Epilogue
Six months later…
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” I asked, adjusting the collar on the tuxedo he wore, before stepping back to admire my handiwork.
“More sure about this than anything in my life. Are you sure?”
“I don’t know, Reem, this is a pretty crazy idea. Where in the hell did you even hear about a pop up wedding anyway?”
My soon to be brother in law shook his head, “Don’t judge me, okay? But I picked up one of those books your sister always has her face nose deep into her kindle reading and the guy surprised his girl with a wedding. The shit was pretty smooth, I had to admit, so I figured I’d try it out.”
Karim and I had been plotting for months, trying to pull off this wedding. With the help of his no longer estranged father, he had planned a picture perfect ceremony with one key, missing ingredient—a bride. He hadn’t exactly proposed and knowing my skittish ass kid sister this was a huge gamble to take, but I had to give the brotha props for the ingenuity. In the time since they’d moved in together, the two of them had overcome a lot, including Karim’s budding relationship with his biological father who just happened to be the father of Cel’s ex. Those family dinners were definitely a bit tense in the beginning, but according to Celena they were working to get past the tension and actually turning a corner toward actually being a functional family unit.
She was under the impression that she was meeting Karim for yet another Sunday family dinner. Little did she know that most of her family and friends were lying in wait, hoping that we would be witness to a wedding this sunny afternoon. The doorbell sounded and I gave Karim’s shoulder a squeeze before scurrying off to a den that was situated off of the main hallway. If all things went well with the proposal, this room would soon be transformed into Celena’s bridal suite—a hairstylist, make up artist, and seamstress on demand ready to turn Celena from an unassuming, athleisure clad woman to a beautiful bride. Also in the den were Celena’s closest friends, Devorah and Cadence, and Raquel. We all sat anxiously awaiting, straining our ears to hear what was going on just beyond the doors, but unable to hear anything. After about fifteen minutes, the doors opened, Celena’s head cautiously peeking in.
“Holy shit,” she whispered, walking into the room fully and taking in the surroundings.
When I say Karim left no detail to chance, I meant it. He had several different dresses on a rack ranging in colors from pure white—which, ha…yeah right—to blush in varying cuts and styles. There was also a gang of shoes, accessories, and veils for Cel to choose from to accompany her dress. He’d even had a florist make seven different bouquets, all of which prominently featured calla lilies, Cel’s favorite flower. The ladies and I had decided on simple black dresses, in varying styles, but appropriately flattering to each of our body types.
She looked a bit shell shocked as she walked into the room, but the blinding glare that emanated from her left hand indicated that she’d definitely made the right choice. Dev, Cade, and Quel swarmed her immediately, each fawning over the ring in increasingly higher decibels of sound than the previous. Cel and I locked eyes across the room and a large grin spread over my face before I could contain it.
“I’s gettin’ married, y’all!” Celena yelled and we all collapsed into laughter.
The next two hours were a flurry of activity as Celena settled upon her dress and accessories and the hair and make up team worked their magic. She looked absolutely amazing and was luminescent as she flitted around the room, last minute nerves getting the best of her. She asked for the room to be cleared for a minute, giving the two of us a little bit of alone time before we began the processional and the ceremony would be underway.
“Patty, can you believe I’m getting married?” she whispered, as if saying the words at full voice would somehow undo everything that was happening today.
“Sure can, babygirl. And to a man that is absolutely perfect for you in every way. What a time to be alive!”
She giggled, whispering again, “I’m scared. I don’t know shit about being a wife.”
“I hope you’re not looking to me for advice! Hell, you shoulda let Cady and Dev stay in here. They’re the only ones of us that know what it’s like to be wifed. Matter of fact, lemme call one of them back in here if you need a pull me off the ledge talk.”
“Nah, I don’t. Because despite feeling scared out of my mind, I also feel completely confident in saying yes to Karim. I couldn’t even hesitate. He’d barely gotten down on one knee before that yes was out of my mouth. I just…I hope I’m good for him, Patty. I want to be the best for him.”
I grabbed her hand, squeezing it twice, “You already are the best, that’s why this man planned a whole ass wedding for you!”
She inclined her head in acquiescence before laughing.
“I’m still hella tripped out by this. I know you had a hand in helping pull this off and I’m so grateful for you, sis.”
I shook my head, laughing, “All I did was show up. This was all your man.”
“Oh please, I don’t believe that lie for a minute. You may have relaxed some of your control freak tendencies, but this has your fingerprints all over it. Thank you, sis.”
“The pleasure was all mine. Now let’s get your ass out here and married,” I said, grabbing her elbow and nudging her toward the doorway.
As we stepped into the hallway, I shot Karim a quick text letting him know that we were ready to begin the processional. He sent his guys and Patrick into the house so that we could begin the journey to the altar that was set up in the backyard where Karim awaited his bride. At Karim’s request, Patrick would escort his aunt down the aisle since our father had passed and it would have been weird as hell for Mr. Parker to step in to walk Celena down instead. Patrick took his duty very seriously, slowly keeping time with India. Arie’s “Beautiful Surprise” that flowed through the speakers placed around the backyard. As I stood watching my baby walk my sister down the aisle, I felt tears welling up.
Quickly blinking, I shifted my gaze, looking toward Karim instead. He looked positively enthralled, watching Celena make her way toward him, tracking her every step with his eyes. When she and Patrick reached the end of the aisle, Karim quickly grabbed Celena’s hands, bringing them to his mouth to press a quick kiss to her knuckles before they both turned their attention to the judge—a friend of Mr. Parker’s—who was performing the ceremony.
***
After hours of high-energy music, the DJ had slowed down the tempo of the playlist, giving way to music from all of the neo soul superstars from Erykah to D’Angelo to what was playing right now, Jill Scott’s “The Fact Is (I Need You)”.
“Ooh, this is my song,” I said, jumping up from my seat and dragging Damon back onto the dance floor minutes after I’d begged off citing aching feet. We fell into step quickly, slowly swaying to the lilting beat of the song as Jill’s voice washed over us as she sang about being self sufficient, but still needing her man. I smiled; thinking of how apropos this song was to describe Damon and mine’s relationship. As the song swelled to a close, I began to sing along. Reaching up to grab Damon’s face, I looked him straight in the eyes as I sang, “And even though I can do all these things by my damn self. I need you…I do I do I do I do…”