“We’re here to help you do a grab and run if you need to,” my youngest son, Kingston, said, ignoring the glares he was getting from his mom and sister.
Dangling the keys to his car in front of him, my eldest son, Bay, nudged Kingston’s arm. “Got the car out front. You grab her, and I’ll go turn the engine on.”
Nemi and Heidi both inhaled to yell at them when our youngest, our precious surprise, Safiyya, who danced and sang through life instead of ever letting it get to her, burst into the room, her chest heaving as she sagged against the door. This behavior was so at odds with her usual relaxed vibe that we all stared.
Her presence here, although ruffled, was good, though, because her calming thoughts would—
“They think you stood him up,” she screeched at the top of her lungs, making everyone, even Heidi and Nemi, jump. “Ren’s on his way to kick Dad’s ass for stealing you!”
Quickly, all three females jumped into action. Nemi wiped her face and checked her makeup in the mirror, Heidi ran out to stop Ren, and Safiyya picked up the bouquets off the table and waited patiently back at the door for her sister.
Then I was being dragged out of the room by a bridezilla on a mission as she stomped toward the entrance to the church where everyone was waiting. Joel held her bouquet and looked dazed as he was dragged along with us by her other hand.
As she stood waiting, Safiyya, back to her calm self, passed Nemi the bouquet from Joel and then put her veil in place and smiled brightly at her big sister.
“What just happened?” Joel asked, sounding perplexed over the top of Nemi’s head.
I had absolutely no way to explain it to him.
A bit like she’d stolen my heart when she steamrolled into my life twenty-three years ago, Nemi took a chunk of it with her when she said ‘I do’ to a man who’d never deserve her, even though he was one of the best I’d ever met, after Joel and I both gave her away.
Turning back to walk over to my chair with him next to me, I had to bite down on my lip to keep my emotions under control.
“You’ll see her again soon,” Heidi murmured into my ear as soon as I was seated, but it did nothing to help with the pain I was feeling in my chest.
That was until both of my sons leaned over the back of my seat and put a hand on each of my shoulders. My wife held my hand as Nemi and Safiyaa looked over at me and winked at us simultaneously. That’s how in tune we were as a family, perfectly created and existing for each other.
“He’s a little fucking punk,” Joel hissed next to me, glaring at Nemi’s fiancé, and then turning to do the same to a kid who was watching Safiyaa.
“Don’t worry, Uncle Joel,” Bay said quietly. “We’ll make him piss his pants at dinner.”
We weren’t conventional, and, yeah, we did some whacky shit, but we had each other’s backs, just like my brothers and I still did.
Proving it, Jarrod growled, “I’m first.”
And when the yearly update on an inmate named Tim August came and said he’d died of natural causes in his cell, I didn’t shed a tear or wish him a final rest in peace sentiment.
No, I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he’d been wanted for two other crimes involving assault that’d caused life-changing injuries to his victims and that he’d never leave behind another innocent victim. I also did it knowing that he’d broken two of Reid’s ribs when he’d shot his Kevlar at close range, but Tim had double that amount and internal bleeding when he’d spoke shit to an inmate within an hour of arriving at his prison after he was sentenced.
If karma was real, I’d done a lot to be rewarded as richly as I had been.
Heidi
Twenty years earlier…
Sitting down in front of my laptop, with the cursor hovering over the ‘record’ button, I took a deep breath. What the hell was I thinking?
When my sister, Evie, and Jacinda had asked me to do this, I’d figured it’d be fun and hopefully motivate other women to try and find happiness again. Now my palms were sweating, and my heart was racing at the possible shitty comments internet trolls would leave under the video.
Fuck it. If that’s all they had to do with their time, so be it. I wasn’t responsible for them having no life and issues.