Chapter 18
Andrès
Our backyard had been transformed from a beautiful garden into a private botanical garden with the addition of red and white roses, hydrangeas, carnations, peonies, and bleeding hearts.
It was her desire to be married in a botanical garden or something similar, so I decided to bring the botanical gardens to her.
Several hand-sculpted shrubberies had been installed for today, and lots of greenery had been added to surround the additional water fountains that were placed in the backyard.
Our arch was created with peach and white roses and lots of greenery added in to match our colors.
Two steps led to the dais that was set up for us to exchange vows.
I looked out on the rows of chairs that our families and friends occupied.
I knew the minute she stepped out she would be stunned to see that our small, intimate ceremony had grown to just over one hundred people.
Besides her immediate family, her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and a few other friends had been added to the guest list. Several of my friends from California had flown in, along with some colleagues, and my father, stepmother, siblings, my mother, and Leon were here.
He had invited me to brunch the day before, and he had apologized for the way he had treated me. He told me that he was proud of the young man I had become and that through the years, he had been jealous of the relationship I still held with my father.
Leon admitted that he had wanted to replace him, and he knew that was wrong, but he couldn’t change how he felt.
He had resented my father and his continuing presence in our lives, and the older I got, the more I represented my father.
He acknowledged that this wedding meant everything to my mother, and he asked if he could attend.
I’d had a bit to say to him, too, but in the end, I accepted his apology and accepted the white flag.
The moment that I saw Kalliope step out of the house, I forgot all about yesterday, wrapped up Jagged Edge’s “Meet Me at the Altar,” and I transitioned to “Why I Love You” by MAJOR.
She stuttered just a little bit in her steps, and I was certain no one noticed it but her father and me.
My gaze was so trained on my woman that there was no way that I could miss a single thing about her.
When she finally made it to me, I handed the microphone to my brother, Solomon, who stood by my side as my best man.
My other groomsmen were Silas and KJ. Her maid-of-honor was Adriana, and Khatya and Kelsey were her bridesmaids.
My men were dressed in sage green suits with peach boutonnieres, and her sisters and Adriana wore peach dresses, all in different cuts and designs.
I blinked rapidly as her father placed her hands in mine. “I know that you will take good care of my baby’s heart. You’ve always adored and protected her, and I trust that you’ll do even more now that she’s yours.”
“Yes, sir,” I replied, never taking my eyes off Kalli. “You look stunning, baby. I couldn’t have imagined that you could be even more gorgeous than you already are. You seriously are breathtakingly beautiful today.”
She blushed and lowered her gaze before meeting mine again. “Thank you. You look damn good yourself. Oops, sorry Pastor Parker.”
The pastor smiled and nodded. “It’s okay, this one time.” He winked and chuckled before he started his speech about the importance of love, unity, and fidelity in God’s eyes.
“You two have written your own vows out of love, today,” he declared after his speech.
We nodded at the pastor and then turned to one another. I took the ring from Solomon’s hand and turned to Kalli.
“We were simply kids when we made the pact to marry one another in ten years if we weren’t already married. To me, it was more than a pact, Kalli. It was my life’s mission to get myself together and return to claim your heart, your body, and your soul.
“You have been destined to be mine since the day you stepped foot in middle school with those big watery eyes and a backpack you could hardly carry.” She laughed.
“I could not imagine you belonging to anyone else as the years passed, so I never considered it.
In some ways, it seemed as if time strolled casually along, and sometimes limping, but when I saw you again, it was like no time passed at all.
“I still knew your heart and your soul because they are a part of me. Kalliope Marie, with this ring, I vow to always protect your heart and your soul with my life. I vow to bring laughter to all your days, keep your smile on your face, encourage your curiosity, be your strength when you are weak, and inspire you to reach beyond the stars. I vow to always provide for you, to be generous to you, and thoughtful as it regards you. I vow to honor, protect, and love you all the days of my life.”
I held the ring up so that she could see the inside.
She gasped when she realized the ring that was custom designed for her included the heart from the locket that I took all those years ago.
The day after she met me in my hotel room, I took the heart to my jeweler, and I requested a custom ring to include her heart.
“Drè,” she cried out in a trembling voice. I slid the ring on her finger as she took her right hand and wiped her tears before she reached for the ring that Khatya held.
“Wow. I’m so nervous. I had no idea I would be speaking in front of so many people today,” she stated, causing everyone to laugh with her.
“But I have no problem telling the world how I feel about you.
Andrès Sebastian, with this ring, I vow to always honor you, give you a safe place to call home, and protect your heart from the world, to care for your feelings and emotions, and give you a safe space to pour into.
“I vow to never take your thoughts, dreams, and feelings for granted, but I will be your strength when you are weak, your fortress when the world is against you, and I will battle the world beside you. I will always see you, the pained little boy trying hard to win approval, the lost young man searching for his way, and the adult man proving himself in the world, but still needing a safe space to hide away in. I promise to always be that safe space for you and to love you with all that I am.”
Throughout her vow recital, I struggled to keep my emotions in check, but damn, she was making it hard as hell.
There was no way that I could stand here and be strong and not buckle.
She was speaking to my heart, my pain, my past, and my future.
She was breaking those walls down that my stepdad forced me to erect.
She held up the ring and showed it to me, and I laughed hard and loud. My wedding band was also a custom design, and it included the onyx from the ring I had given her all those years ago.
“Great minds think alike,” she stated as she slid the ring on my finger and smiled at me. Then she reached up and wiped away the single teardrop that slowly trailed from my eye. I hadn’t even realized it had fallen.
“My bad, baby. Your words . . . this ring. I just wasn’t prepared.”
“You never have to apologize for letting your heart be seen, not with me,” she whispered, cupping my cheek.
“May Almighty God bless this marriage for the rest of your days. I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride,” Pastor Parker declared.
He didn’t need to tell me twice. I cupped my baby’s face in my hands and drew nearer to her. I brushed my lips gently over her lips, consuming her mint-coated tongue, and drawing a sweet moan from her lips before I pulled back.
“I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Jones,” Pastor Parker declared as we held our hands in the air.
Cheers erupted as the song “Me and Mrs. Jones” by Billy Paul played from the speakers.
We made our way down the white carpet strewn with rose petals toward the other side of our yard where the large tent was set up for the reception.
“Oh my gosh, baby. How did you pull this off? I knew that I wanted to be surprised, but I didn’t expect all these people, you singing to me, and the botanical garden in our own backyard.”
“It’s not over, baby.”
“Oh, wow.” She laughed.
When we heard the strains of Beyoncé’s “Run the World,” she declared, “That’s my cue, baby.” I kissed her as she ran to catch up with her bridesmaids. They had coordinated a dance to enter the tent, and I stood back and watched as my groomsmen joined me.
“She’s a good look on you, li’l bro. You’re definitely a different man than the one who came to Cali a decade ago,” Solomon declared, dapping me up.
“And that’s real, G.” Silas agreed, joining us with a stack of shoe boxes that he handed out.
We were fresh as fuck, my boys in their sage tuxes, and me in my all-white tux. We removed our dress shoes, and they put on all-white Forces. I exchanged my dress shoes for a fresh pair of all-white Alexander McQueen sneakers.
“Yeah, he’s been through enough shit. I’m proud to officially call you my bro now. You know how I always felt about you,” KJ announced.
“I appreciate you, man, for all the time you kept me up-to-date on everything that went on with your sister. I know it was hard at times, but I appreciate you.”
“Man, it was all good. I have no regrets,” KJ replied. “You’re a helluva lot better than that bitch-ass nigga she was seeing.”
“I don’t know why she wasted so much time on him,” I stated.
“I do. She once told me that if she couldn’t have you, did it matter who she was with?” KJ shared.
My heart swelled up at that. “I told her that nigga and her were both using each other as placeholders. I just wish I hadn’t wasted her time.”
“You didn’t, bro. You came through like a champ on some real G shit. Got your life together and came through and claimed what was yours,” KJ replied.
When the girls finished dancing, my groomsmen and I danced in on T.I.’s “Bring ‘em Out,” but the deejay remixed it with “Let ‘Em Know.”
They screamed as we danced into the tent. I shed my tux jacket, leaving only my dress shirt and suspenders. My boys fell back and let me finish the dance at the end.
“I love you, Mrs. Jones,” I professed as the deejay announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, everyone to your corners of the room. You can watch, and you can glance, but it’s time for the newlyweds to dance their first dance.”
The music slowed down, and we danced to K-Ci and JoJo’s “All My Life.”
“You remembered?” she whispered as her eyes pooled with tears again.
“I keep telling you that I haven’t forgotten anything about you.”
When she was sixteen, and I was eighteen, she told me that she wanted that to be the song she danced her first dance to when she got married. I laughed at the time, and I had told her that she was corny, but I tucked it away in my heart.
“You made fun of me.”
“I was supposed to. We were teenagers, and that shit wasn’t cool back then,” I stated, winking and brushing my lips over hers.
She wrapped her arms around my neck. “This day couldn’t be more perfect, baby. This is my dream wedding and then some. I have one question, though.”
“What’s that?”
“How are you feeling? Your mom and Leon are here. How are you really feeling?”
“Yesterday when I told you I needed to make a run, it was to meet him for brunch. He apologized and owned his shit. Don’t get excited, baby,” I stated when her eyes lit up.
“Me and that nigga a long way from besties, but we peaced it out for you and my mama’s sake for today.
I don’t wanna talk about that no more. The only thing that I care about is you and me right now.
This is our day. Only happy thoughts, okay?
” I asked, tilting her chin and kissing her lips again.
We danced slowly to the music and kissed through the entire song. When it ended, everyone clapped for us, and she was ready to dance again, but I pulled her off the floor.
“I want to dance, baby.”
“You will,” I replied and winked as I walked onto the floor with my groomsmen.
The music switched, and everyone started screaming. A slow smile lit my face as Kalli’s eyes widened. Tears sprang to her eyes again, and she clasped her hands over her mouth. “Baby!” She shrieked.
Ne-Yo, one of her favorite artists, danced to the middle of the floor with us, and he sang “One in A Million” to her as we all danced a choreographed routine with him.
When we finished, he congratulated us and then left.
Everyone rushed onto the floor to dance, and I pulled my wife back into my arms again. It felt good calling her my wife.
“You have outdone yourself, sir.”
“I just wanted to give you a wedding you would always remember and be proud of.”
“As long as you were the one placing the ring on my finger, I would always remember and be proud, Mr. Jones. I love you so much, husband.” She beamed brightly at me.
“I love you more, wife.”
She giggled, and we continued to enjoy the entire reception. When eleven rolled around, we said goodbye to all the older adults, and it was only the thirty-five and under crowd remaining.
Once they cleared out, the lights were dimmed, and the deejay played “Climax “by Usher.
I removed my dress shirt, and I wore a T-shirt underneath that read “I belong to Mrs. Jones,” with a picture of Kalli on the front, and on the back, a picture of us that we had taken as teens.
Tears rolled down her face when she spotted the T-shirt.
My groomsmen and I danced a sexy number that we created just for the ladies. I was all over my wife, and she was clearly turned on. I could see her nipples poking through her reception dress that she’d changed into earlier.
We made our way back into the house later that night, and she stared at me.
“Today was very beautiful. It was a performance from the beginning to the end, an entire production. Thank you for making my dreams come true.” She threw her arms happily around my neck, and delight beamed from within her eyes.
“You made my dreams come true when you agreed to marry me, baby. I will love you for a lifetime.” I scooped her in my arms and carried her over the threshold into the house.