39

Bethany

Wedding Day

The makeup artist did the last of my makeup, and I finally looked in the mirror. Through it, I saw Bianca, Trinity, and Nadia standing there.

Tears rushed to the brims of my eyes and Trinity rushed over. "No. No. No. Bethany, do not cry. You gone mess up this makeup."

I tilted my head back and blinked away my tears as I sniffled lowly. "I'm scared." I admitted.

"You're scared?" Bianca asked me as her and Nadia came closer to me.

"Scared shitless." I told them as I took a deep breath. "I always thought I would marry Tommy, happily ever after stuff, but this— Lord this is different. What if I'm not who she needs?"

"Momma J needs you." Nadia tuned in. "Don't get cold feet, you made me do something to my hair, all the hairspray I choked on? Oh no Momma, you're getting married."

I chuckled at my daughter and nodded. "Yeah, I'm getting married. Oh my God! It's weird even saying it!"

They laughed at me and Bianca touched my shoulder. "Put on your dress before you're late to your own wedding."

Trinity took it off the hook and I stared at the dress. This shit was really happening, I was about to marry Janet Jackson.

"Guys." I called out. "I feel like I'm dreaming."

"Do you want us to pinch you? Cause your body needs to get up in this dress." Trinity told me.

Finally getting up, I grabbed my dress from Trinity and walked behind the door. I took the green dress I had off and stepped into my wedding gown.

When I pulled my straps up on my shoulders, I walked back into the room. "Would one of y'all tie the back please?"

Nadia immediately volunteered. "I'll do it."

My daughter came and tied the back of my dress and when I turned to thank her, I saw that she had shed some tears. "What's wrong Princess?"

"Nothing." She wiped her tears lightly for she had on makeup. "Y'all just grew up so fast!"

I laughed at my daughter and gave her a hug. "Just because I'm getting married doesn't mean you are being forgotten about sweets."

"I know. Nobody can forget me. I'm Nadia Renfro for Christ's sake." She told me and it caused me to smile.

My daughter was really helping me through this.

The doors to the room opened and Whitley and Kendrick walked in.

Kendrick looked away as he bit down on his bottom lip. "Man, I told myself I wasn't going to cry!"

Whitley looked at him. "He did, didn't even make it 5 minutes. Beth, it's so gorgeous out there. Red, black, and white fits so pretty!"

"Thank Janet, because I got so irritated that I said the colors could be translucent." I told my best friend.

Bianca frowned. "Now that's just tacky."

"Have you not cried?" Kendrick asked Nadia.

Nadia nodded. "Just finished. They grew up on us Kendrick."

"Exactly." Ken agreed. "It feels like just yesterday that we were coaching them through life. Boy, how time flys."

I narrowed my eyes at my children. "Whatever. Ken you got the rings?"

He nodded as he pulled them out of his pocket. "Right here. Momma J said she loves you."

Everyone aww'ed.

"Tell her I love her more." I instructed him as I smiled suddenly losing the nervous feeling inside of my stomach. "She not nervous?"

He shot me a look. "The correct question is 'how nervous is she?' Aunt Tish and Uncle Gil just finished their third round of pep talks. I'm surprised you aren't nervous."

"Oh, you just missed that episode." Bianca told my son. "We already did most of the damage control here. If Janet's set, we are too."

Trinity looked up from her phone. "It's 2 pm, we need to start lining up."

Everyone began leaving the room.

Nadia kissed my cheek and Kendrick came over and hugged me. "You look amazing." Nadia complimented. "Shake the nerves off."

Kendrick went next, and of course had to be funny. "I see you trynna secure the bag with the lawyer, next time you kill a man, you won't even have to pay to get representation. Won't he do it?"

I laughed at my son. "Get out!"

He shrugged and headed for the door with his sister as he turned around. "Nah, but really Momma, you look beautiful. See you out there. Love you."

"Love y'all too." I told them as the door shut behind them and I was left alone.

For some reason, I sat down and thought.

This woman and I have been through a lot.

Yet, someway, somehow, we still never threw in the towel. I was truly in love with this woman, and it scared the hell out of me.

"Child, what you thinking about?"

I jumped at the voice but calmed when I saw it was my mother. "Janet."

My mom nodded and I saw that she had a bag in her hand. "Well, stand up, let me see you."

Chuckling, I stood up and my mother gasped as tears began falling. "Momma, don't cry. You were with me when I picked it out."

"Don't matter. I didn't see it all together." She tried to excuse her tears. "My daughters getting married, Lord, my child is getting married."

"Please stop crying, you're going to make me cry. I've been trying to save the tears for the alter." I explained.

She nodded as she wiped her tears. "Okay okay, I'm going to stop. Look, I got you some things."

"You didn't have to get me anything..." I trailed off when my mother pulled out boxes of jewelry.

She held up a pair of earrings. "Now they say you're supposed to have, something old, something new, and something blue. Forget about blue, but I brought you something old and something new."

I looked at her and smiled. "Momma, you didn't have to."

"I wanted too. Now these are new diamond earrings. For the something new." She placed them in my hand and I just held them. "Put them on child."

Nodding, I went to the mirror and put on the earrings. "They're beautiful mom."

"Thank you, I try. Now I kept asking myself what can I give you that was old and I came up with this." My momma pulled out a golden chain. "I know it's plain and not that flashy, but it was your fathers. He might have abused me, but he loved you when we did have you."

I stared at it and I felt my eyes watering again. Quickly, I tried to blink them off. "Momma, I can't take that from you."

"No, I insist. I don't even know why I was keeping it. You deserve at least this, I stripped your father out of your life before you could ever meet him. And I know if he had the chance, he would die just to walk his daughter down this aisle. So wear it, plus it goes good with the dress."

My momma put the necklace on me as I held my curls up. I turned and finally looked myself over completely in the mirror.

Sighing, I mumbled. "Well this is it. Single life no more."

"Oh hush, you haven't been single for a while." My mother teased me as she held out her arm. "Come on, you have a aisle to walk down."

I linked our arms together as we walked out the room. I wanted my mother to walk me down the aisle, nobody else.

She had came into my life late, and still had made one of the greatest impacts of all.

Simply because she had taught me a life lesson that I would never forget.

That lesson was that it's never too late to fix things.

We walked outside the closed doors, and I tried to peak in. My mom tapped my arm. "No peaking."

Rolling my eyes playfully, I whispered back. "I'm nervous."

"I'd be scared if you weren't." My mom muttered back.

The doors opened suddenly as the pastor spoke. "All rise for the bride to be."

The lady on the piano began playing a song and my feet became heavy. Lord, this was really happening.

My mother urged me forward and my eyes immediately snapped to Janet. She was watching me as she cried and it made me start crying too.

Still, I couldn't smile from the butterfly's in my stomach but my mom whispered. "It's cold up in here. Y'all trynna freeze us?"

I laughed lowly and I realized she was trying to get me to smile, so I held it the rest of the way.

When I made it to Janet, my mother let me go and gave me a kiss on the cheek as she went and sat down.

Janet and I met eye contact and she shifted in her dress. "It's freezing. I don't know why."

"My mother said it's cold in here and told me that we were trying to freeze her." I whispered back as the pastor talked over us.

Janet and I giggled and my mom looked at us with a warning look.

We tried to stifle our giggles, but we were both way too goofy for this serious ceremony and we knew it.

The pastor broke through Janet's and I giggles. "If anyone would like to come forth and—."

"Nobody's going to object this wedding Pastor. Go ahead and skip that part." Nadia interjected in all seriousness but people still laughed.

The pastor nodded as he began talking again but Janet and I both tuned him out.

It seemed that we both tuned in on the pastor when he said the word 'vows'.

Janet and I had played paper rock scissors to see who would go first. I won, so she had to say hers first.

Thinking back on it, we weren't exactly taking this wedding planning seriously per-say.

She cleared her throat as she looked at me. "Bethany, I've spent years looking for someone who would not only be my other half, but complete me in life. And you are that person, who is super patient with me. I've watched you open up, and become something so amazing. You're my biggest support and I appreciate it so much. You are always in for anything when it comes to me, even if that means water fighting our kids."

I laughed as others did too and Janet continued. "So I promise to never leave your side. Through thick and thin, curly hair or straight, whatever you decide I'm going to support you. I promise you my unconditional love, tenderness, and undying devotion, to not ask you to be more than you are, and to love you for being you."

"I love you." I told her on instinct, even though I knew it wasn't my turn to talk yet.

"I love you too." She mumbled back for the pastor had began talking again.

"Ms. Taylor?" He motioned me to talk.

"Janet, you are my guide to love, my every wish, and the person I want to grow old with. I tried to find reason on why we clicked and I couldn't narrow it down. You're my person. You just are. So today, I promise to love you, to be your heart, to keep a flame alive for you in my heart, because when you walked into my life, a better love walked in too. I vow to love you as you love me, through all hardship, darkness, and pain to reach for our joys, our hopes, and always with honesty and faith."

"You better!" My mother interrupted my vowels and everyone laughed.

I continued. "I vow to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed, and to share in the silence when they are not. I vow to be giving and forgiving; to make you laugh and to laugh at myself. Oh and I promise to try and be on time."

She chuckled at me as Kendrick spoke out. "Yeah, cause you're notorious for being late."

"Well with that being said." The pastor began as he chuckled at Kendrick's comment. "Do you Ms.Jackson, take Ms.Taylor to be your lawfully wedded wife and to love her through sickness and health?"

"I do." Janet responded as she smiled at me.

"Do you, Ms.Taylor, take Ms.Jackson to be your lawfully wedded wife and to love her through rich or poor?" He switched the two words at the end on me.

"Through rich or less richer? Yeah. I do." I corrected him slightly as I stuck out my tongue at Janet.

"Well, with the power invested in me, I pronounce this couple Mrs. and Mrs. Jackson. You may now kiss the bride!" He yelled out and Janet wasted no time kissing me.

When we pulled away everyone stood up and cheered and Nadia and Kendrick rushed over to us.

"It's no running now, you're officially a Jackson." Janet jokingly told me.

Smiling at her, I kissed her again. "Great, because I wouldn't have it any other way."

__

Epilogue is nextttttt guyssssssss!