Epilogue #2
She had on this light blue satin dress that hit mid-calf with a slit running up her thigh.
Rhinestone starfish and seashells were scattered across the fabric catching the light every time she moved, and her sandals had these little crystal bows at the ankle that somehow made the whole thing make sense.
Her hair was down, gold jewelry everywhere.
She looked like she had been made specifically for this island.
“Close your mouth,” she said, grabbing her clutch off the dresser.
“I’m ready when you are,” I said.
We headed out as the sun was starting to drop, the sky turning that particular shade of orange and pink that Curacao seemed to do better than anywhere else. I reached for her hand as we walked and steered her toward the path to the cove instead of the main restaurant.
“I want to show you something before we eat,” I said.
She looked up at me. “How long is it going to take because I am starving.”
“Five minutes,” I said.
“You always say five minutes and it’s never five minutes.”
“Just trust me,” I said.
She sighed but followed me, her heels clicking on the stone path as the last of the daylight faded around us.
She heard them before she saw them. Voices she recognized. Laughter she knew.
“Dex,” she said slowly, stopping on the path. “What did you do.”
“Keep walking,” I said.
She turned the corner and her hand flew to her mouth.
The cove was lit by hundreds of candles arranged along the sand, the light catching the water and throwing it back gold and warm.
A long table was set up with flowers and food and everything she would have chosen herself because I had paid attention for years and I knew exactly what she would have chosen.
But it wasn’t the candles or the table that got her.
Standing at the water’s edge were the people who had become our world.
Stella and Wendell, her arm through his.
Whitley already on her phone recording, already crying, somehow doing both simultaneously.
Deuce standing next to her trying to look cool and failing.
Uncle Tevin and Aunt Michelle arm in arm, Uncle Tevin already looking like he was going to need a moment.
My mother Lisa standing beside them, her hand over her heart before anything had even happened yet.
London and Eli with Tre on Eli’s hip, the baby completely unbothered by the whole occasion and focused entirely on a fistful of sand he had acquired from somewhere.
Heavyn was right beside them in a little white dress holding London’s hand and looking around at the candles like she had never seen anything so magical in her life.
Kyson and Paris, her head against his shoulder.
My daughter Demi was standing just to my side in a little sundress, holding the ring box without knowing what was inside it.
And right in the front, grinning like he had won something, already emotional before anything had even happened yet, was Nel.
“Surprise twin!” Nel shouted, his voice breaking on the last word.
Nique made a sound I had never heard from her before.
Not crying exactly. Something deeper than that.
She took one step toward them and Nel was already crossing the sand to meet her, pulling her into the kind of hug that only twins understand, both of them talking at once, both of them crying, neither one of them making any sense.
I gave them a minute. They deserved it.
When Nique finally pulled back and turned to look at me her face was completely undone in the best possible way. Makeup gone. Eyes red. The most beautiful I had ever seen her.
I walked toward her and took both of her hands in mine.
“You brought everyone,” she whispered. “How did you even.”
“I told you,” I said. “I’m done taking things slow. I’m done waiting for a perfect world.” I looked around at the cove; at the people we loved standing in the candlelight with their feet in the sand. “We’re already standing in it.”
I walked over to Demi and took the ring box from her little hands. She looked up at me confused and I winked at her before turning back to Nique and dropping to one knee.
The cove went silent except for the water and somewhere behind us Whitley’s quiet gasp and Nel saying oh my God under his breath like a prayer.
The ring caught the last of the daylight when I held it up.
“Dominique Simmons,” I said, my voice steady in a way I hadn’t been sure it would be.
“I have loved you since we were teenagers running the same block and didn’t have sense enough to say it out loud.
I fumbled you once. Then again. And I spent years telling myself the timing wasn’t right when the truth was I was just scared of how much I meant it.
” I looked up at her. “I am done being scared. I will cross every ocean between us for as long as it takes. I just need you to stop running and meet me on the other side. Be mine Nique. All the way mine.”
She was already nodding before I finished. Tears streaming, chin trembling, nodding like she couldn’t get the word out fast enough.
“Yes,” she finally managed. “Yes Dex. A thousand times yes.”
I slid the ring onto her finger and stood up and she grabbed my face in both hands and kissed me in front of every person we loved on a beach in Curacao as the sun finished setting behind us.
The cove erupted. Nel was hollering. Whitley was screaming into her phone.
Stella had both hands pressed to her heart.
London was already hugging Paris. Uncle Tevin pulled Aunt Michelle close.
Eli clapped me on the back the moment Nique moved to Nel and the two of them held each other again, her ring catching the candlelight between them.
Demi tugged at my jacket and I reached down and picked her up, letting her see the ring on Nique’s finger as Nique turned and looked at us both.
Nique reached out and touched Demi’s cheek. “Hey pretty girl.”
Demi looked at the ring and then at Nique and then back at me. “Is she gonna live with us now?”
The whole cove laughed.
“Yeah baby,” I said. “She’s gonna live with us now.”
I stood there holding my daughter watching my family celebrate and thought about the boy who grew up thinking he was too dark, too nerdy, too much of a long shot for the girl across the block who quoted Tupac at him and told him he was enough.
She had been right then.
She was right now.
The should have been was gone. There was only what is.
And what we were was finally perfectly home.
THE END