Page 131 of Pope's Penance


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Lovelyn brushes her lips against my cheek.“Love you, Daddy.”

“Love you too.”Then I stand in front of my woman.“Hello, little mama.”

“Hello, you big beast.”

“A ghrá mo chroí,” I whisper.

Love of my heart.

Her eyes fill with tears that spill over when she blinks.“You’re going to mess up my makeup,” she whispers.

“And you’ll still be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Savior clears his throat, and I chuckle.“You ready to do this, little mama?”

“Pretty sure I was born ready.”

The ceremony is short and sweet.I’m too impatient for anything else.The moment Savior declares us husband and wife, I kiss my motherfucking wife.

Then I bury my face in her neck and just fucking soak her in.

Birdie was on to something when she said she was born ready.

I’ve always held the belief that you mostly make your own fate.But this woman ...

Goddamn, was I born to love her.

I’m jumping around the makeshift dance floor with Lovelyn to “Walk The Moon”, having the time of my life, when I feel the tap on my shoulder.

I freeze in place as I stare into the face of my ex-best friend.I wait for her appearance to trigger me, but all I feel is happiness.We’ve been talking so much over the last year, working through everything that happened as much as we could long distance.Inviting her to the wedding wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but my therapist helped me work through the negative feelings I had about it.We’ll never have the friendship we had in the past, and we’ve both accepted that.

“Diamond,” I say with a smile, holding my arms out for a hug.

“I just go by Naomi now,” she says softly, returning my hold.“You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.So do you.You look really good.”I peer at the handsome man at her side and then back to her.“And happy.”

Naomi reaches out for her date’s hand and smiles at me.“I am.Birdie, this is Camden.Cam, this is Birdie.”

He holds his hand out for me, and I spy the hint of ink that peeks from under the collar of his t-shirt.“It’s nice to meet you.”

“Same.”

A hand tugs at my skirt, and I glance down to my daughter.With a laugh, I pull her in front of me.“This is our daughter, Lovelyn.Her brother, Legend, is over there with his dad.”

Diamond peers over and then back at me with a sad smile.“The twins?”

The kids were the one part of our past that we didn’t talk about much.She knew we had them and what their names were, but that was the extent of it.

I wasn’t ready.

“Yeah.”Her sadness hurts my heart, so I reach out for her hand.“Hey, no being sad on my happy day.All of us, including you, are happy.It’s time to move on, okay?Now, go dance with your handsome man while I go grab mine.”I squeeze her hand one last time.“It really is good to see you.”

She sniffles and nods.“It is.”

With another chapter to our past closed, I go find my husband.

I give Pretty Boy the nod to let him know I’m ready for the song to be played.