With a man I used to tell myself I would never be tied to.
And under all of it, there was this quiet hum.
A sense that for once, we wasn’t just survivin’.
We was actually livin’, together scared, but still a little crazy.
And for the girl who had sworn up and down she didn’t want no relationship?
That felt like the wildest plot twist of all.
Melissa
Exactly one year after that first trip to Saint Lucia, I woke up to the sound of Roman talkin’ to my stomach.
Well. Our stomach.
“Y’all gotta let your mama sleep,” he was sayin’, voice low and serious. “She already mean. Don’t give her a reason.”
I cracked one eye open.
He was layin’ sideways on the bed, head propped up on his hand, other palm spread warm over the little bump just startin’ to show under my shirt.
“Who you callin’ mean?” I sassed.
He looked up, mouth curvin’. “The woman tryna fight me ‘cause I’m talkin’ to my child.”
“Children,” I corrected automatically. “We not sure yet.”
He groaned. “Don’t put that on me this early in the mornin’.”
I laughed and let my head fall back into the pillow.
A year ago, I was in a different bed, on a different island, tellin’ myself I was on my hoe phase and not catchin’ feelings for nobody.
Now I was in our bed. In our house.
With his last name, a ring on my finger, and his baby in my belly.
Life be funny like that.
The ring glinted when I reached up to push my hair off my face.
It still felt new sometimes. Not the weight, but the meaning of it all.
I was a Wife. Mrs. Blake to be exact.
I never thought I’d be anybody’s forever on paper.
We didn’t even do some big crazy wedding. After Royce and April’s day, everybody assumed we’d want that too, but I didn’t. Roman offered. I could tell part of him wanted to give me that, just to say he did.
But I wanted simple.
We did a courthouse, family dinner after at Nana’s. I wore a white dress that wasn’t even that serious, he wore a suit that made me almost change my last name right there in the hallway.
It was small, and real, and perfect for us.
We celebrated big later, of course, ‘cause our people don’t know how to be quiet, but the vows themselves? Just us, Nana, Royce, a piece of paper, and God.
