“My God, Alaysia, I hate to ask how much this place cost,” I said.
“I got a good price through this vacation travel thingee on the Internet. It wasn’t bad at all. Plus, I’m getting baptized. That’s a big deal.”
I think she was the only one who didn’t notice Khalil shaking his head and muttering under his breath about the extravagance of the place.
Alaysia and I got dressed for a run on the beach. Nakia took one look at our running clothes, rolled her eyes and brushed the sand off a beach lounger on the deck. She pulled out a stack of books, fixed the beach umbrella and said, “If you need me, this is where I’ll be. I gotta catch up on my reading.”
I looked at her books. One said, Heart of Devotion , another Joy, and For Love and Grace.
“What are these about?” I turned the books over to look at the back covers.
“Girl, Christian fiction. I had to give up my secular novels when I moved here. Can’t be reading no sex scenes living this close to David. Might get something stirred up I can’t control.”
I laughed at her. “Girl, you two just need to elope. I ain’t seen nobody struggle this much with keeping it holy, and I been in church a long time.”
“That’s ’cause they ain’t struggling. They doin’ they thing and lying about it,” Nakia said.
Alaysia put her hands on her hips. “That’s not true. Me and Khalil are keeping it holy.”
Nakia sucked her teeth. “Yeah, but Khalil is Jesus’ first cousin, so that don’t count.”
We all laughed. I stretched my legs. “Come on, girl, let’s do this thing before it gets too hot out here. Nakia, you going running?”
“Y’all go ’head. I don’t believe it takes all that runnin’ and carrying on.” Nakia dismissed us by opening a book.
Alaysia and I ran for about an hour, until we were drenched with sweat. Even though it was early September, it was still hot and humid outside. Occasional breezes off the water cooled things off only slightly.
When we got back, Nakia had fallen asleep on her lounger, and David was curled up asleep in a lounger next to her. We walked into the house to find our men. Kevin was stretched out on one part of the sectional with a Myles Munroe book, Understanding The Power and Purpose of a Man, on his chest. Khalil was stretched out on the other end with Rich Dad, Poor Dad on his chest.
“Ain’t this a sorry sight. We drive all the way down to the beach so these folks can sleep the day away?” Alaysia shook her head.
I stopped Alaysia as she was about to shake Khalil. “Let ’im rest. You picked such a perfect house that everyone is relaxed.”
We both went to take a shower. Half an hour later, Alaysia was curled up on the ottoman beside Khalil, asleep. I grabbed one of Nakia’s books, Heart of Devotion, and lay out on a beach lounger on the deck. It was relaxing sitting in the sunny, salty air with the wind whipping my cheeks. I was instantly engrossed in the book. It was contemporary, like a regular African American novel, but was based on Christian themes. I’d have to try this Christian fiction stuff. Nakia was right about not reading stuff that would keep me awake and smoldering all night.
Durned if them Negroes didn’t stay ’sleep for almost three hours. I was almost halfway through the book by the time Nakia stirred.
“Well, good morning. Or afternoon, almost evening, I should say,” I said.
Nakia squinted and shielded her eyes from the sun. “Where is everybody?”
“’Sleep, just like you.” I closed the book and returned it to Nakia’s stack.
Alaysia stumbled out onto the deck. “Why didn’t you get me up?”
“For what? You were ’sleep,” I said.
“Oh my God, I’m starving.” Alaysia stretched her arms up in the air. Khalil came up behind her and grabbed her around the waist. She squealed.
He laughed. “Gotcha.” He turned her around and held her close, kissing her on the nose and forehead.
“What did I do to deserve that?” She smiled up at him.
“It would take me forever to tell you.”
She laid her head on his chest. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Whoever thought Miss Alaysia—connoisseur of wine, weed, and as many men as she could get—would be saved, about to get baptized, and waiting for the man of her dreams to propose? God was truly a miracle worker.
Kevin came up behind them. “I hate to break up this moment, but if I don’t get something to eat soon, I might have to hurt somebody.”
Alaysia and Khalil said at the same time, “Me too.”
Nakia looked at Alaysia. “You’re the master chef. What bird food will we be dining on this afternoon?”
Alaysia had packed groceries for gourmet vegetarian meals for the whole weekend.
Khalil elbowed Kevin. “We’ll cook, ladies. You have a seat and relax.”
Alaysia said, “The veggie burgers are in the freezer. You don’t have to thaw them before you put them on the grill.”
“Who said we were cooking rabbit food?” Khalil said.
“That’s all I brought, so that’s all you get.” Alaysia crossed her arms in front of her.
“We went to the market up the street while you were running.” Khalil looked at Kevin. “Ready to fire up the grill, bruh?”
“I got you, man. I’m on it.” Kevin lifted the bag next to the grill and poured some charcoal out. He drizzled some lighter fluid then looked around. “Anybody got some matches?”
Alaysia watched all this with her mouth wide open. “I can’t believe you guys. What did you buy? Did you buy meat? You’re actually gonna cook meat?”
“Y’all better be careful or lightning’s gonna strike.” Nakia smirked and tickled David’s toes. He must have been really tired because he didn’t move.
“Khalil, you bought meat?” Alaysia was pouting now.
“Alaysia, just because you love fake meat doesn’t mean everybody else does. We usually humor you and eat that stuff—and it is good—but you gotta be fair. Sometimes we wanna eat what we wanna eat.” He beat on his chest. “Me man. Me need meat.”
Alaysia pushed her lips out further.
He leaned over and kissed them. “Come on, Laysia. Let us enjoy our weekend. You don’t expect me to eat vegetarian for the rest of my life, do you?”
“The rest of your life?”
“Yeah, the rest of my life. I know you brainwashed Monica, but I ain’t convertin’.”
“Brainwashed? What’s that supposed to mean?” I said.
“Means you’ve joined Alaysia’s veggie cult. The rest of us will not be sucked in.” Kevin disappeared into the kitchen.
Alaysia’s ire must have been defused by Khalil’s “rest of my life” comment. “I guess a little meat wouldn’t hurt.”
I stared at her. “You never said that to me. It was your way or no way.”
Alaysia batted her eyelashes. “I know, but you’re not him.”
“Oh, it’s like that, huh?”
“Yeah, girl. It’s like that.” Alaysia laughed.
Kevin emerged with a large pan piled high with thick steaks at one end and salmon fillets at the other.
Alaysia made a face. “Yuck. I’m cooking me and Monnie’s veggie burgers on the grill inside. I don’t want any of your meat juice getting on our food.”
I gulped. “Salmon? That’s my favorite.”
“Be strong, girl. Don’t give in to the carnivorous cravings of the flesh.”
I bit my lip. “But it’s salmon.”
“After a whole year, you’re going to slip back into the ranks of the animal flesh-eating beasts?” Alaysia’s eyes were wide.
“Is that what we are?” Nakia asked.
“I’m sorry, Laysia. I got to have a piece of that salmon. It’s high in omega fatty acids, so it’s good for me.” I licked my lips.
“Monnie! You traitor. Kevin, you did this on purpose. You knew that was her favorite.”
Kevin grinned. “I ain’t trying to eat tofu for the rest of my life either.”
Alaysia shook her head. “First Eve and the serpent, now Kevin beguiles Monica. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”
We all laughed. David rolled over. “I’m trying to get some sleep here.” He looked at the pan piled high with meat. “I’m awake. I’m awake.”
Everybody laughed.
After we ate, we changed into our bathing suits. We splashed in the ocean, swam out to the buoys, and played beach volleyball until it was dusk. Then we showered and came back out to the deck. Alaysia lit a few citronella candles to keep the bugs away.
We laughed and talked and ate leftovers until Alaysia looked down at her watch. “We better turn in. We gotta get up early.”
“Why are we doing this at sunrise again?” Nakia wrinkled her nose.
“Because it’s the dawning of a new day in my life. Because the Son is rising with healing in His wings to make my life whole. Because the Lord is rising as a Sun and Shield in my life. Because—”
“Okay, okay, we get it.” I rolled my eyes. “Man, you’re worse than Khalil. What do you guys do? Have Bible study on all your dates?”
“Yep. Keeps us from doing other things God might not be as pleased with,” Khalil said.
Kevin stood up. “Yeah, we better go on to bed. Tomorrow is a big day.”
I stood up with him. “It is?”
“Yeah, and that’s all the clue you get. Don’t ask me no questions about no surprise ’cause I ain’t telling.” Kevin kissed my cheek.
I looked around at my friends.
“Don’t look at us. We ain’t telling you, either.” Nakia waved a nanny-nanny-boo-boo finger in my face.
“Y’all make me sick.”
“We love you too, Monnie,” Alaysia said.
63
It was still dark outside when I woke up to Alaysia tapping me on my forehead. “Time to get up.”
I peeked one eye open. “What time is it?”
“Six o’clock. On the news, it said sunrise is at six thirty-eight.”
I knew there was no sense in asking for fifteen more minutes. Alaysia was acting like a kid waking her parents on Christmas morning, ready to open her presents.
After she seemed satisfied that I wasn’t going back to sleep, she went knocking on the other doors. Nakia took the room next to us. David and Kevin were in the room across the hall, and Khalil in the room next to them. We agreed that no one would get the master bedroom because it wasn’t fair to the rest of us for someone to have a king-sized bed and a Jacuzzi while the rest of us had twin beds and bathtubs.
I put on my white, one-piece bathing suit with the white sarong and cover-all. Alaysia already had her white linen dress on. Nakia came out of her room looking half asleep in an outfit that matched mine. We waited down in the living room until Khalil and David came out in their white trunks and T-shirts. Alaysia pulled the calla lilies out of the refrigerator and gave them to me and Nakia.
“Where’s Kevin?” I didn’t know why I was whispering.
“He’s on his way down.” David wiped the sleep out of his eyes. “We’ll be outside. Why don’t you wait for him to make sure he didn’t go back to bed?”
The others filed out the door and walked down to the beach.
I heard a door open and Kevin walked out. Instead of his outfit matching Khalil’s and David’s, it was more like Alaysia’s. He had on a white linen shirt with white linen pants.
“How come you got a special outfit?”
“I’m getting baptized again. I was gonna get an outfit like the other guys, but Miss Alaysia insisted that I wear this. Something about a wedding ceremony and being the bride of Christ.”
“I don’t understand.”
He took my hand. “I want to celebrate being a completely new man in Christ. These last few months have been life changing, and even though I know I still have a ways to go, I feel like I’m finally becoming the man God originally intended me to be. At the risk of sounding like Alaysia, I want to let God wash the old man away into the ocean and solidify the new creature I’ve become.”
“Kevin, that’s wonderful.” I kissed him. “What a beautiful surprise.”
He looked past me out the glass door to the beach. “We better go. If the sun comes all the way up and we’re not outside, Alaysia will kill us.”
It was the most beautiful baptismal I had ever seen. Khalil officiated and David assisted. The sky glowed with the dazzling colors of the sunrise, and the cool breeze off the water kissed each of us awake. We gathered in a circle with Alaysia in the middle. She shivered, and I didn’t know if she was cold or nervous.
Khalil held his hand up to heaven. “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
He took Alaysia down under the water and I swear when she came up, she radiated like the woman on Touched By An Angel. She cried and said, “Jesus, thank you for making me new.”
Her tears and glowing were contagious. As she hugged each one of us, she said, “I love you guys so much. I finally have a family.”
When she was finished hugging everybody, Khalil held out his hand then pulled her to him. He cupped her face in his hands and said, “Alaysia, I love you with all my heart. I may not be able to give you the life you’re used to, but I promise I can love you better than you’ve ever been loved. I want to protect you, take care of you and be with you . . . for the rest of my life.” Out of nowhere, he pulled out a beautiful engagement ring. He slipped it onto her finger. “Alaysia Zaid, will you be my wife?”
If Khalil hadn’t been holding on to Alaysia, I think she would have fallen over. She stared at him with her mouth wide open, then looked at me as if to say “Did he really say what I think he said?” I nodded and smiled and she turned back to Khalil. Fresh tears fell down her face as she put her arms around him and kissed him.
He pulled back. “I take that as a yes?”
She nodded. They kissed and held each other for a while.
Alaysia collected herself and we refocused. Kevin took his place in the middle of the circle.
Khalil held his hand up again and said, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
It took both David and Khalil to take Kevin down in the water and bring him up again. When he came up, he held his hands up to heaven as his tears mixed with the salt water streaming down his face. Khalil and David hugged him, and the three of them held on to each other for a while. Alaysia and Nakia joined in the group hug then stepped back as Kevin walked over to hug me. As we held each other, I felt Kevin’s heart pounding against my chest. He brought his lips to my ear.
“Thanks for loving me and believing in me, Monnie. It was your love and God’s love together that made me a new man.”
I kissed him until David tapped him on the shoulder. “Yo, man, this is a baptism, not a wedding.”
We all laughed and headed inside.
After we showered and changed, we came downstairs to cook breakfast together. We had a huge feast of fresh berries, pancakes, scrambled tofu, tofu sausage, wheat biscuits, leftover salmon, and steak and fried potatoes and onions. When we spread everything out on the table, Alaysia clapped her hands together. “Now this is what I call a wedding feast.”
We sat down and heaped our plates.
David looked around at everybody. “How would you guys feel about coming back in a few months and doing this whole beach weekend thing again?”
“Why? You wanna get baptized?” Kevin asked.
David took Nakia’s hand. “No, we’re gonna go ahead and elope. We don’t want to do it at the courthouse. We want to do it here at the beach, with the family God has given us.”
“Aaaawww,” Alaysia and I sing-songed together.
Nakia smiled. “We’re gonna invite Pastor Ramsey and his wife down for the weekend so he can marry us. I’ll tell my family after we get back. They’ll be mad, but they’ll get over it.”
Alaysia clapped her hands together. “Shoot, girl, we might make it a double wedding. I’d love to get married here.”
Khalil looked surprised. “You mean you don’t want a big, fancy, downtown, expensive wedding and invite the whole city of Atlanta?”
Alaysia kissed Khalil’s cheek. “I don’t need all that stuff, baby. All I need to make me happy is you.”
Khalil kissed her on the lips. “I love you.”
David laughed. “Yeah, man, maybe y’all better get married in a few months with us.”
When we finished eating, Khalil patted his belly and said, “After that kind of meal, I think we all need a run on the beach.”
Alaysia said, “Yeah, I could use a few miles.”
David nodded. “Yeah, man. Then after that, we can go back to that market. We’re gonna need some more steaks for lunch.”
“No more animal flesh.” Alaysia made a face as she and Khalil went to get their running shoes.
Nakia shook her head. “I ain’t runnin’ on no beach. I’m going back out on the deck to read my book.”
“Don’t you mean read the back of your eyelids?” I teased.
Nakia threw her napkin at me.
“How ’bout we take a walk instead of a run on the beach?” David said to Nakia.
“I don’t feel like that either.” Nakia wrinkled up her nose. David elbowed her and she jumped. “Oh, yeah. A walk on the beach sounds good.”
“Let me get these dishes and I’ll change into my running clothes.” I got up to take the dishes to the kitchen.
I put the fruit in a container and put it in the fridge. Kevin helped load the dishwasher. The others trooped back downstairs and walked to the patio door.
I wiped my hands. “Oh, shoot, you guys are ready. Let me get my shoes.”
Kevin took my hand and said, “Why don’t you stay here with me?” He kissed my fingers then took the keys out of his pocket and threw them to David. “Make sure y’all get plenty of steak, man. Take your time and pick out some good ones.”
David caught them. “Yeah, man. We might drive back to Atlanta for the steaks. You know ain’t nothing like steak from Atlanta.”
Nakia popped his arm. “Shut up, boy. Come on here.”
They closed the patio door behind them.
“Why do I feel like I’ve been set up?”
My Soul Cries Out Page 31
