“No, never,” he replied with a smile.
“Well, potna, you beat me to the altar not once, but twice,” Reg exclaimed, with a pat on the back.
“Tell me about it.”
“Say, I’m sorry about my reservations concerning Alexa. I can see that she is truly a good woman who loves you very much and I know she will make you happy.”
Darius was touched by his friend’s words and gave the man a brotherly hug.
“So, baby boy,” Bryant interrupted, stepping toward Darius. “Are you ready to do this again?” he asked as he began straightening his tie and smoothing his jacket.
“Most def,” Darius quickly answered. “Most def.”
Inside, Alexa was a vision of loveliness in a sleeveless white silk gown with jeweled neckline, fitted bodice and A-line skirt. Her hair was pinned up in the back causing the curly tendrils to push forward, delicately framing her face. Her look was topped off with Maya’s borrowed tiara.
Her hands shook nervously as her mother assisted her in slipping on the white elbow-length gloves.
“Don’t be nervous,” Beverly said gently, rubbing Alexa’s hands in an attempt to calm her.
“I know. I just don’t want anything to go wrong.”
“Don’t worry, honey, everything will be fine. Maya has everything under control and I saw Darius out back and he looked like a man who was ready to make you his wife,” she said, squeezing Alexa’s hands. “I’m sorry to have underestimated your love for one another. Now that I know what you both have been through, I couldn’t think of a finer man to call son.” With that, she stepped back holding Alexa at arm’s length. “I can’t believe that my baby girl is getting married.”
“Don’t you mean our baby girl?”
The two women turned around to find Alexa’s father poking his head inside the door. Beverly grinned and waved him inside. He pulled his girls into his wide arms and the three of them joined hands in a small circle bearing smiles.
Since her reunion with Darius, Alexa learned that her parents were giving their love a second chance. It seemed that Alexa’s wedding announcement was the catalyst in their getting back together. According to Beverly, James called her up unexpectedly and said it wasn’t proper for the two of them to be apart when their daughter had resolved her issues. So, with her permission, and on her terms, he asked to court her again. Of course, she was smitten by the whole act and quickly agreed. Alexa could see a renewed sparkle in both of their eyes that had been absent for many years. She thanked God for restoring her parents’ love as well as hers and Darius’s.
The organist began the instrumental interlude signifying that the time had come.
“Are you ready, baby girl?” her father asked as he extended his arm.
“More than you’ll ever know, Daddy,” she replied, slipping her arm into his.
The three headed downstairs to the great room where the wedding party consisting of Maya, Teressa, Crystal, Bryant, Reg, Darius’s brother Eric and Justin were waiting.
Justin immediately sauntered over and took Beverly’s arm. Before going outside, he paused to give Alexa a big hug and kiss. “You look gorgeous, sis.”
“Thanks, Justin,” she replied through tear-glistened eyes. “Remember, you’re next.”
“We will see,” he replied. Alexa smiled hopefully as she sensed newness about her brother as well. After he released her, he took their mother’s arm and stepped through the threshold and down the aisle.
“You nervous, baby girl?” James asked, patting her hand.
She nodded, with a nervous smile on her lips and tears in her eyes for what was the happiest day in her life.
“Don’t be. You’ve got a good man,” he assured her with a kiss on the nose.
She smiled up at him. “Yeah, like my dad.”
The smile on her father’s face was as bright as a lit-up baseball field at an evening ball game. She could swear that she even saw tears form, something she had never seen before, but then again changes were taking place in everyone these days.
At that moment, the French doors opened, and the evening sun’s glow draped their bodies. The organist began to play the jazzy notes to the song Alexa was to enter on. It was the perfect depiction of their love for one another.
The melody alone caused Darius to gulp back his emotions, for the memories which had been sealed in his heart for nine years overwhelmed him. When Maya stepped before the microphone the spectators sighed collectively as she began to sing.
On cue, Alexa and her father began their stroll down the aisle. Her eyes looked past the crowd towards the front where her husband stood waiting. When their eyes met, her smile broadened and she blocked out everything, choosing to focus on nothing but the spot waiting beside him.
The ceremony flew by without a hitch. Before either of them knew it, Pastor Washington blessed the marriage and announced them as husband and wife. Darius turned to his bride and paused momentarily to gaze upon her with adoring eyes.
She blushed under his careful examination. He gently caressed her cheek with his palm before gliding the tip of his forefinger down her jawline. Stepping in closer to her to fill the space between them, Darius tipped her chin so that their eyes met.
“Alexa, I know we’ve been through a lot, but if I had to go through this all over again, I couldn’t think of a better person than you to share the experience. I promise to give you the best that I got and more.” With that said he lowered his head and placed a tender kiss on her waiting mouth. Tears rolled down Alexa’s cheek as she wrapped her arms around his neck, receiving him wholly against her bosom. With all her mind, body and soul, she knew that she’d feel the same eternally.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-7063-6
FINALLY, YOU AND ME
First published as AT LAST! by Writers Club Press, an imprint of iUniverse, Inc. in 2001.
A Kimani Romance published by Kimani Press in 2006
Copyright © 2001 by Lisa Harrison Jackson
All rights reserved. The reproduction, transmission or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission. For permission please contact Kimani Press, Editorial Office, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Lisa Jackson, Finally, You and Me
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