Ivy's Twisted Vine Redux Latrivia Nelson (best selling autobiographies .txt) 📖

no more your fault than my own. Don’t worry. I’ll figure something out. For now, just keep cool. Don’t go confessing to Brooks or Ivy. And don’t start to act all funny. Be yourself.”

“That’s pretty hard to do.”

“Well when it starts to get hard, think of the alternative. We could always fess up to Brooks.”

“Yeah, right. He’d leave me, but he’d kill you.” She rolled her eyes. “I just don’t want to lose Brooks again. I love him so much. If he ever found out…”

“He won’t.” Nicola gave Trina an assuring nod, turned and left her in the room alone.

Chapter Seventeen: Change of Heart

Chapter 17

CHANGE OF HEART

“Share the cover,” Brooks said struggling with Trina who hogged the chenille throw as they lay opposite each other on Brooks’ den couch.

“Get your own,” Trina said laughing and ignoring the overly agitated Brooks.

They had spent the entire day cuddled up in the house together cooking, eating, watching movies, pampering one another and making love. It was Brooks’ recipe for reconciliation with Trina whenever they had a fall out. Now in an extra pair of Brooks’ pajamas, Trina sat on his den couch with her hair in large pink foam rollers and her face hard as rock from a Mary Kay facial mask

Brooks sat opposite of her, holding on to the remote and flipping violently through the channels. “There is nothing on any of these worthless ass channels. We should rent a movie.”

“Whatever you want, baby. You want some cookies?” Trina asked her deep southern drawl.

“Homemade?” Brooks asked. Her country slang made him smile. She was such a down-home sister who knew all the ways to make him content.

She was oblivious to his observations and wrapped up in her own thoughts. “No,” she said touching her face. “There’s some Pillsbury cookie dough in the freezer, though.”

“Chocolate chip?” Brooks took his eyes off the television for a brief moment.

“Yep,” Trina smiled. “Is your mask ready yet?”

“Feels like it.” Brooks touched his face. “I don’t know how you got me to put a damned facial mask on in the first place?”

“Baby, you need to exfoliate your skin more.” Trina crawled over to Brooks and laid on his chest. She searched his face. “Do you love me?” Her eyes were bright with anticipation.

“Yes,” he said staring her in eyes. “If I didn’t love you, do you think I’d let you put mud on my face?”

Trina smiled. “No,” she rubbed through his hair. “Brooks, I love you so much.” She hoped that he believed her.

And he did. Brooks rubbed her face and kissed her forehead. She was really a wonderful and patient woman. He appreciated those qualities in her and felt extremely guilty for his many indiscretions.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Trina asked curiously.

“Looking at you like what?”

“Like you’re just now noticing that I’m here.” Trina shrugged her shoulders. “Like I haven’t always been here.”

Brooks stammered. “I don’t think I have noticed you for a long time.”

This was news to Trina who always thought that she was the apple of his eye, unmistakable in his view. She grabbed the remote and turned off the television, getting rid of any distraction. “Go on,” she said seeing he needed to get something off of his chest.

“Watching Nicola deal with the possibility of having twins with Ivy has really made me look at our little situation. He tries to front like he doesn’t love her, but I see the change in him.” Brooks rubbed through Trina’s hair.

“Really?” The mention of Nicola’s name made Trina extremely nervous.

“Yeah. I think having children does that for a people who really need to fill a void in their lives. I mean, you get up and do this job day in and day out for other people. But sometimes, you want to believe that you’re it doing for yourself. Having a child to live for…well.” Brooks sighed. “That changes things for a man.”

“But I thought that you said Nicola didn’t think the twins were his?”

“Oh, he wants them to be. Why else would he have sworn off sex?” Brooks chuckled.

“Nicola swore off what?” Trina was baffled by the thought.

“This is the longest I’ve ever seen him go without it in my entire life. He says that he needs clarity.”

“What do you think?”

“I think that he needs Ivy,” Brooks said simply. “But this conversation doesn’t go any further than these four walls. If he wants her to know how he feels, he’ll tell her. That is once he figures it out for himself.”

“What does all of this have to do with us?” Trina rubbed his chest.

“You’re going to think I’m crazy.” Brooks hesitated.

“No, I won’t. Tell me.” She held her breath.

“Okay. I…I want to start a family.”

“Don’t play with me,” Trina said pushing his hand away. She dismissed his request as an ill-formed joke.

“I’m not playing,” Brooks said finally at peace with his decision. “I want to start a family with you. I want to marry you.” After many months of haggling with Nicola, Brooks realized that he had simply been fighting with his own desires. And here he was in his prime giving in after all these years to KaTrina Leona Cooper.

“Brooks, you shouldn’t be asking me this if you haven’t thought it through. It’s not fair. You know how you get. One minute you want to be in a serious relationship and the next thing you know, I’m hearing about you and some girl at the Black Tie.” She smacked her lips and rolled her eyes. “I mean, is this really what you want?” She had to make a full-circle back to the question. After all, it was what she really wanted.

“You know me. Serious relationship…yes. But me bringing up wanting to marrying you…no. I’ve never, ever…ever done that? Have I?” He touched her masked face. “It’s what I want.” Brooks shrugged his shoulders. “The question is, is this what you want?”

“Yes,” she said quickly. Trina couldn’t believe her ears, but she welcomed the