“Look who’s up?” They all looked back to see Julius coming toward them carrying Ivy’s son.
“There goes my ba-byyy,” Ivy sang her rendition of Usher’s song to her child, which put a smile on his face as he reached out for her. She kissed him on the cheek and placed him on her lap, causing him to laugh. “Give me some of that Chunky Monkey,” she teased the little boy, placing kisses all over his face.
“Dinner should be ready in about an hour,” said Julius.
“Good because I’m starving,” said Ivy. “And I know you put both of your feet in that meal you’re cooking. I can’t wait.” They all laughed at Ivy and her voracious appetite.
A few minutes later, Nick came jogging up the beach clad in his running gear.
“What’s up, fam?” he asked, planting a kiss on Bridgette’s lips before dropping down beside her on a beach towel she had laid out for him. They’d opted not to divorce, but do marriage counseling instead. They decided to date and take their time getting to know the people they’d both fell in love with when they’d first married. He and Savannah had been working on their relationship as well. She’d apologized for attacking him in the hospital, and he’d accepted without hesitation. Now, they were all together at their parents’ beach house on the North Carolina coast.
“Ain’t no way I’d be out here exercising on vacation,” Ivy said to Nick.
“Ivy, when have you ever exercised besides picking up a wine bottle?” Bridgette joked, making them all laugh.
“Moommm! Daaaddd!” Ryan came running up to them, breaking the camaraderie. “Dylan. He got pulled into the water. He took off his vest,” he yelled in a panic. “I told him not to.”
“Dylan,” Bridgette screamed.
Nick took off running down the beach toward the ocean. He was already in the water before the rest of the adults got down to the edge. Kean and Julius went in after him as panicked screams filled the salty ocean air.
Chapter Fifty-Six
B
ridgette placed a kiss on her husband’s lips and slipped his wedding ring on his finger. It would be their final good-bye. As she took her seat back on the front pew at Bread of Life Baptist Church, between her children and her sisters, a primal wail filled the sanctuary. Bridgette sat stoic, but tears fell from her eyes as she tried to tune out her mother-in-law’s cries.
If it wasn’t her husband’s funeral, she wouldn’t have even allowed her children to be there, but it was their father lying in that casket, and after today, they’d never see him in the physical form again. They were visibly upset and Bridgette held each to comfort them as best she could. It was traumatizing enough, when Nick had moved out of the house, but how were they going to get past this. Her children didn’t have a father.
“My baby, my baby,” Cassietta screamed. “Why God? Why, my baby?”
Nick’s brother Vincent and his wife, Yvette tried to hold their mother up as she flailed her arms and dropped to her knees in front of Nick’s casket.
“Mama, get up. Come on,” Vincent could be heard saying to his mother.
“What’s wrong with Grandma Cassie, Mom?” Ryan asked her.
“She’s just upset, honey,” Bridgette responded. “She’ll be okay.” But, she was rolling her eyes on the inside.
“I’m scared, Mom. I don’t want Grandma to die too,” Ryan cried.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. She’ll be fine,” Bridgette tried to assure her son as he clung to her even tighter. Now, she’d never tell anyone how to grieve, especially someone who had lost a child, but in her opinion, Cassietta was doing too much. All of the theatrics weren’t necessary.
Bridgette closed her eyes and began to pray as her husband’s casket was being closed. They would never get the chance to reunite as husband and wife. But, she knew that they’d see each other again. He’d lost his life trying to save their son’s life. He’d drowned after getting pulled under by the same current as their son. His years of training in the water and being an avid swimmer, who was also physically fit, hadn’t been able to save him. Thankfully, Kean and Julius were able to retrieve Dylan from the water before they were pulled further in by the current.
This tragic event would be something that they all would carry for the rest of their lives, but Bridgette hoped that they would be able to heal as a family, and not be drawn further apart. She knew how Ivy dealt with tragedy and loss, and she prayed that she didn’t retreat and they not see her again for a long period of time, especially now that she had her own family. Bridgette wanted their children to grow up knowing one another.
Bridgette worried about Savannah the most. Savannah had never been quite the same after her cervical cancer diagnosis two years ago. And while she was still in remission, happily married and deeply in love with the baby she hadn’t thought would love her back, she’d become guarded and overly protective. Bridgette worried how that would manifest itself later on in her marriage and as a mother. Julius seemed to be helping her through it.
When Bridgette opened her eyes, her mother-in-law was hanging on the top of Nick’s casket, preventing the pallbearers from taking it out of the church. Vincent and Yvette were trying to pry her off, but weren’t having much success.
“You can’t take my baby. You can’t take my baby,” she yelled and Bridgette was disgusted at the spectacle she was making of her own son’s funeral.
She decided she’d had enough as she rose to her feet and gathered up her children. They didn’t need to witness their grandmother carrying on the way she was any further. It was too much; although, she felt at peace, assured that her husband was in a place much better than they were, hopefully with her parents.
“I’ll meet you all in the car,” she whispered to her sisters as she made her way down the side aisle, holding her boys’ hands and averting her eyes as she walked out the front door of the church.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
T
he sisters got comfortable on Bridgette’s red sectional as they all shared a blanket while they watched a TV marathon of Golden Girls, one of their favorite sitcoms. Savannah and Ivy had been trying to spend as much time with their big sister as possible since she’d buried her husband a week ago.
“Ivy, do you have to sing the theme song every episode?” Savannah asked, as Ivy belted out the last line.
“Of course, I do. That’s the best TV show theme song that was ever created,” said Ivy.
“Girl, bye as you would say,” Savannah joked and they all laughed.
“Well, what’s the best in your opinion then, Bubbling Brown Sugar?” Ivy asked, munching on red grapes after having remarked beforehand that they would be the closest thing to red wine she would get since she couldn’t drink.
“I’ll give you a hint,” Savannah said with a grin on her face.
“As long as you don’t have to sing it,” Ivy retorted.
“Whatever. I can hold a note if I want to.” Savannah rose from her seat on the sectional and then did her best impersonation of Sandra, the character from 227.
“Maa-ry,” she said trying to replicate the sultry character’s voice.
“227,” Bridgette guessed correctly.
“Okay, sissy. I can agree with you. That is a great one,” said Ivy, and then she started singing the theme song. “There’s no place like home, with your family around you you’re never alone, when you know that you’re loved, you don’t to need to roam, ‘cause there’s no place like home.”
“When I was at Grambling and I would watch reruns in my dorm room, I was always reminded of being home. And I remembered how much Mama loved this show. It was one of her favorites,” said Savannah.
“I know. I really do miss those days with her and Daddy. But, that’s why it’s so important that we keep their memories alive and stay as connected with each other as we can. We’ve all been through some difficult times and suffered losses,” said Bridgette, her expression solemn as she thought about her deceased husband. “But, we can never let those things knock us do
wn or tear us apart. No more distance and no more fighting. Because as we all know, life is much too short.”
“Yeah. Who would’ve ever thought that I would be somebody’s mother or even a wife? I’m still wrapping my mind around that one, but I have to thank you both for that. Bridgette, if it weren’t for you sticking your nose in Savannah’s business like usual and offering your uterus up for rent, I would’ve never in ten million years have considered being a surrogate,” Ivy said in the way only she could do it.
Savannah and Bridgette looked at each other and started laughing. Ivy was going to always be Ivy and nothing would ever change about that, but they wouldn’t have it any other way. And as Savannah always said, she was in a league of her own.
“Carrying my niece and feeling her growing inside me was an experience that I would’ve never imagined, but it sparked a need in me to want to nurture, and now, I’m getting to do it a third time,” said Ivy, placing her hand on her baby bump.
“I always said God has a funny sense of humor,” said Bridgette.
“Indeed,” said Ivy, rubbing her protruding stomach.
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