Page 90 of Widow Mayker

“About that,” he drawled, and I sheepishly grinned. “Don’t think because I didn’t mention it, that I didn’t know about it. Dex had ya back.”

Dex…

“I can’t believe Antonias was able to save him.” Although he was clinging to life, Dex would hopefully pull through this. Watching his body hit the ground and seeing him unmoving was still cemented in my mind.

“I’m learning that this family is resourceful when they need to be.”

I smacked my teeth and chuckled. Then the laughter died on my lips.

“Are you sure Maja is okay? And Von? Is there an update on him?” My heart rate increased.

“Aht, aht…” Kody shushed me and kissed my forehead. “Maja is resting. Von is touch and go, but I’m confident that nigga ain’t goin’ anywhere. If he doesn’t fight for anything else, he’s gon’ fight for Maja.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I agreed.

“Of course, I am. Now, let’s talk about whether or not you ready to be Mrs. McAroy.”

My heart rate increased again. This time because Kody surprised me. The monitor blared, signaling that my heart raced out of control.

Seconds later, Sean peeked his head into my room. “Everything cool?” he asked.

Kody chuckled because I stared at him with my eyes as round as saucers. “Yeah, she’s good. I’m kind of in the middle of professing my love and proposing to my girl, so…”

“Oh, shit. My fault,” Sean said and eased on back out the door.

“Back to what I was saying,” Kody continued as if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb on me. I burst into tears. “I love you, Heir.”

“Oh, my, God!” Those words broke me so beautifully.

“This wasn’t the way I wanted to ask you, but I refuse to wait any longer. Heir, you fell out of the sky with me, baby.”

Sniffling through my tears, I replied, “You kind of didn’t give me a choice.”

He grinned. “I did give you a choice, and you chose to trust me. I’m askin’ you to trust me with the rest of ya life. Can you do that for me, mama?”

He reached into the pocket of his joggers and produced a tiny box that he opened and revealed a gorgeous square cut diamond ring. Instantly, I remembered the ring.

“We went to Peru together, and you tried this ring on. From that day forward, you solidified that I would be sliding it on ya finger. My Heir…you truly are my air, baby. Trust is something we both fought hard to have for each other. I once told you that the only remedy for me was to give a fuck. The minute I decided to give a fuck about you, I knew I would never turn back. I knew that this day was inevitable, and there’s no question that I will lay my life down for you. I want you to carry my last name, our children, and our legacy. Will you do that for me?”

My whole body felt Kody’s words, and my fingers trembled as I held my hand out to him.

“I love you, Kody, and if you asked me to, I’d fall again,” I managed to say through the torrential downpour of tears that fell. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Kody slid the ring on my finger, and for the first time, I noticed that his fingers trembled too. Although a machine, Kody’s heart was so soft for me. There was no way I couldn’t make this official with him. I wasn’t doing this life with anyone else.

MAJA

Jarring awake, the first thing I noticed was that I was laying on a gurney, dressed in scrubs, with an IV hooked up to me. Frantically, my eyes darted around the room until they landed on Adir, who stood in the corner of the room, leaned against the wall. He looked unbothered and watched me quietly. Sitting up, I snatched the IV out of my hand and nearly toppled over when I tried to get off the gurney.

“Easy,” Adir said. He was by my side and placing me back on the gurney.

“No! I need to get to…to…” I couldn’t say Von’s name. He was dead, and I couldn’t save him!

“Von is down the hall. He’s on life support, May—”

“No!”

“—Which means he’s alive,” Adir continued. He held me to his chest as I broke down crying. “He’s alive, sweetheart. Calm down so we can talk.”