Melanie’s brow raised. “It’s the same for me. I was afraid of what that meant, but I don’t think I’m afraid anymore. When I’m with you, I feel less lonely. I feel seen. Understood. Living suddenly doesn’t seem like such a burden.”
My heart raced. This was real. Her feelings for me weren’t all in my head.
Melanie curled a chunk of hair behind my ear, and a thousand goosebumps broke out all over my body. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm myself and prepare for what was next. Soon, her lips were on mine, and our mouths tangled in a passionate kiss.
I was hers and she was mine. As we held on to one another and never let go, all I could hope for was that this would last forever.
Chapter Fifty
CORA
One month later…
It was Christmas Eve at my apartment, and playing on the living room stereo was a mix of my favorite holiday songs. A little Nat King Cole, a little Bing Crosby, maybe Alvin and the Chipmunks for my fancy. We’d all been wining and dining for a few hours, having stuffed our faces so severely with the feast I cooked that everyone had to disperse around my apartment to work the calories off.
Everyone was there: Priscilla, Daggett, Max, Brinly, Lincoln, and my main chick, Grandma Wendy. Somehow I persuaded her to get away from her new lavish lifestyle and hang with us normies.
I found her chatting to Daggett and Priscilla, and I was fairly certain Priscilla was trying to acquire some weed from her. “You still knee-deep in all that green in your garage?”
“Yes, dear.”
“You think I might swing by sometime?”
“Well, of course, dear! Just bring your wallet.”
Priscilla scowled. “For real?”
“I may be old, but I’m no sucker.”
I had to stifle my laughter. Grandma cracked me up.
Daggett swung his arm around Priscilla and said, “You don’t need all of that, anyway. Your lungs might appreciate the break from all the smoke.”
“Who is this?” Grandma asked.
Priscilla stared at her strangely. “Daggett. You met him thirty seconds ago.”
Grandma flicked her forehead with the tip of her finger. “Oh, of course. I’m so sorry, Dodge.”
“Daggett,” he clarified.
“Daggett? That’s not a human being name, sweetie, that’s a pet’s name.”
Priscilla had a big belly laugh over that one. Daggett, however, seemed only slightly amused as he tucked his top lip into his mouth and gave a small nod. “Daggett’s my last name. My birth name is Rickey,” he explained.
“Oh, well, see, that is so much better. That sounds like a grown-up.”
His lips were still tucked into his mouth as he said, “Thanks.” Priscilla chuckled to herself in the corner.
“Is this your boyfriend, Presley?”
Before Priscilla could answer, Daggett cut her off. “We’re still working on the label.”
As though he said nothing at all, Priscilla plainly jumped in with a, “Yeah, he is.” Daggett’s head jerked in her direction and she smiled back at him. They had come a long way.
“Boyfriend, eh? Well, sweetie, you need to feed your boyfriend better.”
Priscilla cocked an eyebrow. “His ass knows how to use a can opener.”
“He’d be cuter if he put on a little weight, dear. His arms are as skinny as mine.”
Priscilla burst into laughter while Daggett held his drink and simply nodded. “She said cuter, which means she thinks I’m already cute, so I’m taking this as a small victory,” he replied.
“Small as your arms,” Priscilla teased.
“We both know I’m not small everywhere,” he teased back, which caused Priscilla to grin.
Across the room, I was in the middle of a conversation with Lincoln and Brinly, whose baby bump had grown to a decent size beneath her velvet Christmas dress. Like usual, she looked and dressed in a league above the rest of us bums. We all thought sweaters with tacky reindeer heads on them counted as dressing up.
“How close are you getting?” I inquired.
“She’ll be ready to pop in four months,” Brinly answered as she patted her swollen belly.
I raised an eyebrow. “She? It’s a girl?”
Lincoln scoffed. “Brin thinks it’s a girl.”
“No, Brin knows it’s a girl,” she corrected.
“Yeah, okay, okay. Whatever you say, Mama.”
“I wouldn’t have ordered all pink everything if I wasn’t sure of this. Call it motherly instinct.”
Lincoln just rolled his eyes and shook his head. I got the impression they had this argument twenty times already, because he caved and popped a quick kiss on her cheek and then said, “I’m getting a drink.”
As he walked away, Brinly shouted, “Not too much. You’re driving, remember? It’s hard for me to steer with this bowling ball under my dress.”
“And here I thought it was a baby,” I joked.
“If I’m being real, it feels like an alien most of the time. She’s always doing flips and kicking me.”
“You got a gymnast on your hands.”
“I got something, that’s for sure.”
I reached out to touch her stomach, but then stopped myself. “Is it okay?” I asked.
“Go ahead.”
I placed my hand on her, and almost immediately, I felt a kick hit the center of my palm. I jumped and then laughed. “You weren’t kidding.”
“She’s ready to come out. Little princess can’t wait to rule, but I keep reminding her she’s gotta develop more,” she said lovingly and swirled her flattened hand across her belly.
“How’s that working?” I asked. “You know, going against tradition and not having an arranged marriage.”
She sighed and then shrugged. “It’s not going perfectly, but we’re making strides. It’s something our families have been doing for so long that a lot of the relatives aren’t exactly…eager…to let Lincoln and I jump into marriage. It’s a lot of boring steps you don’t care to hear about. I’m
