A/N: I will try my best to update two chapters today. But we will see how long I can pay attention and stop skipping ahead to chapters that I prefer LOL. Thanks for sticking with this. I have drama in mind for these two but don't know if I will have the fortitude to write it. I own nothing but my mistakes.

Fifteen

Sam

Mercedes tiptoes out of the room to check on Jessica. Even though I told her Jessica would sleep through the night, Mercedes insisted on checking on her. I hope she doesn't wake her because Jessica will be joining us in our bed for the rest of the night. And based on the past, that would mean a sleepless night for all of us.

This thought has me getting out of bed still naked to warn her, but my worries are unnecessary. She's slowly covering Jessica with a blanket. Once she's done, she kisses her fingertips and gently presses her fingers to my daughter's chubby cheeks. Jessica doesn't stir, but something inside of me does.

She frowns when she looks up and sees me watching her buck naked.

She leaves Jessica's room and goes to the bathroom and it's several minutes later that she returns with a tray of diced mangoes and pineapple and two water bottles. I take it from her, and she takes off that ugly pajama shirt off and gets back into bed.

""This has been the best honeymoon." she says a few minutes later.

"Really? Even though we have a baby with us and I had to work?"

She shrugs and says, "The cutest baby in the world. I love having her around, especially when you were working. We had fun on our own.."

"I also have enjoyed having her in Hawaii with me. You're not so bad either," I say to her. She looks up at me in surprise.

"Um, whatever," she says. She eats a piece of mango and looks away. I lift the tray and set it on the lamp table next to me and inch closer to her.

"Why are you so uncomfortable with compliments?"

"You're not so bad either is not a compliment," she says, crossing her arms.

She shrieks when I pull her and put her on top of me. I wrap my arms around her, keeping her in place.

"Shh," I remind her that Jessica is sleeping not too far away from us. Our eyes meet, and I tell her. "You're pretty, and I even love that scar on your face." I move one hand and touch her forehead. "Your lips are soft and sweet." I lean up and press mine to hers. She makes no attempts to move away. "And you already know how I feel about that rap star's girlfriend booty you got." I slap it and she manages to move out of my arms.

"You just had to ruin it," she sighs.

"I'm serious. I like living with you," I say. She's the first person I've ever said that aloud to. "Come here." I say and she does "Can I ask you something?" I ask. "And be completely honest with your reply."

"Only if I get to ask you questions and you answer honestly, too."

"You're really beautiful, sexy as hell, and compassionate," I begin. I feel her tense next to me. "You really are. What I don't understand is why you were still a virgin at twenty-seven?"

"What's the big deal about me being choosey?" she asks.

"I didn't say it's a big deal. I just want to know if you ever had a serious boyfriend?" When she shakes her head, I ask, "Why the hell not? You would have been my dream girlfriend. I would have wrote songs about you and made a fool out of myself to win your heart. That's what I don't understand."

"According to you, you've never had a girlfriend since high school. What difference does it make?" she asks.

Since I don't want to have another conversation about my past, I remain quiet.

"I went to a predominantly white private high school that my father paid for. My body type, skin color, inability to suck up to the popular kids, and the fact that I was in my school chorus made me very unpopular. I could count on one hand how many black people were in my grade level. Everything changed when the only boyfriend I ever had transferred to my school during our senior year. I thought he loved me. All he talked about was me having his cocoa babies to anybody he met. It could be a stranger on the street. I couldn't introduce him to my family because it would be embarrassing what my mom, Granny, Roz, or Junior would have said to him if he mentioned me having his cocoa babies around them. It would also have ended our relationship because my family would not allow me to date someone who was talking about babies at our age. All of my friends who met him hated him because they knew he was gaslighting me. It wasn't until I overheard him saying that I would never make it as a professional singer, but he was never going to tell me that. He was going to tell me whatever I wanted to hear, so he could get in my drawers and actually have his kids when he went professional because I was wife material not like the whores who were on our cheerleading squad who gave it up to all the football players on the regular."

She takes a breath before finally confessing: "He was only dating me because I was a virgin. He wasn't a virgin, and he was cheating on me with a tenth grade cheerleader. When I found out it broke my heart, and I vowed never to be played the fool again, so I have been incredibly picky with all the men I have dated ever since. I refused to be manipulated by a man who can't keep his dick in his pants and be honest."

"I understand," I say slowly.

"And I never wanted a guy to just see me as future wife material who he could put on a pedestal. When I went to college, I thought I would find somebody, but that is when my grandmother's health started to fail, by the time I had graduated, she had almost burned the house down three times. So, when I got the job at the hotel singing, I was relieved. I got to do what I wanted while spending time at home with Granny while my mom worked in the daytime. It was only when Junior moved back to Cleveland that I applied for the part-time manager position. Granny's condition wasn't that bad, and Junior didn't have a job, so he would sit with her when my mom and I were working. It wasn't until Junior got his job at the hotel that we noticed my Granny's mental acuity had taken a sharp decline. She kept getting worse and worse. She was probably already in the final stages of Alzheimer's disease, but we couldn't tell because Junior had the magic touch with her. She never gave him any problems, so we never knew the extent of her condition. Having mom, Roz, and Junior help out with Granny, meant I was able to go out on dates, but they all sucked," she admits. "How come you never decided to give someone a chance?"

"Are you kidding? And what let her see how awful my home life was before I became professional or take her home to meet my father after I became rich and famous? Can you imagine that? No way." I tighten my arm around her and kiss her forehead. "Besides, you didn't see the dump we lived in before. It was a raggedy trailer that leaked when it rained and had mold, and my father was practically a hoarder."

"You took me to meet him."

"Yeah, but we were already married. If you had met him before, you wouldn't have married me, and I wouldn't blame you. If I ever turn into him, I want you to take Jessica and leave."

"You know your father likely experienced some sort of trauma, right? Something happened, and it probably happened outside, according to my research on Google. Have you experienced any trauma?" she asks.

She says the same thing the shrink I saw said.

"My entire childhood was traumatic," I remind her.

"I'm talking about one life-altering event."

"My most life-changing event was leaving that crappy trailer. I wish I had it in me to never look back. Leave him and it behind."

"Well, you don't. You're doing the best you can." She moves from my chest and looks into my eyes. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

Our last night in Hawaii is spent lounging in the bedroom at the villa watching movies with Jessica and napping as a family in the bed. With the six-hour time difference between Ohio and Hawaii, it's after eight when we land in Ohio. The city is rainy and traffic-jammed, and by the time we make it to our apartment, it's almost nine o'clock and Jessica is not happy. Mercedes and I are not happy either because dealing with a hungry and upset child on an airplane and ride home is no easy feat.

Mercedes tends to Jessica's needs while I cook dinner. In the past, I would have had to do both, and because Jessica was hungry, it would have been a nightmare. Now that she's clean and not hangry, my little girl is happily playing in the corner with her toys while I continue to cook. Mercedes has set the table, and when the food is done the three of us eat dinner like any other family. At least that's what I think other families do. Either way, I want this to become our norm. I want to eat dinner with my wife and daughter every night, and on those nights when I'm traveling for work, I plan on video calls so we can still eat together.

Once dinner is done, Mercedes cleans Jessica again and then helps me clear the table and load the dishwasher.

"That was fun," she says. "I love Hawaii. I want to visit more of the islands next time I go." She says wistfully.

"We should have a real honeymoon that doesn't include me having to work," I suggest before thinking.

"Really?" Her eyes widened in anticipation. "Can we go anywhere in the world?"

"Where do you want to go?"

"I've always wanted to go to the Scottish highlands," she says, surprising me. "And London. I saw this movie once that took place in Barcelona and it looked nice. So did Milan and—"

"Whoa," I say, cutting her off. "We'll have Jessica so we can't do too much. Pick two cities and we'll go. I have some time before training camp."

I wait for her to be disappointed at having to take Jessica. That's one of the things Puckerman warned me about a few months ago. He and Marley sat me down and told me to be careful who I bring around my daughter. Mike gave me a similar lecture, but Puckerman told me about a specific issue he had before he met his wife.

"Oh, I know," she says. I hold my breath and wait for her to suggest we leave Jessica with her mother or the Changs. "I'll ask Marley for recommendations. She's always finding the most amazing kid-friendly resorts." She claps her hands and grins from ear to ear. I exhale in relief at not having to shut down any thoughts of leaving my daughter behind. Unless I'm working, she goes where I go. Mercedes runs to me and grabs my collar. "You think we can go soon?"

I nod slowly at her.

"Yes!" she says before she hugs me. Then she cups my face, gets on her toes, and kisses me. She ends the kiss much too fast, and I have no time to wrap my arms around her. "Come on, Jessie." She goes and picks up my daughter. "Let's go read some books. Your vocabulary is growing. So, we're going to read every night now."

"Go take a break or something," Melinda Jones says to me. She lifts Jessica up and kisses her cheek. "Let me have some grandma time. When Grandma's here, you can go and do your own thing." She lets out a big sigh. "My ex-husband is with Mom today. I didn't have the energy to cuss his ass out. I need a break from that depressing place." Granny was discharged from the hospital and went to rehab the day we flew to Hawaii. "But go," she waves me off, "I need a night not to think about that, and making dinner here is just the distraction I need."

Jessica bounces in her arms. She even grabs one of her locks and yanks, but Melinda barely flinches.

"You'll need me here with her while you cook," I tell her. There are plenty of nights that I cook with her following me around the kitchen.

"Boy, please. This ain't nothing. Go get some air or go take a nap. I've got this. All parents need a break sometimes."

She's not wrong. It's been nice having Mercedes here. In no time at all, we started working as a team. Either I cook while she takes care of Jessica, or she'll cook while I have her. We take turns bathing her each night, or we do it together. She reads to her, and they practice their letters. When we put her down to sleep, Mercedes sings to her new songs she has written.

"I'll take you up on that," I tell her. I stand, kiss her cheek, and say goodbye to my daughter. "I'll be back in a couple of hours." I close the door behind me before Jessica starts to cry or before Melinda changes her mind. I remain behind the door and wait for her to cry, but all I hear are Melinda's high-pitched voice and Jessica being happy to be adored.

Mercedes

The apartment is pandemonium when I get home from work. Jessica has the kitchen in a mess while mom cooks. I look for Sam, and he is outside on the balcony with his phone to his ear, and from the way he rolls his eyes to the sky, I'm certain he's talking to his father.

Then something changes in his eyes, and I'm no longer certain who's on the other line. I see a side of him I've never seen before. I've never known him to be angry. Most days he's playful with some mischievousness thrown in. I've seen him annoyed. Annoyed at me for judging him, annoyed at his life's circumstances, but never angry. He yanks the phone from his ear and ends the call. When he's done, he tosses the phone on a chair.

While everyone is distracted, I open the sliding glass door and step outside. His back is to me, but I know he must hear me close the door. He doesn't look my way when I clear my throat, so I approach and rest my hand between his shoulder blades.

"What happened? Was that your dad?" He hangs his head and runs his hands through over his head.

"Nah. That was Jessica's grandmother." He lets out a little laugh that lacks any amusement. "She heard about my marriage and called to give me the riot act. She asked the Lord to forgive her and proceeded to call me all kinds of names. Threatened to come and get her granddaughter and raise her right because that whore I married will lead to nothing but destruction. Then she went on about Sodom and Gomorrah and that you'll turn into a pillar of salt. After that, she quoted Revelations and compared you to the Whore of Babylon or something. I'm not sure."

It takes me a few moments for his words to register. "Oh hell to the naw. She really is insane, isn't she?" When he nods, I throw my head back and let out a laugh. I laugh so hard, I have to hold my stomach. Sam finally laughs too. He sits at the small table and chairs, and motions for me to join me.

"I told her to kiss my white ass and never call me again."

"You have been hanging around my mother and Roz too much. What the hell is her problem?" I ask. "And what makes her think she has the right to tell you what to do with your own kid?"

"She said I stole Jessica from her, and she's the only one who can save her from the pathway to hell that you and I are leading her on."

I roll my eyes at that. "Whatever. Anyway, forget about that," I say. "I talked to Marley today, and you won't believe this, they're going to a resort in Lake Como in a few weeks and said that we should join them." I put both hands to my head. "That's in Italy where George Clooney lives," I whisper.

"I know where Lake Como is," he says. "Does that look on your face mean you want to go?" I widen my eyes at him for asking me such a stupid question. "We'll go, but it's part one of our honeymoon. You still owe me some time alone with just you and Jessica.."

I grab his bicep and pinch him. "Hell yeah, I want to go. What kind of stupid question is that?" I stand and clap my hands together. "I need to get a passport, and Marley says I can get it expedited. I'm so excited.." He tugs me back on his lap and kisses me before I can say another word. He wraps his arm around me, and I give in to the kiss, opening my mouth for him.

"That's more like it," he says against my mouth. We kiss like that for a long time, and I forget about the delicious-smelling dinner my mom is cooking. That is, until someone taps on the other side of the sliding glass door.

We end the kiss just as my mom slips out the door. Jessica runs behind her with a doll in each hand. Sam picks her up and puts her on his other leg.

"Dinner is ready," my mom proudly announces, She picks Jessica up and she throws her dolls on the floor so her hands are free to reach out to my mom.

"I want to start doing Sunday family dinners. We'll take turns hosting with Roz, but we need to start back again."

"Again?" Sam asks me.

"We always did it," I told him. "Roz and my mom would take turns hosting, but when Granny got sick, we stopped. You think we can host here?" I whisper and I can tell that he doesn't like the question. "Why are you frowning?"

"This is your home. Of course we can host. You can do whatever you want here. You don't have to ask." Wow that must means he trust me a lot. I am the first woman that is not a nanny to live with him, and he is willing to allow my family to come over whenever they want to.

"This Sunday," I tell my mom. "Sam and I will host. We'll cook." Sam and my mother nod as if it's decided.

My mother doesn't leave until almost eleven o'clock. She embarrasses me by opening her photo album on her phone, and I watched as she bombarded Sam with pictures of me from infancy to adulthood. There was a story with every picture, and I was surprised to found him laughing for most of the night. Of course, that means Jessica's routine was pushed back because she wouldn't leave Melinda alone, and she had a fit when Sam took her away to bathe her.

"You all appear to be a happy family," My mom says as if she shocked to find out that it was true. Being with Sam and Jessica had made me very happy indeed.

"I am very happy," I say and realize that all of us were because as long as Jessica was happy, Sam was happy as well.

"I don't like the sound of that," Tina says to me. It's the end of the workday, and I'm sitting in her office catching up on the past few days. She leans back in her chair and rests her hand on her belly. She looks down and smiles. "They're kicking," she says. "I have two little soccer players in here." Then she looks up and giggles. "Don't tell their daddy. He's probably hoping they're little baseball players."

I quickly get up and put my hand on her stomach. I'm soon rewarded with a flutter of little kicks. Tina then lifts her shirt and I see movement in her stomach. I put my hands to my face in awe at the sight.

"Wow," I say, touching her stomach again.

"Yeah. Mike spends all night looking at or touching my stomach," she says.

"I'm sure he spends his time doing more than that. That's how he put two babies in your stomach to begin with." She gives me the side-eye as she puts her shirt back down, and I throw my head back and laugh.

"Tell me more about this woman who called you a recent virgin, a whore," she says, going back to what we had been talking about. And I do. I tell her the conversation that I had with Sam and what a lunatic Jessica's grandmother sounds like.

I leave out the part about Sam being worried last night that Jessica has crazy people on both sides of her family. Those are the actual words he used, and because he was worried, I did not admonish him for using the word crazy.

"Me, of all people, a whore," I say with a giggle. "But whatever. Maybe it's grief talking, but Sam told her to go screw herself and not to call him again."

Tina nods and stands. She lets out a loud groan as she does it.

"Don't pay me any any attention. How was Hawaii? And how did you like Mike's family's private plane?"

"I don't know how I can ever fly commercial again," I joke. Not only did they let us use the plane to go to upstate Ohio, but the company Sam was working with chartered a plane for us too. "No wonder you're so spoiled," I tell my friend.

She shrugs, but she must know it's true. She comes from a similar economic background as me, except her parents are still married. She was divorced from her high school sweetheart Artie and managing the hotel we worked at when she met Mike. At the time, she had no idea he was a Chang behind the Chang Group, the parent company we work for.

"Hawaii was amazing." I spent the next half hour telling her about everything we did and saw while we were there. I mentioned that Sam promised to take us back next year for a few days.

"Tell me about you and Sam." She finally sits back down and waits for me to speak. I feel myself blush.

"I might have been wrong about him," I begin. "Learning more about him and his family's background, I realize that I judged him too harshly."

"How does he treat you?"

"Very good. He is always a gentleman with me opening doors, pulling my chair out for me. He holds my hand when we're out. And the weirdest thing is that he's so happy and appreciative of the little things that I do for him. I'm talking about basic stuff. I'll make him a fruit salad, and he'll act like I gave birth to Jessica. The other day, the housekeeper called in sick so I did the laundry and cleaned the apartment while he was at a meeting, and he acted like I was Mary Poppins." I shrug as if I'm confused, but I get it. If I hadn't met his father, it would be a mystery, but Sam has never had anyone to take care of him before.

He got stuck as the parent in the house with his father, then he became a father at a young age. While I believe Dwight loves him, I don't think Sam's ever felt unconditional love from an adult before. A big part of me hurts for that little boy.

"Yeah, he hasn't always had it easy," is all Tina says. "I don't know the details, but he's a good person. Mike is like his mentor slash big brother. As long as he's good to you, I won't have to put my hands on him."

"So far, so good," I tell her. It's better than good, but I keep that to myself. He's everything I've been looking for in a man. He doesn't look like how I pictured my husband to look, but he's handsome and sexy as hell. Other than that, he checks all my other boxes. "And you know I'd do the same for you, even though I don't have to worry about Mike. But I still have my eyes on Artie Abrams, so don't worry about him."

At that, she throws her head back and laughs.

"I had forgotten all about him."

"How can you forget about all that crap he put you through?"

"Who cares?" she asks. "I don't." She opens her mouth to say more, but her office door opens and her husband looms large and dominating at the threshold. He goes right to her, and Sam follows behind him with Jessica strapped to his chest.

"Say Say," she says when she sees me. She claps her little hands, and I walk to them. I get up on my toes even though I am wearing heels and kiss her sweet little cheeks. When I'm done, I look up at Sam, and he bends down to kiss me far too indecently for company.

Then he smacks me on the ass. The movement is so shocking, I almost die of embarrassment.

"I can't get enough of that booty," he whispers in my ear, then he looks up and wiggles his brows.

I begin to feel flushed as I remember how he came into the bathroom this morning while I brushed my teeth. He stood behind me, and as soon as I was done, pulled down my panties, bent me over, and fingered me until I went insane. After that, he got on his knees and ate me out from behind. I was on the brink of orgasm when he stopped, turned me over, picked me up, and screwed me into an orgasm on the sink.. Then he stripped naked and jumped in the shower, leaving me stunned and breathless.

Sam breaks our stare long enough to unstrap Jessica and put her down. She runs right to Tina, but Mike scoops her up first.

"How about the five of us go out to get some dinner?" Mike suggests, and when we all agree, he calls his assistant to reserve us a private room somewhere.

"I want to go and see Granny after dinner," I whisper to Sam. I've only seen her a few times this week, and I feel guilty about that. The times I did see her, she was quiet and didn't say more than a few words about the TV show she was watching.

"Mike, you should make me and Mercedes the face of your hotel chain," Sam says. "The slogan could be The Chang Group beds are strong enough to take on newlyweds."

"Can someone correct him?" I manage to say between laughs. "Do you have to be so embarrassing all the time?"

"Let me get marketing on that," Mike says. "And thanks for putting that visual in my head." He says sarcastically before putting Jessica down and grabbing his phone. "Let's go eat. Hopefully, I'll still have an appetite after that visual and his insane proposal," he mumbles.