As Lindsay and Kevin slowly made their way down the rose-petal-strewn aisle, keeping time with the song playing, her eyes found those of her intended. She locked in and focused on the beautiful face of the man she knew God had created just for her as everything else around him seemed to have disappeared from the vicinity of the garden theme they chose for their ceremony.
When she and her mother had chosen the music for her wedding, Lindsay had been quite pleased with the songs they selected. As she and Kevin crawled at a snail’s pace down the aisle, she was now angry at herself for not having picked an up-tempo song with a fast beat so that she could have sprinted toward her man and still been in rhythm with the music.
Cody looked absolutely perfect standing at the altar awaiting her arrival. His beautiful heart and soul were encased in his magnificent six foot three inch frame. He had not gained or seemingly lost a pound since the day she initially laid eyes on him more than six years ago. All 190 pounds of him were flawlessly poured into the black tuxedo, lavender shirt, and silver vest he wore. He proudly wore his Italian ancestry as his dark olive skin radiated splendidly in the sunlight of the day. With the exception of the few unruly strands that always lay across his forehead, every other strand of the jet-black hair that God had so lovingly placed upon his head was in its proper place. The dark brown eyes that watched her every move as she gradually inched toward him glowed with love for her. The teeth that were the backdrop of his drop-dead gorgeous smile sparkled. Her sexy Benjamin Bratt/Ben Affleck look-alike still had the power to make her body tingle and her heart race.
Finally, after what seemed like a ninety-minute walk, Lindsay made it to the altar where the man of her dreams awaited her. Kevin stood holding her arm as the pastor from the church Cody attended whenever he was at his cottage in Martha’s Vineyard began the ceremony, waiting for the proper moment to hand his sister over to her very soon-to-be husband. Kevin proudly announced, “I do,” as the pastor asked, “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” He kissed Lindsay on her cheek, placed her hand in the hand of his future brother-in-law, and took his seat.
The moment Lindsay’s hand connected with Cody’s, her entire body began to tingle. Her heart began beating so hard, she assumed her wedding guests could probably see her chest thumping as a result of the powerful force slamming inside it. She became so overwhelmed with love for the man that literally held her life in his hands that she had to keep herself from blurting out loud and insisting the pastor hurry up before Cody had an opportunity to change his mind.
The preacher began the ceremony with all of the traditional words and vows. Before they all knew it, he had pronounced the couple man and wife and stated, “Mr. Cody Vincini, you may now kiss your bride.”
When the newly married couple broke the kiss, Cody had to literally hold his wife up to keep her from falling to her very unsteady knees. Lindsay declared the very first kiss that she shared with her new husband had been the very best kiss of her entire life. Once she was able to compose herself, she and Cody stood together as their few guests came to greet and congratulate the newlyweds. When Shyanne’s parents approached, a wee bit of the guilt from earlier resurfaced. Lindsay held her emotions in check, however. The last thing she wanted to do was upset her second set of parents by blubbering about Shyanne not being there because she had gotten her killed.
Tonya Kennedy hugged Cody first. “You make sure you take good care of our very special daughter. Do you understand me, young man?”
Gregg Kennedy followed his wife and cosigned her declarative. “You need to make sure you listen to my wife, Cody Vincini. If you ever cause our little girl here one ounce of pain, I will hunt you down no matter how far you run to hide and chop off both of your feet, Kunta Kinte-style.”
The Kennedys’ claim of her being their daughter was nearly Lindsay’s undoing. But she held strong to the turmoil swirling within her. Both the Kennedys embraced her simultaneously, each feeding her soul with words of love.
“We are so happy for you, Nay. We love you so much, and your happiness is paramount to us. Shyanne would be so proud of you. I’ll be praying each and every night for complete joy and peace in your marriage.”
Again, Mr. Kennedy followed his wife’s words with sentiments that were a little harder to hear without crying. “Nay-Nay, losing Shyanne was the hardest thing Tonya and I have ever had to endure, but knowing that we still have a beautiful daughter in you makes our loss just a bit easier. We want you to know that we will always be available for you no matter what you need us for. We love you, young lady.”
Again, the three shared a warm and tender hug in unison. Lindsay allowed the tears in her eyes to run unchecked. Mrs. Kennedy also cried uninhibited. Lindsay wanted to tell Shyanne’s parents how much she missed her; how much she wished she were here to be a participant in this very important day. She refrained, however. She did not want to do anything to shatter the loving moment they were sharing.
After the Kennedys and the rest of the wedding guests had given their congratulations, Lindsay and Cody, along with all of the wedding party, took pictures in various locations around the beautiful hotel where the wedding took place. Immediately following the photo session, everyone proceeded to the reception area of the hotel to continue the wedding celebration.
Lindsay and Cody stayed with their guests for approximately an hour after they had all eaten dinner; then the newlyweds excused themselves and headed for their own private celebration in the room they reserved for their wedding night. Lindsay’s mother, grandmother, Kevin, and her children would spend the night at Cody’s and her Martha’s Vineyard cottage. The Kennedys and Cody’s parents had rooms reserved in the hotel for the evening. Tomorrow, all the respective families would fly home. Cody and Lindsay would fly to the tropical paradise of Ocho Rios, Jamaica, to honeymoon for seven days. When they returned from their honeymoon, they would move into the wonderful new home they purchased since her release from prison. Prayerfully, she would leave behind all the debilitating baggage of her first marriage and her old life with Shaun as she and her children stepped into new lives filled with God’s presence and His overflowing blessings.
Chapter Two
“Mom, would you please tell your son to stay out of my room and away from my things? If you don’t, I’m going to strangle him,” Shauntae yelled her frustration as she entered the kitchen where Cody and Lindsay sat enjoying a morning cup of coffee along with each other’s company.
The new family now lived in a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home in the Green Acres subdivision of Detroit, near Seven Mile and Livernois. On the first day of Lindsay’s release from prison, she and Cody went house hunting. The couple immediately fell in love with the beautiful home they and her children now shared. Cody made an offer on the house, and blessedly, they were able to close on the home in just thirty days because of the housing market and the economy in Detroit. During those thirty days, Lindsay and her mother planned her small wedding. While she and Cody were on their honeymoon, Kevin and Sherrie took care of having all of the couple’s and the children’s things professionally moved into the home. Sherrie also handled registering the children in the private school they now attended not far from the house. Cody still owned the condominium he previously lived in, but now leased it to a very good friend of his.
“Shauntae, first of all, stop yelling at me. Second, you don’t give me ultimatums. Do you understand?” Lindsay awaited her daughter’s affirmative response before she continued. “Now, tell me the problem you’re having with your little brother.”
Before Shauntae could plead her case, Li’l Shaun appeared and began giving his side of the story. “Mommy, I only went into her room to look for my gym shoe. I didn’t touch her stuff.”
“Shaun, why would your gym shoe be in my room, huh? I don’t allow you in my room, so your stinky shoe could not possibly be in there.” Again, Shauntae was yelling.
Now on the defensive, Shaun yelled back at his sister with an explanation tha
t made perfectly good sense to him. “I don’t know. I looked everywhere else for it except in your room, so it must be in there.”
“Both of you, stop yelling,” Lindsay yelled.
Cody decided to step in before all the yelling gave him a monster headache. In a very calm tone he said, “Shauntae, please help your brother find his shoe. Shaun, stay out of your sister’s room unless she gives you permission to be in there.”
“Is that it? That’s all you have to say to him? That will never work. He won’t listen to just that.” Shauntae was still yelling.
Lindsay and Cody had only been home from their honeymoon forty-eight hours. After having been away from managing her children for a whole two years, Lindsay found herself more than a little out of touch at how to handle a dispute between her teenage daughter and adolescent son. Cody, however, stepped in and handled the situation as if this were something he had been doing his entire life.
“Hey, kids, can we first start off by using our indoor voices? Now, Shauntae, state your case,” Cody said calmly in his composed attorney’s demeanor.
“Why does she get to go first?” Li’l Shaun demanded.
“I thought I said inside voices, Shaun. And because I said so.”
Wow! Lindsay thought. She couldn’t have said it better herself. She was truly impressed to see how well her husband worked with her kids, especially considering the fact that he had no biological children of his own, therefore, no real prior experience.
Shauntae began her explanation. “We are supposed to be in a new house, making a new start as a new family, but Shaun still wants to keep doing the same things the same way. When we were living with Grandma, he was always in my room bothering my things, getting on my nerve. Whenever I would yell at him, Grandma would tell me to be understanding because he was probably just missing Mommy. Okay? Now, what’s his excuse?”
Lindsay’s heart tore a bit as she heard Shauntae repeat her mother’s reasoning for her baby pestering his sister. She checked her emotions, however, and continued to watch as Cody mediated the sibling dispute.
“All right, Shaun, it’s your turn to tell your story,” Cody instructed. “Why do you keep going in your sister’s room?”
“Her stuff is better than mine,” was Li’l Shaun’s plain and simple explanation.
Cody merely shook his head. Shauntae rolled her eyes. Lindsay laughed out loud. She took charge at that point. “Shaun, I don’t think it’s so much the fact that Shauntae’s stuff is better. It’s just different. Because she doesn’t want you to touch it or be in her room, you can’t go in there without her permission. Understand?”
Li’l Shaun disappointedly nodded his head affirmatively. Lindsay then addressed Shauntae. “Shauntae, sweetie, will you consider allowing your brother to hang out with you in your room occasionally?”
Shauntae rolled her eyes so far up into the top of her head, Lindsay wondered if she would ever see her daughter’s beautiful green pupils again. “Okaaaaay,” she replied exaggeratingly, “but I still think he’s playing you, Mom. That stuff about my stuff being better than his stuff is just an excuse to still hang out in my room. Your child just hates to be alone. He was this way the whole time you were away, Mommy. The kid needs therapy.” Shauntae was really only joking, but Lindsay’s heart was once again pierced by her daughter’s words.
Deeming the matter settled, the two children walked away to continue getting ready for school. Just before they were completely out of the kitchen, Lindsay heard Li’l Shaun ask Shauntae, “What’s therapy?”
While Cody considered the first of the more than three million battles that he and his new bride would have to settle between their children a complete success, Lindsay stood looking sad and confused.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong? I think that ended pretty well. Why do you look so distraught?”
Lindsay joined her husband in sitting at the breakfast table. “Cody, you were wonderful with the kids. You stepped right in and handled the beginning of the fight like an old pro. At first, I didn’t have a clue about what to say since I have been so out of practice. But you rescued me as you always do, and you did it as if you’d been parenting for many years.”
“Well, I have had two years to get to know Li’l Shaun and Shauntae. You know that your mother allowed me to spend lots of time with them while you were in prison. But none of that explains why you look so out of sorts, Lindsay.”
During Lindsay’s judicial process, Cody convinced her how much he loved her, that he had never stopped loving her, and he would always love her. By the time she was sent away to start serving her sentence, they had become a full-fledged couple. They got engaged about six months into her prison term.
“I’m just concerned about what Shauntae said about Li’l Shaun needing therapy and how she said he behaved while I was in prison. I think she may be right, Cody. Perhaps the kids and I do need some counseling; them, individually, and the three of us as a family.”
Cody at first started to protest about Lindsay’s claim because the kids’ behavior did not seem in any way unusual to him. He quickly silenced himself, however, as he listened to his spirit’s guidance and voiced his next words accordingly.
“In the two years since your incarceration, have you or your mother spoken at all with the kids about the death of their father and your involvement?”
“Not really. When Mama or Granny would bring the kids to visit, I didn’t want to mar our time together by bringing up that negativity. I mean, they know why I was in jail, but I selfishly never discussed with them their feelings over my killing their daddy and taking him out of their lives.”
After hearing Lindsay’s declaration, Cody was indeed glad the Holy Spirit had intervened. He too began to see Lindsay’s point upon learning she and the kids never discussed their feelings behind Shaun’s death.
“Did your mother ever give you a clue or tell you the kids even asked her about Shaun?”
“No. She said the kids never mentioned him. Mama said whenever the kids would appear sad or whenever Li’l Shaun would behave as Shauntae described, both children would always attribute their emotions to missing me only.”
“Well, then, I believe you are right. The kids may need to talk to someone about their seemingly bottled-up emotions. But I think you should take the opportunity to try to get them to talk to you first. See if they’ll share with you now that you are home.”
Lindsay nodded her head in agreement. While she was actually terrified at broaching the subject, she knew she had to override her fear and do what was best for her babies. Immediately, Isaiah 41:13 in the NIV came to mind. “For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear. I will help you.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to them when they get in from school. You’d better get a move on, my love, if you don’t want to be late on your first day back in the office.”
Cody and Lindsay both stood up at the table simultaneously. “Remember, beautiful, I’m the boss. Therefore, I can come and go as I please.” He pulled his wife as closely into his tall frame as she could get, then wrapped her in his powerfully loving embrace. He bent his head and overtook her mouth with a breathtaking kiss that showed his desire and reason for him perhaps being late to work.
Lindsay knew, as Cody kissed her, that she would never get bored or become immune to the desire her husband invoked in her, no matter how many years the Lord blessed them being together. For a moment, she forgot the kids were still in the house as her body prepared itself to be taken by her husband right there on the kitchen floor. Cody’s next words quickly brought her back to a sobering reality as he broke the phenomenal kiss.
“But I will wait until I return this evening to finish this adventure for two reasons. Number one, the kids are still here. Number two, a boss should lead by example. If I want my employees to show up on time, I should practice being on time as well.”
Cody pecked Lindsay’s lips once more before heading up the stairs to their bedro
om to finish preparing to leave for his office. A little disappointed about having to wait to receive satisfaction, Lindsay relented, knowing her man would make good on his promise later that evening.
Halfway up the steps, Cody paused as something Lindsay said just a few moments ago crossed his mind. “So you really think I handled the kids well, huh?” Before she could respond, he continued speaking his musings aloud. “Perhaps we should consider expanding our brood to include at least one more since I’m so good at this dad thing. Think about it. We’ll talk more on it later.” Cody winked and smiled broadly at Lindsay as he proceeded up the stairs.
His words forcefully knocked the wind from Lindsay’s chest. She fell backward into the chair she previously occupied. She never bothered to tell her husband about the child they conceived while she was still married to Shaun or about the permanent tubal ligation she had immediately afterward ...
Chapter Three
Long after the children and her husband had left the house headed to their respective destinations, Lindsay still sat in the kitchen, pondering, worrying, and fearfully fretting over Cody’s request for her to consider the two of them having a child together. It had been nearly five years since the abortion, and this was actually the first time she had thought about it again.
This, topped with dealing with the kids’ post-daddy-death drama, was giving Lindsay a migraine headache. Her heart longed for the ability to talk to Shyanne about her new and old issues, but she knew she only had God to turn to now.
Finally after sitting for so long, Lindsay decided to get up, kneel down, and pray. “Heavenly Father, I come to first give you glory, honor, and praise. I come, Lord, to offer thanks for my life, my salvation, my family, and especially, right now, my marriage. Father God, I come with a very troubled heart, in need of your strength and guidance right now. Lord, your Word says that you will never leave us or forsake us. I take that to mean even when we are dealing with the consequences of our own crazy actions. I need you now, Lord. Tell me, Father, how to handle making Cody aware of the awful thing I did all those years ago. Tell me, Lord, how to explain to him that I am incapable of giving him the child he desires. And, Father, while I have your ear, I ask that you help me to deal with the issues that may be plaguing my children behind my selfishness and stupidity as well. Help me, Lord, as only you can. In Jesus’ name ... Amen.”
Lindsay's Legacy Page 2