A Family Reunion

by Jackson, Brenda

  Cheers went up in the room and the four women stood and, for the first time ever, they embraced with love in their hearts for one another. Crying all the while and knowing they had accomplished something that was a long time coming.

  “Hey, you guys,” Alexia said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I got just the right song to top this off. My agent sent it with me because he wants me to think about doing a remake of it. At first I rebuffed the thought, but now it may not be such a bad idea after all.”

  She went over to the CD player and began playing the song, “We Are Family,” by Sister Sledge. Everyone in the room joined in, dancing and singing at the top of their lungs, with Alexia doing the lead. They replaced the word sisters in the song with the word cousins. After singing it a few times, Taye, Rae’jean, and Brandy concluded that if Alexia ever did a remake of the song, she would need the three of them as her backup.

  Chapter 43

  Even with overcast skies, it was a beautiful day for a wedding. At least four people in particular thought so.

  Taye nodded to Rae’jean. Rae’jean nodded to Alexia. Alexia nodded to Brandy just minutes before everyone took their places. This would be a wedding everyone would remember for a long time to come. The four Bennett cousins had gone out of their way to see to that.

  The Ballentines had paid a lot of money for their son’s wedding to the American woman with a Ph.D. who was as educated as she was beautiful. She would give them beautiful and brilliant grandchildren, they thought as they watched her walk down the aisle on the arm of the huge bulk of a man who was her father. She was glowing with all the radiance of a beautiful bride.

  “Do you want to tell me what you, Rae’jean, and Alexia were up to last night?” Michael asked as he leaned over and whispered the question in Taye’s ear. They were sitting halfway in the middle of the church. After the wedding, everyone would be returning to the hotel, where a huge and costly reception had been planned in the ballroom.

  Taye smiled at Michael. She wasn’t ready to tell him anything yet. Like everyone else, he would find out soon enough. “What makes you think we were up to something?”

  He cocked a brow at her pretense of innocence. “I wasn’t born yesterday. Besides, last night you actually giggled in your sleep a few times.”

  Taye almost laughed out loud at that one. Instead, she said, “Oh.”

  On the other side of Michael, Rae’jean sat listening as Brandy and Lorenzo exchanged vows. It was a beautiful wedding. It was just too bad the groom was a dog and the maid of honor was a slut. Rae’jean shook her head at the indecency of it all. She then thought about Ryan and what he’d shared with her regarding his own wife and how she had gotten pregnant from another man. He, too, had had his share of pain from an unfaithful mate.

  Rae’jean sighed deeply. She really missed him and had thought of him constantly since she’d been gone. In such a short while he had made a huge impact on her. She had decided that she did want a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Ryan. She only hoped that he felt the same way. She couldn’t wait to get back to Boston to find out.

  Alexia sat on the end of the seat next to Taye. She was slated to get up and sing in a few minutes, right after the last of the vows were spoken and right before the minister announced that Brandy and Lorenzo were man and wife. The song that had been selected for her to sing was about everlasting love, something she intended to have with Quinn. Now more than ever, she intended to make him see just how much she loved him and that her baby, their baby, needed them to be together and not apart. When the time came for her to sing her song, Alexia stood and walked toward the front of the church.

  As he sat at the back of the church, in the last pew, Quinn’s gaze captured Alexia within its scope the moment she stood and walked toward the front of the church. He had arrived on the island with just enough time to drop his luggage off at the hotel and come straight to the church. Abbott Bodie had given him all the information he had needed to find her.

  His gaze studied Alexia as she closed her eyes and began singing. The entire church got quiet as her sultry voice flooded the audience. The impact of the sound on him was devastating…just as devastating as her beauty. And he knew at that very moment that he loved her and wanted her back in his life.

  It had taken almost a full day for his sister’s words to sink in, really sink in. Once he had gotten over his bruised ego, he had seen reason. No matter what plan Alexia had originally initiated, the bottom line was that she loved him now. She loved him and she was having his baby. That meant everything to him.

  After she had sung the last lyric, Alexia smiled at Brandy and moved to go back to her seat. As she walked back toward the middle of the church, her gaze absentmindedly swept over the rows of guests. Her heart nearly stopped beating when her eyes met the penetrating stare of the same dark eyes she had looked into countless times over the past three months while making love. She blinked, thinking she’d been thinking of Quinn so much that her mind had somehow conjured him up. But after blinking a second time she came to realize that he was here. He was really here, and he was looking at her not with anger but with love radiating from his strong, handsome features and his dark, compelling eyes. The man was drop-dead gorgeous. Today even more so.

  She took a deep breath, wanting to go to him immediately and throw herself in his arms and beg his forgiveness. But she held back from making a scene. Today belonged to Brandy. At the moment, knowing Quinn had come was enough. Later, they would straighten out things between them.

  After the final vows had been said and the bride and groom and their bridal procession had flowed out of the church, everyone in attendance rushed to follow them. Telling her cousins that she would be joining them at the reception as soon as possible, Alexia waited until the church had gotten completely empty, except for one person.

  Quinn.

  They began slowly walking toward each other and didn’t stop until they were standing directly in front of each other. He was the first to speak.

  “You’re beautiful, Alexia,” he said huskily. “No matter what our problems are, we’ll work things out, because I have no intention of letting you go. I love you, you love me, and you’re having my baby. I don’t know what else a man could ask for to be truly happy.”

  “Oh, Quinn.” Alexia threw herself in his arms, wanting and needing to feel him hold her. And he did. He tightened his arms around her, and she closed her eyes in silent prayer to God for bringing this man into her life. And then, moments later, he was kissing her. He was kissing her in a way that bound her to him forever. It was in a way that made her heart soar with everlasting love and made her insides tremor with the knowledge that this man was her baby’s daddy. And he was the man who would love and cherish her and in return she would love and cherish him.

  He was her soulmate.

  Beneath a ten-tiered chandelier in the ballroom, Lorenzo and Brandy shared the first dance. To anyone looking on, it seemed the man truly loved the woman he held so tenderly in his arms. But at least three persons looking on knew better. Make that four if you wanted to count Jolene, who stood on the sidelines clinging to the man holding his arm around her waist. That must be her boyfriend, Rae’jean thought, frowning. The duplicity of some people amazed her. She wondered what Jolene’s boyfriend would think of her when he saw firsthand how she spent her free time.

  Rae’jean looked across the room at Alexia, who was standing next to the man who had shown up at the wedding to claim her. She was happy for her cousin and thought it was a long time coming. For years, Alexia had been a tough cookie to crack. Now, not only had she softened up, but she had a man she loved and who truly adored her. And to top things off, she was pregnant. She was getting both the man and the baby she wanted.

  Rae’jean then glanced around to find Taye and Michael. They were standing away from everyone else, holding hands. She could feel the love that was radiating between them and knew what they felt for each other was special. She hoped the grandfathers gave the pair
their blessings.

  Everyone’s applause after the couple had completed their dance vibrated through the room. Then other couples began moving onto the dance floor.

  A half hour or so later, after everyone had taken their seats to be served the wedding dinner, two huge movie screens that had been erected in the front on both sides of the ballroom glowed as the images of Lorenzo and Brandy came into view. The screens showed footage of them walking together on a Hawaiian beach, holding hands like two people very much in love. The next frame showed them getting into a horse-driven carriage in the Virgin Islands for a romantic ride.

  Rae’jean braced herself for the next one.

  The frame flickered before it moved to the next one. The next one, with the theme from The Bad News Bears blaring in the background, showed a bedroom scene…and two people making out. The crowd of onlookers gasped at what they saw. It was evident that the man in the video was the groom—his dreadlocks couldn’t be denied—but the woman who was all on top of him, then under him, then on top of him again as they mated wildly wasn’t the bride.

  It was the bride’s maid of honor!

  Everyone, including the groom and the maid of honor, was too shocked to do anything but stand there and watch the scene being played on the two big screens.

  Then, as planned, Brandy became hysterical, screaming loudly before fainting in her father-in-law’s arms. The groom rushed over to his bride, but her father, who looked like he was ready to hit somebody, barred his way. Victor Senior actually did take a swing at the groom but missed when Lorenzo ducked. The bride’s mother, who earlier had come across to everyone as such a very sophisticated lady, began calling the groom all sorts of obscenities. Mothers of small children were covering their little ones’ ears from all the profanity being slung around, as well as shielding their eyes from what was being shown on the screens as they quickly ushered them out of the ballroom.

  The video kept right on rolling, and now the theme to Rocky was playing. Amid the mad chaos, no one thought about turning it off, and both screens were aglow with images of Lorenzo’s and Jolene’s naked body parts as they made out like there was no tomorrow.

  Rae’jean glanced over to where Jolene had been standing with her boyfriend earlier. The man was gone and she’d been left standing alone in total embarrassment and shame. All eyes, those not glued to the screen, were on either Lorenzo or Jolene.

  “Hey, this is good,” Victor Junior whispered to Rae’jean. His eyes were glued to the screen. “Boy, look how Jolene moves. If I had known she was giving her stuff away like this, I would have worked harder getting some of it.”

  Rae’jean rolled her eyes to the ceiling. It really didn’t surprise her that he was thinking that way.

  “I wish I had a copy of this,” he added wistfully.

  At some point, someone decided the best way to end the fiasco was to stop the video from rolling. But there were some present who were actually enjoying what they were seeing on the big screens and boldly blocked the path of anyone who tried to end it.

  The place became a madhouse. The setting of Jamaica’s wedding of the year had turned into a porno theater.

  Brandy, it seems, had been brought back around. It was then wished by some, especially the Ballentines and their attorney, that she’d remained passed out. Playing the part of the humiliated, dishonored, and defrauded bride, she began screaming demands of her husband. She wanted compensation for this humiliation as well as a divorce that would give her half of everything he owned.

  Michael shook his head as he looked down at Taye. “You wouldn’t know anything about what’s going on here, would you?”

  Taye smiled up at him sweetly. “What would give you that idea?”

  “Because this entire production has the three Bennett cousins’ names written in the credits.”

  Taye grinned. “Make it four.”

  Michael cocked a brow and looked at her thoughtfully. “Brandy was in on this?”

  Instead of saying anything, Taye widened her smile.

  Alexia was rolling in laughter. Quinn looked at her like he thought she had lost her mind. “You think it’s funny that your cousin just got married to a man who made love to her best friend?”

  Alexia wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes. “Yeah.” Seeing his confused look, she said, “I’ll explain everything to you later. Right now I need to go support Brandy.”

  On cue, the three cousins assembled at Brandy’s side as the Ballentines and their attorney hurriedly tried to bring calm and order to the madness by ushering the bride and groom from the ballroom and into a private room. Lorenzo, talking a mile a minute, was apologizing under one breath and denying everything under another.

  Brandy, playing the part of the dishonored bride to the hilt, was sobbing uncontrollably. “I can’t believe you would humiliate me this way, Lorenzo, and with Jolene. She was my best friend. She was to be the godmother of our first child. How could you?”

  “Yes, how could you?” his own mother and father asked simultaneously. They had really liked Brandy.

  “It was a mistake, sweetheart,” Lorenzo was saying to his wife. “I’ll make it up to you; I promise.”

  “No, you won’t,” Brandy snapped as she stopped sobbing almost immediately. “I have nothing I want to say to you. I’ll see you in court. You’ll pay for all the humiliation you’ve caused me today.”

  “Yes, you will certainly pay for this!” Victor Senior bellowed loudly, glaring at the man who was his short-term son-in-law. “And where in the hell did that tape come from anyway?” he thundered through the room, looking around accusingly at everyone except his daughter and three nieces. “I want to know who would embarrass my daughter this way.”

  Brandy patted her father’s arm to calm him down. She knew he could be hell to deal with when he really got mad about something. And one thing he loved, besides women, was his children—all twenty or so of them. But she knew, as she’d always known, that to him she was special. She was his first daughter and had come from the body of the only woman he had really, truly loved and probably still loved. Whether he admitted it or not, he and her mother were in a constant love-hate relationship. Brandy knew for a fact that her parents had slept together quite a few times over the years and that they had even slept together a couple times here at the hotel. He hadn’t deliberately left his wife home for nothing.

  “It doesn’t matter, Daddy. Whoever did it wanted me to find out the truth, and I’m grateful. I just want to go home,” she said as she began sobbing again. She looked at Lorenzo before turning to leave the room. “You have truly hurt me this day,” she said with genuine pain in her voice. “I don’t ever want to see you again, and you will be hearing from my attorneys.”

  She then left the room with the train of her bridal gown flowing behind her and her three cousins following in her wake and her father bringing up the rear.

  Later that night, the Bennetts threw a party in the penthouse of the hotel that contained what should have been Brandy and Lorenzo’s honeymoon suite. Also, as part of her honeymoon package, Brandy had tickets for two weeks to Rome, Italy, which she still intended to use later. For the moment she just wanted to chill and enjoy her family. Her mother had somewhat recovered from the ordeal and was somewhere in one of the hotel rooms being comforted by Victor Senior.

  The tale of how today’s activities had unfolded was shared, and everyone was sworn to secrecy.

  Quinn shook his head upon hearing that the showing of the videotape had been Alexia’s idea. Michael was surprised at mild-mannered Taye’s involvement, and Victor Junior was in hog heaven because Brandy had given him his personal copy of the videotape.

  “Now you see what you’re in for, Quinn,” Michael said to the man jokingly. “Are you sure you want to become a member of the Bennett family?”

  Quinn looked down into the face of the woman he loved. “Yeah, I’m sure. We’re getting married as soon as things can be arranged.”

  Later Rae’jean exclai
med to everyone, “The next stop, you guys, is Macon for the family meeting! We need to be there to give Taye and Michael our support. We know they deserve to be together.”

  All the Bennetts in the room applauded in agreement. “We would appreciate that,” Michael said, holding Taye in his arms. “We’ll need all the support we can get. But no matter the outcome, this December Taye and I are going to get married and live happily ever after.”

  And everyone in the room truly believed that.

  Chapter 44

  Ethan Allen Bennett glanced around his front porch. The place looked like a circus. There were more Bennetts than he could count. Assembling together like this twice in one year was a miracle, he thought. First it had been for the Bennett family reunion. Now it was for the Bennett family civil war. It was evident that the lines had been drawn. The older Bennetts, those who opposed a match between Michael and Taye, were all sitting or standing on one side, and the younger, more free-thinking Bennetts were grouped on the other side.

  He took a deep breath. He knew the final decision would be his and Henry’s and no matter what decision was made, everyone would abide by it. Although he also knew that some, like Cuzin Sophie, would have a lot to say about it for years to come, even after he finally went to join Idella in the great beyond.

  Both he and Henry had prayed over their decision and knew that in the long run it would be the best thing for the entire family.

  “Michael! Taye!” he called out to them. “Henry and I want to see you two inside.” When he saw the whole mass of cousins who were grouped with them getting ready to follow, he added, “Alone.”