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Authors: Carl Weber

Married Men (31 page)

BOOK: Married Men
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“Now that’s what I wanna hear.” She patted Kyle’s knee and stood up. “You boys get downstairs to Allen. Make sure he looks real good. I wanna be proud of him. And don’t you worry. I got my eyes on Rose. She’s not as slick as she thinks she is.” Ma Jackson walked toward the door then turned to me. “Wil, you keep your wife quiet, you hear? I’m countin’ on you boys to keep this whole thing between us.” She left, and Kyle and I stared at each other in stunned silence.
“Let me ask you something, Wil. Did I miss something or did she not care that her future daughter-in-law is a piece o’ shit? I mean, that was scary.” Kyle had a look of bewilderment on his face and mine probably didn’t look much different.
“I don’t know, man, but I’m afraid for Allen.”
“Me too, Wil. Me too. If Rose gives Ma Jackson a grandchild, she’s gonna let Rose rule over Allen for the rest of his life. Man, he ain’t got a snowball’s chance in hell of ever being truly happy.”
I only wish I could have disagreed.
24
 
Allen
 
It was exactly one hour and fifteen minutes from my wedding and I can’t ever remember a time when I was more nervous. My stomach was doing flips, and I thought for sure I was gonna throw up at any moment. And if that wasn’t bad enough, my hands were shaking so bad I couldn’t put my tie on right. Oh, and to top it all off, I just screamed on my boys so bad they decided to go back to their own rooms to get dressed for the wedding. In retrospect I wish I hadn’t acted so stupid ’cause I could sure have used some company right about then. I was an emotional wreck and about ready to call off the whole thing.
As I stood in front of the mirror trying to straighten my tie, I thought about Rose and the life we were about to start. Was she really the woman I wanted to marry? Up until breakfast this morning I was positive she was. At least I was until Kyle posed a question that made me doubt the reasons I was getting married.
“Yo, Al, let me ask you a question,” Kyle said seriously. He hadn’t spoken all morning and had barely touched his breakfast. I hadn’t pushed the issue ’cause I figured he’d taken Lisa showing up at the hotel bar last night with her new friend badly.
“Sure, bro. Ask me anything.”
Wil cleared his throat and Kyle waved him off, saying, “Lemme handle this, Wil. I know what I’m doing.” Then he turned to me. “Allen, are you settling?”
“What do you mean, am I settling?” I asked as I crunched on a piece of bacon.
“Are you settling? Are you settling with Rose because the three of us are married and you’re not? Or maybe because your mother wants grandchildren? Marriage is not an easy road to travel. Look at me.”
I picked up another piece of bacon and smiled as I made eye contact with each of my best friends.
“No, I’m not settling. I love Rose and I’m going to marry her,” I said confidently, pointing my bacon at each of them. Kyle dropped it, but all through breakfast and up ‘til now I kept thinking about what he had suggested. Now that the seed had been planted, I kept reminding myself that I did get with Rose on the rebound from Cinnamon. Hell, if she had-n’ t put so much pressure on me and Ma hadn’t given me Granny’s ring, I might’ve waited another year before proposing. Throw in the fact that I had gotten sick of Ma constantly asking me when she was gonna get some grandkids. I guess I could’ve been settling. The ironic thing was now I was feeling pushed into this, not by one, but by two women! Thank God my thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. The last thing I needed now was to be left alone to think.
“It’s open,” I yelled. I smiled when my cousin Malcolm walked in wearing a tailor-made blue suit. I was hoping he wasn’t mad at me for not asking him to be in the wedding.
“Somebody told me there was a brother who lost his mind and decided to get married in here. I gotta find that brother and see if I can get him some help, ’cause he’s certifiably crazy.” Malcolm laughed hard as we embraced. “How you holdin’ up there, Al? You nervous?”
“Nah, this is gonna be easy,” I lied.
“Sure it is.” Malcolm smiled then turned serious. “No, really, Allen. You nervous?”
“Nervous as hell.” I took a deep breath, shaking my head. “Nervous as hell!”
“Don’t worry. I hear everyone gets nervous a few hours before.” Malcolm glanced at my crooked tie and laughed. “Man, you need to get your shit together.” He straightened my tie. “Where the hell’s that crew of yours anyway? They should be doing this.”
“They were getting on my nerves so I kicked ’em out. They’ll be back in a few.”
When Malcolm finished with my tie, he stood in front of me, checking me out like Ma used to do on Sundays before church.
“You look good,” he said, nodding his head in approval.
“Thanks,” I replied.
“Congratulations,” Malcolm stuck his hand out and pulled me in for another embrace. “Love you, man.”
“Yeah, I love you too, cuz. Where the hell you been anyway? I thought you was coming to my bachelor party.”
Malcolm sat down in one of the chairs the hotel provided. “Yeah, well, I wanted to but I figured I’d ruin things for you by being there.”
“Ruin things, how?”
“By gettin’ into a fight with your boy Jay. You know I owe that nigga an ass whuppin’ for what he did to me at Wil’s house.”
“I wish you two would grow up. Y’all too old for this shit.”
“Yeah, well, I came to the same conclusion once the swelling in my eyes went down. That boy sure knows how to throw a punch.” He rubbed his eyes. “But seriously, I got Jay’s number from Kyle so that we could squash things, but every time I call, Jay’s never home. I did talk to his wife a few times, though. She’s a real nice woman. How the hell did he ever get her?”
“Yeah, Kenya’s a good woman.” I ignored his last comment. “Look, I want you and Jay to sit down and talk tonight.”
Malcolm shot me a look. “You sure you wanna take that kinda chance? You know how we get. He’s fire and I’m gasoline.”
“On second thought, maybe y’all two should talk when I get back from my honeymoon.”
“Aw’ight, man. Lemme get downstairs. My moms and pops are waiting for me to drive them to the church.” We hugged again.
“Look, I’m sorry about you not being in the wedding. It’s just with Jay—” He cut me off with a wave of his hand.
“Say no more, bro. This is your day. I’m just here to celebrate it with you. By the way, I hear more congratulations are in order.” He rubbed his stomach.
“Yeah, I’m gonna be a daddy.” I smiled, remembering why there was no turning back.
“It must be a good feeling.”
“It is,” I smiled. “Hopefully you’ll be next.”
“You never know. I’m workin’ on something as we speak.”
“I hope it works out for you, cuz. I really do.” We both smiled as he walked out the door.
 
“Clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink!” The entire reception room was filled with the sound of silverware lightly hitting crystal. Rose and I responded by kissing for the millionth time. We’d just been introduced for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Allen Jackson and were slow-dancing to our wedding song, “Endless Love” by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross.
“I love you, Mrs. Jackson,” I whispered in her ear as we danced. All the doubt I felt ended the minute I saw her walk down that aisle. She was so beautiful and I was proud to know she was gonna be all mine.
“That’s Mrs.
Brown-
Jackson,” she corrected me. “Your mother is Mrs. Jackson.”
“Oh yeah.” I gave a fake laugh. The last thing I wanted to hear on our wedding day was that she wasn’t taking my last name.
When the song ended, we walked over to the reception line to be greeted as man and wife by our friends and family. Standing in the front of the line were Jay and Kenya. Jay had stood in as my best man. Wil and Kyle were my best men also, but Jay stood in front and held on to the rings. I figured it was the least I could do since he had set up my bachelor party.
“Congratulations, dawg.” He grabbed my hand tightly and nodded his head with approval before kissing my new bride on the cheek. “Take care of him, Rose.”
“I will,” she assured him as he and Kenya moved out of the way for Wil and Diane.
“Congrats, my brother.” Wil shook my hand.
“Thanks, Wil.” I couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t smile when he spoke.
“You got a good man here, Rose.
Don’t blow it.
” Their eyes were locked on each other. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn Wil had won a staring contest.
“I won’t,” Rose said as she looked away.
“Congratulations, Allen.” Diane wrapped her arms around me tightly then stepped back. “If you ever need a real friend, you know my number.”
“Huh?” I gave her a confused look.
“What she means is, you know our number. Right, Di?” Wil elbowed his wife, who gave Rose a wicked smile as they shook hands. I thought it was really odd that Rose and Diane didn’t hug or kiss, but that might have had something to do with what happened during the wedding ceremony.
It wasn’t funny then, but now that I think about it, Diane did add a little flavor to the wedding. The entire wedding ceremony had been going perfectly. That is, until the preacher announced, “If there is anyone who has reason that this couple should not be married, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.” I took a deep breath and glanced at Jay, Wil, and Kyle, and although Kyle and Wil were fidgety, they remained silent. But out of nowhere there was a sudden loud cough that sounded a lot like
She’s
a
slut, she’s a slut.
Everyone in the church turned to the culprit, who turned out to be Diane. Just like a child who got caught with their fingers in the cookie jar, she smiled and said, “Oops, sorry. Something got caught in my throat.” I don’t know if Diane did that on purpose or not, but I was gonna have to ask Rose what she thought when we got to the Bahamas later that night.
When I looked down the reception line, conspicuous by his absence was my man Kyle. “Yo, where’s Kyle?” I turned to Wil and Jay, who were congratulating Ma and Rose’s parents.
“I don’t know, he was here a minute ago,” Wil replied. He never even lifted his head.
“I think he took the girls to the bathroom,” Jay told me.
I glanced down the reception line again. The girls were with Lisa. She’d really done the right thing by not bringing her friend to the wedding. I’d have to thank her for that one day. But my main concern was where the hell did Kyle disappear to ?
“Don’t worry about him, Allen, we’ve got other guests to greet,” Rose demanded, tugging on my hand.
It was almost three hours later and my reception was almost over when I finally saw Kyle stroll through the doors followed by my ma and Wil. He’d taken off his tux and was wearing street clothes now as he walked up to me and Rose.
“I’m sorry I missed the reception. I was in my room sick. I think it was something I ate during breakfast.” His voice was weak and not once did he make eye contact or even look at Rose. I couldn’t help but think he was lying. He had barely touched his breakfast.
“You feeling any better?”
“Nah, I think I’m gonna head on home. I just wanted to say congratulations before I left.”
“Aw’ight, then bro, thanks for coming.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him in for a hug.
“I hope you’re happy, Allen. I swear to God, I hope you’re happy,” he whispered. When we let go of each other, he stuck his hand out for Rose to shake. “Congratulations, Rose.”
“Thank you, Kyle,” she said as they quickly shook hands. What I wanted to know was why the hell everyone was shaking hands instead of hugging and kissing. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do at weddings? But before I could speak, Kyle had walked toward the doors with Wil in tow. I guess that was a question for another day.
25
 
Jay
 
It was eleven-thirty Sunday morning, the day after Allen’s wedding, and that empty feeling I’d had for the past four months was finally gone. There I was, like déjà vu, lying on a king-size bed with Tracy’s warm breasts pressed against my naked chest as she ran her fingers through my hair. We’d just made love, and I emphasize the word love, ’cause nothing I’d ever experienced could compare to the way she made me feel. It was honestly like a dream come true and I didn’t wanna wake up.
“Jay?” she whispered, still stroking my hair.
“Yes?” I replied.
“How do you feel?”
I looked up at her and smiled.
“Baby, I feel wonderful.” And I did. I lifted my head and kissed her.
“No, I mean how do you feel about me?” Her eyes were filled with concern.
“You’re not gonna believe this, but I love you, Tracy.” She smiled at my answer, but it quickly became a frown.
“You’re right. I don’t believe you.” She pushed herself off me and walked to the sliding glass door. The early-morning light blinded me when she pulled the shade back to gaze at the Long Island Sound. We’d stayed at the Beach Comber Motel in Bayville, Long Island, a little romantic spot Kyle had discovered about ten years ago. It was right on the water, and considering there was an ocean view from all the rooms, it was incredibly reasonable at a hundred bucks a night. Like the true friend he was, Kyle had shared his secret hideaway with me so I’d have someplace to take a woman as special as the one I was with now.
BOOK: Married Men
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