Loved By You

One-Hundred & seven

Maja

"You alright?" My mom asked me. I looked at her and smiled. "Yeah of course," I said. "Maja, your phone has been buzzing nonstop. Is everything okay?" Tia, Angelo's mom said with a concerned voice.

My mom, Tia, and Shaunie wanted to go out for lunch and I'm not one to decline free food. My phone had been going off with updates regarding all my newly acquired businesses and positions.

My email had been flooded with nonstop updates about any and everything.

I wasn't ready to tell anyone about this turn of events and that included my mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law. "We met with the wedding planner," I told them.

Which wasn't a lie, we did meet with the planner, and she was amazing. Both of my mother's faces lit up at that and my mom clapped excitedly.

Nicky tried to mimic her movements making me smile. "I know it was just the first meeting but how did it go?" Tia asked. "Umm, it was good," I said making the three of them frown.

"You didn't like her," Shaunie asked. "No, she was amazing. Her ability to execute different style weddings was truly inspiring." I explained.

"You don't seem happy or excited." My mom said. I shook my head. "I am. I love Angelo. He's a blessing and I couldn't ask for a better husband." I said as they smiled.

"I just—when I say this do not make it a whole thing, please," I said more so to my mom.

"I've told Angelo this, but I never saw myself getting married. I always saw my future with me, Sami, and with some work Dem. Having a husband or even a long-term boyfriend was never on my radar, and I was okay with that." I told them.

"Then I met Angelo," I said with a smile. "And like I said he's been amazing, so kind, so gentle, and so patient with me. I've talked to my therapist about this and it's something we're working on, so don't freak out. Apparently, I'm the type of person who doesn't allow myself to be fully in the moment because I'm a worrier." I said.

"Maja—," "I know, I know but it is how I lived my life for quite a while. It's hard to shake sometimes. So as excited as I am about this wedding—,"

"In the back of your mind you're preparing for the worst." Shaunie said.

I nodded my head. "Yes, but I'm surprisingly really excited and I think Angelo's excitement is rubbing off on me," I said. "I get that." She added.

"I know the situations aren't the same, but I felt exactly like that when I was adopted. I had gone through the process of being adopted twice before I was officially adopted by my family. And for like the first two-ish years as happy as I was I still thought I'd be sent back. It went away but it came back as my three youngest brothers were being born. I'm not super big on change because of my past." Shaunie explained. I nodded my head completely understanding.

"Shockingly what helped me get passed those thoughts was seeing all the memories we created as a family and my brothers' contagious happy energy. Because you know at mom's house she has pictures everywhere and it's just so homey. And the boys never made me feel like anything other than their big sister." Shaunie laughed leaning into her mom. I smiled.

"That's what Angelo said in a way. He said he wanted to make as many good memories as we could, and he's done that and more. The other night I woke up super early because I had a weird dream, and I accidentally woke Angelo up. He stayed up with me and we just talked and just thinking about it makes me smile." I said.

I looked at Mama Tia before reaching out and grabbing her hand. "I've been meaning to tell you this. You raised an exceptional man and I want to thank you for all that you and Eric did to create such a kind and caring person." I said as tears filled her eyes.