by Vivian Ward
“Are you ready to go?” she asked.
“In a minute.” I walked over to her and put my arms around her waist. “I want a minute to admire you. You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and I’m so lucky to have you in my life.”
She blushed and giggled for a second. “You’re crazy. Do you know that?”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.” I glanced at my watch; we didn’t have much time. “We better get a move on. Stephanie’s going to meet us there. If you thought she was a you-know-what before, you haven’t seen her if you keep her waiting.”
“Gee, I can hardly wait to see her.” Her smile faded. I know she’s not fond of my sister, but tonight was important, and I wanted everyone to have a nice time.
“I love you, and I wouldn’t have asked her to join us if it weren’t important to me.” I cupped my hands around her face. “There’s only one woman in my life that I strive to make happy, and that woman is you. She’ll be good tonight. I promise.”
I planted a soft kiss on her forehead.
During the drive to the restaurant, Nikki talked up a storm in the backseat. She was excited to see my sister again though I’m not sure why. The last time we were all together, it didn’t end well.
“Nikki, why are you so excited to see Aunt Stephanie?” I looked in the rearview mirror, waiting for her response.
“Because she’s your sister. I think it’s neat to meet someone you grew up with.”
“Okay,” I looked at Tasha as we shrugged our shoulders. “She always looks at things a little differently, doesn’t she?”
Inside the restaurant, Stephanie was sitting in the waiting area as we walked inside. She sat with her arms and legs crossed as she bounced her knee up and down.
Her pursed lips and annoyed facial expression told me that she wasn’t happy that we kept her waiting. I motioned for her to join us as I gave the hostess our name and waited for the next available table. Everyone was quiet until we were finally shown to our table.
Nikki broke the ice as she started talking about getting geared up for kindergarten and how she couldn’t wait to make new friends. Everyone was talking to Nikki, but not to each other which was awkward.
As the waiter brought our food out to the table, I waited until everyone was almost finished with their meals before I grabbed their attention.
“Tasha,” I rose from my seat and knelt beside her. “When you entered my life, I was full of doubt and uncertainty but you’ve shown me a side of myself that I didn’t know existed. You’ve made it possible to have a family—my family, a perfect family. Because of you, I have two beautiful children that I could have only wished for before I met you.” I reached into the breast pocket of my jacket. “I want you to be by my side for as long as I shall live. Will you do me the honors of being my wife?”
Her hand cupped her mouth as her eyes filled with tears. Shocked and overwhelmed, she nodded her head. “Yes, I love you.” I slid the ring onto her finger as I held her in my arms.
“You’re seriously going to marry her?” my sister blurted.
“I am, and I want you to be at the wedding. Sis, you might not realize this, but Tasha is my rock, and this family is my life. I don’t know what you have against her, but she’s never done anything to me—or you, for that matter. She’s an excellent mom, a good cook and she treats me well. I want you to be happy for us.”
“Well, I wouldn’t know. Ever since that one day at your house, I haven’t been invited back over, but I would like to get to know her, as well as my nephew.”
“And your niece.” I looked over at Nikki, who was still trying to figure out what was going on.
“Yes, of course. My niece and my nephew.”
“You know what would make a great night even better?” I looked at Tasha and my sister. “To see the two of you to start getting along. I want the most important women in my life to get along and be friends. It would mean so much to me.” The girls looked at each other. Tasha broke the silence, but I knew she would be the one who would. She’s a must stronger woman than my sister could ever be.
“I’d like that, honestly.” She looked at my sister. “From the day I met you, I’ve had a bad taste in my mouth because of your behavior and actions, but for the sake of my family, I’m willing to put those things aside. I would love to start a new beginning and relationship with you, woman to woman.”
Stephanie cracked a faint smile. “I think I’d like that, too.”
“Okay, enough of the sappy stuff! Who’s ready for dessert?”
“I am!” Nikki chimed in.
In the car on the way home, Tasha’s smile remained plastered across her face. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s the happiest woman in the world. Taking her hand in mine, I kissed it.
“What are you smiling about?”
“Tonight. You make me so happy. When did you get this ring? I didn’t even know that you went ring shopping. It’s gorgeous!” She held her hand out, marveling at her engagement ring.
“A man should never tell all of his secrets.” I teased her. “I’m glad that I have you in my life. I know I don’t always say it or show it, but I am. What I’m most proud of are you and my sister. It made me so happy that you two decided to get along and start over. It’s really important to me. I love her to death and not having her come around has been hard on me.”
“I know. I can tell that you two are close. She’s had a big opinion in all of this—from the surrogacy to having us living with you. Sometimes I just wish she would keep her thoughts to herself.”
“Yeah, she’s not always like that, though. When do you want to get married?”
“I have no idea. When were you thinking?”
“I thought that we would do whatever makes you happy. You are the bride after all.”
“Wow! I can’t believe that I’m finally going to be a bride and get married. I never thought that this day would come. A few years ago, I pictured myself staying a single mom forever, but after we had got together, I started changing my mind.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I mean, I’d always hoped that you would ask me to marry you, but I wasn’t going to push it. I figure let things fall naturally, on their own.”
“Well, I can’t imagine not marrying the mother of my child. Maybe we can even have one or two more?”
“Slow down, cowboy. We’re still trying to figure out when we’re getting married,” she laughed. “Maybe we can talk about having another one when I’m not trying to fit my ass into a wedding dress.”
“Yeah, I guess you have a point.”
She was silent for a few minutes.
“Do you think she’ll try to start over?”
“Who? What are you talking about?”
“Your sister. She said she agreed that we need to start over, but do you think she’ll do it?”
“My sister can be a pain in the ass, but she sticks to her word. I bet she’ll even help you plan the wedding.”
“We’ll see, but I think I want to do this by myself. There are certain things that I want, and I want to make sure everything is as exactly as I have always imagined it.”
I checked the rear view mirror. Both kids were conked out in the backseat. Their sweet faces were relaxed as their heads slumped forward and sideways.
“They sure look like little angels back there.”
“They always look sweet when they’re sleeping. It’s when they’re awake that we know different.”
After putting the kids to bed, we sat in the living room enjoying some coffee. Cuddling her on the couch reminded me how lucky I was.
There were so many lonely nights I sat here by myself, wondering what my life would be like in five or ten years. With her in my arms, I knew exactly what my life was going to be like. I imagined the kids growing up, finishing high school and going on to college.
Nikki would make an excellent lawyer as feisty as she is and as much as she likes to argue. Carter’s still too young t
o tell what he would be good at, but no matter what, I’ll support them in anything that they want to be.
“You know what you’ve never done before?” Tasha asked.
“What’s that?”
“You’ve never carried me up the stairs to make love to me.” Her seductive eyes met mine as she fluttered her eyelashes.
Without another word, I swooped her up in my arms and carried her up the stairs to our bedroom where I gently placed her on the bed and began to slowly undress her.
Kissing passionately, we took off each other’s clothes, tossing them onto the floor until we were both naked. Drinking in the smell of her rich, clean perfume, I climbed on top of her before slowly sinking myself deep inside of her. Bucking my hips, I impaled her as I tantalized her succulent breasts with my teeth and mouth.
Moving from one nipple to the other, I sucked and bit them until they were perfect, erect cones pointing to the sky. Her nails lightly scratched my back as she spread her legs wider. Reading her body language, I plunged my cock deeper into her warm, inviting hole and buried myself balls deep.
She arched her back as I filled her to the hilt and pierced her shoulder with my teeth.
“Let me on top,” she whispered.
Rolling over in a tangled mess, she came out on top. Her large, round perky breasts rocked and swayed as she rode my cock. Staring at her magnificent breasts, my cock only got harder.
Raising my hips, I shifted her entire body, forcing her to take me deeper. Her petite hands wrapped around my wrists as she balanced herself and adjusted to the feeling of complete fullness. Grabbing a hold of her hips, I thrust into her from underneath, keeping her steady as she continued to slide up and down my slick shaft.
She leaned forward, grabbing fistfuls of the pillows for traction as she started working her hips, moving them faster and faster until she started to cum all over my cock. I pressed down on her shoulders, firmly planting my dick deep against her womb and rigorously plowed into her as she continued to climax.
As she started coming out of her euphoric state, she recouped her composure and regained control. Grinding her hips against my skin, she fervently slid up and down my wet, glistening cock until my balls tightened and a thick stream of cum flooded her pussy.
Tasha
His sister has been nice to me, which shocked the hell out of me. Ever since we had our engagement dinner and we both promised to start over, she has stepped up her game.
Not only has she gone out of her way to talk to me and spend more time with the kids, but we've also become quite good friends. With most of my friends being in New Bedford, it’s nice having someone close who can come over or that I can go shopping with.
Blake’s even stepped it up and has been taking care of the kids more instead of leaving it to me all the time. Used to, any time the kids needed something or wanted anything, he would call my name and ask me to get it.
Now he takes care of it himself and has also started giving Carter baths, so I don’t have to do it all the time. I finally got to meet his parents, which were snooty to say the least. His dad is a very quiet man who doesn’t talk much, but his mom, on the other hand, has an opinion about everything.
I guess that’s where Stephanie gets it from. We had them come over for dinner one night, and they were nice to me. His mom even complimented my cooking and asked for the recipe for my casserole.
I could tell that it took them aback for a minute when they realized I’m black. From what I gathered—and I haven’t asked Blake or Stephanie about it—they didn’t know about the whole surrogate thing or that he had a baby with another woman until they met me.
Blake did tell me that they are very reformed people, and he tries to tell them as little as possible for the sake of argument.
Since Stephanie and I have become so close, I have been using her to help me plan the wedding. I told her everything that I wanted, but she found ways to tweak my ideas and make them even better.
We decided that we’re getting married this coming June, which leaves me about eight months to plan the wedding. I’ve decided to go with navy, eggplant and gold for my color scheme. All of the invitations are navy blue with gold lettering inscribed on them. We sent those out about a month ago so we can start working on the food order for the reception.
The hardest part is deciding who my maid of honor is going to be. I’d like to see my girlfriend, Cicily, be my maid of honor, but I also want it to be Stephanie since she’s turned over a new leaf. Cicily and I haven’t spoken much in the last year and a half, ever since I moved here basically.
Stephanie and I have bonded so much during that time that I’m torn on what to do. Either way, they’ll both be at the wedding, so whoever I don’t pick will be there to see the one that I do pick standing next to me. I’m going to have Nikki be my flower girl, and Carter will carry the rings.
We found a beautiful silk pillow with lace trim that he can carry them on. When it comes to shopping for my wedding dress, I’ve realized that there are so many options! I’m still trying to figure out what type of dress I want, which is driving him crazy.
As a man, he doesn’t understand all the various fabrics, materials, and designs. He’s got it easy. Navy blue tuxes with white shirts and a bow-tie. I wish I had it that easy!
Nikki’s so excited to be part of the wedding. She makes her little brother practice walking down the hallway whenever they play together. It’s cute watching her try to make him match her pace so she can show him how he’s supposed to walk. She teaches him so many things.
Sibling rivalry has never been an issue between them. She goes with the flow and shows him how to do things. He also shares her love of Buttonwood Park and can never get enough of the animals at the zoo. I think that’s their favorite thing to do together—to look at the animals and try to feed them.
She excels in school, and when she comes home, she tries teaching her little brother; although, he has no clue what she’s talking about. Anytime I go to her classroom holiday parties, I’ve noticed that she has lots of friends, but it doesn’t shock me.
As outgoing as she is, it’s no surprise that her classmates love her. All of her teachers adore her and are in love with Carter. He gets so excited when his big sister has a classroom party, and he can go; he gets into everything.
With the wedding only a week away, things have been hectic. Coordinating the seating was insanely ridiculous. Come to find out, most of his family doesn’t get along so I had to leave the seating arrangements to Stephanie and trust that she would do a good job.
All of my friends and family responded and said they are coming, which makes me so happy. My mom is proud of us. She never thought that we would be able to overcome all the obstacles that we’ve been through, but she loves Blake like her son.
I finally picked out the perfect dress about two months ago and had it altered, so it now fits perfectly. It’s a slightly beaded, ivory gown with a sweetheart neckline and has a six-foot train. When I tried it on once it came back from altering, I felt like a princess as I looked in the mirror.
There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s not going to love this dress when he sees it on me. My mother, Stephanie and Cicily accompanied me to the bridal shop when it came in and when my mom saw me in it, she cried.
Getting ready for the big day, my nerves were on edge, and I had knots in my stomach the moment I woke up. All I want is for everything to go smoothly. My makeup artist was putting the finishing touches on my makeup as she attached my eyelash extensions.
Waiting to get my hair done, Nikki barged into the room, spinning in her flower dress. One of my cousins worked on getting her ready while I was busy getting myself ready. She looked stunning in her white flower dress that was decorated with purple and gold flowers.
My cousin pulled her hair back into a sleek ponytail and decorated her hair with tiny flowers to match her dress. Twirling around the room, I thought for sure she was going to knock into something.
“Nikki, chil
l out. Let me take a look at you.” She stopped spinning and did a curtsy, bowing like a ballerina. “Wow! Baby, you look beautiful! Where’s your brother?”
“He’s with Affton. She’s trying to practice having him walk with the ring pillow, but he keeps running. What are we going to do if he runs down the aisle?”
“There’s not much we can do, but hopefully he’ll walk. Maybe the large crowd of people will scare him, and he won’t run. Go on back out there. I’ll be finished up in a minute.”
A good friend of mine, Sharonda, started working on my hair. I wore it long and slightly curled, much like Rhianna’s hair. When I looked in the mirror, I couldn’t believe that I was staring at myself. I looked like a model who had stepped out of a bridal magazine for the year’s top dresses and styles.
To complete my look, I slipped on a pearl necklace and put on my hairpiece to accessorize my dress. My cousin came in and said it was time to start the wedding. Swiping on a thin layer of lip gloss, I quickly took my place as all of the wedding party began making their way down the aisle.
When it was my turn, I watched everyone stand as I made my way to the altar. The room felt hot, and I thought I was going to faint.
My queasy stomach threatened to betray me as I panted for air. When I finally joined Blake at the altar, a sense of calmness washed over me. The room was no longer hot, and my stomach started to settle.
“You’re the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen,” he whispered.
“Thanks. You look really good, too.”
Before the officiant started the ceremony, I glanced over at my mom. Tears of happiness trickled out of her eyes as she watched me—her only daughter and only child—about to marry the man I love.
As the ceremony got underway, all I could do was stare into his warm, loving eyes. The same eyes that I could read like a book. When it came time to read our vows, Blake went first.
“Tasha, you are the most terrific woman I have ever met, and I want to share the rest of my life with you. We are two hearts, two souls and two lives who will be joined as one today. I promise to give you my heart and protect, love, honor and cherish you until death does us part. I love you.”
