28. Starting Again
Starting Again
When we left my store holding hands and laughing together, I felt like we were starting over. Leaving everything with Gio in the past and moving on with our lives the way we needed to, and to do that the right way, we needed a wedding without Jada and Gio stopping us.
After assuring Amir that we were good and Islah was off, not paying attention to me, I went down to the basement and got to work on my plan.
I sent messages to who I needed to, bought plane tickets, and let who needed to know that was taken care of, and by the time it hit about four in the morning, I still wasn’t done.
But I stopped and went to lay down with my girl. When I walked into the room as quiet as I could, Islah was still asleep.
I always stared at her while she slept. I couldn’t help it. She looked too damn good not to. I slid into bed behind her and wrapped my arms around her, feeling her body fall back into mine.
We lay there for about an hour. I listened to her snore and the soft sound from the TV until she rolled over to face me and opened her eyes slowly with a smile.
“Good morning, luv.”
I leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Good morning, mamas.”
I asked Islah what her plans were for the day, and all she wanted to do was chill and sleep. I know that was the baby’s doing, but I needed her to be getting herself together.
“Call your girls and go get y’all hair and nails done.”
She sat up. “Baby, they work.”
I picked my phone up off the nightstand, did a lil’ bit of moving around, then sent her a message.
“I just sent you ten stacks. Go get y’all hair and nails done and break them off some for missing a day of work.”
I got out of bed to get myself together, and Islah was still sitting there with her mouth open.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “Nothing…it’s just that every time I think I know what you are going to do or say, you surprise me. Who are you?”
I laughed as I pulled my clothes out of the closet.
“I am that nigga, and I am your nigga. Go ahead and call them, mamas.”
She nodded and went into the bathroom and hopped in the shower. By the time I hopped out the shower and walked back into the room, she was on FaceTime, and all of them were talking about their plans for the day.
I decided to kiss her softly and sneak out to put our wedding together.
When I got to the store, Keith was unlocking the door.
“By the look on your face, I can tell you and Islah are good.”
I nodded. “Hell yeah, you know I wasn’t letting go, but I do need some help.”
We walked into the store. Keith did his normal opening shit while I pulled out the diamonds Islah picked out while we were in Miami and took them to the back.
I got started on a necklace just for her that I could give to her on our wedding night. While I did that, I was taking calls from contractors and vendors for tables, food, and a bar. Then Keith came around the corner.
“Nigga, what are you on today?”
“I am putting together our wedding.”
“Y’all’s wedding, does Islah know about it?”
I shook my head. “Nah, it’s a surprise, but I need your help, the gangs, and her girls. I want to do it on my grandma’s land out in the country. I want to lay down foundation for a house out there and get married on that.”
“Damn, that’s special,” Keith expressed. “What do you need help with?”
“I am about to slide to the country for the contractors. I got some people locked in for the tables and chairs. I need to lock in food, a bar, and decorations and all that shit.”
Keith nodded. “I got you. I’ll tell them niggas to be waiting for the call.”
I dapped him up before he walked off and went back to what I was working on.
The light at the end of the tunnel was marrying Islah, and we were almost there. After all that we’ve been through, I was going to make it an unforgettable moment.
I was finally at a good stopping point, and I left the store and took the lil’ drive to the country. When I got there, the contractor was already out there with his team, waiting on me.
“When you said this was a rush job, I thought you would be out here already,” the contractor said.
I nodded with a smirk. “The rush is for y’all to get the work done. It’s no rush for me to get here.”
I walked off, and he followed behind me.
“I want to lay the foundation for a house today so that it will be straight for me to get married on it in a few days.”
The contractor looked at me, confused.
“Excuse me?” he said.
I took out my phone and sent him the blueprints I made.
“This is what I need it to look like,” I said with no care about what he was about to let go to make this happen.
“You know this is a lot of work?” he said while looking over what I sent him. “We would have to work damn near through the night to get it all done.”
I nodded. “So y’all are getting started now?”
The man laughed at me. “Listen, boy, I don’t think—”
“Who the fuck are you talkin’ to?!” I asked, raising up just enough for him to back up.
“I’m not your fuckin’ boy! I make more fuckin’ money than you and your whole fuckin’ team combined.
Who the fuck do you think you are about to down-talk to?
I will put your ass in one of these fields and wouldn’t think twice about it. ”
The contractor raised his hands at me, and this time talked to me with a softer tone.
“I am sorry, Mr. Mayer. I will get my team on it right now.”
I nodded, and he walked off.
I walked around my land for a lil’ for the first time, having a vision for it, and smiled to myself. My grandma always said her place was about family and love, and I was going to keep that going.
Once I was done, I headed back to the city, just in time to pick up Islah’s parents from the airport. As I stood there, Islah texted me a picture showing me what her hair and nails looked like. I smiled hard as hell at my phone. I responded,You look like a wife to me.
A few minutes passed, and I was still staring at her picture when I heard somebody clear their throat. I looked up, and it was her mom and dad.
“Mr. and Mrs. Walker, I am sorry,” I said, putting my phone in my pocket. “How was the flight?”
“It was great,” Mrs. Walker said. “I am so happy that you called.”
“Yeah, and where is our daughter?” Mr. Walker asked.
I laughed. “She is out with her girls right now. I’ma get y’all settled in a hotel; she doesn’t know y’all are here.”
“She don’t know that we are here?” he repeated. “Does she know she’s getting married?”
We walked out to my car. I placed their bags in my truck, then opened the doors for them, feeling a lil’ bit in over my head.
“She don’t know that we are getting married. We hit a lil’ rough patch after everything she’s been through, and I think now we just need to do it.”
They stared at me for a second. I was hoping they didn’t laugh in my face or tell me Islah wouldn’t want anything like that. But instead, they smiled.
“We won’t tell her,” her mother said.
We got in the car, and I drove them around the city, letting them see what Atlanta was about. I showed them where Islah used to work, where we used to live, my store, and our house now. At the same time, I sent a message to Keith to have everybody meet me at Sammy’s.
I took them out to eat downtown, wanting to spend some one-on-one time with them before I married their daughter.
I learned about how Islah was growing up, how she hated school but was smart as hell. How she used to dance around the house twenty-four seven, singing songs and dancing.
They also told me the shift they saw when she got with Gio. How she stopped doing the things she loved, how she stopped working even though he could hardly support them, but she believed in him.
I could see the anger in their eyes when they brought up Gio. They said that he turned their daughter into somebody who loved hard and only saw him.
But then their tone changed, and I saw a smile. The smile that came from seeing a change in Islah once she got with me.
“I honestly want to thank you, Love,” her father said. “You brought the old Islah back to us.”
After dinner was done, I took them to the hotel. When they walked into that room, they were surprised that I got them a suite.
“Oh, Love, this is too much,” Mrs. Walker said.
“I have never had a room with a view like this,” Mr. Walker added.
I laughed. “Listen, this is not too much. Y’all are my family now, and how I take care of Islah is how I’ma take care of y’all.”
They looked at each other and smiled.
“I couldn’t ask for my daughter to marry a better man,” her mother expressed to me.
After I made sure they were straight, telling them to charge whatever they wanted to the room and got them a private driver, I made my way to the east side and pulled up to Sammy’s barbershop.
The niggas I needed were there. Sammy, Keith, Ricky, Kenya, Deja, and Renee. I needed all of them there to make the day go perfect.
As soon as I walked through the door, Renee had her mouth open. “What the hell is this all about?”
“Me marrying your best friend,” I said, taking the blunt Keith was holding out for me while she nodded.
“I got most of the shit done. I just need to make sure Islah is straight. I want her to be surprised. Kenya, I need y’all for decorations, and somewhere she can get dressed at.”
Kenya, Deja, and Renee nodded. “We can handle the decoration and her, just send us the addy.”
“And I locked down my grandma’s preacher cause you ain’t say shit about that,” Keith added.
I laughed cause I forgot we needed one.
“Good look, everything is set then. Come tomorrow night, I’ma marry my dream girl.”