Page 182 of Anything Necessary for Her
He kissed Anastazia as she turned in his arms before he took her in, shaking his head in reverence like always to say he loved what he saw. And like clockwork, she reddened and cheesed.
“You’re still not getting another baby.” Anastazia stood on her tiptoes to lock her arms around his neck as they both smiled at one another.
She was joking because neither wanted more kids. Sianti was an accident after a drunken night out of of the country.
“You don’ risked ya life for me and the kids enough. I’m just trying to kick it with you from now on.” Asif peered down into his wife’s eyes, holding her closely. Her body lacked any real signs of having birthed six children just like all my other sisters-in-law.
She blushed as if he wasn’t her husband already, just as Khari stood before everybody, Harmony beside him, and of course, Wyatt was still watching even years later. Only now, Harmony was eighteen and about to go off to college, which drove my brother crazy just to think about.
Harmony was still his only baby girl, having had all boys—Lyric, Keyz, and newly Rhythm—with Couture.
Harmony and Couture were extremely close, much to Marley, her biological mother’s chagrin, but there wasn’t much she could do about it as Harmony grew older. My niece had explained to me that Couture was easier to talk to and had mastered being a good mother and friend at the same time, whereas Marley treated her like a baby, disallowing her to have any of her own opinions or thoughts. For that reason, Harmony had been living with Khari and Couture full time since she was fifteen.
“Aight, this shit about to start!” Khari cupped his mouth to call out, causing everyone to move around hurriedly in order to get in their seats.
“I’m so excited.” Bambi beamed to her husband Adam, who pecked her, as her four-year-old son Adam Jr. sat beside her. Bambi made it clear that would be her first and last child.
The wedding wasn’t as traditional with bridesmaids, groomsmen, and all that because my parents just wanted to walk down together. I wasn’t sure why, but after being together almost thirty years, I wouldn’t question them.
“Your mama said me and Taye can get married here next year.” Kailey sat in the row behind me beside Taye, making me look back at her with a simper.
“I can’t wait.” I beamed at her making her return the gesture as she sat back, Taye’s arm around her and her own hand on her rounded belly.
Kailey still danced ballet and planned to join the Manon show residency if she was up to it once her son was born. I loved that we were pregnant together.
The organ played as Yolani stood off to the side and in front of the microphone to sing.
“Go, Mommy!” Caylin shouted from beside his father, two brothers Crew and Cove, plus his baby sister Ysella.
Cemone’s bonus kids, the ones them two hos pinned on him, couldn’t make it, but I wasn’t surprised. As they got older and blended in with their own father’s families, it got more difficult and more awkward for my brother to request time with them, especially since he’d only fathered them for only a short amount of time due to his baby mamas keeping him from them initially.
“With yo’ fine ass!” Cemone added.
Yolani tried to hide her smile at her son’s outburst, but it was inevitable. She quickly got back into character, crooningethereally into the microphone as everyone quieted down to listen.
Everyone turned slightly to see my parents starting down the aisle after my baby girl Keziah had littered the area with flowers.
“True performer like her mama,” Low spoke against my ear before kissing it.
Keziah had put on quite the performance, skipping down as she’d tossed the flowers, basking in the grins, cheers, and camera flashes directed her little cute butt’s way.
As she sat in her daddy’s lap again, animatedly but silently clapping her tiny hands together as her grandparents made their way down the aisle, I kissed her cheek a couple times.
As my parents neared the archway where the officiant, Warner, stood waiting for them, everyone clapped despite that not being proper wedding etiquette. Phones had begun floating above the crowd as we all recorded.
“Okay, unlike the first wedding, the couple has some custom vows they’d like to exchange.” Warner wiggled his eyebrows in jest, sending a wave of snickers throughout the wedding party.
I took my mother in, in the beautiful white gown that clung to her still impeccable frame, even in her early sixties and after carrying seven children. She looked just as elegant as always, with slight gray strands being her only sign of age. Like her, my father looked great. Still tall, still stocky, his chest still broad, and his posture still firmly upright. He had way more gray in his hair and beard though, despite being only a year older than my mother.
“I had a lot to say, but we would literally be here all night if I said everything I wanted to, so I had to keep it slightly short,” my mother started, gripping my father’s hands as she stared up into his gleaming eyes. “But Chianti, since the day you literally broke into my life or my apartment, what have you, has been nothing short of an amazing ride. You were a man I could’ve onlyconjured up in my dreams, and even still, you’re one of a kind. There is no man out there like you, and I am not sure what I did for God to bless me with such a man, but I couldn’t be any more thankful.
“Oftentimes, in the past, I would wish I’d met you first and built a family with you instead of who I had, but I know we wouldn’t have the sons we have, who I wouldn’t change a thing about.”
“Especially Sif. Gon’ head and say it, Ma! ’Bout time they know yo’ favorite!” Asif called out, sending everyone, including our parents, into a fit of laughter.
“Yes,especiallyAsif.” My mother beamed, turning her attention back up to my smiling father. “You are an amazing man, Chianti, and I never thought I would ever meet someone like you—a man who would not only accept all of my flaws but heal my wounds. I have never known or experienced a love like what you give and have given me. The way you’ve fathered my sons, making them into the kind of men I could only dream they’d become. The way you gave meanotheramazing son who is just like you and that I didn’t think I would’ve wanted but cannot live without.” She winked at Asif, causing giggles. “Then of course the baby girl who is a result of the love we’ve built and nurtured was simply the cherry on top,” she added, making my eyes water even more. “I love you, and I would marry you as many times as allowed in this lifetime and in the next if I could, baby.”
For the first time in my life, well second since my dad had teared up upon seeing Keziah in the hospital, I’d seen my daddy’s eyes prickle with tears.
