Ysis #3
Kade, Cassian, and Yayo turned toward the crowd at the same time, subtly flashing the guns tucked underneath their tuxedo jackets.
“Oh my God,” I whispered, biting back a laugh.
Half the wedding party giggled; other guests gasped and whispered amongst themselves.
Only my husband could threaten wedding guests during the ceremony and still somehow make it romantic.
“Ain’t nobody on that,” Kade said adjusting his jacket again. “Continue on, priest.” The officiant blinked twice before laughing nervously along with everybody else.
“Right...” he cleared his throat. “As I was saying...”
“Ysis, you may now recite your vows.” My stomach flipped as everybody’s attention shifted to me. I took a breath before looking into Kade’s eyes and the rest of the world disappeared.
“Kade, I used to think people like us didn’t get happy endings.
I spent so much of my life feeling unwanted, abandoned, and disposable, that I got used to surviving heartbreak.
I stopped believing beautiful things could actually belong to me.
” Tears slid down my face as his gripped my hands tighter.
“Then somehow...life led me through the doors of Myles Tech.” A few soft laughs echoed through the crowd.
“And what started as me trying to survive another job turned into me meeting the man who completely changed my life forever. You saw me before I even knew how to see myself. Even when I fought you. Even when I pushed back. Even when I was scared to trust you fully...you kept loving me anyway.”
I swallowed hard trying to keep myself together.
“You protected parts of me I didn’t even realize were still wounded.
You gave me safety, stability, and a real family.
You made me feel chosen every single day, and baby...
” I laughed shakily through tears. “Do you know how healing it is for somebody like me to finally feel chosen on purpose?”
The entire wedding party was crying openly by now.
“I never imagined I deserved this life. I never imagined I deserved a man who would love me loud enough to silence every insecurity I carried inside myself. But you gave me that. You gave me a home inside your heart before you ever gave me one inside your house.”
“I promise to love you through every version of yourself. Through your healing. Through your chaos. Through every storm life throws at us. I promise to stand beside you, protect our family, nurture our children, and remind you every day that you are worthy of the kind of love you spent your whole life believing you had to earn.”
“And no matter how many years pass, no matter how much life changes us, there will never come a day where I stop being grateful that God allowed me to walk through your office doors.”
Nia was crying into Bree’s shoulder. Lauren mascara was cooked.
Even Yayo wiped at his face aggressively trying to pretend he wasn’t emotional.
Kayla handed me a tissue as I tried to pull myself together, still half-laughing.
Kade had to physically take a minute before he could even speak.
The officiant looked over. “Kade?” He exhaled before looking directly at me again.
“Ysis...baby, I had a whole speech prepared. But then you started talking and fucked all my composure up.” The crowd laughed through tears. Kade dragged a hand across his face before continuing.
“I spent most of my life angry. Angry at my father. Angry at the world. Angry at myself. Hell, I got so comfortable living inside darkness that eventually I convinced myself I belonged there. Then your fine ass walked into my office and nothing in my life made sense anymore.” His eyes never left mine.
“You challenged me. Fought me. Stressed me out every single day. Had me questioning my sanity, my patience, and several labor laws simultaneously.” The crowd laughed harder. “But somewhere in the middle of all that, you became the most important person in my entire world.”
“You taught me that love ain’t weakness. You taught me softness don’t make me less of a man. You taught me family ain’t always blood and that peace could actually exist if I stopped trying to control everything around me.”
His thumb brushed slowly across my knuckles.
“I vow to spend the rest of my life protecting you, loving you, providing for you, and making sure you never question your worth another day in your life. I vow to love our children the way we deserved to be loved growing up. I vow to build you the safest, happiest life possible because baby...” he shook his head emotionally.
“In my mind, you became my wife the moment I slid that ring on your finger.”
The entire venue erupted into sobs. “And if I gotta spend every remaining day on this earth proving how much you mean to me? Then I’ll gladly do that shit times two.” I completely lost it crying. The officiant himself wiped his eyes before stepping forward again.
“May we have the rings?” Kayla stepped forward holding the velvet box. Yayo handed over Kade’s ring. Lord only knows why those two ended up in charge of the rings, but somehow they had managed not to lose them.
“Kade, please place the ring on Ysis’s finger and repeat after me.” Kade took my hand into his, staring down at the wedding band for a second before laughing softly through tears.
“You alright?” I whispered.
“No,” he answered honestly. “You got me fucked up emotionally.”
The guests laughed. I laughed too. But when he slid the band on my finger, his hand visibly trembled. The same man who could walk into boardrooms and make grown men nervous couldn’t even get through a ring exchange without crying. Baby I was done for.
“I, Zephyr Kade Myles...”
“Get it together, nigga.” Cassian groaned behind him.
“Shut the fuck up.” The venue burst into laughter again while Kade wiped beneath his eyes then continued his ring vow.
“Kade, place the ring on Ysis’s finger and repeat after me.” Kade took the ring, looked at it, looked at me, then looked back at the ring and completely ignored the officiant.
“Kade...” the officiant laughed.
“No, hold on.”
“Kade, that’s not how this works.”
“It is today.”
Lord. I dropped my head. “You really doing this?”
“Yes.” The grin that spread across his face should’ve worried me, “Baby, before I put this ring on your finger, I just need you to understand one thing.”
I already knew he was about to embarrass me.
“You still ain’t getting rid of me. I don’t care if we eighty-seven years old sitting on some porch somewhere.
I don’t care if our kids get married and give us forty-seven grandchildren.
I don’t care if you get tired of me stealing fries off your plate and aggravating you on purpose. ”
“Kade.”
“No, let me finish.”
“You stuck with me now. Legally. Spiritually. Financially. Emotionally. Every-ly.”
“Every-ly isn’t a word,” I said, laughing so hard I could barely get it out.
“It is today. I just want the record to show that I would’ve married you the night I proposed if you would’ve let me. Hell, I would’ve married you after our third argument if we’re being honest.”
“Probably the second,” Cassian yelled, and the crowd lost it.
“Shut up.” Kade shook his head. Then suddenly all the humor disappeared.
“Thank you for loving me anyway. Thank you for staying. Thank you for believing in me when I gave you every reason not to. Thank you for carrying my babies. Thank you for choosing me every day and making me the luckiest nigga breathing.” Then he slid the ring onto my finger.
“Mine.”
“Kade!”
“What?”
The officiant handed me Kade’s ring. “Ysis, repeat after me—”
“I got this.” Now it was my turn to ignore the script.
“Kade Myles. You have stressed me out more than anybody else I’ve ever met. You have raised my blood pressure. Invaded my privacy. Argued with me. Tracked my location. Bought me things I didn’t ask for. Sent security to places I was already safe at.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You were stalking me.” The guests laughed.
“Same thing.”
“Not even close.” I shook my head.
“But somehow...you’ve also loved me harder than anybody ever has. Baby, I don’t need promises right now because you’ve already spent every day showing me who you are.”
“I know you’ll protect me.”
“I will.”
“I know you’ll love our babies.”
“With everything.”
“I know you’ll spend the rest of your life making sure I never feel alone again.” His jaw tightened making me smile.
“Honestly, the only thing I’m worried about is surviving your attitude.”
“Good luck with that,” Kayla yelled as I slid the ring onto his finger.
“Thank you for being my favorite headache, thank you for being my safest place, and thank you for proving that the best thing that ever happened to me was accepting a job offer.”
I kissed his knuckles. “I love you, husband.”
Done with our freestyling and uncouth theatrics, the officiant stepped forward to wrap this thing up. “By the power vested in me, it is my absolute honor to pronounce you husband and wife. Kade you may now kiss your bride.”
Kade dipped me so fast I barely had time to gasp before his mouth crashed against mine like we were the only two people left alive inside that room.
Applause erupted violently around us as cameras flashed nonstop, and somewhere behind us the wedding party absolutely lost their minds cheering.
I didn’t hear none of it. All I felt was him.
My husband. When he finally pulled me back up, his forehead rested against mine, both of us laughing through tears.
“Ladies and gentleman, I give you Mr. and Mrs. Myles.”
‘Let’s Get Married’ by Jagged Edge exploded through the speakers and the entire venue erupted all over again. Walking back down that aisle as Mrs. Myles beside my husband felt unreal. And baby...the night was only getting started.
We slipped upstairs to change while the rest of the wedding party funneled toward the reception downstairs. My white dress felt heavier with every step, the twins pressing low in my belly and making me short of breath.