30. Mr. & Mrs. King #3
I never took my eyes off her.
“Chanel Simone Davis.” The tears started immediately.
“From the moment I met you, you’ve been my favorite person.
I was twenty-one years old when I decided to love you.
I didn’t know life would take us down the roads it did.
I didn’t know we’d lose years. I didn’t know we’d lose a child.
I didn’t know we’d spend so much time fighting our way back to one another. ”
The beach grew silent.
Even the kids stopped fidgeting.
“I only knew one thing.” My voice cracked. “Every version of my future had you in it.”
Chanel covered her mouth, crying openly now.
“I loved you when I was a boy.” I squeezed her hands. “I loved you when I became a man. I loved you when I was broken. And I’ll love you when we’re old and gray and driving our children crazy.”
A laugh rippled through the crowd.
“You are my best friend. You are the greatest love I’ve ever known. You are home, and I promise that for the rest of my life, no matter what comes, you’ll never have to walk through it alone again.”
Then Chanel grabbed the microphone before she completely lost the ability to speak.
The entire family laughed.
“I had a whole speech.” She wiped beneath her eyes. “Now I can’t see it.”
“Xavier King.” Her voice trembled. “You’ve been my miracle more than once. I spent so much of my life believing loss would always find me. I thought if I loved too deeply, life would punish me for it.”
The wind caught her veil. The sunset wrapped around her. And I swear she looked like every prayer I’d ever prayed.
“You taught me otherwise. You loved me through grief. You loved me through addiction. You loved me when I didn’t know how to love myself and when I didn’t know how to choose you back. You are the safest place I’ve ever known.”
Her fingers tightened around mine.
“And if I get a thousand lifetimes, I’d choose you in every single one.”
I knew I was supposed to wait, but I couldn’t help myself. I kissed her passionately and desperately. I kissed her as if the wind might blow her away and as if I needed her to ground me.
Zay chimed in, “Y’all are skipping steps, ya nasties.”
The family laughed through their own tears.
I finally let her go so we could say the words we had waited decades to say.
“Do you, Xavier, take Chanel to be your lawful husband, to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?”
“I do.”
The crowd erupted immediately.
“Do you, Chanel, take Xavier to be your lawful wife, to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?”
“I do.”
And just like that, my Angel became my wife. I kissed her before the officiant even announced it.
The crowd exploded into whistles and applause. Jared hugged Camilla, and Kenya openly sobbed into Zay’s shoulder. Every person we loved celebrated with us.
The reception lasted for hours. There was dancing and plenty of delicious food. We had jerk chicken, curried crab, and pork dumplings. There was Roti and slow-cooked curry goat. We had callaloo and tons of desserts just like Angel had on her moodboard.
At one point, AJ and JoJo challenged me to a dance battle and embarrassed themselves publicly; at another, Zay gave a speech as the best man that made everybody cry.
The night felt endless in the best possible way.
Eventually, the family began to disappear, and the children went to their villa with their grandpa and fell asleep.
The music softened, the celebration settled, and finally, it was just my wife and me.
“I have a wedding gift for you, Mr. King”
I frowned. “You are the gift, Angel.”
“That was smooth.”
“I know.”
She rolled her eyes affectionately, then reached into the drawer beside the bed. My confusion grew until she handed me a small envelope. I opened it and froze. For a second, my brain couldn’t process what I was seeing, but once my heart began to slow down, I realized it was a sonogram.
My eyes immediately lifted to hers. Chanel was crying again.
“Angel.”
The words barely escaped me. She nodded.
“I’m twelve weeks pregnant.”
This was our second chance.
The tears hit me instantly, I cried harder than I did at the wedding, because years ago we lost Xander, years ago we buried dreams we thought would never return. And now, life was giving us another opportunity.
Another chapter.
Another miracle.
I pulled her into my lap and kissed her.
“We’re having a baby.”
The realization felt impossible. Chanel rested her forehead against mine.
“We are.”
I wrapped my arms around her and held her. We stood overlooking the ocean and stared out at the ocean while our future stretched endlessly before us.
Because after everything we’d survived, after every loss and every setback. After every year apart, love had found us anyway, and we proved that this love was and will forever be bulletproof.
The End