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“How’s my tie?’’ Jack asked for the third time. He had struggled to get the red and blue silk tie straight after taking fifteen minutes to tie it.
Djuana shook her head and frowned, her man was nervous. “You look like a fool,’’ she smiled, trying to ease him.
“Thanks. Just checking.’’
They walked down the steps leading to the entrance of Mount Zion Baptist Church. The large doors opened into a foyer. On the right were more double doors that lead into the church. Opposite was a staircase leading up.
“We have to go upstairs,’’ Djuana said. “He said he would be in his office.’’
“Okay,’’ Jack said, but he went to the doors. He opened them and went into the church.
The auditorium was huge. Wall-to-wall red carpeting, and red upholstery on the divided benches. The benches, arching on each side to form a semi-circle around the pulpit. Jack looked around, feeling the well-cushioned benches.
“I’m sorry, I forgot you have never seen the church,’’ Djuana said, walking in behind him.
“I like it. Not too big, or too small. Is there a back door?’’
“Why?’’
“In case I have to dip.’’
Djuana hit him with her small handbag, “You’re real funny.’’
“Excuse me,’’ a voice came from above. “You two aren’t fighting already?’’
“No, Pastor Reid,’’ Djuana grabbed Jack’s hand.
“Good, then come on up,’’ the minister said from the balcony.
Pastor Orenthal Reid was a slim man, with a large head, pushed in chin and serious eyes. He was the youngest reverend among the Portland Baptist community of churches at 36 years old. He was laid back and very modern, but when it came to marriage he was hard nosed.
“Listen,’’ he began after being formally introduced to Jack and having them sit across from him at his desk. “I usually put the couples I marry through a nine-month learning session, that I call the birthing of a wedlock.
“The only reason I chose to marry you two was because of Sister Earline. She is a most devoted member of my congregation. Has been long before I got here.’’
Jack squirmed in the wooden chair. He had glanced around the office while the pastor spoke. It was modestly furnished, and the walls held the pastor’s college degree from New York University, pictures of Pastor Reid with Mayor Meier, the governor and various children at their graduations or award ceremonies.
“Reverend Reid, I understand this,’’ Jack began, twisting the bulb of his tie at the collar. “But I truly believe that Djuana and I have had quite a period of getting to know one another.’’
“Maybe so, but I take my job of marrying couples seriously. While the rate of divorce goes heavenward, I, praise the Lord, have never had a couple split after I have brought them together.’’
“I love Djuana with all my heart. I was ready to give up my livelihood for her. I don’t want to be without her.’’
Djuana slid her hand into Jack’s, on his lap.
Pastor Reid smiled, a warm grin.
“Mr. Newhouse, I wasn’t trying to say you don’t love this woman. I am merely trying to let you, and Djuana, know that marriage is a lot different than living together.
“Problems among married couples seem to be taken with much more sincerity than when they are just going together.’’
Jack nodded, “I understand.’’
The pastor turned to Djuana, “Are you ready to have this man as your husband. To stand by him faithfully, and love him through the thick and thin?’’
“Yes.’’
Djuana turned to meet the eyes she knew were on her. She tightened her grip on Jack’s hand. Her breathing quickened. She looked back at the pastor.
“I thought I was in love once. I thought I could marry that person. But I have never loved a man the way I love Jack Newhouse. And I would be proud to be his wife.
“I know that when I marry him, I will be happy because he loves me, and he makes me happy without trying hard, or buying me gifts.’’
Pastor Reid scratched his scalp through his low cut patch of hair. His eyebrows raised his forehead into a wrinkle.
“Okay, then. You guys seem ready. Let’s talk details.’’
Jack and Djuana’s wedding was three weeks and a day from the end of the World Series. During that time, Djuana encouraged Jack to go on the talk shows in Los Angeles and New York that were calling Berger while she finalized plans. Berger even had an proposal from “Good Day, Portland’’ to follow Djuana on her quest to be ready in time.
Djuana rejected the offer, and the $10,000.
She did, however, ride in the team’s parade down Burnside. She sat, not waving that much, in the MVP float with Jack. It was the float of honor, the last of the six carrying the players. Mayor Meier gave Jack a key to the city, and Djuana a kiss. Jack’s speech on the steps of City Hall was short, but well accepted by the thousands of fans spread out across downtown.
Jack liked talk shows, but the main reason he went was to stay out of Djuana’s way. Being with his bride to be now that he was off from baseball was all he wanted to do. He admired how settled Djuana became. She worked without panic, controlling details as if she had been a wedding planner for years.
None of the women could hear the knock at Emma’s door until the laughing and chattering died down. The ladies were sharing stories about wedding disasters, and linking them to Djuana’s hasty decisions.
“Listen, nothing is going to go wrong,’’ Djuana stood. “I have a daily agenda, and I check off each thing after it’s taken care of.’’
“Oh, like nobody else did that?’’ Marla injected.
Djuana moved toward the steady raps. She opened the door, and choked back the shock.
Dexter, leaning on the doorway, fought back the tears.
“What do you want, Dex?’’
“I need to talk to you,’’ he whimpered.
“Close my door, Juanny!” Emma barked.
“Please, Djuana. Just give me a second.’’
Djuana searched his eyes, she felt the hurt and no anger.
“You got a minute,’’ she looked back at the ladies. “I’ll be in the hallway.’’
“Djuana!’’ Tia squeaked.
“How stupid is that girl,’’ her mother complained.
Dexter walked to the far staircase. Djuana, in thick socks, Crowns sweat pants and T-shirt, followed. Dex stopped at the banister, and leaned his back on it.
Djuana kept her eyes on his.
“I’ve missed you,’’ were his first words.
Djuana was not sure what to say. She crossed her arms at her chest.
“Shit,’’ Dexter touched the Crowns emblem on Djuana’s sweat pants. “I can not turn a corner, drive a block or cut on the television without hearing or seeing about the Newhouse wedding.’’
“Is this all you have to say?’’
“No. No. Not at all,’’ he swallowed deeply. He looked into her impatient eyes.
“No matter what, I want you to know that I love you.’’
“Dexter, that’s bullshit. I have to go.’’
Dexter ran in front of her, “No, it’s not bullshit. I love you, but I made a mistake. I need you, come back to me, please Djuana. I need you in my life again.’’
That was when Dexter cried. “I need you, baby. I hate that I lost your love.’’
“Don’t do this, Dexter.’’
He grabbed her arm, unfolding it, “I have to. I can’t give you up. I can still smell you on me. I need you. I need to be inside of you.’’
“Let go of me, Dexter.’’
Emma swung open her front door, “Jack is on the phone,’’ she snarled.
“I gotta go, Dexter. Have a nice life.’’
“Why you doing this to me?’’
“You’re married. Go tell your wife you love her. Your children need for you to do that sometimes, instead of breaking their mother’s heart.’’
Djuana walked down the hall, her mother moved from the door, wedging a broom’s handle in it.
“You don’t know shit! I didn’t get married for love, just like you’re not. The only difference is you’re going to be rich.’’
“Hey, babe,’’ Jack said when Djuana picked up.
“Hi.’’
“What’s the matter? Why’d your mother call me and say you needed to speak to me?’’
Djuana glared at her mother. Emma took the cue and slipped into the kitchen.
Djuana exhaled, “Dexter was here.’’
“What? What happened?’’
“Nothing. I really rather not talk about it.’’
“Okay. But I need the truck. Can I come get it?’’
“Jack? You know I have to go to my last fitting.’’
“I got a ride for you.’’
“No! You can’t take me!’’
“Relax.”
Jack wheeled the brand new car beside the Pathfinder. He got out, jumped into the truck and moved it out of the parking spot. Then he parked the car in the space. He opened its trunk and took out the body cover, and covered the car.
“Hey, Mom, can I speak to the ball and chain?’’ Jack said as he sped his Pathfinder away from Tudor.
Emma wasn’t amused. “Ball and chain? Jack, we need to have a long talk.’’
Jack laughed to himself.
Djuana came on the phone all attitude, “Well, will you come on? We need to go before it gets dark.’’
“Baby. Honey. Sweetums. I done came and went. I left your ride in the spot.’’
“Jack. Stop playing, please. All you and your men have to do is go to the tux place and walk out.’’
“Just go on. I’ll talk to you when you get home.
“I love you.’’
Djuana, Tia and Emma came down stairs, the Pioneer women complaining from the elevator to the street. Djuana, knowing where the Pathfinder was parked, saw the beige cover and huge red bow on top of the car first.
She ran over to it and yanked the cover off of her two-door, red convertible BMW 325i.
“It’s beautiful!’’ Tia gushed.
Djuana pulled up the right windshield wiper, and plucked the envelope away. She tore it open. The key was in it, along with a note.
“This is my wedding gift!’’ she announced.
“Oh, he gets you a small put-put, so he can keep his truck?’’ Emma said, hand on hip.
“A BMW put-put,’’ Djuana said.
“Let’s get in and roll down the top,’’ Tia begged.
“Bet!’’
“I’m sitting in the front,’’ Emma said.
Djuana had begged Jack not to have his bachelor’s party the night before the wedding; and he didn’t.
Oscar, his best man, held it the weekend before, and thankfully so. The players got drunk and were tossed from the Tunnel. Mike started it, of course. After one of the numerous toast to Jack, Mike fired his glass across the club, against the farthest wall to him. Others followed his lead.
The night before the wedding, though, they didn’t behave much better than that. The men in the wedding, Oscar, Danny, Mike, Don and Juan, stayed at Jack’s house, drinking a bottle of 37 year old scotch Slight had given Jack, and watching pornographic movies.
“New, can I have your phone book?’’ Mike said during a riveting sex scene.
“No.’’
“Why not? You don’t need it.’’
“Neither do you. You should be cleaning yourself up so you can get back with your wife.’’
“What, are you a fuckin’ doctor of marriage now? For your info, and anybody not stroking themselves, I will quit drinking, for good, January one.’’
“Shut up that lying before you get us all struck down by lightning!’’ Danny said, sitting in the recliner with the bottle in his hand.
“You don’t need Danny in the wedding, do you?’’ Mike asked.
“Speaking of stroking,’’ O said, laid out on the couch, one hand in his unbuckled black slacks. “We need to call some women over. You know, kick out the old habit tonight.’’
“Forget it,’’ Jack said. “If I didn’t want none of that at the party, what makes you think I’d do it now, in my house?’’
“Yo,’’ O sat up. “I know this kinky light skinned babe, she’ll do all of us.’’
“Call her!’’ Mike jumped.
“Damn!’’ Don grimaced, “Do you ever eat white meat?’’
“Wait a second, Rico,’’ Mike retorted. “I have never seen you with anything but Black chicks when you hang.’’
“Shhh, stupido, you know Liela got a hidden mic in here somewhere.’’
They all laughed.
“Listen,” Jack said to Oscar. “We can’t do that.’’
“What’s this we shit?’’ O said. “You got a mouse in your pocket? Me and Mike can do her, y’all can watch.’’
At Emma’s, the scene was much more subdued. The ladies had wine, cheese and grapes. They sat in the living room, lights out, burning several candles.
“You nervous?’’ Liela asked, sitting forward on the couch.
Djuana sipped the wine. She was sitting on the rug, back against the chair Marla was sitting in.
“Very. I just hope everything goes like it’s supposed to.’’
“That’s the least of your worries,’’ Marla said, patting her back.
“Yeah, you have to perform tomorrow night,’’ Tia laughed. “Knock them boots. Let him know what he’s got into.’’
“Oh. he knows that already, for sure,’’ Djuana blushed.
“I hope you’re a lady sometimes,’’ Emma said, pouring her fourth glass.
Djuana shook her head. “Nope. I give it to him raw!’’
Emma was embarrassed, but laughed with the others.
“You think he’s going to like the dress?’’ Marla asked.
“Oh, yeah. I think so.’’
“Yeah, he will,’’ Tia agreed.
“But you know,’’ Djuana started, looking down in her glass. “What if we don’t last? What if he gets tired of me? What if we start fighting. Arguing over little things that escalate?’’
Liela chimed in, “I don’t think that will happen with you two,’’ she said, wanting to shed a positive light on the situation before Emma ripped in.
“Jack loves you very deeply. He is the type of man that will talk things out, and he usually doesn’t stay mad for long.’’
“That was before,’’ Emma broke in. “Let’s see how he does married.’’
“He’ll be fine,’’ Tia added. She turned to Djuana and winked.
Liela then said, “Jack won’t break his vows. All that fooling around was his way of killing time until he found the right one to settle with.’’
Djuana raised to her knees, walked on them to the couch. Liela met her and they embraced.
The taste in Mike’s mouth woke him. It was raunchy and dry. The sun burned his eyes, but he had to get something to drink to kill the unsavory flavoring going on in his mouth. Maybe a beer, he was thinking, if there was any left.
Oscar heard dishes in the kitchen, looked around the sleeping men to pick out who was missing. Mike appeared with a brew.
“What time is it?’’ he asked the catcher.
Mike looked at his watch, then leaned back into the kitchen to peek at the wall clock. He calmly said, “It’s only eleven fifty-seven.’’
“Shit!’’ O jumped off the couch, nearly stepped on Juan. “Fuck! We supposed to be at the church at one!’’
Emma stepped back from her daughter. She had to smile.
Djuana sucked in her bottom lip, “How do I look, Mommy?’’
“Too good to leave me.’’
Djuana cried for the first time that day.
“Where the fuck is that limo?’’ Oscar barked at anyone willing to answer. The men, though, were too busy dressing.
“Who got on my socks?’’ Juan asked, darting across the living room.
“Shit, I can’t find my watch!’’ Don barked. “I need that watch, bro’!’’
“You two sound like bitches!’’ O said, running to the bedroom.
Jack was sitting on the end of the bed, elbows on his thighs. He was fully dressed in his tux; the same as Oscar’s. It was a black, single-breasted tux with a double lapel. Their vests were black. The groomsmen had forest green vests to match the bridesmaids.
“I gotta call the limo guys, where the fuck are they?’’
“Relax,’’ Jack said. “We are already late.’’
“Relax? Man, we ain’t supposed to be late, the women are.’’
“Sit down, O.’’
Oscar sat, not before catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror.
“I need to tell you how much you mean to me,’’ Jack began. “You my man, and I love you. You have always been there for me. You, Don, Mike. Shit, all y’all.’’
Oscar took his hand, and they shook the Crowns handshake. “Let me tell you something, before I met you, I never trusted another guy. Fuck that.
“But you’ve been true. You earned the respect.’’
“Thanks, man.’’
“But also,’’ Jack’s eyebrows raised. “I want to be the first to tell you that when I come back from the honeymoon, I am going to sign a five-year deal with the Crowns.’’
O smiled, “I knew that.’’
“How you know?’’
“Slight told me,’’ O stood. “He asked me if I would mind the money he was going to offer you. He said I could renegotiate, saying that I wouldn’t get as much as you either way.
“You know what I said?’’
Jack stared up at O.
“I told Slight he could not have picked a better player to give the money to.’’
The still photographer, and the video man hounded Djuana while she got dressed, while she got down stairs and while she was greeted by thousands of people when she exited 657 Tudor. It seemed like everybody in the ‘hood wanted to see what the lucky girl was going to look like.
November 5 was a gorgeous, clear day. It was 57 degrees, no rain.
“Mom,’’ she said as the limo pulled out. “Dad’s not going to come, is he?’’
“Don’t count on it.’’
Djuana looked away, inhaling deeply in an attempt to slow the tears.
“He knew I wanted him to be here.’’
“Djuana. Mother had him, mother fuck him.’’
Liela grimaced, and looked away.
The phone rang loudly in Pastor Reid’s secondary office, behind the pulpit. He answered with two yeses. He calmly put on his Kente cloth neckband. He picked up his Bible, and looked at Oscar, then Jack.
“The music is about to start, brothers.’’
Jack swallowed deeply. He rubbed his soaking hands together roughly.
O patted him on his shoulder, then grabbed him into a deep embrace. He kissed Jack’s cheek.
“It’s over and it’s starting, baby.’’
Jack watched his teammates escorting Djuana’s beautiful bridesmaids down the aisle. The church had shrunk, was his first impression. There was not a seat available, and people were still coming. He looked against the wall, where people he had to assume were Djuana’s family or friends were lined two deep.
Djuana was in the hall, listening to the wedding march. When it ended, and a second later picked up again, Djuana looked up from her veil to her uncle.
“You ready, doll?’’ He said, a bright grin revealing his teeth.
“Thank you, Cal.’’
“No, thank you. This is the biggest privilege of my whole life. And I mean that.’’
Jack heard oohs and ahs, then cheering. He looked up the aisle, and his heart leapt into his throat. He exhaled a loud gush of air.
O patted his back, smiling, “You okay, baby? I got the car out back running if you want to split?’’
The walk seemed to take forever. When she came down to the three wide, circular steps, Calvin stopped her.
Pastor Reid asked who gives the bride to be married, and Cal stepped in to the spotlight.
“I do, your honor. The proud uncle of the most beautiful woman God bestowed upon his green earth.’’
He stepped away. Djuana stepped up, Jack was to meet her, and escort her up the steps. But he was frozen. Her gown was more than he expected.
Djuana’s white gown was off the shoulder with a sweetheart neckline. Her cleavage excited Jack. The bodice was highlighted by hand-beaded lace trimmed with Austrian crystals. The dress was made of Italian silk.
Her hair was pinned in a French roll.
O whispered, “Get over there!”
“She’s beautiful,’’ Jack mumbled.
“I thought you knew that?’’
Jack stepped to her, and lifted the veil. The stream of tears magnified her warm smile. He wanted to kiss her passionately, but held off.
While the pastor read from his Bible, they held hands and gazed into one another’s eyes. Djuana would not notice Jack’s hands being sweaty, although he could feel the trembling in her fingers.
Jack mouthed the words, “I’m a lucky man.’’
He reached and wiped the new tears.
Djuana glanced at the pastor, who was looking above and beyond them. She sucked air, fighting nerves, and was immediately eased by Jack’s smile. The smile she was proud to be a part of for the rest of her life.
“Yes,’’ she faintly whispered. “You finally realize that, huh?”