Destination Wedding

by Jacqueline J. Holness

  “I thought about dis all night, and I hope you don judge me now that you’re a minister, but I don wanna have Jovan’s baby. Not this way.”

  “So you’re thinking about an abortion?”

  “Yeah,” I said, my voice quivering.

  “My religious beliefs aside, and I definitely won’t judge you for any decision you make, but why?” she questioned.

  “I don want to force a man to marry me cuz I’m pregnant, and I don wanna be a single parent.”

  “Oh. Well, how about adoption?” Her voice was still hopeful.

  “I could never give a child of mine up and not be a part of his or her life, so the only real option for me is abortion,” I said, more decisively than I felt. I paused before continuing. “So will you go wit me? I don wanna do this by myself.”

  “Of course, I got you girl. You’re not alone in this,” she said with a sigh. “Do you want me to come over tonight?”

  “Naw, I just wanna be by myself. I’ve already researched places so I’m just gonna make an appointment.”

  “Okay, well I will pick you up and take you wherever you’re going. Just tell me when and where.”

  “Cool,” I said.

  • • •

  After I told them about being pregnant, Senalda and Whitney offered to take off work to go with me and Jarena to the clinic the next day, but I only wanted my oldest best friend with me. I waved to Jarena as she pulled up in front of my building. I got in the car and looked at her.

  “So do you still want to do this?” she said. I could tell she wanted to say more.

  I only nodded, scared that I would start crying if I opened my mouth.

  She sighed and said, “So the clinic is located across from Grady Hospital, right? Peachtree Reproductive Services. Okay, let’s go.”

  I hoped we wouldn’t run into Richie or anyone else we knew. Within twenty minutes, Jarena pulled into the parking deck. Once she parked, I opened the car door, but Jarena stopped me, putting her hand on my leg.

  “Would you mind if I prayed for you?”

  “Alright,” I said. “I hope God doesn’t strike you down or anything.”

  “Oh Mimi,” she said as she took both of my hands in hers.

  I just stared at her as she closed her eyes and bowed her head.

  “Dear God, I pray that you would be with my friend Mimi throughout this process. Please keep her in your care. Amen.”

  “Dat was short,” I said, managing to laugh.

  “So, are you ready?”

  “I guess so,” I nearly whispered.

  Four hours later, I was done and woozy. Jarena’s nose was red like she had been crying. She held my hand as we left the clinic and crossed the street. As she helped me into the car, I saw a figure walking toward me.

  “Hey, Mimi. Remember me? Ian?”

  “How could I get forget you, Dr. Ian?” I said, hoping that I didn’t sound sarcastic. But I was too weak to really try to be cordial.

  “How are you? You look like you’re not feeling well,” he said.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I know I look like crap.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “I know,” I said. “Dr. Ian, you’re right, though. I’m not feeling well. I hate to be rude, but I don wanna keep my girl Jarena waiting. She’s taking me home.”

  “Oh, I understand,” he said. “If you don’t mind, I will give you a call to check on you since I am a doctor and all.”

  “Fa sho,” I said while getting into the car.

  “Thanks, Dr. Ian,” Jarena said as she shut my door.

  “Okay Jarena, take good care of her,” he said.

  “I will.”

  As Jarena drove, I leaned my head back on the seat, closing my eyes to sleep a lil bit before we got to my place.

  • • •

  Later that night, when I was all by myself in bed, I didn’t try to stop the tears anymore. I halfway wished I was one of those crazy chicks who trapped a man into being with her because she was having his baby. But I knew what it was like to grow up knowing your father didn’t really want to be there and tryin’ to keep him around. And I just couldn’t do that to a child.

  I took some pain medication and got on Twitter on my cell to pass some time before I fell asleep. I checked Jovan’s feed, and all of a sudden, like a bomb dropped in the middle of the night—I saw a picture of Jovan and Chula on a beach. They had gotten married in Puerto Rico earlier in the day, her birthday, Jovan tweeted. They both were wearing white. He was in a linen suit without any athletic gear for once. Like the trick bitch that she was even on her wedding day, she was wearing a too-tight ruffled minidress. They looked so fuckin’ happy it made me even more miserable. I curled myself up on my bed and sobbed.

  Destination Wedding Meeting #10

  The Saturday after Mimi had an abortion, the girls agreed to meet at her home for their monthly meeting. But this time, instead of working on their Destination Wedding goals, their real focus was cheering up their friend. She lived on the twentieth floor of the pricey Mayfair Tower Condominiums on 14th Street. While she was bohemian in her appearance and attitude toward life, she still appreciated luxurious living.

  Whitney brought homemade chicken noodle soup. Jarena brought lasagna and a salad. And Senalda brought desserts. As they assembled the food in Mimi’s small kitchen, they whispered furiously to each other. Her locs nearly shrouding her face, Mimi was on her couch, cocooned in her blanket, clicking her remote and staring straight ahead at her television.

  “I want to know how Chula got a destination wedding in Puerto Rico before I did!” Senalda hissed.

  “I think you’re focusing on the wrong thing,” Jarena said, as her eyebrows creased.

  “You’re right,” Senalda said before pausing. “Can you believe that dude married someone else? I always thought he was a jerk, but I thought he was a non-marrying jerk.”

  “I knew he was going to marry Chula even before he told Mimi,” Jarena admitted. “I kept trying to warn Mimi, but she wasn’t trying to hear it.”

  “I don’t believe in abortion, but I can’t see raising a man’s child after that man married some other woman,” Whitney said.

  “I can hear y’all,” Mimi belted out.

  The women momentarily stopped their conversation.

  “Let’s discuss this later,” Senalda whispered before raising her voice so that Mimi could hear.

  “Mimi, I hope you’re hungry because there is plenty to eat.”

  “I aine hungry,” she said in a monotone, still staring straight ahead.

  The women looked at each other and then gathered around her in the living room. Jarena sat at her feet on the hardwood floor while Whitney and Senalda sat on either side.

  Mimi’s phone rang. “I bet it’s that doctor guy again,” she said.

  “Huh?” Jarena said.

  “Dr. Ian been calling me ere day since we saw him on Wednesday.”

  “Answer it, and put him on speaker phone,” Senalda directed.

  Mimi obliged. “Hi, Dr. Ian,” Mimi said. “I have you on speaker phone.”

  “How are you today? Are you feeling any better?” he said in the caring tone of a health care professional.

  “A little better I guess,” Mimi replied. “Thanks for checking on me again.”

  “No problem,” he said. “I don’t have to go to the hospital today. Maybe I can swing by and check on you in person this time.”

  “Actually, my girlfriends are here with me.”

  “Hi, Dr. Ian,” Jarena, Senalda and Whitney sang out.

  “Hey, ladies,” Dr. Ian said.

  “We can leave if you want to make a house call, Dr. Ian,” Senalda said to the laughter of her friends.

  “Thank you for checking on Mimi,” Jarena said.

  “Dr. Ian, I’ll call you back later, okay?” Mimi declared, shifting in her blanket, trying to get comfortable with her friends encircling her. “I don wanna ignore my friends.”

  �
��Okay, I understand.” he said. “Goodbye.”

  “Bye.”

  “Dr. Ian from Veronique’s store!” Senalda said. “What a cutie! You guys went out once, right?”

  “Yeah, it was boring too,” Mimi said, as she stopped moving, finally finding a comfortable position.

  “But maybe you should give him a chance on a second date,” Jarena suggested, putting her hands on top of the blanket over Mimi’s hands underneath. “You said he has been calling every day since we saw him across from the clinic. Did you tell him what happened?”

  “Naw, just told him I was feelin’ sick that day and you took me to Grady.”

  “Oh, does Dr. Ian work at Grady?” Whitney asked.

  “Yeah,” Mimi said.

  “I wonder if he knows Richie?” Whitney said. “I’ll have to get the scoop on him so that you can be fully informed about this man beforehand.”

  “We already know that he’s a doctor who is caring and willing to make house calls,” Senalda said sweetly, stroking Mimi’s locs. “You should definitely give him a second chance.”

  “Definitely,” Jarena agreed. “He’s really into you.”

  “Maybe,” Mimi said. “I don know.”

  Her friends looked at each other, silently hoping Mimi would get out of her funk soon enough to realize Dr. Ian was already treating her better than Jovan ever did.

  CHAPTER 12

  November

  Destination Wedding Meeting #11

  IT WAS 8 A.M. on Thanksgiving and Mimi was feeling lonesome. Now that Atlanta’s temperate weather was finally starting to get colder, it was getting harder to ignore that she didn’t have anyone to keep her warm.

  “You said to make a call if I felt like doin’ somethin’ crazy,” Mimi said without apology when Victor picked up the phone.

  “That I did, ma,” Victor confirmed. “What’s up?”

  “So would it be wrong for me to drive by Jovan’s house?”

  “He’s married now,” Victor said. “Remember?”

  “I know, I know,” Mimi agreed.

  “See that’s that stinking thinking,” Victor said. “So what triggered this?”

  “Today is Thanksgiving and just the idea of being at my grandmother’s house makes me want to sleep da whole day,” she started. “I’m going over there in a couple of hours. It aine cool being in a divorced family during the holidays; it will just be me, my mama and my grandmother. My mama and my grandmother are divorced, and my older brother will be at his girlfriend’s house so… At least I’m going to Richie’s house tonight, so I don’t have to stay there all day.”

  “I feel you, ma,” Victor said in sympathy. “Hey, I’ll be at Richie’s house tonight too!”

  Mimi paused, momentarily shocked. “Richie invited you to Thanksgiving dinner?”

  “Yeah, last week. I told him that I didn’t have my daughter for Thanksgiving so I really didn’t have any plans.”

  “Does Whitney know who you are?” Mimi said hesitantly.

  “Yeah, I’ve met her before,” Victor said.

  “Today gon be interesting after all,” Mimi said, a sly smile spreading across her face.

  “Whaddya mean?”

  “Whitney invited me—not Richie,” Mimi said.

  “Yeah?”

  “I bet she don’t like the type of people in twelve-step recovery meetings, so I’m surprised that she don’t mind you coming over. Then again, you are high yaller, and Whitney and I both like light-skinned men,” Mimi said with a cackle.

  “I don’t know about all that, but she was very nice to me when we met,” Victor said.

  “That’s good. Hey Victor, don’t take this the wrong way, but I haven’t told my friends I go to SLAA meetings. I’m not ashamed, and I do plan to tell em, but not yet.”

  “Hey, we’re an anonymous program,” Victor said, “I wouldn’t drop a dime on you like that.”

  “I’m not ashamed that I know you because I knew you back in your stripper days. I just don’t want people to know I’m in program yet.”

  “No one will know that I know you and Richie from program,” Victor said.

  • • •

  Senalda helped Whitney arrange a smorgasbord of dishes on the island.

  “Did you make all of this?” Senalda said, surveying the spread which included a turkey, fried chicken, a green bean casserole, candied yams, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, cranberry sauce, and rolls.

  “I started yesterday, but yes, I made everything,” Whitney said proudly. “Jarena is bringing some macaroni and cheese and collard greens from This Is It!, but other than that, I slaved over this Thanksgiving dinner. But save the applause until after we eat!”

  The two women laughed.

  “So where is that scrumptious man of yours? I thought for sure that y’all would be together today,” Whitney said, using the pad of her index finger to wipe away moisture from her hairline.

  “Dexter did invite me to his parents’ home for Thanksgiving, but I told him I already had plans.”

  “You did what?” Whitney questioned, her voice rising. “What’s going on? Did you break up with him? He’s too good of a catch to toss him back in the sea!”

  “Not officially; I’m just giving him the slow diss and hopefully he will get the message,” Senalda said in the logical, unwilling-to-be-questioned tone she used at work.

  “Not the slow diss!” Whitney said. “So basically you’re not answering all of his calls and not responding to all of his invitations until he stops calling and asking. Girl, we’re not in college anymore. Just break up with him if that is what you want to do. But you’re not going to find another gainfully employed, well-connected, fine man without children and ex-wives easily.”

  “I want to break up because he hasn’t asked me to marry him yet, but I don’t have the heart to do it. I’m hoping this way he will see that I’m slipping away and try to get me back.”

  A ringing doorbell interrupted their conversation. Jarena and Mimi smiled in the doorway with the on-demand joy of Christmas carolers as they held containers of food.

  “I can’t believe that we are having a Destination Wedding meeting before Thanksgiving dinner,” Jarena said as she set the macaroni and cheese down on the island.

  “I know, I know, but since it’s a holiday, let’s just do a quick status update,” Senalda said charitably.

  “Still single,” Jarena said.

  “Me too,” Mimi said, while folding back the foil cover over the collard greens to peek in. “These smell so good. When we gon eat?”

  “When Richie’s friend gets here, we can sit down to eat,” Whitney said quickly, trying to not to scold Mimi for putting her nose near the food.

  “A male friend?” Senalda inquired.

  Whitney nodded.

  “Is he single?”

  “I haven’t seen a wedding ring on his finger, but that doesn’t mean much nowadays,” Whitney replied.

  “Is he cute?” Senalda said, her enthusiasm permeating the air as much as the steaming food.

  “I thought we were having a Destination Wedding meeting,” Whitney said, turning up her nose. “Jarena and Mimi may not have anything to share but you sure do.”

  “Really, what?” Mimi said, sidling up to Senalda.

  “I finally broke up with Dexter.”

  “You did?” Jarena and Mimi said in unison.

  “Not officially,” Senalda explained. “I’m doing the slow diss.”

  “Has it worked?” Jarena asked.

  “Maybe,” Senalda said. “He is calling me more, but that’s about it.”

  Whitney ignored the ringing doorbell this time, and minutes later, Richie walked in the kitchen.

  “Whit, Victor is here. Are we just about ready to eat? It smells so good,” Richie said while rubbing his stomach.

  “Hey Richie,” Senalda said as she walked up to him. “I thought your hair looked a little long at my birthday party in September, but I didn’t realize you were growing
dreadlocks.”

  “Yeah, just trying something new,” he said as he reached up and pulled a baby loc.

  “Oh,” Senalda said, a befuddled expression on her face.

  “That’s what I said when he told me, girl,” Whitney said, shaking her head.

  “They look cute ta me,” Mimi said, looking at Richie.

  Richie smiled at Mimi, their eyes locking for a moment.

  “You can get away with a mop on your head because you’re a woman, but not a doctor at Grady,” Whitney said.

  “Whit, everyone doesn’t have to have a perfect image like you,” Richie said icily before turning and walking out of the kitchen.

  Whitney pressed a smile on her face as her friends looked away, trying to act like they hadn’t witnessed the contemptuous exchange.

  “So girls, will you help me get the meal on the table?” Whitney started picking up containers of food. Wordlessly, her friends helped her take the platters to the formal dining room. A short time later, at the dinner table, Richie blessed the food with a quick prayer. The table was silent for a few uncomfortable minutes. Senalda broke the silence first.

  “So Richie, why haven’t you brought Victor around before?”

  She took in the man who sat across from Mimi. Even in a long-sleeved shirt, she could see the outline of his muscled chest and arms. She didn’t like the diamond studs he wore in his ears, but she was willing to overlook them since all of Richie’s friends had serious credentials. I bet he has tattoos too. Final assessment: He was too street-looking for her taste, even if she was available. But he would probably be perfect for Mimi.

  “We just met a few months ago,” Richie answered.

  “He’s cute, right Mimi?” Senalda said, looking at Mimi. “He looks like just your type.”

  “Senalda, you don’t even know this man. Don’t embarrass him,” Whitney said.

  “I know if he’s a friend of Richie’s, he’s got to be a catch.”