The day of my wedding my whole breakfast came up. Bacon, boiled egg, grits, English muffin. I was a hot mess of nerves. If it wasn’t for Tangela, they would have had to scrape me off the ceiling with a spatula. I had turned into a raging bridezilla, the one thing I said I was never going to turn into. Kashawn went all out to make sure that I would have a wedding that would put Tallahassee on the map. I had never seen so many flowers in my life. Mama Liz and Tangela made sure that everything was perfect, that the wedding went off without a hitch. It didn’t hit me until I stepped into my Vera Wang original. I struggled to hold back tears when I looked at myself in the full-length mirror.
Had someone told me that I would be marrying the man of my dreams, I would have said they were crazy. Girls like me don’t get married, and girls like me sure as hell don’t get married to doctors. If anything, I figured I would meet some loser, get knocked up, only to end up on welfare as a single mother, another statistic. Chicks like me don’t fall in love. I thank the Lord every day for Kashawn. Let me stop. I’ve done enough crying today.
The colors I chose for the wedding were white and lavender. Light lavender dresses for my bridesmaids with a bouquet of white roses and lilacs. Lavender has always been my favorite color, ever since seeing the color scheme of lavender and yellow in one of my aunts’ bedrooms. I even thought to dye my wedding dress lavender, but, honey, you don’t alter Vera Wang. Nakia, Josette, and even Latrice’s big behind looked gorgeous in their Ronald Joyce dresses. The four of us wore white sling backs with matching Victoria Jane pearls. My hair was done up in pretty fishtail braids with lilacs placed perfectly throughout. I let this sister, Ava, do it. She has this shop in Governor Square Mall. Radiance, it’s called. I wanted Tangela to hook me up, but she doesn’t do wedding hair, so she recommended Ava. I had my reservations about her at first, but Tangela swore by her.
“Girl, if she messes it up, I’m gonna make sure she never twists another braid in this town again. Bree, trust me. I told Ava what you want, and she told me that it’s no problem.”
After about two hours, home girl had me looking like a queen by the time she was done. She was officially my go-to for any hair catastrophes I had in the future, or just when I wasn’t in the mood for one of my do-it-yourself jobs that consisted of twisting my hair up in a ponytail.
I wanted to have the wedding at our house, but Mama Liz insisted we get married at her church. I figured the house was perfect. It was big enough to hold all five hundred guests, and the backyard was damn near the size of a football field.
“Oh, my God, Bree. Girl, you look so beautiful,” Josette kept saying.
You would think the way Tangela, Nakia, and Latrice were fussing over me, that they were getting married, but I’m not going to lie, I loved every pampered minute. I looked at myself in the mirror and couldn’t believe that I was in a wedding dress, a Vera Wang wedding dress no less. It was a complete and total transformation. There was a knock at the door.
“Latrice, will you see who that is?”
Latrice answered the door to find Uncle Ray-Ray standing there, dressed to the nines in a gray tuxedo with a white shirt, a gray-and-white tie, and sterling silver cufflinks. It was the first time I had ever seen Uncle Ray-Ray look so clean and sharp outside of a T-shirt and jeans, wearing an apron that was always smudged with grease and barbecue sauce.
“Here y’all are. Mama Liz is wondering where the rest of the bridal party is.”
Tangela, Latrice, Nakia, and Josette started to scramble.
“Y’all better get down there before she throws a fit.”
My three bridesmaids filed out of my bedroom one at a time.
“Girl, you look gorgeous,” Nakia said as she kissed me on the cheek.
“Thank you, baby girl.”
Uncle Ray-Ray stared at me in the mirror like I was Tallahassee royalty.
“So what do you think?”
“I never had a daughter, but if I did, I would want her to look exactly like you on her wedding day.” Uncle Ray-Ray’s words nearly brought me to tears.
“You know, ever since the day I joined this family, you have been nothing but sweet to me, while Mama Liz and Yvonne have had nothing but beef with me. I’m still not sure yet if I’ve convinced them that I’m good for Kashawn.”
Uncle Ray-Ray placed his hands softly on my shoulders. “It doesn’t matter what they think, or whether or not you’re right for my nephew. They’re not marrying Kashawn. You are.”
“And I’ve been telling myself that ever since.”
“Bree, I know that it hasn’t been easy, but you seem to be holding your own with the two of them. Trust me, they are not easy women to get along with.”
“You ain’t never lied. I can’t seem to do anything right by Mama Liz. Even on my wedding day, I feel like I’m walking on pins, needles, and thumbtacks around her. I don’t know what else I can do, short of offering her my firstborn.”
Uncle Ray-Ray chuckled. “Like I said, they’ll come around. It’s not like they have a choice. And let’s not make this day about them. This is your and Kashawn’s wedding. And, girl, his heart is going to melt when he sees how beautiful you are today.”
“You think so?”
“No doubt about it. Kashawn is a lucky man.”
“All I want to do is make him happy.”
“And you will. I know my nephew. That man is head over heels in love with you.”
“He better be. He spent enough on this dress,” I joked.
Uncle Ray-Ray held out his arm to escort me downstairs. “Well, we better not keep your guests waiting. Let’s get this show on the road.”
I kept saying in my head that I wouldn’t cry as I made my way downstairs. When the organist began to play “Here Comes the Bride,” everyone turned in my direction. Within seconds, all eyes were on me and I felt like straight-up queen royalty. When I saw Kashawn waiting for me at the end of the aisle, my nerves had subsided. I knew that everything was going to be okay, that as long as we had each other, we could get through anything.
I was about to order another Vodka Cranberry when my phone rang. It was Ebonya. I answered it. “Hey, girl.”
“Bree, where are you?”
“I’m at Mockingbird Bar. Why?”
“You need to come to the hospital. Something’s happened.”
I instantly felt a panicked feeling wash over me. “What is it? Is it Kashawn?”
“No, it’s Uncle Ray-Ray. He’s had a heart attack.”
“Oh, my God, okay. I’m on my way.”