Charlie's Angel

Prologue

"Who are you?" he asked with a chuckle. It took me a moment to realize what he meant. It's not that he didn't know me. He knew me; he asked because I had changed.

   I was different.

   All thanks to him, his nephew, our son, and my daughter. Their constant love during my struggles. The past four years had been the greatest and worst, and I looked at life differently. Positively. I smiled more, I wasn't as tense. The nightmares had stopped.

   All because of him, my best friend.

   "I don't know," I blushed, hiding behind my hand. "I'm still trying to figure that out."

   He looked away from me then, smiled at the ground. "Well when you figure it out, lemme know. Because I'm really diggin' this new you." He took a sip from his champagne glass filled with moscato. I followed his lead, but with a much smaller sip than he took.

His silver band on his forth finger caught the moonlight perfectly, and it made me melt. I only then realized I was messing with my own diamond clad band. My crystal sparkled under the star-speckled sky, and it warmed me up on the inside. I couldn't help my smile. The butterflies erupted awhile ago and hadn't let up, but I didn't mind too much. I learned awhile ago that they were here to stay and they were normal. I was in love - there wasn't a part of me that doubted that. This feeling was like nothing I've ever felt before. Cliche, right? The only feeling that I thought came close to this was nothing at all; it was deceit and nothing short of that.

"Any resolutions?" I asked him quietly, swirling the liquid in my flute around.

"Yeah," he grinned. "I wanna make another baby."

I sputtered out a laugh, and a little snort snuck out; I clasped my palm over my bright red face. "We have our hands full already, baby. This canal is closed."

His grin glimmered under the moonlight - it was almost magnetic. "Well, I'll tell you what. I'm not gonna try to get you pregnant again, but I'm also not gonna not try and knock you up. Deal?"

"If it happens, it happens," I echoed his words from before our previous child was conceived. I found myself smiling in remembrance. He blushed at my impersonation of him. "Alright, Brown. You got yourself a deal."

"Mommy, Mommy, come on!" Our attention was pulled to the back door leading into the living room where my daughter came rushing out, reaching up for both of our hands. She whined when we weren't moving fast enough. "The countdown has started! The fruit is falling!"

Chris handed me his empty glass and scooped my daughter into his arms, listening to her peal of giggles as he tossed her over his shoulder and tickled her sides. Her laughter was more like a shriek, and I cringed slightly. "Chris, be careful with her!"

He tossed her body onto the couch cushions, and he hit her with a pillow. "She's a tough cookie, baby. She's fine. Ain't you?"

"Yeah!"

Three, two, one.

"Happy New Year!" His arms lassoed around my waist from behind, slipping me backwards into his grasp so he could leave his inevitable kisses along my neck. "I love you, baby."

We were pushed apart by Paris, but she was giggling. "My turn, Daddy! Move!" With him out of the way, after jokingly kissing his teeth, she climbed into my arms and showered me with her own bout of sloppy kisses. "Happy New Year, Mommy! I love you more than Daddy!"

I returned her kisses and squeezed her into a tight hug before Chris swept her from me and continued his playful attack on her. "Oh do you? Huh? You love her more than me?!"

"Chris," I scolded through my giggle. "Keep your voice down before you wake up Isaiah and Jacob." Poor boys couldn't hang; they fell asleep hours ago, so they were already tucked into bed. "Paris, baby, you think it's time for bed?"

"Go brush your teeth, mama." Chris nudged her off towards the staircase, and she obliged without any protest. "I'll be up in a minute." He waited until she disappeared so he could wrap his arms around me, his lips inches away from my own. "Now, where were we?" Since we didn't bring the new year in with a kiss, he made up for it - by a long shot. It was passionate, spine-tingling, calming, a kiss a girl can only dream about. "I'ma go put her to bed and check on the boys. You be naked when I get back."

I hit his chest. "Chris, go!" I pecked his lips and unraveled his arms from around me so he could keep his promise to my daughter. He bounded up the stairs. I, on the other hand, took care of the dishes and cleaned up any mess we made. Sometimes it felt like we lived in a frat house by the mess that seemed to linger no matter how many times I cleaned. Two kids under the age of ten and a toddler was a lot of work, especially when your husband acts like a child himself. But I wouldn't change it for the world.

He took longer to return than expected, so I got myself comfortable outside on the patio with a light jacket covering my arms. The fireworks were exploding in the sky, shades of blues, yellows, and reds. I had the feeling Chris was letting Paris watch from her bedroom window, which was probably what was taking him so long.

"Aw, you not naked," he murmured as he came up behind me, and I giggled once again. "Nah, I'm fuckin' with you, baby." His right hand grasped my left. "You know I never asked you what your resolution is."

I began to remember the pain and the struggle I experienced to get to this point. The scares, the scars, the hospital visits, the...well, everything. I looked up at him - he was deep in thought but also waiting for my answer - and I smiled. "You know what? I don't really have one. I like where I am, right now with you. I just want to keep this up and keep getting better."

He let my hand go and pulled me next to him, his arm draped over my shoulder. He let his lips linger on my temple. "Then that's what we gon' do. We gon' get better together."

And that we did.