Free The Eleventh Commandment by Lutishia Lovely

After she heard the beer can top pop, she heard Tony’s steps continue. Hiding the paper she’d been reading within an Essence magazine, she called out. “Hey, Tone.”
    â€œHey.” Instead of turning right, toward the living room from where she’d greeted him, he went left, and up the stairs to the bedrooms above. Not a good sign, but not a total surprise. He was home earlier than usual, which typically meant one of two things: he’d run out of potential opportunities to track down. Or he was in pain. Or both.
    Stacy didn’t know what to do, didn’t like this state of flux that she’d felt for months, ever since the Cardinals had released Tony from their roster. This life was so different from the one she’d imagined when they met. The living room and bright Phoenix sunshine faded behind her memories of that better time—when their friendship went to another level and both decided to give the relationship a try.
    Things had gotten off to a rocky start. After showing genuine interest in her at one of the Montgomerys’ legendary Sunday dinners, Stacy had thrown a hitch in the giddyup when after Darius and Bo had shown up at the same dinner she began overtly flirting with the defensive back. Tony immediately peeped her try-and-make-Darius-jealous game and made it known that he didn’t want to play. He’d cooled things until the day he’d seen her leaving a hospital as he entered, the day she’d found out that a lump in her breast was malignant. Tony had recently had his own indirect battle with the C word, had almost lost his mom to cancer. His understanding and compassion thawed the ice between them, and as he cared for her during and after her lumpectomy, their friendship began to grow. And then there was his proposal that brought the heat and changed the game! Stacy smiled, remembering. It had started with a date at the Getty Museum, after learning that both she and Tony had a love for art. Even so, she’d never visited the museum and hadn’t been able to ignore her man’s class in choosing such a location. They walked the grounds, opening up even more about their feelings for each other. Then they’d heard a jazz trio playing, and had moved closer to listen to them.
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    â€œShall we?” Tony asked.
    Stacy looked around. “We can sit here?”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œIt looks like it’s reserved.”
    â€œBaby,” Tony said, leaning over a bit, “my knee is acting up. If it is reserved we can sit down until whoever’s got the table gets here.”
    They sat down at the center table, and soon the couple were taken to paradise on the wings of smooth jazz. A card on the table informed them that the group, the Musical Messengers, were on a twenty-five-city tour and would be at the Getty only this weekend. When they broke into a jazzy rendition of Marvin Sapp’s “Never Would Have Made It,” Stacy unexpectedly teared up.
    â€œThey’re playing gospel,” she whispered, wiping her eyes. “I love that song.”
    â€œMe too,” Tony said. He kept his arms around her as the trio played. After the bridge, the saxophone player stepped to the mike and began reciting an original poem:

    â€œNever would have made it, without God in my life,
And now I don’t want to go on without you by side.
You are the air I breathe, the sun that shines,
And I’d be so grateful if you’d be mine because . . .”

    Tony, getting down on his knees, began speaking along with the saxophonist and then finished the poem he’d written and then given to the musician when he set up this whole surprise. The saxophonist dropped out and Tony continued.

    â€œI never would have made it, and I don’t want to take it,
Take life without you. Stacy, baby, you turn my gray skies blue.
You have my heart. I love you. Will you marry me?”

    He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring.