"Sweetheart?" Derrick walked in the house, looking for Angel.
"I'm in the kitchen." She said.
Walking into the kitchen, he saw Angel and suddenly he smiled. She was leaning on the counter, with a glaass of red wine and her phone in her hand. She was pre-occupied.
"Hello, beautiful." He kisssed her cheek.
"Hey," she spoked back, "how was work?" She asked.
"It was good. I got a crazy case today." He answered, leaning on the countertop.
"How was it?" She asked.
"Fifteen year old boy, fought his teacher in school. The teacher is pressing charges against him." He answered.
Her eyes grew wide, not believing him. "What? I wish JJ would be feeling himself to the point where he think he can disrespect an adult."
Derrick shook his head, "Kids are so bold these days. His mother is trying so hard just to keep him out of juvenile, but he's just not trying to hear her."
"Oh nah." She shook her head, looking back on to her phone, "mines know better than to be that way. He knows that I don't play and neither does his father."
"I just know that my mother taught Drew and I way better than that, although, was the one with the bad temper."
"I figured that. I swear you don't get mad about anything and I've seen Drew be a little upset. It's scary."
She went into the cabinet and got a small glass and then sat in on the counter near the scotch, pouring some scotch into the glass.
"Here," she gave him the glass. "this is for your crazy case."
He took the glass, but kept his eyes on her as she leaned right back ove the counter, and took a sip of her wine.
Angel was such a sweet woman and the two of them had been together for nearly eight years. It was an odd sitiuation for them at first because she's the mother of his nephew, but they're used to it and things are going just fine for him.
He was more than happy to be with the woman that he loved, he just wished she was more than a girlfriend to him. He was more than ready to make Angel his wife.
"Where's Zach?" He asked.
"He's at Drew and Alex's. She came to pick him up earlier."
He took a good look at her. "So it's just you and me tonight?" He asked, getting a little frisky after taking a gulp of his drink.
She smiled a naughty smile at him, knowing what he was doing.
He wrapped his arms around her waist as her arms wrapped around his neck and they shared a kiss.
"I say, we go into the bedroom, and have a little fun." She said in a tone to turn him on.
"How about first, we can run some bath water and we can relax in the tub and then I'll take care of you for the remainder of the night." He gripped her tighter.
They shared another kiss and made their way to the bedroom. They had a quickie while he ran the bath water, nearly flooding out the bathroom getting carried away.
They were relaxed in their large jacuzzi tub. She was resting on his chest as he held on to her.
He figured now would be the perfect time for the, to talk about their future together, as husband and wife.
"Baby?" He said as he stroked her arm.
"Yes, sweetheart."
"I think it's time that we take things to the next level. I feel that we're past due."
"Past due for what?" she asked.
"Us getting married." he answered. "I want you to be my wife."
She was speechless for a moment.
"Baby?" He wanted her to say something.
"Um, wow. I never thought you wanted to get married."
"You don't?" He frowned, glad that she couldn't see his face.
"I mean, I always hoped to be married someday, but I just never thought it'll happen."
"Why not? You're an amzing woman. Do you think I would have you be my girlfriend for this long without a marriage committment?" He questioned.
"I mean," she hesitated to give a response and he sensed it.
"Are you saying you don't want to get married?" He asked.
"It's not that, I just-"
"So do you want to get married?" He asked straightforward. "Yes or no?"
She didn't want to be silent for too long. "Yes." She responded.
Her answer still didn't sit right with him, so it was now his turn to be silent. This evening wasn't going to go as well as he thought.
...
The next day, Angel was on the phone explaing to her best friend, Hallie, what happened the previous night.
"Did you say yes? I mean, it's about time the two of you decided on getting married." Hallie explained. "Y'all been together for like a decade. Who stays together that long and not get married. Might as well be married."
"I want to marry him, it's just the fact that he's my son's uncle."
"That didn't stop you from being his girlfriend, but it's stopping you from wanting a ring?" Hallie questioned. "That doesn't make any sense." She said honestly.
"I'm just saying, what if it confuses Zach? His unlce will be his stepdad. If we get married, Derrick will want children of his own, then if we have a baby, our baby will be Zach's brother, sister slash cousin. It may confuse him just as much as it's confusing me."
"You're confusing yourself. We all know how the family tree will go, but if you don't make a decision soon he' probably won't stick around." She warned.
Angel sighed. "I certainly don't want to lose him."
"How long did you think he was going to be with you before asking you to marry him? Or did you not think he wasn't going to ask?" Hallie questioned.
Angel knew that Hallie made perfect sense of what she was sating, but she never thought he wanted a marriage.
"What if I'm not ready for a marriage?" Angel doubted.
"Umm, you're almost forty, what are you waiting on? If you're not ready, then he'll find someone who is. Don't let go of something so precious as your relationship because of your doubts. You two may as well be married, you guys live together." Hallie explained.
"I know, that's why I never thought marriage was something that was even on his mind. I mean, he's never mentioned it before and I certainly didn't pressure him into it."
"Maybe you were giving him mixed signals about whether or not you want to be married or not that he decided to just stay with you and now he's finally decided that a move must be made because don't nobody want a forever-girlfriend." She chuckled lightly.
"I don't want him to be just my boyfriend forever. I like the idea of being married, I just don't want it to confuse Zach."
"Is Zach confused now?" Hallie asked.
"No. He's fine." Angel answered.
"Okay then. Marry that man."
"You don't think it's strange? Me marrying my son's uncle?"
"It's not about what I think. It's about what you want to do and what makes you happy." Hallie said. "And I know Derrick makes you happy. Hell, you've been with him for almost ten years."
"It's only been eight." Angel specified.
"Which rounds up to ten."
Angel giggled.
"Y'all don't even need to plan a wedding and all that extra stuff. That's just gonna waste time. Get married already. He's the man for you. It doesn't matter who the father of your children are, or who slept with who, and all that shenanigins. If you love him and he loves you, which eight years shows that y'all do love each other, then y'all may as well jump the broom. Or just jump to the courthouse, so this could be quick."
"The courthouse? He spends enough time there, I'm sure that's not where he wants to get married."
"You're right." Hallie stated. "Y'all need a wedding, maybe I could meet me a nice, wholesome man."
"Hallie, you have a man." Angel reminded.
"Girl, Shawn, better step it up if he tryin to keep me because he's playing too many games that we're both too old for."
Angel rolled her eyes at Halie's comment about her boyfriend. Hallie and Shawn been together for almost two years. Hallie was divorced with one kid by her ex-husband, so she's very hard on the men she date.
"Shawn just isn't used to a woman like you. You're way too tough. You're a tough cookie." Angel said, half jokingly.
"I know I am, but he should be used to it by now."
"Or maybe he can't get used to it."
"He better get used to it or get lost."
"Girl, get off of my phone." Angel giggled.
"Don't try to get rid of me now."
"I have to." Angel said. "I have a meeting pretty soon, so I need to get off the phone." Angel explained.
......
Drew was at work on a phone call with Derrick while playing a session of in-office golf. It was almost time for him to get off of work, so he decided to stick around and kill some time before he had to go.
"She didn't seem too excited about me asking her to marry her." Derrick explained to his brother.
"You have to remember how Angel is. She's more of a "go with the flow" kind of woman. She 'll be excited about something, but won't necessarily show it." Drew stated.
"I know, but this is something serious. It's marriage, man. If she doens't want to do it, she should just let me know instead of having me think she doesn't want to get married, but saying yes for whatever reason she said it.
"How about you just talk to her about it?" Drew suggested. "That's the one way to find out what she really thinks about it. You two should be good though. Y'all been together just as long as Trice and I were married. Y'all should have been gotten married." He chuckled.
"I know. I don't know what I was waiting on." Derrick sighed. "How's Trice anyway?" He asked, changing the subject.
Drew groaned. "That woman is a trip. She's changed a lot over the years and it's pretty sad."
"I'm still trippin about the wedding." Derrick chuckled.
Drew sighed. "Why you always gotta bring up the wedding whenever we talk?" he asked.
Derrick let out a loud laugh. "Because it's funny! What the hell were you thinking even inviting her to your wedding anyway? Bro, she's crazy."
"When I went over Ma's house, she came over, trying to cook frittatas for me. I know her game too well and I'm not trying get caught slippin in this marriage. Alex don't deserve that."
"I hope you're not saying that you still feel something for Trice." Derrick questioned.
"Hell no. I'm trying to keep my distance from her but you know, we have Joy and I we're both very involved in her life. Especially me, since she lives with me and Alex."
"Has Alex and Trice's relationship going?"
"What relationship?" Drew asked, rhetorically. "They hate each other." He knew his brother was messing with him. "Don't you have court or something?" Drew sucked his teeth.
Derrick let out a laugh. "Nah, I'm in my office, texting Angel." He mentioned.
"Anyways, I only called because Alex asked me if you were still coming to the gallery tomorrow?"
"Oh yea, fasho!" Derrick asnwered. "I told her the other day that I was coming and that I was bringing my clients with me. They saw her work in my office and damn near tried to buy it from me."
Drew laughed. "My baby is good at what she does."
"So am I. I don't want to have to get anyone put in jail over Alex's art work." Derrick said. "Ya girl is talented." He commented.
"I know. I'm trying to get her to sell more of her work instead of cluttering it all in our garage." Drew said, half jokingly. "But she doesn't like to give away or sell most of it. She's trying to move it all to the gallery." He said.
"Maybe because she knows their worth or they mean so much to her that she's not going to let them go." Derrick said.
"I'm not making her get rid of it or anything, I just want it all out of the garage. That's why I'm so eager to have her move it all to the gallery."
He heard his line beeping and looked at his office's phone and saw his secretary's extention. "Hold on, D." He switched the line over.
"Yes, Leslie?" He answered.
"Your wife is calling." She stated.
"Alright. Send that call through." He switched back over to Derrick, "hey, bro, this is Alex. I'll hit you later." He swtiched to Alex's line, "Hello beautiful."
"Hi, sweetheart." She said.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"Okay, I can pick up Zach, but I can't pick up Joy. I'm on my way to get Zach now, but I have to stop by the gallery and I won't make it in time to get Joy. Do you think you can pick her up?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm not doing anything at work, so I don't see why not." He agreed. "Did you want me to start on dinner when I get home?" He asked.
"If you want. That's fine with me." Alex agreed.
"I don't want you to have so much to do when you get home, so I've got dinner covered." He said.
"oh, looked at my baby, taking charge of the kitchen tonight. I love it when you cook. You know how to do ya thing in the kitchen." Alex flirted.
"I know how to do my thing in the bedroom as well." He smirked.
"You gonna show me a lil sum' sum' tonight?" she asked.
"Girl, don't be starting nothing over the phone." Drew finally let out a chuckle.
She giggled. "I love you, Mr. Robinson." She said.
"I love you too, Mrs. Robinson." He responded. He knows in his heart, he does love her. She's his Mrs. Robinson.