Your Love Is King

  Throughout the first half of the performance, my eyes were glued to Chris. I smiled through my tears as he played his trumpet in his usual way—with eyes tightly closed and his head tilted to the left, almost resting on his shoulder, his right foot tapping in time with the rhythm of the drum. For me, the main attraction was not the famous Mr. Gentry but the beautiful Christopher Ethan King. As I watched him perform, every feeling I’d ever felt for him came flooding back.

  Between sets, I hurried to the restroom and found myself at the end of a ridiculously long line. As the line crept slowly along, I leaned against the wall and shut my eyes as I rubbed my belly.

  “Are you expecting?” A voice asked.

  I opened my eyes and saw that it was the woman in line directly in front of me.

  I nodded. “Um, yes, I am.”

  “Oh, how sweet! How far along?” the petite, older lady asked.

  I rubbed my fingers through my now huge and unruly afro and smiled. “Um, five and a half months.”

  “Well, you look beautiful. You’re absolutely glowing.”

  I smiled again. “Thank you.”

  “I tell you what, go on ahead of me. I know how it is to be pregnant. I have four children of my own. Of course, they’re all grown, and now I have six grandchildren.”

  I moved ahead of her in line. “Well, you’re very blessed.”

  She nodded. “Yes, I am, and so are you. Your husband must be thrilled.”

  I only offered her a weak smile in response. Luckily, it was my turn to enter a stall so I just turned and thanked her again and headed to the toilet.

  As I walked back into the ballroom and settled into my seat, I didn’t notice that several members of the band were already up on stage. I also didn’t notice that one of those band members was Chris… and I didn’t notice him noticing me. I sat there quietly, looking around the room at the others at their tables—mostly couples out for a night together—and felt a little pang of loneliness. I turned my attention back to the stage as the sound of microphone feedback filled the room.

  “Um, we’ll need another five or ten minutes, everyone. Just hang tight,” said Herb Gentry.

  I watched as he whispered something to Chris and then as Chris left the stage and walked straight to my table. I leaned forward and placed my hands on the table to steady them. My heart hammered in my chest as he stood directly in front of me and stared down at me.

  “Hey,” he said softly.

  The look in his eyes almost made me come undone. He was the same Chris. He looked the same, sounded the same, and smelled the same. And my feelings for him were the same. I loved him.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off of his as he sat across from me at the table. “Hey,” I said, barely above a whisper.

  “You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you,” he said.

  I smiled. “Song of Solomon?”

  He nodded. “Chapter four, verse seven.” He placed his hand over mine and returned my smile. “You look so beautiful. A real sight for sore eyes.”

  I shifted my eyes to our joined hands. “Thanks. You look good, too.”

  “I’m glad you called. It was good to hear your voice. I, um, tried to call you a few times. Never could get you.”

  My eyes met his again. “I’m sorry about that. I guess I just thought we didn’t have anything to talk about.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “And now we do?”

  “Yeah, we do.”

  “I’m glad you’re here. After the show’s over, just sit tight. We can go have a drink and talk for as long as you want.”

  “Okay. Sounds good.”

  He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it softly. “I’ll see you soon, Mean Marli.”

  “Okay, Cool Chris,” I said with a slight smile.

  He leaned across the table and whispered, “And you know this.”

  My smile widened as I watched him walk back toward the stage with a confident swagger that I knew and loved.

  ~*~

  I sat at my table and thoroughly enjoyed the second half of the show. The band was phenomenal, and Chris was brilliant, as usual. It was emotional seeing him, but I managed to hold it together. At least until…

  Toward the end of the show, Herb Gentry introduced the band members one by one, ending with Chris.

  “As some of you already know, I love little surprises during my shows, and tonight is no exception. I’d like to introduce to you our newest member, Mr. Christopher King,” he said.

  Chris stepped forward, held up his trumpet, and bowed. I smiled and applauded along with the rest of the audience.

  “Unfortunately, Chris is only with us temporarily, but I’d like to make it permanent. He’s highly talented and can play most of the instruments on this stage. And, he can sing. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a young man I like to call my baby brother. Without further ado, Mr. Christopher King!”

  I leaned forward, my eyes glued to the stage as the tall, thin, dark-skinned man handed the microphone to Chris.

  “Thanks, Herb. Um, good evening, everyone. This is a song that is a favorite of someone very special to me. Um, it’s traditionally sung by a beautiful woman, but tonight, I’m gonna sing it for a beautiful woman. I hope she enjoys it. I hope you guys enjoy it, too.”

  Well, once he began singing “You Love is King,” I lost it. I think I cried through the entire song. Chris’s clear, tenor voice was absolutely flawless, and the words touched me deep inside my heart and soul. He closed his eyes and leaned his head to the left and played his vocal instrument with such emotion that it took all I had in me not to run up on that stage and hug him and never let him go.

  His performance earned him a well-deserved standing ovation.

  After the show, I stayed in my seat, just as Chris had requested, and waited for him while almost everyone else filed out of the ballroom. The lady from the restroom wished me good luck and said goodbye just as Chris approached my table.

  “Good luck with what?” he asked.

  I smiled nervously. “With life, I guess. We met in the ladies room.”

  “Wow, you must’ve made some impression on her in there.”

  I shrugged. “I guess.”

  He reached for my hand. “Come on, we can go to the bar.”

  “Wait… um, are they closing down the ballroom already?” I asked, hoping that I could just stay seated. I wasn’t quite ready to tell him or show him that I was pregnant at that point.

  He glanced around the room. “I guess not. You wanna stay here and talk?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, that would be great.”

  He shrugged. “Okay.”

  He sat across from me and smiled. “I can’t get over how beautiful you look tonight. I mean, you’ve always been beautiful, but there’s something different about you. You’re glowing.”

  I smiled shyly. “Thanks. Um… Chris, I need to say something.”

  He shook his head and interrupted me. “Let me go first. Marli, I owe you an apology. Through everything that happened, you stayed right by my side. You were there for me, and I can’t thank you enough for that. I hope you can forgive me for leaving like I did. And I know I owe your daughter an apology for leaving before I got a chance to meet her. I’m really sorry about that, too. But at the time, I really thought I was doing the right thing and I guess it really was the right thing for me, but I should’ve handled things differently.”

  I looked at him and bit my bottom lip. “Um, well, I forgive you. It… it’s all right.”

  “No, I really mean it. There hasn’t been a moment since I left that you haven’t been on my mind. I’ve missed you so much. I’ve missed holding you and touching you. I’ve missed loving you.”

  “I… I’ve missed you, too, Chris.”

  He looked me dead in the eye. “I still love you, Marli. I still love every inch of you. I never stopped.”

  My heart fluttered at hearing that he still loved me, then it sank at the thought of him hating me for keepi
ng the pregnancy from him. “I love you, too, but I need—”

  “And if you’ll take me back, I wanna try and make things work with you.”

  “But what about the ensemble, the tour?” I asked.

  “As soon as I knew you were coming tonight, I quit the band. This was my last show.”

  I frowned. “What? You gave up an opportunity like that without even knowing if we’d get back together? Chris, that’s crazy.” Oh, Lord, he’s really gonna hate me now.

  “Then I guess I’m crazy. Look, baby, I’m not gonna lie. Playing with Herb has been like a dream come true. It’s been phenomenal to work with such a legend. But it is nothing compared to being with you. You gotta know by now what kind of man I am, what’s in my heart. I could tour the world and play in the best venues, and it would mean nothing without you. My life is empty without you, Marli. I love you. You’re my perfect fit, remember? I need you. How I’ma be the next black president without you, baby?”

  I laughed as I felt tears begin to fill my eyes. “Chris, I’m—”

  Before I could finish the statement, Chris stretched his long body across the table and covered my lips with his. He kissed me deeply, and I could feel his passion and love for me all the way down to my soul.

  He cupped my tear-streaked face in his hands. “I’ll do anything to make things right with you. We can get married tonight and live wherever you want to—no more playing house. Just give me a chance.”

  Through my sobs, I said, “I’ve missed you so much. I should’ve stayed and waited for you. It’s… it’s not your fault that things got all messed up. I was so broken. All you ever did was love me and make me feel special. You were… you are so good and now I know that God sent you to me—to help me heal. To show me that I was worthy of love—real, unconditional love.

  “I just… at the time, I didn’t know how to accept it. I didn’t think I deserved it or you for that matter. And… and when you left, I was almost relieved that it finally happened. Because a part of me always expected it to happen. But still, it hurt. In the rational part of my mind, I knew you weren’t trying to hurt me. But in my messed up heart, it felt like you deserted me. I had tried so hard to be there for you and to make things work—like I did with my parents and my ex-husband.

  “Our relationship was always wrapped up in my past hurts and I’m sorry for that. And I’m sorry that I let my brokenness ruin us, but I’ve been working hard to fix my problems and with God’s help, I’m doing better. I still have a ways to go, though.”

  Chris wiped the tears from my cheek. “I’m glad you’re doing better, baby. Look, I’m sorry for the things your parents and your ex did and said to you, and I’m sorry for what those things did to your self-esteem. But I love you, Marlena Meadows. I love you with all my heart. I love and want you because you are beautiful inside and out. You’re what I’ve been looking for my entire life—the answer to my prayers.”

  “You still want me as jacked up as I am?”

  Chris reached for my hand and gripped it tightly. “You are not jacked up, baby. You’re just human. So am I. Look, I miss you, Marli. It’s like I’ve been missing a piece of myself without you.”

  “I really mean that much to you?”

  “You mean everything to me. You are everything to me. Can’t you see that?”

  “You’re everything to me, too, Chris. You really are, but there’s something I need to tell you, and I hope you’ll still wanna be with me after you hear it.”

  A concerned look spread across his face. “What is it? Is there someone else?”

  I shook my head. “No, there’s no one else. Only you. I couldn’t have found another you even if I’d tried. Have… have you been with someone else?”

  “No, baby. No one.”

  “Okay, um…” I released a nervous sigh. I felt nauseated as I stood from my chair and pulled my dress tightly against my stomach. “I’m pregnant.”

  Twenty-Six

  “Paradise”

  “Baby, you awake?”

  I smiled and shook my head. “Unh-uh. It’s your turn. That sounds like Greta, and if you don’t hurry up, she’s gonna wake Clark up and then you’re really gonna have a problem on your hands. You know you can’t handle both of them. ”

  “Aw, you gonna leave me hanging like that? Come on, Mean Marli. We’re supposed to be in this together,” he whispered.

  “Mm-hmm, where were you four hours ago, Cool Chris?”

  “You were up with them four hours ago?” he asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

  “Mm-hmm, with both of them, and you slept right through it.”

  He scooted closer to me and kissed the back of my neck. “I’m sorry, baby. You shoulda woke me up.”

  “It’s okay. I knew your turn would come. You better go get your daughter before she wakes your son up.”

  He kissed my shoulder and then headed across the hall to our twins’ bedroom.

  I sat up in the bed and switched on the bedside lamp. I knew it’d only be a matter of time before Clark followed his older sister’s example. I smiled as I listened to Chris talking to Greta. He was a good father, the best I’d ever seen, and I was happy to have been able to give him not one, but two children at the same time. I thought about what Rev. King said on the day the twins were born: “God sure gave Chris double for his trouble.” It was true. Chris lost a son but gained a son and a daughter.

  To say that we were happy together would be an understatement. I was so thankful that instead of being angry with me for keeping it from him, Chris was overjoyed about my pregnancy. In short order, we’d gotten married, bought a house, and become the parents of fraternal twins, Greta Monroe King and Clark Spencer King. Of course, Chris’s mom named them.

  My relationship with my parents was okay. I’d forgiven them, but no miracle had occurred to make us the close-knit family I once wished for. However, I was now a part of an absolutely wonderful family. I was truly blessed to be a King.

  I left our bedroom and walked across the hall to find Chris sitting in a rocking chair, feeding Greta a bottle. I stood in the doorway and watched as he kissed her little forehead. She opened her eyes and gazed up at her daddy as he began to softly sing to her.

  After a few minutes, he finally noticed me. He smiled up at me and said, “You came to help me after all, huh? You felt sorry for me?”

  I walked over to Clark’s crib. “No, I just figured that if I helped you, the two of us could get them back to sleep pretty quickly, and then we could go back to bed.”

  “Ready to get back to sleep? You tired?”

  I shook my head. “I said I wanted to go back to bed. Not back to sleep, if you know what I mean.”

  Chris’s smile widened as he nodded. “Oh, yeah. I definitely know what you mean, and I’m definitely down with that.”

  I smiled and shook my head. “You are so crazy, Chris.”

  “Crazy about you, baby.”

  I picked Clark up and placed him on my shoulder. “I’m crazy about you, too.”

  Divorce and/or marital separation hurt everyone involved. If you are currently going through a divorce, or you know of a friend or a child suffering from the effects of divorce, visit:

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  For information about missing kids, visit:

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  Excerpt from “Epiphany” fro
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  Just Between Us (Inspiring Stories by Women)

  I was at a point in my life where I was walking around with the weight of the world on my shoulders. My job was stressing me, my man was stressing me, and my bills were stretching me. I was struggling to hold things together for my three kids. I was fighting what felt like a losing battle against poverty and depression. I had a good job, but with that good job, I had accumulated a pile of bills as I tried my hardest to do with one income what could better be done with two. My head hurt and my back ached from the twelve hours I’d busted my behind working at the hospital and I was more than disgusted with my former husband/baby daddy and his sporadic child-support payments.