“Listen, baby, I want us to get married on your eighteenth birthday, on June twenty-fourth,” he said.
“Seriously?”
“It’ll be my birthday gift to you. Marriage.”
Chanel was completely overwhelmed. Her birthday was in two months. There was a lot to do, many arrangements to make, and of course Mecca was going to be her maid of honor.
“I have another surprise for you,” said Mateo.
Chanel wasn’t sure if she could take any more surprises from him. She was becoming inundated with happiness. It was already the perfect day, so how could Mateo make it any more perfect? But knowing him, he could.
They walked hand-in-hand out of the park and back to his Range Rover. Chanel was floating on cloud nine the entire time. From her view, she could see everything and it was so beautiful—sprawling blue skies and bright sunshine. There was no way she was going to come down from the cloud. Being so high above everything else with Mateo, she felt so safe and secure and far away from all the bullshit and drama.
He drove her to a dealership in Queens. She had no idea why she was in Queens. That borough was definitely foreign territory for her. All Chanel knew was Brooklyn and Harlem, and some of the Bronx, thanks to Mateo.
And why were they at a dealership?
Mateo was close with the owner of the dealership. He was an affable white male in his early forties named Michael. He approached Mateo’s Range with a smile and introduced himself to Chanel.
“So, this is the lucky lady, huh?” He shook Chanel’s hand and added, “Mateo tells me a lot about you. Now I see why he’s willing to go all out for you. Congratulations.”
Chanel smiled.
“Beautiful, come out the car. I want to show you something,” Mateo said.
Chanel coolly climbed out of the car and she was still soaring high. Mateo and Michael guided her through the car lot where there were a lot of nice cars for sale, Beamers, Benzes, Jags, and SUVs. Mateo led her toward a pearl colored Range Rover Sport that sat in the rear of the lot. It had a bright red bow on the hood of the trunk. Mateo pointed to it and said, “It’s yours, baby.”
Chanel didn’t know what to think.
“What? What you mean, Mateo?”
“That’s your new car.”
“But Mateo, I don’t even have my license.”
“You got your permit, right?”
“Yes.”
“So we’ll work on getting your license. And I trust you in driving because you drove my truck plenty of times. And you having your own ride saves me from not having to drive to the projects all the time,” he said.
“Ohmygod, Mateo, you’re gonna spoil me. I don’t deserve all—”
Before she completed her sentence, he approached her and softly placed his index finger against her lips. “Shhhh . . . you deserve it all, beautiful, especially after everything your family put you through.”
Chanel could feel her eyes welling up with happy tears.
“I got you, beautiful, and I always will. I promise you that. Just enjoy it, Chanel.”
She took a deep breath and smiled as one of the tears escaped. In one day, she was engaged with a giant rock on her finger and she had a brand new car.
Although Mateo would occasionally hit her family off with some money, once he was married to Chanel, he planned on excluding them from their lives completely. The generosity was a ploy to keep the peace between Chanel and her family after all the horror stories she’d told him. Bacardi was a greedy bitch, and he wanted that bitch to enjoy it while it lasted, because in two months, they were going to get married on her birthday and then he planned on flying them off to Hawaii for their honeymoon.
Mateo wanted to fulfill her wish and marry her as a virgin.
***
The diamond engagement ring and the new Range Rover Sport that Chanel had were all too much for Claire and Charlie to take. Overnight, it appeared that Chanel had hit the jackpot—a man with money who loved her, and she was getting married on her birthday.