Page 88

I had already told my parents and my boys what I planned to do, and then I had gotten her father and mother’s permission. I was sweating bullets as I kneeled in front of her and whispered a silent prayer that she wouldn’t say no or tell me to get up.
“Our love affair has been a whirlwind and a roller coaster of emotions. You spent years wandering in circles, never thinking that you would love again. Your heart was broken and bruised, and you were too afraid to trust your judgment. On the other hand, I had treated marriage so cavalierly, as if it didn’t matter or deserve the respect and honor it should be given. I had settled into the belief that no woman would ever love me the way I wanted to be loved. You proved me wrong, even when I was undeserving. We both wanted someone to love us unconditionally, Elle. You were afraid to seek it, and I was too afraid to extend it. Marriage and love aren’t business contracts set up to mutually financially benefit various parties.
“They are an equal exchange of trust, respect, honor, and sacrifice. I love you, Elle, more than I could have ever believed possible. While I was busy accepting a rendition of someone else’s vision of love, you were out here all along, waiting for me. I wondered why I couldn’t have met you in a different lifetime because I knew that you were my soulmate. You wanted a king to lift up, and I desired a queen to protect, love, and cherish.
“If your heart feels anything like mine does, you won’t worry about what people are saying about our prior roles in each other’s lives or what someone else deems acceptable for marriage. If you love me the way that I know you do here . . .” I thumped my chest, “then please tell me, Giselle Angel Champagne, that you will be my wife. Tell me that you’ll agree to walk this journey with me and discover how deep love truly goes. Will you marry me?” I proposed.
She glanced at her girls as tears poured down her face and then to where her father had moved to stand behind her mother. She wiped the tears from her face and sniffled as she looked back down at me.
“My heart always knew that you belonged to me. I never thought it would be possible in a million years for us to be together. But you went the distance, Casimir, to prove that I was wrong. Yes, baby. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
The servers, who had quieted down when I started to speak, rose in pitch again as I slid the ring on her finger. A fresh round of tears fell from Giselle’s eyes, and her girlfriends handed her stack after stack of tissue.
I pulled her into my arms and held her chin as I looked into her eyes. “From this day forward, baby, I only want to see you crying happy tears. You understand that?”
She nodded and cried even harder. My fingers wiped at the tears as I covered her mouth with mine and kissed my woman sweetly. Her arms wrapped around me, and her body shook as she continued to cry.
The servers launched into Kelly Price’s “He Proposed.”
“Why are you still crying, baby?”
“Because you make me so happy, Cas. And I almost missed out on this because I didn’t trust you.”
“No, baby. You just needed time because you had already been hurt once before. I knew that you would come around in time.”
“I should have always listened to my heart rather than my logic. My heart always knew that I belonged to you,” Giselle whispered.
She pushed up on her toes and kissed me again.
My heart was full and felt like it had come home. All these years, I wanted a woman who would love me for who I was, not who she wanted me to be or believed me to be, but the real man waiting inside.
This woman had taken what was broken, mended it, and gave me life.
Giselle
TWO YEARS LATER
It was a warm November day in Negril. The sun was setting over the ocean. We never made it on our original trip to Negril because I had been extremely sick all day, every day for several months. So, we decided to have our wedding in Negril.
Since we both had large, elaborate weddings the first time around, this time, we opted for a small, simple affair to celebrate our nuptials. Only our family and friends attended. Two hours had passed since I had become Mrs. Casimir Perez.
Our family and friends still partied on the beach under the canopy behind us. My husband and I escaped the festivities for some much-needed quiet time. We were both still attired in our formal wear. He had discarded his cummerbund, bowtie and jacket, and now had his shirt unbuttoned to the third button and his sleeves rolled up.
“Your pants legs are going to get wet, baby.”
“It’s okay. I can handle anything as long as you’re by my side, Mrs. Perez,” he whispered and wrapped his arm around mywaist. Casimir pulled me in closer to him and set his beer bottle in the sand beside us.
I pressed my hand against his chest and pushed him back until he rested on his elbows. Sitting between his legs, I rested my head against his chest as we watched the sun’s warm rays disappear over the Caribbean Ocean, dazzling the sky with radiant reds, oranges, and yellows.
“It’s so beautiful, baby.”
He pulled his fingers through my hair and loosened the bun, causing it to cascade over my shoulders in a heap of curls. I wore my hair in a princess bun with a diamond tiara around it.
My wedding gown was a bold, vibrant red because Casimir had once told me that he loved me in the color red. He said that it was a bold and dramatic color that looked stunning against my dark skin.
Upon doing my research, I found that in some Asian cultures, red wedding gowns represented good luck, prosperity, and happiness. After what Casimir and I had gone through, we definitely needed our fair share of good luck and happiness. After the wedding, I removed the detachable skirt from my wedding dress and remained in a short, red fitted dress.
Casimir’s hand moved lovingly up and down my thigh as the sky grew darker.