We pulled up to my parents’ extravagant home. It was well equipped with a maid and a cook. My father comes from old money and runs a successful business in new computer software that everyone uses. So to say my parents are wealthy was probably a slight understatement. Although they have money, they are the most understanding parents in the world. They don’t come with the snotty attitude most of their rich friends have. My dad’s old school, where my mom’s very new school. They balanced each other out a lot, I think. Ade stopped the truck and opened the door. I swung my door open just as my mom walked out of the massive front door, passing the ginormous white pillars.
“Honey!” she squealed, walking down the steps.
“Hey Mom,” I said hugging her tightly.
“Mom, this is Ade,” I said, pointing to Ade, who was standing next to me.
Her face blushed and she pulled him in for a hug. “Well, well, well, my girl has taste. Thank God. She gets that from me by the way.” She winked at Ade.
He laughed showing his perfectly straight teeth. “I don’t doubt that. Pleased to meet you.”
My dad walked down with a big cheesy smile on his face.
“Dad!”
“Hey, princess.” He pulled me in for a hug.
“Dad, this is, Ade. Ade…Dad.” I carried the same introductions. They shook hands and began walking back toward Ade’s car, with my dad admiring it.
And that was where I lost my parents to my boyfriend. He’d won them over in a matter of five minutes.
“The plans are nothing, baby,” he says.
We come to a stop, and I hear the truck door open with the sound of gravel crunching underfoot. He reaches my door, popping it open and lightly grasping my hand pulling me out of the truck.
We bought a truck, an Escalade. I wanted to upgrade my car. So instead, he bought me this and left my Mercedes at the clubhouse.
I follow him until I feel him stop. His hands come up to my eyes, and he gently removes the blindfold.
“Holy shit!” All the air leaves my body and my legs shake. “Holy shit, Ade,” I repeat and turn to him and he’s smiling.
“I know,” he says taking my hand and leading me to the masterpiece.
It’s stunning. The house sits down a long driveway with a rock garden in the middle so you can circle around the front door. There is a huge wraparound porch. It’s modern brick with so much flat land around the house you could almost build stables for some horses.
The house is still empty. He’s set on the fact that he wants me to decorate it. As soon as you walk through the door, to the right, there’s a flight of stairs.
He points to the stairs. “Seven bedrooms,” he states then winks at me.
“Seven?” I ask.
“Six kids, baby. They’ll have the best of everything.”
Right, I almost forgot about the six kid’s thing.
I follow him through to the open plan modern kitchen, and huge living room space that opens out to a massive back yard. The yard has so much potential and the living room is equipped with one of the biggest fireplaces I’ve ever seen. It’s beautiful.
“I love it,” I say to him with a smile and a tear pricking my eyes.
This is where we’re going to build our family together. He takes my hand, moving the engagement ring on my finger.
“I want to get married, here. This weekend,” he says.
I see he has that same look in his eyes. The look I’ve learned that means that this is final. I look out to the back yard and swallow.
“Of course, you do.”
He smiles, pulling me into him. “Is that, a yes?”
I smile and kiss him. “That’s a definitely.”
The weekend after he met my parents, he proposed to me in front of all our friends and family. Making sure my parents were there.
“Where are we going?” I asked as we were driving into town.
“I told you, we’re going out for dinner,” he said casually.
“Dinner? You’re wearing a suit, Ade. And I’m not complaining because, damn, that’s a sight to see. But you never wear a suit.” He looked edible. In a white crisp suit shirt, a black suit jacket was casually thrown over it and black pants with Chuck Taylors on.
He shrugged. “No big deal, baby.” I narrowed my eyes at him and he laughed.
“Babe, chill,” he said, taking my hand in his and kissing it lightly.
We pulled up to Vicky’s restaurant that she owns, and everything was dimly lit. I jumped out of the truck and he took my hand, pulling me toward the restaurant. He pushed open the glass doors and we rounded a corner to the room. The whole place was empty, no one else was there, and when I looked to the center of the room I saw a long table stretched out with all our friends and my parents sitting there.