Page 141 of Certified To Handle You 2

Pluto took a sip and nodded. “This good.”

“Everything I give you good,” I told her while liftin’ my own glass.

She rolled her eyes, but that blush came back across her face.

I reached for her hand again after settin’ my glass down. “I need you to know somethin’.”

“What?” Pluto asked while lookin’ into my eyes.

“I feel blessed as fuck to still have you,” I told her. “I ain’t sayin’ that to make this trip sad or bring up the hospital. I just need you to know I understand what I got. You my wife, the mother of my babies and the best part of every life I done lived.”

Her eyes started gettin’ glossy, and I leaned forward before she could look away. I kissed her knuckles, then held her hand.

“I love you, Pressure,” Pluto said soft.

“I love you more than all this shit,” I replied. “More than the island, the money and every business with my name attached to it. None of it mean shit if I ain’t got you beside me.”

Pluto smiled through the emotion on her face, and I reached across the space to wipe under one of her eyes.

“And don’t be callin’ them kids every thirty minutes,” I added. “They good.”

Pluto laughed and shook her head. “I wasn’t going to call every thirty minutes.”

“You was gon’ call before this jet got off the ground.”

“I was going to check on Isley.”

“Isley with my mama, my daddy and enough nannies to start a daycare,” I reminded her. “My baby probably forgot we exist already.”

“But it’s all good,” I said. “These two weeks belong to me and you. We usin’ every minute.”

Pluto looked at me for a long moment before noddin’. “Okay.”

I leaned across the space between us and cupped the side of her face. Then I kissed my wife slow, takin’ my time while the engines grew louder around us. When I pulled back, her eyes stayed closed for another second before she smiled.

The jet started movin’ toward the runway, and I sat back while keepin’ her hand inside mine. For the first time in months, I wasn’t lookin’ at Pluto and thinkin’ about everything that almost went wrong.

I was lookin’ at my wife and thinkin’ about everything we still had left to live.

We was leavin’ Trill-Land to rest, pray, explore and find our way back to every part of each other we had been missin’.

This time, I wasn’t lettin’ Pluto to carry none of it by herself.

I had her, and for the next two weeks, my wife wasn’t gon’ lift one finger unless it was to reach for me.

SOLÉYA, NAMBARA.

Me and my wife had been in Soléya for three days, and I spent every minute makin’ sure Pluto ain’t have to think about nothin’ except breathin’, restin’ and enjoyin’ herself.

The villa I rented sat high enough in the hills for us to see the water from almost every room. The whole place was built out of pale stone and dark wood with wide doors that opened toward the ocean. There was a private pool behind the bedroom, a mineral bath built into the side of the terrace and enough spacearound us that we could go hours without seein’ another person unless I called for somebody.

I had people available whenever we needed food, transportation or anything else, but I made sure nobody stayed around long enough to interrupt us. I ain’t bring Pluto all the way across the world to have strangers movin’ through our space every five minutes. I wanted my wife to wake up, open her eyes and know the only person she had to deal with was me.

The first mornin’, Pluto slept until almost noon.

Usually, that woman couldn’t stay in bed without wonderin’ who needed breakfast, whether Isley had ate or what the boys had got into while she was sleep. The second her eyes opened, she reached toward the nightstand for her phone. I caught her wrist before she could grab it and pulled her against my chest.

“The kids good, baby,” I told her while kissin’ the side of her face. “Yo’ job today is to lay here and let me love on you.”