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“I’m just saying. Karma.”
“Whatever, nigga. I’m finna run for mayor. Abney gon’ have to get the hell on and let a real one run this shit.”
“Storm, just because you know everybody’s business don’t mean you capable of running a town.”
“Hater,” he mumbled. “Who playing Christmas music? Let me go delegate shit.”
He walked toward the kitchen, knowing that Jenahra and Chrissy were in there. I swore, the older he got, the worse he got. And he wondered why his kids were so bad. When I walked out the barn, I saw Lennox’s brother sitting on the ground, staring at the animals. I frowned slightly because I didn’t know what could have had him looking the way he was with all the happiness and love in the air.
When I got close to him, I asked, “You good?”
He looked away and mumbled, “I lost her. I lost Jess.”
Maybe that was why she looked the way she did when she’d come inside. All I knew was that they had better not start no shit at my baby’s wedding. We’d worked hard to pull this event together. “Well, think about what you did to lose her and figure out if it can be rectified. Can you possibly prove to her that what the two of you have is bigger than whatever it was that caused you to lose her? If you can’t, then you have to let go. However, today is about Nesha and Lennox. Please don’t bring that into their moment.”
“I won’t. It’s just hard to see her and Nate flirting with each other. I think they may have seen each other late last night or rather early this morning.”
“If they did, what can you do about it?”
“Nothing. It’s in the past, no matter how recent.”
I nodded then patted his shoulder. “You gon’ figure it out. In the meantime, go meet the fellas and chill out.”
He nodded then stood and went to his car. I didn’t know how he would chill out with Nate being there too, but it was far better than him being here.
CHAPTER12
NESHA
Ilooped my arm around my dad’s as “He Loves Me” by Jill Scott began. The barn doors slid open, and I stood still, letting everyone take me in. This mermaid, off-the-shoulder, lace gown had blown me away when I saw it, so I knew that they could barely handle the sight of it. When my daddy laid eyes on me, the tears cascaded down his cheeks, no matter how hard he tried to hold them in. I was doing my best not to cry, but one look at Lennox’s sexy ass had my emotions on overload.
That six feet eight inches of chocolate perfection had me thirsty, and I couldn’t wait until the honeymoon to quench it. Since tomorrow was Christmas, we chose to leave tomorrow night. We also decided we would try to wait until we reached our destination to consummate our marriage. I could see now, as I stared at him in his black suit and wine-colored shirt, that would be hard to do.
Once we began walking and we got closer for me to see the emotion on his face, it only made my eyes water. Ms. Cheryl had beat my face like I’d never seen, and I was doing my best not to mess it up, but Lennox was making it extremely hard. My bridesmaids were all crying and messing up their makeup. Most of the women in my family were crying as well, especially my mama and Mama Sharon.
When we got to the altar, my daddy kissed my head as Lennox stared at me. Decklan had to pat his shoulder to propel him forward. It was like he was in a trance. He shook my dad’s hand, and my dad pulled Lennox in for a half hug, then nodded his acceptance. I wrapped my arm around Lennox’s as we made our way back to the preacher. “You look so beautiful, Nee-Nee.”
“You look amazing yourself, Lennox.”
I smiled at him as he stared at me, still in a trance-like state. The preacher was talking, but I hadn’t heard a word he said. All I saw was Lennox Guilman until the rudest person in attendance interrupted the calmness and love. “I wish y’all snap out of it so we can get this over with,” Uncle Storm mumbled.
I rolled my eyes before they fell closed. Nobody but Uncle Storm would even be bold enough to say that. I could hear some guests seated up close gasp and relatives doing their best to stifle their laughter. My dad gave him a pointed look, daring him to say another word. Clearly, he’d voiced the sentiments of his bad ass children, because all of them wore frowns on their faces. I wished they would have just stayed home.
Aspen had nudged him, and I was grateful the kids hadn’t blurted anything, but when I glanced at her hand, I knew why. She had a damn switch. She was gonna beat some ass had they said a word. She should have used that thing on Uncle Storm. Making the moment light so my guests that weren’t familiar with his ass could relax, I said, “Aunt Aspen, are you gonna spank your oldest child? He’s being disruptive.”
My dad smiled and winked at me as Uncle Storm frowned hard. Uncle Jasper couldn’t control the chuckle that left from him, and it only caused Uncle Marcus, Uncle Kenny, and Daddy to do the same.
I brought my attention back to the ceremony, and once the preacher reiterated what I needed to say, I did just that, totally ignoring everyone and focusing on Lennox. He was the only person that mattered in the room at this moment, and I couldn’t wait to live the rest of my life as Nesha Guilman.
Once we’d completed the requirements for this wedding and had managed to give flowers to our mothers, a Stetson to my dad, and a gold chain to Lennox’s dad, it was time to kiss my handsome groom. He was just as excited as I was to partake. Lennox lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me like we were the only ones in the room. Had it lasted any longer than it did, he would have been taking me to one of the private rooms to take the edge off.
“It’s about time!” SS said aloud.
“Daddy, we go home? We open pwesents!” Remington added.
“We aren’t leaving yet. Blame Nesha for wanting to get married on Christmas Eve.”
“Seven Senior and Seven Junior, enough,” Aunt Aspen said through clenched teeth.
