Page 6 of When Love Takes Over
“Of course, I didn’t forget, but he was an alcoholic, and his liver failed him. Y’all are healthy . . . Unless there’s something y’all aren’t telling me. One of y’all dying?”
“We all will die someday, and I’m eighty-five, so the odds are, I’ll be the first to go, and it may be sooner rather than later. The point is, Grandson, you need to get married and give me a great-grandchild. I want to die knowing my legacy will not end with you.”
“And the wedding should happen before your thirty-fifth birthday,” Ma reminded me.
“And she should be pregnant soon after,” Gramps added.
“We were hoping you were dating someone and hadn’t introduced us yet, but by the look on your face, I guess that’s not the case,” Pops said.
“I don’t date. I fu—have se—this whole thing is crazy.”
“What about Callie?” Ma questioned.
My brow furrowed. “Callie? Why are you bringing her up?”
“Well, if you must know, I heard from a very reliable source that you two still see each other pretty regularly.”
Callie Richards was the only woman I’d gotten close to dating seriously in the past decade. She proved herself to be untrustworthy and took herself out of the running, but we still fucked around. Unfortunately, our mothers were friends, and my mother had taken a liking to her.
“You and your reliable source should really stay out of my business.”
“I’m not sure if that’s possible. Anyway, if you and Callie aren’t an item anymore, I have a few suitable?—”
“Ma, please. I don’t need you picking my wife and who I create life with.”
“You don’t have much time. I’m ready to fully hand over the business to you, but I won’t do it until you’re married,” Pops told me.
“What? When did that become a part of the deal?”
“Just because we let you live your life and stay out of your business doesn’t mean we don’t know what you’re up to. A man your age and of your stature should not still be sleeping around with every woman who throws her panties in your direction. We’ve built a legacy, and we don’t need your extracurricular activities tainting it.”
“Damn, Gramps. Tell me how you really feel.”
“I just did, and don’t take my words the wrong way. I’m proud of you and am honored to leave my legacy and a generous financial inheritance in your hands, but certain things need to occur before I will feel comfortable doing that.”
“Why marriage and kids?” I asked.
“Because having a family grounds you in ways you won’t understand until you have one. Having someone to build with brings you the kind of emotional and mental stability needed to be successful. You will have the kind of peace that makes you carefully consider every decision and move you make, personally and professionally,” my father responded before my grandfather could.
“That’s all probably true when you’re in love. I’m not in love and don’t foresee myself falling in love anytime soon. I don’t even have any prospects.”
“That’s where we come in. We’ve chosen some suitable prospects for you.”
The grin on my mother’s face as she spoke did not bring me the comfort she thought it would.
“Don’t put me in that mess. I had nothing to do with choosing prospects,” Gramps said.
“Me either.” Pops agreed.
“That may be true, but neither of you told me it was a bad idea when I suggested it,” Ma said.
I had no idea why she thought she could choose a woman for me to marry when she had no idea the kind of women I liked. I sighed and rubbed my hand over my face before responding.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. When I get married, it has to be a woman of my own choosing.”
“Well, Grandson, you’d better get busy because your mother had a head start.”
I groaned before saying, “I got something I need to take care of. I’ll see y’all later.”
