by Cee, DW
“I love it, Bee.” Laney was all smiles. “And look,” she showed Donovan, “one side is monogrammed Henry, and the other, Scott. Bee, you’re amazing.”
“Considering you just popped out twins and you’re already walking around, I think you walk away with the ‘amazing’ title.”
“Tell me more about your engagement.” Laney asked the both of us.
We were about to sit and talk when one of the boys, or maybe both boys, started crying.
“The louder one would be Henry.” Donovan got up to pick up his sons.
“Henry is more temperamental than Scott. He insists on being fed first.” Their mother added.
Once again, Bee and I had nothing to add to this conversation. Donovan handed Henry to Laney and with Scott in his arms, he motioned for us to walk down to the living room while the women stayed in the babies’ room.
“You want to hold him?”
The wonder in my eyes must have been obvious. Donovan carefully handed his son to me.
“He’s so tiny.” I marveled.
“He is. I couldn’t sleep last night because I worried about these boys functioning well enough to survive. I think I watched them breathe for a good portion of their sleeping hours. It probably sounds idiotic to you, but I needed to make sure they were safe.”
For the first time, I got it. I understood what he was saying and I almost empathized. Holding a human being the size and weight of a dumbbell made me need to sit and make sure he was as safe as possible.
“Both boys are beautiful.” I couldn’t help but stare. “How did you keep the grandparents away?”
Donovan laughed. “They’ve both been here already, twice. They showed up with the first feeding and fought to hold a child. Mind you, that was at five in the morning. Then, they came back for the eight a.m. feeding with breakfast in hand for us. I think my parents have leased a room next door and talked to the chief about buying a house on the cul-de-sac, even though they live ten minutes away.”
The absurdity of the four adults’ actions didn’t surprise me. I remembered the commotion after James and Ellie were born. This set of twins didn’t cause quite the uproar the first set did.
“How long will you take off from work?”
“I’ll work from home while the boys are sleeping, and I’ll have to go in here and there. Roland is stepping back into the office for the next few weeks on my behalf.” Scott was getting antsy. “I think it’s time for us to switch kids. Give me a minute.” That’s all it took. Donovan was right back here with Henry, I presumed. “Tell me about your engagement, and don’t mind my walking. We learned quickly that Henry likes to be walked and burped after his feeding. Like the chief, he can be a little cantankerous when he doesn’t get his way.” Donovan let out a small laugh.
“I had all these grand proposal plans but after seeing your boys last night, I didn’t want to wait. Bee and I left the hospital awed by the new lives, and watching you walk around in euphoria made me want the same for my own life.”
“My ‘euphoria’ was loftier than your brother’s; enough to make you want to procreate?” He laughed and kissed his son simultaneously. He was a man in love.
“I was in a different place when Jake had his twins. Never did I want my own woman, my own kids, my own family, as I did last night. So you can say that you four inspired me to ask the woman I love to marry me.”
“Did you hear that, Henry? Your one-day-old self inspired your Uncle Nick to get on his knees.”
It was fascinating to watch Henry stare at this dad. Even one day out, there was a connection between the two of them.
Bee and I left once the grandparents got a whiff of their grandsons’ awake status, and Bee drove us to Max and Jane’s.
“What are we doing here? Are we having lunch with my sister and Max?”
“We could.” She led me out of the car and into the home I wanted to buy.
“You still have the key?”
“I do.”
“I guess these people moved out, already. That was fast.”
“The man living here was moving to be near his girlfriend. He left soon after the documents were signed, although I’m told there are a few signatures missing.”
“So there’s a chance we can still buy this place? It’s not a done deal?” Maybe I was getting unnecessarily excited.
“I believe it’s a done deal, Nicholas.”
“Shit. Then what are we doing here?”
“We’re here because I didn’t get to finish my question the last time we stood in this room.”
There was a beautiful look on my fiancée, I couldn’t help but admire. I was psyched to know this look would be mine and only mine, forever.
“So ask, my soon-to-be Bee Lauren Reid.” I pulled her into my body and stared into her warm brown eyes.
“Though you usurped my proposal by a few hours, I wanted to tell you a few things and still go ahead with what I’d planned for you.”
“Sounds good.” I kissed my woman before she began.
“I believe I started falling in love with you the night we met. The moment you opened the door for me and put me under your spell with your killer smile, I was halfway there. When we fell in step and walked to the same destination, there was a buzz pulsating through my body. I felt like a little girl falling in love for the first time. You replaced my cynicism with excitement, and my wariness with hope.”
I wasn’t sure where Bee was heading with these sentiments. She was giving a funky vibe. “Um…my ring is on your finger. You can’t give it back.” I warned with a grin.
She returned my joking sentiment with a quiet laugh. “I wanted to tell you that though it’s been a long and hard road until a few months ago, I’ve been in love with you since the night I met you more than three years ago. I tried numerous times to imagine a life without you, a life with some other man, and the images have never been fruitful nor complete. After this long-winded speech, what I was going to ask you the other night was, will you marry me?”
Call me stupid, but I was confused. Did we not go through this earlier this morning? Had I not already asked this woman to marry me?
“Are you still doubting my love for you? I really meant it when I asked you to marry me.” I reassured. “I want to live the rest of my long life with you.”
Her cautious smile broke into a fit of laughter. “Nicholas.” She placed both hands on my face. “After two not-so-great proposals, I had decided it was time I took matters into my own hands. Last time we were here, I was going to ask you to marry me. You beat me to it.”
“So, what happened just now was another proposal—from you to me?”
“I always knew you were the brilliant one in this relationship,” she teased.
I couldn’t help but break into a smile as I gave my woman the kiss of a lifetime. I wanted her to have no doubts where she belonged in my life—with me, and forever.
“Yes, I will marry you, and you will marry me. We will live the fairy tale Reid life and we will make each other happy, with lots of little ones to add to the joy.”
My fiancée couldn’t have looked more content. “Since a ring wasn’t the thing to do when a woman asked a man to marry her, I bought a little something else, instead.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She pulled out a large manila envelope from her bag and handed it to me. “Open and sign.”
It didn’t take me long to figure out what was happening. Bee didn’t call me brilliant for no reason.
“You are so damn amazing.” I hugged her, kissed her, and would’ve made love to her if I knew the floors were halfway decently clean.
Our life together was starting off with a bang! Two proposals, a house, and a lifetime of happiness. Life was good!
August 11, 2014 BEE: A Compromising Kinda Love
Who would’ve thought that being engaged would bring forth so many damn issues? Nick absolutely refused his mother’s offer to have the
wedding in her backyard as his brother before him had done. Emily offered to host our wedding, Babs offered to host the wedding, and even Laney threw in her home and offered with two kids in tow.
Nick repeatedly affirmed that he didn’t want a big to-do, and wouldn’t entertain anyone’s ideas. That’s when the flurry of calls came my way. My future mother-in-law dropped by the warehouse with my future grandmother-in-law and begged me to help change Nick’s mind.
Personally, I was in agreement with Nick. A fancy wedding wasn’t my thing. But, a Vegas wedding wasn’t my thing, either. I needed to know what my “thing” was before I could sit and chat with my fiancé about this wedding.
“Hello there, Fiancé.” We decided to meet for dinner before he had to go back to the lab and finish his experiment.
I loved his signature grin. It made me giddy just to see him look at me like that.
“Your eyes are telling me you want to jump my bones.” He whispered in my ears with much laughter in his voice.
“My eyes have been telling you this same story the past three years and now you catch on?”
Nothing else needed to be said. Dinner was canceled and we rushed back to the loft.
Sex with Nick was always explosive. If everyone had sex the way Nick and I had sex, there’d be no need for therapists, and most marriage issues would be solved.
Generally, some part of our clothing got ripped, and we sought to dominate and control each other. He rarely gave up this control, but I tried to wrangle it from him anyhow.
“For once, do you think we could stop to smell the roses before demolishing the garden?”
“Very poetic, Nicholas. Yes, let’s stop and smell all the flowers.” I laughed. “Sex with you, my fiancé, is hands down, the best!”
“I don’t know if that’s much of a compliment since you’ve only been with one other man.”
I slapped his ass and said, “Your mom and grandmother visited me today.”
“Groan!”
“We have to give them some answers. You’re the last in your family to get married. Your mom is sending off her baby.”
“Seriously?” Nick didn’t want to face facts.
“Look, all we need to do is make a few key decisions, and I think the matriarchs of the family will run with the rest.” Nick went silent on me. “Did you…want a Vegas style wedding?” I hoped to God, not. Now he stared at me. “If that’s what you really want, I’ll try and wrap my head around it and embrace it.” That is not what I wanted, but I was willing to think about trying it.
“If I was the only part of this wedding equation, I’d say yes, let’s get married in Vegas. Seeing your face now, and knowing the ‘I’m going to kick your ass for suggesting a Vegas wedding’ look you gave me when I brought up this idea the first time, I’m not stupid. We will not be having a drive-thru wedding.”
Oh, thank God for small mercies! “Then what do you want?”
“I want something small, something intimate, and something without any of the fanfare. Is that possible?”
“I think that’s doable.”
“This conversation is all wrong.” Nick corrected himself. “What do you want? You’re the bride. I should give you your dream wedding. Do you want something as complicated as Laney and Donovan’s wedding?”
I knew I needed to compromise. “I want what you want, Nick. Let’s go see your mom, and tell her that she can do whatever she pleases with the wedding as long as it’s not over the top.”
“Are you sure?” His puppy dog eyes told me he was penitent for having such a strong opinion.
I loved this man. “Positive. As long as we can declare our love for one another in front of family and friends, I’m happy.”
"All right! Let's go have a little chat with the matriarchs of the Reid family.”
When we arrived on the cul-de-sac, the meeting location had changed to Laney’s home. We didn’t think much of it until we walked into the house to find not only Sandy and Estelle, but also Barbara, Jamie, Emily, Jane, and of course, the owner of this home with her two infants. Like a tray of delectable hors d’oeuvres, each woman passed the babies around.
“Laney, these boys are absolutely beautiful.” I had no idea which twin Emily held, but maternal Emily knew. “Aren’t you gorgeous, Scott? You and your brother are going to be best friends with JR, James and the little one in my tummy. Don’t let Ellie boss you around too much.” She smelled the baby, kissed the baby, and talked to him as if he were a toddler. Scott responded with a yawn.
“That Scottie looks just like his father when he was an infant.” Jamie practically snatched Scottie from Emily and nuzzled her grandson.
Barbara, who held her other grandson, added, “Bizarre how Henry looks identical to Laney’s baby pictures. How can the two be identical and yet look like two different people?”
By the way Nick looked at me, I knew he thought what I thought. Both grandmothers only saw what they wanted to see.
“Um…wedding planning?” Nick interrupted the baby love-fest.
“Right.” Everyone sat up straight and gave us their undivided attention. “Where shall we start?”
“Nick and I have decided that we’d like to have an intimate wedding without the hoopla. Neither of us want anything extravagant. I think we’d like something meaningful but simple.”
“Extravagant or not, everything is still necessary.” Always the practical one, Estelle said, “A church, a reception site, caterers, flowers, a wedding dress, a cake—why the list is endless. You can’t have a wedding without any of these items unless you elope to Vegas.” Estelle looked dead-on at her grandson. “Don’t even think about it, Nicholas Gerald. You will never, ever, hear the end of it from me or your mother if you elope.”
Nick laughed. “Heaven forbid I do something to irritate you, Gram. I wouldn’t dare.”
Gram glared at her grandson one last time before asking me, “What about a wedding dress? Will you go shopping with me or will you design your own?”
“As much as I’d like to shop with you, Gram, I have three girlfriends who have started sewing my dress the moment I told them I was engaged.” A more detailed explanation was necessary. “Years back, three friends and I promised one another that we’d make each other’s wedding dresses. At age thirty, I’m the last one standing, and my three friends started fabric shopping the same day I told them of our good news.”
“How do they know what kind of dress you want?”
“Well…” I didn’t know if I wanted to answer Jane’s question. I supposed with seven pairs of female eyes on me I didn’t have a choice. “Back when we first started design school, we all designed our wedding dresses. Here and there, we tweaked our designs, but we pretty much stuck with our original ideas.”
“How cool.” Laney exclaimed. “Do you have a picture you can show us?”
“Not with me. Next time I come over, I’ll bring you a copy of the sketch.”
“That’s fine.” Gram approved. “Then why don’t we shop for a reception dress, and your going-away outfits?”
There was no getting out of this one. I nodded in agreement.
“Are we done here?” Nick asked. “Can we trust you all to not make an over-the-top big deal out of our special day?”
“Sure, Son. Why don’t you and Bee leave the planning to us? We’ll do as you asked.”
Nick and I said our good-byes, and walked out feeling nervous and unsure.
“Do you think they’ll respect our wishes?” There was fear in Nick’s voice.
“Not a chance in hell.” I responded assuredly.
August 14, 2014 NICK: An ‘I Do’ on the Beach Kinda Love?
Though it was technically summer, I continually played catch-up with school. I wasn’t far behind everyone, but I wanted to be on the same page before school started again in a few weeks.
The biggest development in our lives was the housing situation. Bee and I had the house as of this week
end, and we needed to shop for furniture since Bee was leaving most of her belongings in the loft.
“Fiancée.” I called her at her sweatshop.
“Yes?” She questioned.
“Emily says she still has tons of furniture in her basement that we are welcomed to use. She’s forever wanted to change that basement into an arts and crafts room, and she says the rest of the furniture is stopping her from her dream.”
“And?” Was my woman kidding me? What the hell was there to question?
“And,” I stressed that word, “you need to drive to the cul-de-sac as soon as possible so we can move in this weekend.”