Chapter 35 Confluence
Chapter thirty-five
Confluence
I had been to a lot of weddings. I had never been to one where I spent the whole morning thinking about my own.
Usually my only job at these things was to show up, look decent in a suit, and make sure the groom didn’t pass out or bolt.
But standing in the groom’s suite watching Eli check his reflection for the tenth time all I could see was Nique.
I kept picturing her in white. Kept thinking about what it was going to feel like to be the one standing at the end of that aisle waiting on her instead of walking her down it.
I cleared my throat and shook the thoughts loose.
Today wasn’t about me and Nique. Our time was coming soon enough.
I reached for the bottle of Clase Azul on the sideboard, poured four shots, and whistled to get the guys’ attention.
Eli, Kyson, and Kam all gathered around, their glasses clinking as they took them from me.
I looked at Eli. He looked sharp but there was a weight in his eyes that only a man who had been through hell could carry.
“Hold up,” I said, raising my glass. “I gotta say something.”
The room went quiet. I took a breath, looking my brother dead in the eye.
“Eli, I’ve seen you survive a very dark time man.
And if I’m being completely honest there were nights I didn’t know if you’d ever see the light again.
I didn’t know how to truly help you see it and that weighed on me more than I ever told you. ”
Eli’s jaw tightened and he gave me a slow solemn nod.
“I prayed that you would,” I continued. “And God heard me. He sent London to do what the rest of us couldn’t, what we didn’t even know how to do.
She didn’t just love you, she reached into that dark place and pulled you out of it.
It’s been a long time coming for you two.
A lot of ups and downs, a lot of history, but it’s beautiful to see the outcome today. ”
I raised my glass a little higher. “Cheers to finding love again brother. You deserve every bit of this peace.”
“Cheers,” the guys echoed, the sound thick with respect.
We knocked the shots back, the tequila burning smooth and warm. Eli stepped forward gripping my shoulder in a way that said everything he couldn’t put into words. “Thanks, Dex. I needed that.”
“I meant it,” I told him, clapping him on the back. “Now let’s get you down to that beach before London thinks you got cold feet and sends Nel up here to drag you down by your ears.”
The guys laughed, the tension finally breaking as we started the walk out toward the sand. I fell in line behind Eli watching him walk toward his future.
My mind went quiet the moment I saw the bridesmaids being led toward us by the wedding coordinator.
I had seen Nique in a thousand different outfits but seeing her in that blush dress stopped me cold.
The silk hugged every curve like it was made specifically for her body and the soft pink tone against her skin made her look like she was glowing from the inside out.
She looked less like a bridesmaid and more like a vision.
The coordinator started lining everyone up and of course I was paired with her. As soon as she got within arm’s reach the smell of her perfume hit me and I stopped caring about who was watching. I leaned in and caught her for a quick kiss.
“Aye! Y’all ain’t the ones who supposed to be kissing!” Kam shouted from a few feet away, a wide grin on his face.
The rest of the guys and the bridesmaids started laughing, breaking the formal silence of the lineup. I straightened my jacket and fell back into position, but I couldn’t stop smiling. Leave it to Kam to break the tension right before the most important moment of Eli’s life.
I pulled back just enough to see the faint trace of my kiss on her lips.
“You look beautiful,” I whispered.
Nique didn’t say a word, but her eyes softened in a way that told me she felt the weight of the moment just as much as I did.
The music cued up and the first few bars of Monica’s For You I Will drifted over the dunes.
I knew the song was chosen for Eli and London, but those lyrics were written for exactly this moment and I felt every word.
I’d do anything to keep the world from hurting Nique.
I’d be the one to bridge the gap every single time.
The coordinator started directing the line and as we stepped onto the wooden planks leading to the sand, I leaned closer to her ear.
“This is my second time walking you down the aisle,” I said, keeping our pace slow. “The next time I’ll be standing up there waiting on you.”
Nique’s face flushed a deep beautiful pink that matched her dress. She still didn’t say a word. She just kept her eyes forward, her hand tightening slightly on my bicep.
We reached the front and split, taking our spots. I watched the rest of the wedding party follow but my focus was locked. Finally, the music shifted, the soulful transition into Chrisette Michelle’s A Couple of Forever signaling the main event.
London appeared at the top of the aisle and the whole beach went still. She looked like everything Eli had been holding on for. But it was the look on Eli’s face that got everybody. Even the people who swore they weren’t going to cry.
He looked like a man who had finally exhaled after holding his breath for years.
They met at the altar, hands finding each other before anything else. When it came time for the vows the ocean seemed to pull back like even the water wanted to give them space to say it.
Eli took a breath. “London. They say out of the greatest tragedies the most beautiful things can grow. I spent a long time in the dark and for years you were the only light I could see. You didn’t try to fix me.
You just stayed until I started putting myself back together.
I promise to honor what we came from, but I vow to give you every second of what comes next.
I loved you as a friend. I loved you through the grief.
I will love you until I don’t have anything left. ”
London was already gone. Shoulders shaking, gripping his hands like she was afraid he might disappear.
Eli reached up and wiped her tears with his thumb, his hands steady even though his eyes were glossy.
She looked up at him and laughed through it the way people do when they’re too full of something good to contain it.
“Eli,” she said, her voice barely holding.
“I’ve loved you since I was ten years old.
I loved you when I wasn’t supposed to and I loved you when it was the hardest thing in the world.
We crossed oceans of pain to get to this moment, and I would do all of it again.
You have been my best friend, my safe place, and my home long before today made it official.
I promise to be your peace. I promise to be your partner.
From this day forward you will never carry anything alone again. ”
I looked over at the bridesmaids. Nique was crying, tears tracking straight down through her makeup and she wasn’t even trying to stop them.
I thought about everything she had been carrying this week.
A breakup, jail, the ugly truth from Stella, and now standing here watching two people who had survived the worst kind of loss find their way to each other.
I understood why it was hitting her like that. I felt it too.
I made a quiet promise to myself right then that I was going to spend the rest of my life making sure the only tears she ever cried were the good kind.
I pulled my eyes back to the altar just in time to hear the officiant say you may kiss your bride. Eli didn’t hesitate. He pulled London in and the whole beach lost it, applause and cheers rising up around them.
I cheered with everybody else. Still, somewhere underneath all of it though a clock had started and I wasn’t planning on letting it run very long.