by Tina Martin
In the stillness of the room, their hot bodies joined together, they made love for the first time in a long time, reclaiming their love for each other.
Afterwards, Tyson assured her, “Gabrielle, I know us making love is not a fix for our issues. I know we still need to talk and work things out. I just...I just needed you.”
“I needed you just as much, Tyson.”
He kissed her neck and tightened his arms around her. “When we’re up in the morning, over breakfast, we’ll talk. Is that okay?”
“Yes. That’s okay.”
Chapter 35
Over the next couple of days, Gabrielle and Tyson managed to work out their differences and frustrations. Tyson finally understood how much he had hurt her and vowed to never do it again. He admitted that he had trust issues because of his past, but he promised to never take it out on her. Gabrielle, he knew, loved him and would never hurt him. They were both new to marriage and had a lot to learn about each other.
* * *
When they arrived back to Southern Shores today, him trailing her in his jeep, Gabrielle pulled up at Padma’s place, jumped out of the car and ran to the front door. She missed baby T.J. and she wanted nothing other than to kiss his sweet, chubby cheeks.
Padma opened the door with T.J. in her arms and Gabrielle nearly cried she was so happy to see him.
“Oh, look at my sweet baby boy,” she said, scooping him into her arms. “You miss your mommy? You miss your mommy?” She could’ve sworn he smiled at her. She left kisses all over his face.
Padma looked and saw Tyson walking down the sidewalk towards the front door and before he came up the stairs, she quickly asked Gabrielle, “So have you and Tyson patched things up?”
“Yes, we have.”
“Oh, I’m so happy,” Padma exclaimed.
Once Tyson was standing next to Gabrielle, he looked at his son and said, “Hey, T.J.,” giving him a kiss in the forehead. “How did he do, Padma?”
“He was a piece of cake with his adorable, little self.”
“I can’t wait to take him home tonight,” Gabrielle said.
“No, no, no. You and Tyson got some making up to do,” she said, raising a brow. “Y’all go on home. I’ll keep Tyson Junior one more day.”
“Oh, Padma, you don’t have to do that,” Gabrielle told her.
“I want to.”
Gabrielle turned to Tyson and said, “What do you think?”
“I think Padma is on the right track. Plus, that will give us time to get the house back in order.”
Gabrielle smiled. “Okay.”
* * *
When they arrived home, Gabrielle went upstairs to get some of her things out of the guest bedroom. She told Tyson that she’d be right back.
She kicked off her shoes and allowed her hair to fall free after removing a ponytail holder. When she turned around, she saw Tyson standing in the doorway. His arms were crossed and he had an inquisitive, reminiscent look on his face.
“You remember our first kiss was in this bedroom,” he told her.
Gabrielle smiled.
“Actually, wait...I take that back,” Tyson said. “You kissed me first downstairs, then you came up here, I followed, and finished the job.” He walked closer to her. “You remember that, Gabrielle?”
Of course she remembered. Every woman remembers her first kiss, and with a man like Tyson kissing you, you remembered every detail. She could easily recall how she seemed to be losing cognitive functions in her brain, how her legs went weak, how her heart nearly beat out of her chest. When his tongue slid into her mouth, she thought she would just die of a pleasure overload. When the kiss was over, she remembered him smiling.
“Gabrielle?”
She blinked quickly and looked at him. “Yes?” she said. How did she not know that he was standing directly in front of her now?
After sending a kiss to her temple, they fell onto the bed, made love again, then he held her in his arms. Face-to-face they lie there in the center of the bed, hearing nothing but the sound of their own breaths. Smelling the intoxicating aroma of their love. Feeling the warmth and dampness of their own skin.
“I’ve been thinking,” Tyson said.
“About what?”
“I’m not sure if I want to leave Roanoke Island...not sure if I want to leave this house.”
Gabrielle smiled. “Why the change of heart? You were so intent on moving further inland.”
“I know.”
“And you wanted a backyard, grass and a dog.”
“Yeah.”
“So why’d you change your mind?”
He ran his fingers through her hair and said, “Because this is our home. I think you like this house more than I do.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
“We could upgrade...tack on another bedroom if need be. I for sure need to get an office space since we’re going to have little ones running around.”
“Little ones...wait a minute now...one is plenty right now,” she said, then laughed.
He laughed, too. “Yeah. T.J. is a handful now, but I’m talking in the future. I was content with working right there in the kitchen, but now, I think I need my own office space.”
“You’re right. You do need your own space.”
“And,” he said, brushing hair away from her temple and pressing his lips there. “You know what else I was thinking?”
“What’s that?”
“I thought about how nice it would be for you to have your own little business venture.”
Gabrielle sat up. “What business venture?”
“Well, you remembered how you told me about your idea to start a bakery?”
Her eyes brightened. “Yes...”
“Well, I think I know of a perfect location for it.”
She frowned.
“That’s not the reaction I was expecting,” Tyson said.
“I like the idea, Tyson, but I thought you wanted me to be a stay-at-home mother.”
“That is what I wanted, but that’s not what you want. Now, I understand your need to be a part of something. I get it. And I want you to know that all I want is for you to be happy. I want us to spend the rest of our lives together. Happy.”
“Wow, Tyson. This is...um...wow. First, you don’t want to move, which I love and second, you don’t mind if I had my own bakery, which I also love. You’re really beginning to loosen up a bit.”
He grinned. “Almost losing you has opened up my eyes to a lot, Gabrielle. I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever want to feel that sour feeling in the pit of my gut again, so that means I must do everything in my power to make you happy.”
She smiled, inhaled deeply and said, “And you’re sure you want to stay here?”
“Yes. I’m sure. It’s where our family is. Padma is like a mother to you.”
“Yes, she is.”
“Quite frankly, I think my mother is a little jealous at how well you two get along.”
She giggled. “I love Rena, too.”
“I know you do, sweetheart.” He left a kiss on her cheek. “And then there’s Ms. Beatrice.”
“She’s the grandmother I never had,” Gabrielle said.
“With her country self.”
Gabrielle laughed again. “Yeah. That’s my Beatrice. Love her so much.”
“Who else? Heshan...”
“Speaking of Heshan, I saw him talking to you when we had dinner at Padma’s. Are y’all cool now?”
“Yeah. We’re good.”
“Yay,” Gabrielle said, and kissed his lips. “I’m glad Prasad and Lalita worked things out.”
“Me too. They’ll be our only date-night couple for now. If Heshan would go ahead and holla at Charity, we might have another couple to hang out with.”
“Wait...are you talking about Charity, the volunteer waitress from the restaurant?”
“Yep.”
“Oh my goodness. I saw him checking her out a while ago, but I didn’t think anything of it.�
�
“Yeah, he likes her.”
“That would be awesome if they got together. They would make a cute couple.”
“Yeah, they would.”
“You know what I wish, Tyson?”
“What’s that, sweetie?”
“I wish my father and Destiny could be closer to us. I miss them, and I know Destiny is lonely now that Carmen is in college.”
“Well, I might have a solution to that as well. Imagine this...while you’re busy being my hot baby mama, there’s something going awry at the bakery. I can’t be there, you can’t be there, so there needs to be a manager there...someone who we both know we can rely on.”
“You are something else, you know that?”
“You think he’ll go for it?”
Gabrielle thought about it for a moment and said, “I’m not sure. He doesn’t have the experience. My father is more of a hard, physical labor type of worker.”
“So I’ll school him. As a matter of fact, my guy Patrick Goodwin who manages my Atlanta restaurant would be more than happy to come up here and spend a couple of weeks training him.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Really.”
Gabrielle smiled, then kissed his chest.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Tyson said. “When you said you felt like you didn’t deserve me, what did you mean?”
“Oh, gosh, Tyson...don’t make me talk about that.”
“We need to, because that bothers me, sweetie,” he said, then lightly pressed his lips against her nose. “Talk to me.”
“Um...I said it because, from day one, I’ve always felt like you were greater than me.”
“How so, because I’ve never made you feel that way?”
“I know, Tyson, and I’m not implying that you tried to flaunt your success in front of me. I just felt so...so lowly. I mean, here I am living with you and I come from nothing. My mother left, my father struggled to raise us girls and I guess I always looked at myself like I was a lost cause. After graduating from high school, I was looking forward to going right into the workforce so I could help out my father and my sisters. I never thought a man could love me...especially a man like you.”
“Well you have me for life, Gabrielle, and I want you to know that I don’t care where you came from. I don’t care how much money your family has...none of that concerns me. All I need to know is that you love me.”
Gabrielle smiled. “Yes. I love you, Tyson Alexander.”
“I love you, too, sweetheart.”
Chapter 36
In he days following their reconciliation, their lives slowly began to return to normal. Tyson had the guest bedroom completely overhauled into a little boy’s room with baseball themed items – lamps curtains, rugs, wall decals – it had to have been the most stylish and cutest nursery in town.
He’d also contacted Jack Kline Construction, a company referred to him by his father, so he knew he was working with reputable individuals. He had a meeting lined up with them to discuss plans for adding an additional bedroom downstairs as well as an office space.
Gabrielle was busy being a mom and now that the air was clear of a lot of drama and nonsense, she could enjoy her baby even more. Every time she looked into his eyes, she was reminded of his father and how wonderful of a man he was. She hoped that when he grew up, he’d be just like him.
Tyson cut his hours drastically at Padma’s restaurants because he simply needed more time with his family. He wanted to be there for T.J.’s firsts – first time he crawled, walked, said mommy or daddy – he missed his birth but he wouldn’t miss anything else.
Today, they were heading for Greenville, going to spend the weekend with Gabrielle’s father, Henry and her sister Destiny. They hadn’t seen baby T.J. since he was born so Gabrielle suggested to Tyson that they go this weekend. While they were there, she and Tyson would present to him the idea of a career change – of being a manager at Gabrielle’s new bakery opening next summer.
“You ready to go, my love?” Tyson asked, starting the jeep.
Gabrielle looked at Tyson’s cute dimples that looked even cuter with the baseball cap he wore on his head. “Yes, I’m ready. I got the diaper bag and T.J. is sleeping soundly.”
He leaned close to her. Gabrielle tilted her head so that she could accept his kiss. His lips.
When they parted, she smiled, filled with intense joy that Tyson was her man. They’d been put through a lot to test their loyalty to each other, but they came out victorious in the end, fully in love with each other and no one would ever break the bond they shared.
* ~ *
- The End -
He’s the character everyone loves to hate, but Dilvan Alexander has his own story. Look for, Dilvan’s Redemption (The Alexanders, Book 5), coming soon. Be sure to check www.tinamartin.net for release dates on all upcoming novels.
