Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The night before the wedding…
Since the day Yanna showed up on her father’s doorstep, his home had become a temporary haven for her.
After talking to her father the entire first night she was there.
Jaivion suggested his daughter seek professional help.
He could tell that the situation between him and Janis had mentally and emotionally scarred his daughter, and even though he hadn’t been the one at fault, he’d still handled the situation poorly.
That next day, he connected Yanna with a Black female therapist, who she’d been seeing twice a week for the past month.
At eight sessions in, the change in Yanna’s attitude and outlook on life had greatly improved.
She’d learned that the spat between her parents should’ve stayed between them, and she should’ve stayed in a child’s place.
Her therapist helped her identify the abandonment issues she acquired when her father left, and how her mother’s alcoholism inadvertently taught her that liquor was the way to cope with her emotions.
Therapy also gave her an outside view on how she treated Kas poorly, how she treated that whole relationship poorly.
An important thing she also learned was to accept her responsibility in the demise of her and Kas’ relationship and maturely acknowledge the consequences that came along with it.
She’d also been assigned a few tasks, and taking her healing seriously, she was adamantly completing them.
Smoothing her hands through her hair that she’d been letting grow out the past month, she glanced out of the window as Jaivion’s car pulled in front of the Kingsmill Resort.
The entire bridal party was staying at the resort overnight, and it would be the first time in a month that Yanna saw any family outside of her mom.
“You sure you’re okay to drive back home tonight? I hate you insisted on driving me all the way out to the 757.” Yanna questioned Jaivion. For the past month, he’d been doing everything in his power to make his daughter’s life easier.
“Baby girl, I told you it’s nothing. We’re only 45 minutes away from home, and the way I drive, it’ll hardly be that.
Don’t forget, your daddy used to make real moves back in my day.
All-nighters on the highway driving up north and back down 95 South at three, four in the morning.
Ask some of these little niggas about Jai Priest.”
“Oh, Daddy, please. We all know you was the money making mitch of the Northside or whatever. Trust, Janis and Kamilla told me and Troi plenty of stories about you and Troi’s dad.”
Jaivion glared at his daughter, a smile of content gracing his face.
“You know, I’ll never get tired of hearing you call me Daddy.
I’m so used to being a stern Jaivion, or a sarcastic dad.
” Jaivion did his best impression of Yanna, scrunching his face to mirror the one she always made in his presence.
“Ha! I’ve never made a face like that in my life!”
“Your face is my face, baby girl. Anyway, gone ahead and get in there with your family. Let everybody know I asked about them. Oh, before I forget.” Reaching into his glove compartment, Jaivion pulled out a white envelope with embossed roses along with Troi’s name.
“Tell my niece I’m proud of the woman she’s become, and even though we don’t talk much these days, her Uncle Jai loves her to death.
I know Troyan is smiling down at her… he would’ve been so proud to see his little girl becoming a wife. ”
Accepting the envelope from her father’s hand, Yanna offered him a smile. “You know you can come up if you want to. Auntie Kamilla and Troi are both up there, I’m sure they’d be happy to see you, and Janis is in a whole different room.”
“Nah, I’ll let baby Troi have her night. I’d hate for Kamilla and Janis to try and jump my ass again.”
“You know what, I don’t even put it past Auntie Kamilla. She a thug.”
“Shit, you don’t have to tell me. Well, alright, I’m not gone hold you. If you need anything between now and tomorrow, just give me a call and I’ll be here.”
“I know you will. Thank you for everything. I love you.”
Jaivion tried to reply, but his words got stuck in his chest. He cleared his throat before smiling at his daughter. “Damn, you about to make a nigga cry. I love you too, baby girl, more than you’ll ever know.”
“Alright, let me get up there. Drive safely, okay.” Yanna smiled at her father before exiting the car.
Jaivion almost didn’t want to leave his daughter, the past few weeks being some of the best days he’s had in a long time.
Though he never wanted Yanna to look at her mother as the bad guy, he was relieved she finally knew the true story and decided to give him a chance.
Yanna watched as he gave her one last smile before she headed into the hotel.
On the elevator, she checked her outfit twice and ran her hand over her hair at least three times as the car ascended to the 15th floor.
Yanna had to chuckle at herself, not believing she was actually nervous to see people she’d spent every day of most of her life with.
Perhaps it was because in a few short weeks she’s transformed into what seems like a different woman.
Her level of anger decreased significantly.
Her need to react to even the smallest of situations didn’t seem so pressing.
The anticipation that the world would inevitably do her wrong seemed to dwindle each day.
And while it didn’t completely fix the problem…
it was like she was a whole new Yanna, and that was a feeling she wanted to hunt for a while.
Finally, the elevator car reached the twelfth floor, and Yanna released a preparatory breath as she stepped out, heading to Troi’s suite.
There, she knocked twice then stepped back in anticipation of who would answer the door.
“Ladybug!” Layla squealed as she opened the door, face lighting up when she took sight of Yanna.
Wasting no time, she pulled Yanna into a tight embrace, holding her there before placing her at arm’s length.
“Let me look at you. You look good, and well rested, like you’ve been actually sitting your behind down somewhere. ”
“I have been.”
“Good, no stressing my grandbaby out, right?”
Yanna smiled, heart-warming at Layla’s claim of her baby, even though she wasn’t sure if it belonged to her son. “No, I haven’t been stressing. I’ve been doing the complete opposite actually, just trying to get my mind right.”
“Well, I’m so happy to see you.”
“Mumma Lay, who is that at the---- ahhhh oh my goodness, my Yanna boo boo!” Troi howled, running over to her cousin. “Don’t you ever leave me for this long again.”
“I won’t. I had to get myself together while trying to get Janis together too.”
“But you’re good now?”
“I’m getting there, but I’m far from where I was a month ago.”
“Good.” Troi beamed, pulled Yanna into one more embrace.
“Oh, my dad wanted me to give you this. He said to let you know he asked about y’all.”
“Aww, that was so sweet of him.” Accepting the envelope, Troi placed it in one of her bags. “Auntie Janis is all set up next door, you know she didn’t want to be in a room with so much alcohol.”
The day after Janis revealed her truth to Yanna, she received a call that a donor had been matched for her mother.
Within two days, she was being prepped for surgery and receiving a new liver.
The surgery went off without a hitch, and her body showed no signs of rejecting her new organ.
Yanna wanted nothing more than to thank the person who saved her life, but to that day, the donor had remained anonymous.
Nearly an hour after settling into the room, the ladies were in full turn-up mode, and it was like Yanna hadn’t been gone for weeks.
Inside the suit, they celebrated Troi’s last night as a single woman.
They were all enjoying wine while Yanna sipped sparkling cider.
Yanna cackled as Layla and Kamilla tried to twerk, both looking like they were auditioning for an Uncle Luke video.
“What in the doo doo brown, I wanna rock kind of ass shaking are y’all doing? I haven’t seen nobody do the P pop since I was a little girl,” Yanna teased.
“Excuse you, Jaiyanna, I used to catch all the niggas back in the day at Ivory’s with these moves.”
“Yea, back in the day. Y’all need to get with the times, looking like two old ladies trying to get their groove back.”
“Shit, I ain’t never lost my damn groove.”
“Okay!” Layla cosigned, slapping fives with Kamilla. “Come on, lil’ girl, while you talking shit. Show us how to do it.”
“Yea, show us something. I know y’all good at throwing ass. With your knocked up self, come on.”
“Lady, don’t ever threaten me with a good time.
” Yanna stood and searched through Troi’s phone for a song.
She decided on Latto’s “Put it On the Flo Again”.
Her and Troi both got hype, Troi propping her leg on the bed and bouncing her ass while Yanna turned…
ass to ass while they threw it. “Ayyye, leave the club sloppy drunk come home and get my rocks off!”
“Wait, minute nie, Troi I see why my big baby stuck in your skin. How you making it jump like that?”
“It’s all in the legs, Mumma Lay... like this, look.” Troi popped her ass to the beat, and they fell out laughing as Layla and Kamilla tried to mimic it.
Their room was in a riot, sounding like a house party as they all tried to out dance each other. The fun was interrupted by Yanna’s phone ringing. Out of breath, she jogged to her phone and lifted it to see that it was her mom calling.
“Hey, Ma!” Yanna greeted excitedly.
“Hey, Jaiyanna, do you feel like doing me a favor?”
“Yea, what you need?”
“I ordered me some food through Uber Eats because I didn’t like anything the hotel had on their menu.
It’ll take me a while to get down there.
” It was taking Janis a little longer than normal to recover from her surgery due to years of alcoholism.
She could walk short distances, but it took a lot out of her to walk further.
“Uber Eats is downstairs now?”
“It says he’s pulling up in two minutes.”
“Okay, I’ll go down and get it.” Yanna hung up with her mother and placed her feet into her sneakers.
“My sister?” Kamilla asked.
“Yea, you know she picky, so she ordered food instead of eating from downstairs. I’m going down to meet her Uber Eats driver.”
“Oh, okay.”
“I’ll be right back,” Yanna declared before exiting the hotel suite.
Stepping into the hotel lobby, Yanna looked around trying to locate the person who looked like they were delivering food. Finally, her eyes landed on a guy with bags of food in his hand, also looking like he was searching for someone.
“Is that an order for Janis?” She asked the older gentleman.
“Uh, yes, it is.”
Yanna chuckled at the three large bags from Cheddar’s.
Since her surgery and quitting drinking, Janis’ body had been functioning better, thus giving her a larger appetite.
She was sure her mother had at least two main courses, appetizers and desserts.
As she was attempting to grab all the bags and the two different drinks, her attention was drawn to a familiar voice somewhere behind her.
“No, baby, it’s fine. I don’t want to go in there and make things awkward. I’m perfectly fine here by myself, though I’d rather be where you are… me too, and I can’t wait to see you in that tux tomorrow.”
Zahra.
The sound of the girl’s voice instantly gave Yanna the urge to vomit.
She could see right through the forced sweetness and sugary tone she spoke with.
Perhaps, making her even more nauseated was the fact that she could tell the girl was talking to Kas.
Yanna wanted to say she was surprised that Kas would be dealing with Zahra, but she wasn’t.
She couldn’t blame him. She’d fucked up and sent him seeking companionship with someone else, and she only had herself to be angry at.
Securing all of her mother’s items in her hand, she turned around and was met with a contemptuous glare from Zahra.
“No, I’m not going far. Stop worrying about me. I’m just sitting out front to catch some fresh air, I’ll be fine.” Zahra spoke on the phone a little louder than necessary. Locking eyes with Yanna, she tossed her a sly smirk.
Yanna chortled to herself, a subtle reminder to hold her head.
She was in her healing era and all that, but she wasn’t above hitting Zahra with a quick two-piece simply for trying to be funny.
Deciding she wasn’t going to give Zahra the satisfaction, she shook her head and headed back to the elevator bank.
After getting her mother’s smorgasbord set up for her, Yanna made her way back to the suite.
The ladies were still having a ball, but Troi caught the despondent look on Yanna’s face and turned down the music.
“What’s wrong with you, boo?”
“Nothing, I’m just thinking. I saw J.Lo’s voice double downstairs in the lobby.”
“Oh, Zahra.” Troi answered, and Yanna didn’t miss how Layla suddenly looked uncomfortable.
“Yea, her. I thought after the situation that happened at the house, and realizing she didn’t have a lick of talent, that Onyx dropped her from the label. He still extended her an invite to the wedding?”
“Well, um, he did drop her, she’s not WCMG—”
“Even though she trying real hard to change that.” Layla interrupted.
“Yea, she’s persistent as hell. But she uh, she wasn’t invited to the wedding, she’s more like a plus one.”
Yanna nodded, understanding exactly what that meant. As she figured, Kas was now seeing Zahra. “It’s fine, y’all don’t have to make it weird.”
“So we don’t have to worry about you starting a fight at the wedding, right?” Layla joked.
“I’ll never make a promise I can’t keep, but as long as she’s not on that funny stuff, I’ll be on my best behavior.”
Yanna meant what she said. She wouldn’t seek to be petty with Zahra or to make things weird when she finally saw Kas.
A part of her healing journey was learning how not to negatively react to every little thing that hurt her feelings or made her uncomfortable.
Still, she prayed Zahra wouldn’t give her a reason to relapse on the progress she’d made.