Bash smiled in acknowledgment, but Morgan could feel the anger coming from him. He hadn’t sent them.

“She deserves every petal,” he said.

Morgan smiled nervously as he pulled her close for a kiss. Morgan turned red as everyone oohed and aahed, but she knew these flowers weren’t from him.

“B, can you help me get them into the car?” Morgan asked.

“Sure,” she said. “I’m keeping a bouquet for my room, though,” she added.

Morgan half smiled and stepped to her car. She saw the card under her windshield.

Two simple words moved her to tears.

Congratulations, shorty.

They packed up the car, and Morgan said her goodbyes.

“My parents will drive your car back. You can ride with me,” Bash instructed.

“I can drive my—”

“Now, Morgan,” Bash said. She stilled but didn’t budge. It would be a long ride home.

Bash and Morgan sat in the parking lot silently as everyone pulled away. The twins had exhausted themselves, and both slept uncomfortably in their car seats. The silence and tension that filled the car was maddening.

“We used to be really good friends,” she said sadly. “This doesn’t feel the same anymore, Bash. Why can’t we go back to that? We used to laugh all the time. There were days when I couldn’t breathe, and you made me laugh. This pressure to be your wife. It’s too heavy. I don’t want—”

Bash reached out and gripped her chin roughly like she were a child he had to chastise.

“Stop talking,” he sneered. “I can’t believe he showed up here. You’re so ungrateful it’s not even funny.” He pushed her head away as Morgan’s eyes misted. “Did you call him?”

“No,” Morgan answered.

“Did you call him?” Bash demanded.

“No!” she shouted again. She didn’t know what Bash wanted her to say. She hadn’t spoken to Ahmeek, but she wasn’t mad that he had shown up. Just seeing him was enough to give her hope that he still cared.

Messari stirred, and Bash turned rage-filled eyes to the road as he threw the car in drive and pulled off recklessly.

“I’m beginning to feel like you’re not worth the trouble, Mo,” he said. “Not worth it at all.”

Morgan turned her head out the window so he couldn’t see her tears as he drove her back to his family’s estate.

12

“Aria, that dress!” Morgan gasped as Aria pulled back the curtain to the dressing room and stepped out into the boutique.

“Mommy, Auntie Ari is pretty,” Yara signed.

“Yes, she is, Yolly,” Morgan signed back.

“Tee-Tee, you look like a pwincess!” Messari yelled while jumping up and down in front of Aria, arms reaching up high for her to pick him up. She obliged him and gathered him up in her arms.