Page 61 of You Deserve Good Things

He leaned in close, lips near her ear. “You love it.”

She smiled. Just a lil’. But it was there.

I saw it then, the fire flickering low, just waiting for the wind.

“Baby,” I said to Shaniya, elbowing her lightly. “You see that?”

She nodded slow, rocking Sawyer. “They gon’ burn the whole city down once they stop fronting.”

I laughed. “You think she’s ready?”

“Ready or not,” she said, “it’s coming. Love don’t wait on scared hearts.”

That night, when the stars were sitting heavy in the sky and the babies were finally snoring like tiny engines, I pulled Shaniya into my lap on the porch swing. The air was thick with summer and sweetness. Fireflies dancing. The world quiet.

“You ever think we’d make it here?” she asked, restin’ her head on my chest.

“Every damn day,” I whispered, kissing her temple. “Even in the darkness, I saw this. I saw us.”

She looked up at me, eyes glossy. “We ain’t just survived, Jacory. We lived.”

“Nah, baby,” I said. “We thrived.”

We rocked in silence, our whole world sleeping behind us, the stars bearing witness to everything we’d fought for.

This love was built from ashes and amen. From gunfire and grace. From trauma and tenderness. It was us. Raw. Real. Rising.

And I swear, I’d never let it go.

THE END