Chapter 16
The Tuesday before Monique and Boris’s wedding, Adonis took the day off to move into his house. On his way to return the moving van to the rental place, he saw a Lincoln Navigator turn into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Hotel on East 95th Street. Adonis’s eyes grew wide when he saw IM BORIS on the rear license plate. He remembered the day when the license plates had arrived in the mail. Boris couldn’t wait to put them on his truck. Adonis turned into the lot of the hotel and pulled into a parking spot, not far from where Boris’s Navigator parked.
“Oh, heck no.” Adonis couldn’t believe it when he saw Boris and a woman get out of the SUV, then walk hand in hand into the hotel. Immediately, he called Arykah’s cellular telephone. “Arykah, you ain’t gonna believe this. On my way to take this moving van back, I happened to see Boris’s Navigator turn into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Hotel on Ninety-Fifth Street.”
“What the heck is he doing at the Holiday Inn? It’s early Monday morning. I know he’s not with Monique, because I just talked to her ten minutes ago. She said she was on her way into a meeting,” Arykah said.
“Nah, he ain’t with Monique.”
“Did you see the woman?”
“Yep, and I couldn’t believe it, Arykah.”
She became frantic. “Who is Boris with?”
“Jennifer Ayers.”
“Jennifer, from the choir?” Arykah shrieked.
“Yes, and guess what? Jennifer is Taj’s woman.”
“Taj, the drummer?” she shrieked again.
“What are you gonna do about it?” Adonis asked Arykah.
“Not a darn thing, Adonis. I’m done with telling Monique everything Boris does. It won’t change a thing.”
Adonis thought about what Arykah had just said. “You’re right.”
On September 16th, as planned, Boris and Monique stood at the altar, face to face, listening to the words of their bishop. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered in this place to share and to witness these two souls come together in holy matrimony.”
Monique could see Adonis over Boris’s left shoulder, staring into her eyes. If Monique didn’t know any better, she’d swear Adonis was slowly shaking his head from side to side, silently begging her not to go through with the wedding.
“I, Boris Dexter Cortland, take you, Monique Lynnette Morrison, to be my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day forward.”
Looking into Boris’s eyes, as he spoke to her, Monique wondered if she were the only one in the entire church seeing Adonis moving his head. She forced herself to focus on what Boris was saying.
“To love and to cherish, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health. Keeping myself solely unto you until death do us part.” Boris slipped the ring onto Monique’s finger.
The Bishop gave her the go ahead to say her vows. Before she opened her mouth, Monique again looked at Adonis standing behind Boris. She saw through his eyes that he was pleading with her not to marry Boris. You could’ve heard a pin drop as everyone, including Boris, wondered why Monique was stalling.
The bishop spoke to her. “Monique, it’s your turn.”
Monique kept her eyes glued on the man standing behind her fiancé. She opened her mouth and spoke slowly, as though she was in a trance. “I, Monique Lynnette Morrison . . . ”
She paused there and reflected back to the words Adonis had spoken to her over and over again. I appreciate everything you do for me.
“Take you, Adonis . . . ”
The entire church gasped at the same time.
Boris was stunned. “What?”
“Oh my God,” Arykah uttered as she stood next to Monique.
The Bishop didn’t move or say anything, but then again, what could he say? He’d never had a bride call out the best man’s name before. Everyone witnessed Adonis step out of the pulpit and walk down the center aisle. Halfway to the sanctuary door, he stopped, turned around and held out his right hand for Monique to come to him.
Her blood was running warm throughout her veins. Time stood still as friends and loved ones waited to see what Monique would do.
“You want my arm to fall off?” Adonis said to her.
Through teary eyes, Monique looked at this man standing in the middle of the church. Again, she reflected on his words. “You know what your problem is, Monique? You don’t value yourself and you don’t know your true worth. You’re so use to settling for whatever life throws at you instead of going after what you really deserve. You gotta get out of that mindset because there’s so much more in life that God wants you to have.”
Arykah stepped to Monique and spoke in her right ear. “If you don’t seize this moment and go for yours, I’ll personally kick your . . . ”
Before Arykah could complete her threat, Monique dropped her bouquet, lifted her dress, ran down the aisle, and into Adonis’s arms. He picked her up and spun her around twice. As he carried her out of the church, they purposely didn’t acknowledge the stunned faces.
Arykah looked at Lance seated on the front pew and gave him the biggest grin. He responded with two thumbs up.
Myrtle sat on the front pew with no visible expression on her face. Boris hung his head and followed the bishop out of the sanctuary.
Outside in the waiting limousine that he had hired himself, as a wedding gift to the couple, Adonis instructed the driver to take them to Midway Airport. Monique didn’t say a word. She sat calmly next to Adonis as he made a call on his cellular phone. “Operator, can you connect me to Air Jamaica.”
Monique’s eyes bucked out of her head.
“When is the next flight to Negril scheduled to leave?” Adonis looked at his wristwatch. “I would like to purchase two first class tickets, please.”
Monique felt as though she were in a dream. She refused to open her mouth out of fear that she’d wake herself. She listened as Adonis gave their names and his credit card information. The customer service representative told Adonis their electronic tickets would be at Air Jamaica’s airline counter when they arrived at the airport. He disconnected the call and spoke to the driver. “Dude, one hundred bucks has your name on it if you get us there in the next twenty minutes.”
Monique looked at him. “Adonis, don’t we need passports and birth certificates?”
“Everything we need is in our luggage in the trunk. You can thank Arykah when we get back from our honeymoon. She and I had this planned since Tuesday.”
“Honeymoon?” she asked.
With gentle hands, Adonis cupped Monique’s face. “Will you marry me on the beach while the sun is coming out of the water?”
A single tear dripped from her eye. “I’ve always dreamed of getting married on the beach at sunrise. I only shared that passion with Boris, and he thought it was a dumb idea.”
Adonis kissed her lips. “Well, he shared it with me, and I think it’s a great idea.”
Just hours later, they were in the air sipping Mimosas and feasting on caviar when Monique looked over at Adonis. “You know we gotta face the fire when we go back home, don’t you?”
“We ain’t going back,” he said.
That’s exactly what Monique wanted to hear, even though it wasn’t true. She sank down in her first class leather reclining chair and let it massage her back. She closed her eyes and made a wish. Monique looked out the window, down at the Atlantic Ocean, and rode the waves all the way to Negril.
Just like candy. I toss and turn in my bed in the morning when I think about you!
The End