Page 19 of The Love Bully
“Are your brothers being mean to you, Maddie?” I asked her after she laid her head on my shoulder. I chuckled when I felt her head nod. She was already too much.
Aaron sucked his teeth. “Man, her ass.” He waved her off.
Derrick laughed hard at his brother. “Bro, how you let a lil baby get you in your feelings like that? Our lil sis can’t even walk yet.”
Aaron was the most upset about how Maddie was dropped off at Karla’s. All these months later, he was the one that had Maddie the most besides me and her mama. The month before we adopted her, Karla took care of her. Aaron damn near moved in to help her. Marsha said his ass was nesting or some shit.
I smoothed down Maddie’s purple dress that matched Bridgette’s dress. Bridgette was the flower girl while Maddie was my ring girl bearer. That shit was Norma, Karla, and Bruqlyn’sidea. We would see how this shit played out in just a bit. During rehearsal, Maddie said fuck that box and threw it.
“Gentlemen, are we ready? It’s time to take your positions,” the wedding planner, Shannon, announced. She came over with her assistant to get Bridgette and Maddie. “Maddie and Bridgette, your mommies want you.”
Maddie’s head lifted from my shoulder. Oh, now that she knew her mama wanted her, it was forget about me. “Go ahead so you can see ama.”
I turned to look into the mirror one final time. Euri’s arm went around my neck. “You ready, Pop? Finally locking down my mama.”
“Son, your mama has been locked down. It just took her a little minute to understand that.” I side-eyed him for a beat. “To answer your question, I’ve been ready. I thank God that she gave a nigga like me another damn chance to truly get it right.” I glanced at Euri in the mirror. “I promise, I’m gonna make her happy and not hurt her, Son.”
The pride that oozed from his eyes was something that I’d never seen before. He smiled warmly, then squeezed my shoulder. “I know you will, Pop. Trust me, I know.”
My breath was caught in my throat. She was so beautiful as she walked toward me. Our wedding was intimate with a guest count of fifty people. Marsha and I had small circles that intertwined. Grant’s hand gripping my shoulder took me out of my infatuated gaze. “Breathe, man. You gotta be conscious to say your vows.”
I chuckled because he was right. “A Thousand Years” was the perfect ballad to be the beginning soundtrack of our love. Marsha was one of a kind, down to the purple and black lacewedding dress that she had custom made for our wedding. This was my first time seeing it, and I had to keep my hands perfectly centered over my dick.
When she and Euri got to the bottom of the stage, I took the few steps down to meet them. The officiant did all the pizzaz about who would give her away. All three of our sons said they did. When the room was at its quietest, Bridgette yelled, “Me too.”
The venue erupted in laughter. Our nannies held Bridgette and Maddie at the end of the first row. They were the only two children here. I escorted Marsha up the stairs to the stage.
We needed to move this along, because Maddie was occupied right now with the ring box that she was supposed to bring to me down the aisle. Once she was bored with that, she would want one of us, and we were all busy. The original plan was for me to meet Maddie in the center of the aisle so she could give me the box, and I would carry her to the front. Again, I didn’t like it, but the women wanted the photo opportunity.
Maddie crawled to me with the box in one hand. Once she got to me, she sat her ass on that floor and played with the box, not giving me a care. After I picked her up and got her to the front, she almost passed out when I tried to take the box. It wasn’t worth it, so I let her have the shit. The ring wasn’t even in the damn box.
The officiant said all the things. “I believe the bride and groom have prepared their own vows.” He bowed his head at me to proceed first.
I cleared my throat. “Marsha, when I tried to write these vows, I thought I did good until I let your big head sons read it. They said it sounded like a surgeon general’s warning label. I’m so in love with you that you’re a part of my DNA. You’re my peace in the middle of all the chaos of this world, and I thank you for that. For never taking your peace completely away from mewhen you could have. I promise to keep your peace safe within me.
“Like it’s always been, our love is going to be crazy, off-kilter, even a little toxic, but in the best way. I promise to love you, obsess over you, crave you, create storms when it comes to you if I need to. I will bully love every second of every day when it comes to Marsha Westin. I love you forever and always.”
My eyes drew to the sniffles in the room. When my eyes came back to Marsha, there were tears trailing down her cheeks. I used my finger to wipe them. I knew that my vows might not have made sense to some of the people in the room. All that mattered was that they made complete sense to my love.
The officiant gave Marsha the go ahead. “Orion, if you asked my mind whether we’d ever get here, it would have said no. My heart knew though. It always knew that it would be you and only you. The thing is that it had to be this you, the evolved you and me for this to work. There had to be forgiveness on both of our parts. We had to choose the new us instead of being comfortable in the old. Now we have to keep choosing us.
“I promise to keep choosing you. I promise to keep choosing to love and honor you, even when you get on my nerves. We are a part of each other’s DNA, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. The love that I have for you is so intense that it hurts sometimes in the most wonderful way. You call yourself a love bully, well, someone taught me to bully the bully. I plan to bully the fuck out of love every day behind you. I love you, Orion.”
“Those were vows to remember,” the officiant said with a chuckle. “Today, you two are choosing each other in every way. You’re choosing to be one, even when it is easier to be two. Marriage is hard no matter how old you are when you get into it. It requires grace, love, patience, humor, forgiveness, and kindness from both of you. When you feel like you’ve run out, goto God and ask for some more. You’re going to need it all. Trust me as a man that’s been married forty years.
“Your love for one another and your family will be y’all’s safe place. That’s the place that you need to bully your way into every day and vow to stay there. Keep that place sacred and just for you two,” he concluded.
I zoned out on all the other words. When he got to the part that I felt like I waited to hear all my life, I tuned back in. “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.” The officiant finally said the magic words.
He was damn right I may kiss my bride. I pulled her into me by her ass to passionately kiss her. The groans of our grown ass children didn’t escape me. I just didn’t give a damn. Marsha smacked my shoulder. “Stop being mannish in front of all these folks.”
I pecked her lips and squeezed her ass a final time before I pulled back. The officiant shook his head with a chuckle. In a presenting fashion, he held his arms out. “I would like to present to friends and family, Mister and Missus Orion Westin.”
The room erupted in cheers. Norma walked in front of us and laid down a gorgeous, decorative broom for us to jump over. I helped my wife down the steps, we counted to three, then jumped over the broom. I couldn’t help but pull her into me for another kiss. “Hi, Mrs. Westin.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck. With a bright, gorgeous smile and warm eyes, she responded. “Hi, Mr. Westin.”
It’s A Celebration. . .
