Chapter 20
My Wife, My Life
Double
On the evening of the third Thursday in May, Tinsley and I walked into the foyer of our home. We were dressed for the Petals and Pearls Affair.
“You nervous?” I asked her, dropping to my knees to wrap the strap of her left shoe up her shin and secure the clasp.
“A little bit.” She teetered slightly before finding her balance as I fastened the right shoe.
I stood to my feet, and she adjusted the lapels of my suit jacket. “Yeah, this is some stressful shit.”
“I’m just glad that one, we’re doing this together, and two, that your grandparents agreed to help guide us for this next year.”
I took her hand in mine and kissed her palm. “Say word.”
“Word,” she joked.
“I have something for you.” I turned to the console table, opened the drawer, and pulled out the velvet box.
“More jewelry? You’re spoiling me, Double.”
“You’re my wife. What else am I supposed to do to you besides love on you and spoil you?”
“And you do both very well.” She put emphasis on the word very.
That made me pull my gaze away from the velvet box and put it on her. “Don’t get bent over in this foyer, Mrs. Waters.” I took a beat. “And Sweetheart . . .”
“Huh?”
“Either get on some type of birth control or vocalize to me right now that you understand that I’m gonna end up getting you pregnant. I feel like you’re not takin’ the possibility of getting pregnant seriously.”
“I’m taking it seriously.”
I eyed her. “So, what’re we doin’?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged her shoulders.
I dropped the subject and turned back to the box in my hand. I opened the top and showed her the contents.
She gasped. “Double.”
I set the box down on top of the console table then picked up the first of the two double-strand pearl bracelets.
After clasping that one on her right wrist, I clasped the second on her left wrist. “Yeah.” I nodded.
Tinsley’s ass looked like a good dream. My wife was fine as hell, and dressed up the way she was, she was more like what those old-school dudes used to call a vision.
She was a vision—something I wanted to look at all the time.
I walked into the venue with my head held high from the fact that I had the finest date in the room on my arm.
Her ivory-colored dress with the pearl accents hugged her luscious breasts, laid easily against her flat stomach, skirted over her ample hips, had a slit that gave a view of her thick thighs, and lightly kissed the floor. She was perfection.
The soft sound of jazz followed us as I led her into the room where the silent auction items were displayed. Waiters moved around the crowd with glasses of champagne on trays. I lifted two glasses from the tray of a passing waiter and handed one to Tinsley.
She took a small sip. “Ooh, this is the good stuff.”
We moved through the offerings. I stopped at a European getaway. “Five nights at a five-star resort on the Amalfi Coast.”
“Yes, please,” she joked. “That sounds gorgeous. Have you ever been?”
“I’ve been to Italy but not to the Amalfi Coast. Should we bid?”
“I don’t know.” Her eyes were wide and bright at the prospect. I loved to see them all lit up.
“Keep looking at me like that, and there’s not too much I would deny you.”
“Double,” she crooned with a blush before burying her face in my chest.
I scanned the QR code with my phone, thought of what seemed like a fair price to pay, and made my bid.
Then we continued strolling. We made a few additional bids—a spa “buyout” where Tinsley and five of my female relatives could receive spa services as the only clients for a day, and a set of two luxury timepieces since I was a watch aficionado.
We stopped to have a few shots taken at the photography wall, and soon after, we heard the chimes that alerted us that it was time to enter the main ballroom. We found our seats at the table with my grandparents; my parents; Journey; her homegirl, Anastasia; Justus, and his girl for the night.
“Everybody, this is Egypt,” Justus said once everybody at the table had settled. He looked at his date. “Egypt, this is everybody.” He pointed to us as he named us. “My grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Hill. My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Waters. My lump-head-ass sister.”
“Shut up!” Journey hissed.
“Her . . . lady friend,” he continued.
Both Journey and Anastasia frowned their faces. “She’s not my lady friend,” Journey explained to Egypt. “Your date is a . . .” She looked at our grandparents and parents. “He’s a jerk. This is my bestie, Anastasia.”
Anastasia gave the date a small wave and mean-mugged Justus.
“And this is my brother and his mail-order bride—”
“Nigga, I’ll—”
Tinsley’s giggle cut my threat short. “I’m not his mail-order bride, although I do have an accent. I’m his wife, Tinsley. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Right,” Journey agreed, “because almost anybody is better than the last nightmare you kept bringing around.”
“Say,” Justus began.
“You started it,” Journey reminded him.
“Grandchildren, buck down,” Big Hill said easily, and the table went quiet. What we didn’t do was play with Big Hill.
The MC for the evening, a popular local radio DJ, took to the stage and welcomed us to a night of good food, good entertainment, and good company.
He quickly touched on the sponsors who had helped to make the evening possible and thanked us all for coming out.
Then he invited Big Hill and Lynne to the stage.
As they stood, they beckoned toward Tinsley and me, so we stood as well and followed them.
“It’s happening already?” Tinsley questioned as we made our way to the stage.
“Must be.”
Big Hill moved behind the podium and took the mic.
“Good evening, everyone. Once again, I want to express our gratitude for you all coming out for the sixteenth annual Passion’s Project Spring Fundraiser, which this year has been lovingly coined: The Petals and Pearls Affair.
We see you in your white, cream, and ivory—which was my wife’s vision. You look good.
“Tonight, we thank you for your continued support of our mission—to support youth who have lost one or both parents to gun violence—and we thank you for your generosity. For the past sixteen years, my daughter, Passion Hill-Waters, has been the visionary behind this organization, and my wife, Lynne, and I have carried out her wishes as the Executive Director and Director of Philanthropy, respectively.”
The room erupted in applause for my grandparents and their service.
“As I look around at all of you and think about all we’ve been able to accomplish in sixteen years, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude that you all bought into our dream and helped make it into a reality.
Thousands of children throughout the Chicagoland area have received services—counseling, tutoring, mentoring, scholarships, and even job training.
We couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve been able to do and how we’ve impacted lives and the community as a whole.
“Being the . . . faces of this foundation has been the greatest honor of our lifetimes.” He reached over and took Lynne’s hand in his. “But with every beginning, there must also come an ending.”
The crowd gasped, and whispers moved through the room.
“It’s time for Lynne and me to pass the torch to the next set of capable hands.
While we may be stepping down from roles that have defined our lives for more than a decade, we will remain involved, though in much less visible capacities.
And please know that we’re always only a phone call away if we’re needed. ”
The crowd clapped while Big Hill passed the microphone to his wife.
“We know this announcement may have caught some of you off guard, but Chad is exactly right. This work isn’t about the people who hold the titles; it’s about upholding the bridge between the help that comes from generous hearts and the communities who need that help.
Please help me welcome the Passion’s Project Foundation’s newest Executive Director, Jinx Waters, and the new Director of Philanthropy, his wife, Tinsley Campbell-Waters.
Give it up for your new leadership team. ”
“That was so much fun,” Tinsley gushed as we headed away from the venue at the end of the night. “I can’t believe you won the set of watches.”
“Me, either.” I slipped my hand onto her thigh, my favorite place to rest it. “Listen. I have a surprise for you.”
“Another one? Is it another piece of jewelry?”
I shook my head. “Nah.”
“Where are we, Double?” she questioned as the driver of the car I’d arranged pulled onto the tarmac.
“The airstrip. Come on.” I took her hand in mine as she slid out of the backseat.
“Where are we going? We didn’t bring any luggage.”
“We’re not gonna need any.” I led her to the stairs of the plane.
“The last time I was on the jet, I was escaping from Iredia. Are we headed back to Iredia?”
“Absolutely not.”
She turned and faced me. We were eye to eye because she stood on the first step of the plane’s staircase. “Okay. I was scared for a minute that you wanted to return the merchandise.”
I figured she was joking, but I didn’t even want her joking like that. “Hell nah. As long as you’ll let me keep you, I’m keeping you. You’re my wife. I’m not trying to give you back.”
She kissed my lips. “And I’m not trying to be given back.” She bounded up the stairs.
We got comfortable on the jet, buckled our seat belts, and settled in for the ride.
The two cabin attendants moved up and down the cabin, adjusting and securing.
I watched them silently. The bubbly, brown-skinned one gave the safety briefing, and then the two of them moved toward the front of the plane.
“Why’re you so quiet?” Tinsley’s breath was warm up against the shell of my ear.
“Did you mean what you said earlier?”
“What did I say earlier?”
“That you’re not trying to be given back.”
She turned in her seat to face me. “You think I want to be given back, Double? You think I don’t want this marriage?”
“Come on, Sweetheart. You didn’t pick this marriage for yourself. We didn’t date. You didn’t choose me. You ended up with me based on circumstances that were beyond your control.”
“That’s true, but nothing is coincidental. And I did choose you.”
“Over Sterling Gillespie’s decrepit ass? Come on, Ma.”
“I’m not talking about that day, sir. I’m talking about every day.
I choose you every day. You do know that on the day I arrived, you set up a bank account for me and gave me a credit card.
Any day of the week, I could choose to .
. . as you would say, get in the wind. I could check into a hotel.
I could rent an apartment. I don’t do that.
I don’t want to live in a hotel or in an apartment.
I want to live with my husband, the man who has buried himself in my heart a little more each day that I’ve known him.
The man who’s shown me more care and compassion in the months that we’ve been together than my family showed me in my entire life.
“I feel so lucky that it was you who showed up at my aunt’s house in Iredia.
I feel so lucky that you were the person who was willing to take on the burden of a wife.
” She kissed my lips. “Why would you ever think that I don’t want to stay with you?
I’m low-key trying to purposely get pregnant with your baby so you have to stay with me. ”
“What?”
She blushed. “You heard me.”
I kissed her lips. “You ain’t gotta do that. I’ll get your little pretty ass pregnant any day of the week. Do you not get how much I love you? I’m fighting negative fuckin’ thoughts every day about you resentin’ the way we got together, packin’ your shit, and leavin’.”
“I love you, too. I know it’s only been three months, but you’re it for me. I’m not going anywhere.”
“It feels way longer than three months.”
“And just think, we have forever to go.”