Ysis #2
“Don’t cry,” he whispered against my forehead, trying not to cry himself. “Cause if you cry, I’m gone start crying harder, and then Cassian gone roast me for the rest of my life.”
“Too late, you already emotional as shit.” Cassian yelled from somewhere nearby. Everyone near us laughed through their tears.
“Alright, save it for the aisle y’all,” Nia pressed a knuckle under her eyes, trying to regain professional composure. “We have what we need here. Everybody to your places. Ysis, we need to touch up your makeup and get you ready for the ceremony.”
Kade grabbed my hand one last time before I turned away.
“See you down the aisle, troublemaker.”
“Wouldn’t miss it, Se?or Psycho.”
He smirked, allowing the girls to carefully lift my train and guide me back through the venue toward the bridal suite. The furter we walked back inside, the more emotional everything started feeling again. Reality was settling into my chest heavier now. I was really about to marry him.
As makeup artists touched up my face and fixed tiny pieces of my hair again, a soft knock came at the door before it opened. Mama Sina stepped inside. The second her eyes landed on me, her entire face crumbled.
“My God,” she whispered, holding her hands against her chest. “You are the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.”
“Thank you, Ma,” I smiled. She walked over and wrapped her arms around me, mindful of my dress.
For a second she just held me.“Listen, I know traditionally mothers are supposed to do this, and lord knows Yuki ain’t shit for missing this moment with you.
But don’t you worry, because I got something old, something blue, and something new for my daughter. ”
She opened her jeweled clutch before pulling out three small velvet boxes. Inside the first sat an antique diamond tennis bracelet with tiny sapphire stones hidden between the links.
“Mama Sina this is NOT old. The sparkle on this is insane.” I wiping my eyes, lifting it to the light.
“Well, I couldn’t give you nothing that came from an old decrepit bastard,” she snorted. “So I bought you something new seventy-two hours ago. I think that count as old enough.”
I fell out laughing. The second box held a sapphire anklet to represent my something blue, and the third held a vintage gold locket engraved with the words: Forever Family.
I hugged her tight, loving that woman from the bottom of my soul.
Mama Sina had become the mother I spent my entire life wishing for, and I thanked God every day for not only saving her, but bringing her back to us.
I wasn’t going to make today about what I lacked anymore.
I was going to appreciate everything life finally gave me instead.
Right then another knock came at the door before it pushed open again and Yayo stepped inside.
“Damn,” he breathed.
“Sorry,” he muttered awkwardly after realizing everybody turned toward him.
“No, it’s fine,” I smiled. “I’m ready.”
He stared at me for another second, trying hard not to cry before walking over and pulling me into his arms. “You are a sight for sore eyes, baby sister. I love you.”
“I love you too.” He kissed the top of my forehead before stepping back and clearing his throat like a nigga trying to regain emotional stability.
“Aight, let’s get this show on the road.” he nodded once, fixing his jacket.
“Exactly,” Mama Sina clapped her hands. “Cause my son probably downstairs losing his damn mind waiting.” Fixing ourselves up one last time, Mama Sina placed my bouquet in my hands before lowering the diamond-studded veil over my face with gentleness only a mother could possess.
Her eyes watered all over again when she adjusted the front delicately against my hair.
“There, just perfect.” she whispered emotionally.
I swallowed hard and nodded. Everybody slowly began filing out toward their places.
One by one the room emptied until it was just me standing there trying not to pass out from nerves and emotions colliding at once.
I watched Mama Sina disappear through the doors to take her seat, and reality hit me all over again. I was about to become somebody’s wife.
No.
Not just somebody.
Kade’s.
I felt like my feet would fall straight through the floor from how violent my heart was pounding. My stomach fluttered with nerves as the twins shifted beneath my dress like they could feel how emotional I was becoming too.
Then right on cue, ‘You’ by Jesse Powell began floating through the venue.
The doors opened and my bridesmaids started making their way down the aisle one by one, looking absolutely breathtaking underneath the candlelight and crystal chandeliers surrounding the ceremony space.
Guests stood to their feet as the violinists blended seamlessly into the song playing through hidden speakers across the estate.
I took several deep breaths trying to keep myself together as staff signaled that it was finally my turn.
The second I stepped through those doors, there was not a dry eye left inside the venue.
The atmosphere shifted the moment everybody saw me standing there under all the light and crystal shimmer.
Tears clouded my vision as I gripped Yayo’s arm tighter than necessary trying not to lose my composure before I even made it halfway down the aisle.
But then...I saw him, and everything else disappeared.
Kade stood at the altar looking at me like he forgot how to breathe.
Tears streamed down his face freely without him even attempting to hide them.
Cassian gripped his shoulder beside him trying hard not to cry too.
My poor emotionally unavailable husband looked completely shattered in the best possible way.
He bit down on his lip hard, taking one long shaky breath the closer I got to him.
That man loved me. Not quiet or halfway either.
It was like loving me was the easiest thing he’d ever done in his life.
By the time me and Yayo reached the altar, I was crying right alongside everybody else.
“Who gives this woman away?” the officiant asked.
“We do,” Yayo, Mama Sina, and all my girls answered together without pause.
The venue giggled in emotional laughter.
I shook my head, because that answer fit us perfectly.
Everybody who was anybody sat inside that room tonight supporting our union.
Family. Friends. People who loved us enough to witness this moment after everything we survived together.
Kade stepped down from the altar the second me and Yayo reached the front.
For a brief moment, neither one of them moved.
They just stood there looking at each other while emotions neither of them were good at expressing sat heavy in the space between them.
It hit me then how far they had come. Two men shaped by the same monster, carrying different versions of the same pain, somehow finding brotherhood in the middle of all the wreckage our family had become.
Yayo looked over at Kade before pulling me a little closer to his side one last time. “Aight,” he muttered, trying hard not to get emotional again. “I’m trusting you with my sister, nigga.”
“You got my word.” Kade nodded without even attempting to joke for once.
“And if you hurt her—”
“I know,” Kade cut him off calmly.
“You gone kill me.”
“Painfully.” That made a few people nearby laugh.
Kade smirked faintly before holding his hand out.
Yayo stared at it for half a second before clasping it hard, pulling him into one of them aggressive brother daps men did instead of hugging when emotions got too real.
Cassian damn near lost it crying watching them as Marcus laughed under his breath.
“Love you, brother.” Kade said low enough that only those closest to the altar probably heard it. Yayo cleared his throat quickly afterward like the words physically hurt him to say back.
“Yeah aight...don’t make this weird.” Tears blurred my laugh as Kade turned toward me again.
Then, like he was accepting something sacred, he took my hand from Yayo and helped me up the marble steps toward the altar.
Once we stood facing each other under the massive floral archway, his hands moved toward my veil.
The second he lifted it from my face, his breath visibly stuttered.
A wave of fresh tears rolled down his cheeks all over again.
I reached up, thumbing them away as he kissed my hand again, like he physically couldn’t stop himself from touching me.
As the music slowly faded out behind us, I handed my bouquet over to Kayla as the wedding party fell apart behind us.
My girls sniffled dramatically; Yayo, Cassian, Marcus, and Cazmir stood behind Kade looking like they needed emotional support and liquor immediately afterward.The officiant smiled warmly before beginning.
“We are gathered here today in the presence of family, friends, and God Himself to witness and celebrate the union of two people whose love has transformed not only their lives, but the lives of everyone fortunate enough to know them. Marriage is not simply a commitment between two hearts, but a promise to walk through every season of life together. Through joy and sorrow, through growth and hardship, through every unpredictable turn life may bring.”
His voice softened looking between us. “And if ever there was a couple who understood perseverance, healing, loyalty, and unconditional love, it is undoubtedly these two standing before us today.” Fresh tears threatened my lashes all over again.
“If there is anyone here who believes these two should not be joined together in holy matrimony, please speak now or forever hold your peace.”