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“Shit, Miami! You done broke they shit in here,” I said right before I laughed.
“I’ll replace it. That pussy was too good,” he said through laughs as he lifted me up and carried me into our bedroom.
I took the wipes that I always brought with me out of my duffle bag and wiped between my legs. I threw on the pajamas that I had resting on the bed. Just as I was getting ready to climb in the bed, my phone dinged on the nightstand, letting me know that I had a text message from Mahogany. I quickly opened it and laughed after I read it.
Sister girl: Y’all were in there fuckin’ too loud. Done woke up my damn baby. I don’t know what y’all broke in there, but I’m telling
I showed the message to Miami, and he laughed at it. I didn’t even bother to respond because I could hear Jamaria crying from the next room. With a smile plastered on my face as I climbed into bed, I thought about this wedding that was about to happen, which I couldn’t wait for.
Toddrick “Miami” King
“You a solid nigga, Miami. I like that about you. I respect this union that you and Jashae are about to build. Best of luck to you both. Y’all are going to be just fine.” Boss came over and put his hand on my shoulder, giving me those encouraging words just moments before I met Jashae at the altar.
It was crazy how we came down here just for vacation and to relax, kick our feet up, and for me to take a moment to stop thinking about the passing of my father. But we ended up in our good clothes, preparing for Jashae and my wedding. Prior to Shae even saying that she wanted a destination wedding, it never even occurred to me for me to ask her to marry me in Jamaica. I saw an opportunity, and I jumped headfirst.
I don’t think y’all understand how much it meant for me to make this woman my wife. I had been crushing on shorty since I was a little ass boy. This woman was carrying my son and taking on the role of step-mommy to my daughter, so why wouldn’t I be ready for marriage? After all the bullshit had died down, and we weathered the storm, it was time to tie the knot.
I was sweating like a motha fucka in this tux, nervous as hell, but I was ready. I was ready to change Shae’s last name to King. I was ready to do my taxes this year and have my accountant check that I was married. I wanted all that. I was ready to be like, ‘my wife this, and my wife that.’ Give me all that shit that comes with marriage. The good, the baby, and all that ugly shit.
“I appreciate that, man. Thank you for even allowing us to do this on your vacation. A lot of niggas probably would have said no,” I said and reached out to give hi
m a pound.
“A lot of niggas that ain’t real. You my brother. Why wouldn’t I want to help be a part of this? The least I could do, man,” Boss assured me right before he walked away.
“I’m proud of you, man. I know Auntie and Uncle are looking down on you, and they proud of you too. Physically, they may not be here, but on everything I love, I feel them all up and through here, bruh. They here, if you know what I mean,” Jabari said, walking over to me, clean as hell in his suit.
I pulled him in for a quick, brotherly hug, acceptive and appreciative of his kind words. I needed to hear that because Lord knows before he even came over, I was saying to myself how I wished the two of them were here to witness this moment. Jabari came at the right time to say the right thing.
“I feel you, man. I’m nervous, yo. I feel similar to how I felt when I had to ask Shae to marry me,” I honestly said.
“You think she going to leave your ass at the altar?” he said through his laughs. “Man, that woman ain’t going nowhere. I don’t know why, but shorty loves your ass. All that damn yelling she was doing that bathroom the other night when y’all was fuckin’ and waking up Jamaria proved her love,” his dumb ass said again.
Shae would throw a fit if she knew I was laughing at what he said, but the shit was funny. This nigga was probably just waiting for the perfect opportunity to throw that joke out there. I chopped it up with him for a little while longer until it was time for me to go outside and take my position.
Shae knew exactly what she wanted, and because we really only had yesterday to prepare for this day, we were kind of able to give her everything that she wanted. We did our best to make it feel like Vonte was here along with my parents. For example, Vonte’s favorite color was blue, so although my tux was right, my bow tie was blue, and so was Jabari’s, who was my best man. The roses that were used to decorate the area outside right on the beach that we were using were white and blue. I had two empty chairs that would remain empty up front, which is where my parents would have sat had they still been alive to make it. Shae was adamant about wanting a sunset wedding, and so far, she was getting that. Money talked, so I was able to cough up some money and have a wedding crew come and decorate the grounds so beautiful for us this evening.
I stood up front with my brother by my side. Right on time, at 7:30 P.M., I watched the whole thing unfold right before me. I got a little teary eyed when I saw my daughter and Maya walk down, dropping flowers. They were both beautiful in their white dresses with the blue rose that they had pinned on the front of it. They both had candy curls in their hair, thanks to Shae doing it for them last night. Although this was a wedding that was planned in a days’ time, the amount of love and happiness felt like this was something that had been planned months ago.
Of course, Shae had used Mahogany as her bridesmaid. She’d even had Winter and Ocean in the wedding. There really wasn’t many people in the audience because everyone was really in the wedding, but again, that was cool.
When Whitney Houston’s, “I Believe in You and Me” started playing, I knew then that Shae was about to start walking. My hands were sweating along with my upper lip. I used to say that if I ever got married, I wouldn’t cry. I was obviously a fool to even think that because the moment I saw Jashae walking down the aisle with her dad, the tears started falling that I didn’t even bother to wipe. She looked beautiful. Her wedding gown was fuckin’ beautiful for her to have just bought it yesterday from a store. Her bump showed, and she walked with grace as she carried my child. She was crying, but I already knew she would. She had every reason to be happy about this moment. My heart raced as I waited for her to get next to me.
“You look beautiful,” I said to Jashae the moment she was close enough.
She was crying and not even able to tell me thank you, so she just nodded her head through her tears of joy. Like I always did when I spotted her crying, I used my thumbs to wipe her tears away. I’m not even sure if we were doing proper wedding etiquette, but I was wiping tears, kissing them away, all of that. I assumed we were good because the pastor hadn’t said anything yet.
“We are gathered here today to celebrate with Jashae Johnson and Toddrick King as they declare their love along with their commitment to the world…”
The pastor’s voice faded in my head because I was just taking Jashae and her beauty all the way in. You know when you hear someone say that a person is glowing? Well, that was her. Her melanin was times ten this evening, and it was a major distraction to me. Her long hair was pulled up in an updo that looked good on her. She wore a minimal amount of make-up, making her look like herself and not all caked up and looking like somebody else.
“Mr. King,” the pastor said and cleared his throat. I gave him my attention, and that’s when he smiled. “Your vows,” he said.
“I’m sorry. I’m lost in her beauty, Pastor, so forgive me,” I said, and he gave me a look, letting me know that it was okay.
“I met you when I was thirteen, still a little boy myself. Back then, when a boy liked a girl, we didn’t look for personality, intelligence, skills, or nothing like that. I swear we just looked for beauty. I saw you as somebody beautiful, and that was enough for me to like you. It wasn’t until I grew older and became a man that I realized that you came with so much more. An amazing mother, a personality like no other, somebody who gives me the best advice, loving, kind, all of that. I wanted you. You’re mine, and even now, I still want you.
“When the kids get older, Ima still want you. I can’t imagine a day when I wouldn’t want you, Shae. When I wouldn’t love you anymore or crave to have you. I put up one hell of a fight to get you, so I’m going to put up even more of a fight to keep you. I’m going to make Vonte proud and keep his mama happy because I know that’s what he would have wanted me to do. I got you, baby. I got us,” I assured her.
