26. Gemini Black
Gemini Black
Three days later, and I just got off the exit in Georgia because I wanted to swing through and visit my grandma before heading back home.
Last time I was in Georgia, I wasn’t even a boyfriend yet.
Here I am, back in this state, and I came back a whole husband.
It still was something that I was getting used to saying, but my wife was in the passenger seat, with the throw blanket thrown over her, and she was knocked out.
We’ve been on the move since we flew out of Mexico, and back into Albuquerque.
We were back on the truck that same day, and instead of trying to bring the route straight in, I only drove for a few hours, and before the sun could fully go down, I had us back in Amarillo, Texas. That’s where we slept the first night.
As I was taking the exit, I picked my phone up from the cupholder, so that I could call my grandma.
It was Thursday morning, so I knew that she would be home.
I just talked to her yesterday, and I subtly asked her what she had been up to, and what her plans were looking like for the rest of the week.
I never liked to tell her when I was going to pull up.
I liked to pop up on her because I knew that it would make her day.
The plan wasn’t to stay long. I really wanted to be in and out. Lay eyes on her, sit with her for a little bit, and then hop back on the road because I was trying to be back in Miami before midnight.
I dialed her, and she answered the phone for me on the second ring.
“Good morning, grandson,” she picked up.
“What’s up beautiful? What you doing?” I inquired.
“Nothing. In here cooking a pot of oatmeal. How are you?” she asked me.
“I’m good. Open the door for me in five minutes,” I said it with a smile on my face, knowing that I just made her morning by popping up on her.
“You going to give me a heart attack one day doing that, boy. Why can’t you just tell me in advance when you’re going to be coming, so that I can be ready and prepared for you?” she asked me.
“I got to keep you on your toes. Pop up and make sure you don’t got one of those niggas in there from the church,” I talked shit, and even though I wasn’t standing in front of her, I could see her now, rolling her eyes at what I just said to her.
“Gemini, please! You know damn well that I don’t have no man coming in my house. Is Amina still with you?” she wanted to know.
“Yeah. She coming too,” I said that part with a smile.
My grandma didn’t know that we’d gotten married.
I told my sister, and my mama not to tell her.
I knew that the plan was to pass through Georgia on the route home, so I wanted to be able to tell her in person.
I knew she was going to lose her shit. Probably be in her feelings a little bit like Gianna, since she wasn’t there for the wedding, but ultimately, I knew that she was going to be happy for us.
“Okay. I’m excited to see you both. I’ll be here,” she said.
I let her know I loved her, she told me the same, and then we hung up.
I made it to her development in no time.
I showed the security at the gate my I.D.
and once he verified it, he let me through.
Amina slept through all of this. I’m talking, head resting on her arm that was leaning against the window, and everything.
She wasn’t snoring, but you could tell that she was in a deep sleep.
I almost felt bad that I was going to have to wake her.
I parked the truck on the side of the road, just as I did whenever I would come over.
Once I shut it off, that’s when I reached my hand over, so that I could gently nudge Amina.
She jumped out of her sleep once I did that, frantically looked around, getting a look at where she was.
Her eyes settled on my grandmother’s house that was to the right of her, and then she looked over at me.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’m being the worst passenger ever. I keep falling asleep,” she told me, and I laughed.
“Bae, it’s cool. Come on. We not going to be in here long. I just want to sit with her for a little bit. You good?” I asked her.
“Yes. You think she’ll be mad that we got married? Also, do you think that she’s going to get upset with me because I haven’t got you a ring yet? You know that I’m going to get it once we get in Miami. Tell her that so she doesn’t get upset with me,” Amina started rambling like her ass was scared.
“Ay, chill out. You know she’s not like that. My grandma is pro- marriage. She’s not going to be upset that we got married in Mexico. She’s damn sure not going to be upset that you haven’t got my ring yet. I told you that you be looking for problems to give yourself,” I said.
“Okay. Hold on. Let me go to the back and wipe my face,” she said, taking the seatbelt off, and then she stood from the seat.
While she did that, I got out of the truck.
I needed to stretch my legs. Once I finished that, I reached inside the truck, so that I could grab my phone, wallet, and keys.
I stood out here, waiting for Amina to come out.
It took her about a minute, and instead of going out on her side, she came over, stepping out on my side.
I grabbed her hand, assisting her with walking down the steps, and getting onto her feet. I noticed that she put on a new coat of lip gloss, and I could tell that she fluffed her curls a little bit. She had a crossbody bag around her, with her phone in her hands.
I reached in, closing the truck door, and we headed up the driveway. As we were walking up the driveway, the front door opened, and it was my grandmother standing there. I could tell that she was happy to see me because she didn’t even give it time for me to knock on the door.
“If this isn’t the most beautiful couple that I’ve ever seen in my life. Look at this black love,” she announced.
Her ass didn’t even know that we were a couple.
The last time we were here, Amina and I were still playing the cat and mouse game, not crossing the line with each other yet, but we knew that feelings were beginning to appear.
I knew that my grandma had been able to see through all of that, and that’s why she said what she just said.
“Hey. It’s so nice to see you again,” Amina cooed, walking up to my grandma, to give her a hug, but my grandma stopped her while she was ahead.
Like a person that’s never missed a beat, she immediately went for Amina’s left hand, holding it in hers, and she glanced down at the rock that was on her finger.
She looked at it, and her mouth dropped.
With her free hand, she put it over her mouth.
In just a matter of seconds, I watched the way her eyes went from the ring to Amina, to me, and then back to Amina.
“Gemini, you proposed?” she looked up to me, and asked.
“Proposed, and we got married,” I announced.
She shrieked when I said that. She even let go of Amina’s hand.
She didn’t look sad. Didn’t look mad, either.
She just looked shocked. She knew that I liked to play around with her, so I could also see the doubt in her eyes, as if she didn’t know whether I was telling the truth, or if this was just another one of my pranks on her.
“Seriously Gemini, did you get married for real?” she asked, slowly letting go of Amina’s hand, and looking up at me. She held a seriousness to her voice.
With a smile on my face, I reached in my pocket, pulling my phone out. We’d gotten the pictures back from the photographer in Mexico, so I was able to go to the album, pull up one of my favorite pictures, and I showed it to her.
She looked at the picture, and you could see that same love in her eyes that Amina and I had when we saw them for the first time.
She gracefully put her hand over her chest, as she admired the picture.
My grandma was so tough. She was so hard, never really the type to get emotional, but when she saw the picture, a tear fell.
I’m sure it was happy tears. This was the woman that raised me for the first four years of my life.
She watched her baby boy grow up. Her baby went on to do big boy things.
I got married, and the route that me, and Amina were going, it was only a matter of time before I had a baby on the way.
“What you crying for, grandma? You happy or you sad?” I asked her, walking over to her, and wrapping my arm around her shoulder.
I loved this woman so much, that you could feel it. I leaned down, placing a kiss on her forehead, and used my free hand to wipe away the tears that had fallen from her eyes.
“I’m happy. These are happy tears. Gemini, your pop-pop would have been so proud of you.
You married her quickly just like he did with me.
His mind was made up about me, and he didn’t wait.
When the two of you came in here two months ago, I already knew what time it was between you two.
I was prepared for it, that’s why I never fell for that foolishness, when you were telling me that she was just your friend,” she said to me all in one breath.
I took my eyes off my grandma for a second, so that I could look over at Amina. She was smiling. She looked relieved. She thought that we were going to get our asses cursed out for coming over here married and not inviting my grandma to the wedding.
“How are you feeling, Amina?” my grandma asked, looking over at Amina too.
“Happy. Like I’m dreaming. Like a princess from out of a fairytale book. You all did an amazing job with him,” Amina let her know. My grandma was happy to hear that.
She ended up pulling Amina over to us, and she had us both stand in front of her.
I already knew what she was getting ready to do, and I was prepared for it.
My grandma would curse you out from A to Z, but she was a praying woman.
She was the kind of prayer that would have your face leaking in tears when she was done with you.